Piaget's Theory of Cognitive development Flashcards
What does the term cognitive development mean?
A general term describing the development of all mental processes, in particular thinking, reasoning and our understanding of the world.
What is a schema?
A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. they are developed from experience.
What is Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
Piaget’s theory changed our understanding of how thinking develops in a child. Before Piaget, people believed that the difference in thinking between adults and children, was that adults knew more. Piaget proposed that adults do not just know more but think in a different way.
What did Piaget believe that cognitive development was influenced by?
1) Maturation- the effect of biological processes of ageing. As children get older certain mental processes become possible.
2) Environment- through interactions with the environment, children understanding of the world becomes more complex.
What did Piaget believe about schemas?
A schema contains all the information that we have about one aspects of the world. He believed children are born with a small number of schemas- just enough to allow them to interact with other people.
As children develop construct more detailed and complex schemas.
During infancy we are thought to construct new schema. A schema can be behavioural e.g grasping an object or cognitive e.g classifying objects.
What is a “me-schema”?
This is what is constructed during infancy in which all the Childs knowledge about themselves is stored. in time we develop schema for other people, objects, physical actions and more abstract ideas like morality and justice. This occurs as a result of interactions with the environment.
According to Piaget, what are the two ways a schema can become more complex?
Through assimilation and accommodation.
What does assimilation mean?
A child initially tries to understand any new info in terms of their existing knowledge about the world. This occurs when an existing schema used on a new object.
What does accommodation mean?
This takes place in response to dramatically new experiences. The child has to adjust to these by radically changing current schema, or by forming new ones. Accommodate the existence of another thing.
What is equilibration?
The driving force of these changes or ‘adaptation’ is the principle of equilibrium. We are motivated to learn when out existing schemas do not allow us to make sense of something new. The human mind strives to maintain a sense of balance. State of imbalance which is experienced as an unpleased state (disequilibrium). Cognitive development is the result of adaptation between the individuals existing schemas and environmental demands for changes.
What does the term ‘lifespan learning’ mean?
Assimilation, accommodation and equilibrium take place throughout life as our experiences present us with knowledge. However, there were some limitations of what can be learned at different stages.
