Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development Flashcards
What is Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
- Piaget’s theory describes how children develop cognitive abilities in four stages.
- Each stage is characterized by different ways of thinking and understanding the world.
- Development is seen as a process of adaptation through assimilation and accommodation.
What is the main characteristic of the Sensorimotor Stage?
Stage 1 – Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 Years)
- Infants explore the world through sensory experiences and motor actions.
- Development of object permanence: understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched.
Major cognitive accomplishment : understanding of cause and effect, beginning of symbolic thought.
Key Concept : Object permanence
What is the main characteristic of the Preoperational Stage?
Stage 2 – Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 Years)
- Children begin using symbols (like words and images) to represent objects and experiences.
- They engage in imaginative play and egocentric thinking (difficulty understanding other viewpoints).
- Lack of conservation: they do not yet understand that quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance.
Key Concepts : Symbolic thinking, egocentrism, lack of conservation
What is the main characteristic of the Concrete Operational Stage?
Stage 3 – Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 Years)
- Children develop logical thinking about concrete events and objects.
- They understand conservation (quantity remains the same despite changes in form), reversibility, and classification.
- However, their thinking is still limited to tangible, concrete situations and they struggle with abstract concepts.
Key Concepts : Conservation, reversibility, classification
What is the main characteristic of the Formal Operational Stage?
Stage 4 – Formal Operational Stage (12 Years and Up)
- Adolescents develop the ability to think abstractly, logically, and hypothetically.
- They can solve problems systematically, think about future possibilities, and consider hypothetical scenarios.
- They gain the ability to reason about abstract concepts, such as justice, love, or freedom.
Key Concepts : Abstract reasoning, hypothetical-deductive reasoning
What is assimilation in Piaget’s theory?
- Assimilation is the process of incorporating new experiences into existing schemas or mental models.
Ex. A child who knows how to grab a ball might use the same schema to grab a toy car.
- Assimilation helps children make sense of new information based on what they already know.
What is accommodation in Piaget’s theory?
- Accommodation occurs when children modify their existing schemas or create new ones in response to new experiences or information that doesn’t fit their current understanding.
Ex. A child may modify their schema for “dog” after encountering a cat, realizing the differences between the two.
- Accommodation is essential for cognitive development as it helps children adapt to new information.
What is object permanence, and when do children typically develop it?
- Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched.
- It typically develops around 8-12 months of age during the Sensorimotor Stage.
- This is a critical cognitive milestone because it marks the beginning of the ability to think about objects that are not immediately present.
What is conservation, and when do children typically understand it?
- Conservation is the understanding that certain properties of objects (such as volume, number, or mass) remain the same despite changes in their appearance or form.
- Children begin to understand conservation during the Concrete Operational Stage (ages 7-11).
Ex. A child who understands conservation will know that pouring water from a short, wide glass into a tall, narrow one does not change the amount of water.
What is egocentrism in Piaget’s theory?
- Egocentrism refers to a child’s inability to understand that other people may have different perspectives or viewpoints.
- It is a characteristic of the Preoperational Stage (ages 2-7).
Ex. A child assumes that if they can see something, everyone else can see it too, like when they cover their eyes and believe no one else can see them.
What is hypothetical-deductive reasoning, and when does it develop?
- Hypothetical-deductive reasoning is the ability to think logically about abstract concepts and systematically test hypotheses to solve problems.
- It develops during the Formal Operational Stage (ages 12 and up).
Ex. A teenager might solve a math problem by considering all possible solutions and testing them systematically.
What are the key stages in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
- Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years) : Object permanence, sensory and motor exploration.
- Preoperational Stage (2-7 years) : Symbolic thinking, egocentrism, lack of conservation.
- Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years) : Logical thinking, conservation, reversibility, classification.
- Formal Operational Stage (12 years and up) : Abstract reasoning, hypothetical-deductive reasoning.
