Piaget's theory of cognitive development Flashcards
1
Q
What is a schema
A
- a small scaled down representation of the World
- eg a young kid’s schema about dogs
- however this kids representation would be too simplified and so the schema about dogs may also include other animals with similar attributes to a dog, eg a cat or a cow
2
Q
What is one of the schema’s developed in infancy
A
‘me-schema’
3
Q
What is equilibrium and disequilibrium
A
- equilibrium occurs when we encounter unknown info and try to understand it, once this has been achieved we reach balance again, the preferred mental state
- disequilibrium is when you encounter something you do not know and our existing schema’s do not allow us to make sense of smth new, destroying balance
4
Q
What is assimilation
A
- takes place when we understand a new experience and equilibrate by adding new info to existing schemas
5
Q
What is accommodation
A
- occurs in response to dramatically new experiences, child has to fix this by either changing existing schemas or creating a new one
6
Q
1-Outline Howe et al.’s study
2-How does this study support Piaget’s theory
A
- put children aged 9 and 12 years in groups of 4 to study and discuss movement of objects down a slope, their understanding of the topic was assessed before and after the discussion
- children were sown to have increased knowledge and understanding following, however the children did not come to the same conclusions
- this supports Piaget’s idea that children form their own mental representations
7
Q
What is a strength of Piaget’s theory
A
- It’s application in education
8
Q
What is a weakness of Piaget’s theory
A
- Piaget may have underplayed the role of other ppl in learning
- he saw other ppl as important sources of info during discovery and learning, however other ppl were not the main focus of his theory, however other theories show that leaning is a social process
