Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

Question 1

How many stages are in Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development?

Answer 1

4

Question 2

What is the first stage called?

Answer 2

Sensorimotor Stage

Question 3

What classifies the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 3

First stage of a child’s development which mainly involves sensation and motor skills such as hearing, sight, feel, taste, move, bite, manipulate etc.

Question 4

What is the third stage called?

Answer 4

Concrete-Operational Stage

Question 5

What classifies the Concrete-Operational Stage?

Answer 5

At this stage the child becomes more stable, thinks operationally and uses logical reasoning rather than intuitive thought,

Question 6

What is the second stage called?

Answer 6

Preoperational Stage

Question 7

What classifies the Preoperational Stage?

Answer 7

In this stage children use their mental ability to represent events and objects in various ways like using symbols, gestures and even communication and so on thus their logical reasoning has not yet been developed or organized.

Question 8

What is the fourth stage called?

Answer 8

Formal-Operational Stage

Question 9

What classifies the fourth stage?

Answer 9

Where children become more systematic and reasonable. They cannot only reason of tangible objects and events but they also possess capability of reasoning and thinking in more abstract, hypothetical and idealistic ways.

Question 10

How old would you be in the Sensorimotor period?

Answer 10

Birth to 2 years

Question 11

How old would you be in the Formal-Operational Period?

Answer 11

11 years old - Adulthood

Question 12

How old would you be in the Preoperational Stage?

Answer 12

2-7 Years old

Question 13

How old would you be in the Concrete-Operational Stage?

Answer 13

7-11 years old

Question 14

According to Piaget, all human action involves both assimilation and accommodation. What are these two concepts?

Answer 14

Fantasy play – is a form of assimilation. It involves a transformation of reality. For eg, giving a stone a symbolic character like a turtle the child is transforming the object to play out a fantasy role play.

Accommodation – is when the child adapts themselves to meet the demands of the outside world.

Question 15

What is a schema?

Answer 15

“a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning.” - Piaget

Question 16

What is the purpose of a schema?

Answer 16

Schemas provide a way of categorizing and organizing information and knowledge, that relates to a specific object, event and or abstract concept.

Question 17

What are some critiques of Piaget’s Cognitive Development?

Answer 17

According to Gopnik (1996)
Children are not as egocentric
Do understand their own behavior
Can understand feelings of others

Research design
Incomplete analysis
Limited to socioeconomic elite.

Question 18

Anymore critiques?

Answer 18

It describes stages of development but doesn’t offer an explanation
It underestimated the competence of children
It is offers an individualist account of cognitive development: Development and competence is inherently tied to the social context. Social interaction is ignored in its role in support cognitive development (Bruner, 1966). Other theorists like Vygotsky (1978), offer a more collective account of development.
Development is not a universal, linear process (Case, 1992a) Developmental can vary across cultures and ages.