Cognitive DevelopmentCognitive Development

Jean PiagetJean Piaget

• Schemas– the most basic psychological structures– provide a template for action in the world

• Adaptation– the process by which schemas change

AdaptationAdaptation

• Assimilation– process by which a person absorbs a new

experience into an existing schema

• Accommodation– process by which an existing schema is

modified to adapt to a new experience

• Assimilation and accommodation are invariant!

• So … what changes?

• Schemas and structures change!

Stages of Cognitive Stages of Cognitive DevelopmentDevelopment

• Sensorimotor (birth - 2 years)

• Preoperational (2 - 6 years)

• Concrete Operational (7 - 11 years)

• Formal Operational (11+)

Sensorimotor Stage Sensorimotor Stage ((birth - 2 yrsbirth - 2 yrs))

• How does Piaget see the young infant?– Active– Initiating behavior– Learning to distinguish among the features in

the environment– Learning to modify own behavior to fit the

demands of the situation

Special Qualities of Special Qualities of SensorimotorSensorimotor

• Egocentrism– the inability to perceive a situation or person

except in relation to the self

• Lack object permanence– the understanding that objects continue to exist

even when they are out of sight– major task of the sensorimotor stage

Reflexive Schemas(birth-1 month)

infant exercises innate reflexes in an automatic and involuntary manner

Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months)

• Infant repeats a chance behavior involving his/her own body that led to a pleasurable outcome

Primary

Circular

Secondary Circular Reactions

(4-8 months)

• Infant directs attention to objects• repeats chance behavior involving object that led

to a pleasurable outcome

Not truly intentional

Conservative

Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months)

• Understanding of Object Permanence– begin searching for objects that are partially

hidden

– yet they quickly forget or ignore those objects they cannot see

Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions (8-12 months)

Intentional, goal-directed, original behavior

Truly intelligent behavior

Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions

• Understanding of Object Permanence

– AB search error: baby looks for object in the last place it was found, even when baby saw it moved to a new place

Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months)

Trial and error experimentation

“little scientists” who “experiment in order to see”

Tertiary Circular Reactions

• Understanding of Object Permanence:– no longer makes the AB search error when

they see the object moved to new place– however, if the baby did not see the object

moved, will continue to search in the last place it was found

• when the baby doesn’t find it there, will show distress

Representation (18-24 months)

• Mentally represent object/event in mind

• Symbolic problem solving

• Well-developed object permanence

• Deferred Imitation– ability to remember and copy the behavior of

models who are not immediately present

Preoperational Stage (2 - 6 years)

Emergence of the Symbolic Emergence of the Symbolic FunctionFunction

• Children are first able to form and use symbols

• Deferred imitation

• Language

• Pretend play

Forms of Play

• Sensorimotor play

• Functional play

• Pretend play

Development of Pretend PlayDevelopment of Pretend Play

• Increasingly detached from real-life

• Increasingly detached from the self

• Increasingly complex combinations of schemes of action

• Serves an emotionally integrative function

• Familiarity with social role possibilities

• Fun and useful!!!

Limitations to PreoperationalLimitations to Preoperational

• Egocentric

• Perception bound

• Centered and rigid

EgocentrismEgocentrism

• Sensorimotor– inability to distinguish the self from others

• Preoperational– inability to distinguish one’s mental representations

from others’ mental representations

EgocentrismEgocentrism

• Perspective taking games

EgocentrismEgocentrism

• Animism –belief that inanimate object have

lifelike qualities

Thinking isThinking isPerception BoundPerception Bound

Maynard the Cat Study

confusion of appearance & reality in preschoolers

Perception Bound ThinkingPerception Bound Thinking

Centered and Rigid ThinkingCentered and Rigid Thinking

• Center on a single, salient feature and ignore other, less salient, features

• Lack the ability to mentally retrace through a series of steps

Main Limitation: ConservationMain Limitation: Conservation

• Preoperational children lack conservation!

• Conservation = the knowledge that an underlying physical dimension remains the same despite superficial changes in its appearance

ConclusionsConclusions

• Children think about the world differently than adults.

• Children actively construct their knowledge about the world.

• Cognitive development follows an invariant and universal sequence.