PiagetTheory of Cognitive

Development

Schemas, schemas, schemas!

• Born with innate schemas– Based on natural reflexes– As child interacts with environment, these are

modified

• Constantly built, used and updated

Children actively construct knowledge!

Assimilation

• Interpret new experiences in terms of our current schemas

• Make the new information “fit”– Interpret the world around you in ways you are

comfortable with & already know.

Accommodation

• Adjust our schemas to incorporate information from new experiences

• Information doesn’t “fit!” – Initially confusing– update and/or creating new schemas

Growth & new knowledgeProgress through stages of cognitive

development

Sensorimotor Stage Birth-2 years 

• Infants try to make sense of the world using innate skills

– i.e. looking, sucking, grasping, and listening

•Knowledge of the world limited to:– sensory perceptions– motor activities

•Object Permanence- understanding that things can exist when they aren’t seen/heard

•Reflexes– Behaviors  limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli

Preoperational StageAges 2-7  

• Language Development– Not just words, begin to classify

•Egocentrism- can’t take the point of view of other people

–What will someone think is in a piggy bank?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0&NR=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLj0IZFLKvg

Preoperational Stage (Continued)• Theory of Mind

– Ability to infer other people’s mental states– Develops between 3 ½ and 4 ½

Preoperational Stage (Continued)

•Animism- belief that everything that exists has some kind of consciousness.

•Artificialism- belief that natural phenomena are created by human beings

•Symbolism- something is allowed to stand for or symbolize something else

• Children can not:– understand concrete logic– mentally manipulate information

Concrete Operational StageAges 7-11

• Begin to have :–Logical thought about concrete events

• don't understand abstract/hypothetical concepts

–Inductive logic- going from a specific experience to a general principle

•difficulty with deductive logic- going from a general principle to determine the outcome of a specific event

–Conservation- ability to understand that redistributing material does not affect its mass, number or volume

–Use reversibility- awareness that actions can be reversed• My dog is a Labrador, a Lab is a dog, and a dog is an animal.•7 + 8 = 15 so 15 – 7 = 8

–Problem solving is generally random!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA04ew6Oi9M&feature=related

Formal Operational Stage

Begins around ages 11-15 - adulthood • New thought processes emerge:

–Abstract thought –Logical thought– Deductive reasoning– Problem-solving (instead of trial and error)– Systematic planning– Long Term planning– Can appreciate nuanced conversation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjJdcXA1KH8&feature=related

“If a card has a vowel on one side, then it has an even number on the other side.” 

Which cards do I need to turn over to test the rule?

The Answer…

The E and the 7. 

•The E must have an even number on the back -- that much is obvious. 

•The 7 is odd, so it cannot have a vowel on the other side -- that would be against the rule

•The rule says nothing about what has to be on the back of a consonant such as the K

•Nor does it say that the 4 must have a vowel on the other side

Criticisms• Assumption that we automatically progress from stage to stage

– What about the effect of the environment?•Education, culture, birth order, etc

•Only used his own children

•Recent research suggests that timing is wrong:–Children understand object permanence at a younger age–Children of 4-5 years do understand their own mental processes as well as other peoples

• aka less egocentric than Piaget thought–Some of Piaget’s tasks asked questions twice(conservation) which made children think hewanted a different answer!