Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

• Cognition and Development

  • Cognition = mental processes e.g., thought, perception, memory,use of language.• Development = how something changes over time
• Jean Piaget

  • Swiss psychologist famous for how work on childdevelopment.• Placed great value and importance oneducation.• Proposed that children don't simply know lessthan adults, they think differently to adults.• Piaget's work became very popular in the 1960sand still influences educational practice today.• By the end of the 20th century Piaget was thesecond most cited psychologist (after Skinner).
• Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

  When we experience something new and our existing schemas are unable to makesense of it, we are said to be in a state of dis-equilibrium (confusion).Everyone has individual schemas This is an unpleasant experience and so we become motivated to learn through aprocess of equilibration.
• Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

  Equilibration can occur through either assimilation or accommodation. These are ways in which we schema build (learn).Once assimilation or accommodation have taken place we return to a state of equilibrium, meaning we can make sense of the world around us once again usingour adapted/new schemas.
• Assimilation

  Assimilation = learning by adding new information to an existing schema (we can fit it in with what we already know) e.g., a young child's understanding of a dog may be based on their own pet chihuahua, but when they encounter a British bulldog and they can assimilate the idea of different dog breeds into their existing dogschema.
• Accomodation:

  Accommodation= learning by significantly modifying an existing schema or forming a new schema e.g., a young child encountering a cat, initially assuming it is a dog, but then forming a new schema for cat
• Piaget's 4 stages of intellectual development

  Operational refers to the ability to perform mental operations (logical thought processes)
• Object permanence:


  The ability to understand that something still exists even when it is out of sight
• Conservation

  The ability to understand that size can stay the same even when shape has changed.
• Egocentrism:


  The inability to see things from the viewpoint of other, both physically and in terms of opinion When children are no longer egocentric and so can see things from the viewpoint of other children, they are said to have decenterred
• Class Inclusion:


  The ability to understand that classes of objects (categories) have sub-sets and are themselves subsets of larger classes.For example:There are many different types of food - fruit, veg, meat, grains etc.There are also different types of fruit - apple, orange, lemon, banana etc.There are also different types of apples - pink lady, granny smith, gala, jazz, etc.So, it is possible for something to be classed as both an apple, a granny smith
• Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development:

  Sensorimotor state: 0-2 yrs. Recognises the existence of the self as a being that can act intentionally. 8 months -object permanence develops Object permanence: ability to realise than an object still exists when it passes out of the visual field
• Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development:

  Pre-operational : 2-7 yrs Language develops, lacks reasoning children can only centre one thing at a time Egocentricism: Child's tendency to only be able to see the world from their point of view
• Piaget’s 4 stage of cognitive development

  Concrete operational stage: 7-11 years. Child develops ability to think logically but only applied to physical objects, stops being egocentric.

  
  

  Conservation: The ability to realise that quantity remains the same even when the appearance of an object or group of objects changes

  Class inclusion: A child recognises that classes have subsets and are themselves subsets of larger classes
• Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development:

  Formal operational stage: 11 years onwards. Abstract and hypothetical thinking develop
• A03: SUP EV: Schema building (accommodation/assimilation)

  P- Howe et al found that when 9-12 year old children were given the opportunity to investigate and discuss the movement of objects down a slope, E- all the children increased their understanding, but each of their individual understandings did not become similar E/L- This suggests that learning is based on the development of our own individual schema
• A03: Support object permanence

  P- Piaget found that when a toy was hidden from a blanket, E-babies under 8 months old did not attempt to look for it and their attention switched very quickly to something else,E-whereas babies 8 months+ tried to find the toy by grabbing and moving the blanket L- This suggests that object permanence develops in the sensorimotor stage
• SUP EV- Conservation

  P- Piaget found thatE_ younger children (up to 7) believed there was more liquid when it was poured into a taller thinner glass, E-whereas older children (aged 7+) understood that the volume was still the same L- this suggests that children cannot understand conservation until they reach the concrete operational stage
• A03: Sup Ev Ego-centrism

  P-Piaget and Inhelder found that younger children (up to 7 chose the picture of the mountain scene that they themselves could see rather than the one the doll was able to say, E-whereas children aged 7+ were able to select the correct view E-This suggests that children stop being ego-centric in the concrete operational stage
• A03: Contradicting evidence Ego-centrism

  P- Hughes found that children as young as 3 and a half could correctly position a toy 'boy doll' where a toy 'policeman' could not see him E- this suggests that children may stop being 'ego-centric' in the pre-operational stage - earlier than Piaget suggested
• SUP EV- class inclusion 


  P- Piaget and Inhelder found that when children were shown a picture of 5 dogs and 2 cats and asked if there are more dogs or animals, younger children (up to 7/8) tended to say there were more dogs, E-whereas older children correctly stated that there were more animals L- This suggests that children in a concrete operational stage did not understand the concept of class inclusion
• A03: Contradicting Evidence

  P- Siegler and Svetina found that children aged 5 go better at correctly answering class inclusion tasks, if they received an explanation of the correct answer after each attempt L- this suggest that children in the pre-operational stage could understand the concept of class inclusion which is younger than Piaget suggested
• Criticisms of Piaget’s study :The children may have not actually understood what they were doing

  An issue with many of Piaget's studies on conservation, egocentrism and class inclusion may be that the children simply didn't understand what they were being asked and so were displaying demand characteristics. E-For example, in the conservation tasks the children may have wondered why the researcher changed the appearance/shape of the liquid/counters and then asked them if it was the same.
• Criticisms of Piaget’s study:

  This is supported by the contradictory results found in the studies using more child friendly ways of testing these skills.E-This means that Piaget may have underestimated children's abilities and so questions the credibility of the ages he proposed in his theory.
• Piaget's theory of cognitive development has useful real-life application in education.

  P-Piaget's theory of cognitive development has useful real-life application in education. From the 1960s activity-oriented classrooms have given children the opportunity to use experience to build their schemas. E- Primary education involves concrete activities, rather than requiring abstract thought that children may not be capable of. And even in secondary education lessons are designed to build on existing schema. 
• Piaget's theory of cognitive development has useful real-life application in education.

  E- This means that Piaget's theory has improved the quality of education we offer our children.
• There are alternative explanation of cognitive development.

  P-There are alternative explanation of cognitive development. Piaget focused on the maturational process of an individual's cognitive abilities and claimed that there were many things that younger children simply cannot do. E-He may therefore have underestimated the role of other people in learning. Vygotsky says that learning is a social process and that children develop faster and are capable of more, if they are supported by a more knowledgeable person.E-This is supported by Siegler and Svetina...(+ their study)
• Weakness

  Vygotsky's theory can explain cultural differences in cognitive abilities whereas Piaget cannot For example, well-developed hand-eye coordination skills seen in cultures where hunting is the norm in comparison to the skills needed to study in an academic way.This is because these skills will have been developed through scaffolding of more experienced members of their culture.