piaget

• piaget created a theory of cognitive development
• what is the theory of cognitive development?

  all humans develop through 4 stages
• the 4 stages are invariant
• what does invariant mean?

  every child goes through the 4 stages of development, no matter their background
• what are schemas?

  Mental frameworks or structures that organise and interpret information
• piaget says our schemas develop through assimilation and accommodation
• what is assimilation

  attempting to interpret new information within your existing knowledge
• what is accommodation?

  making changes to previous knowledge in order to cope with things that dont fit those existing frameworks
• assimilation schema stays the same
• accommodation schema changes
• 4 stages of cognitive development:

  • sensory-motor
  • pre-operational
  • concrete operational
  • formal operational
• what age are you in sensory-motor stage?

  0-2 years old
• what age are you in pre-operational stage?

  2-7 years old
• what age are you in concrete operational?

  7-11 years old
• what are you in formal operational stage?

  11 or more years old
• what happens in sensory-motor stage?

  children learn through exploring their environment physically

  they lack object permanence
• what does it mean to lack object permanence?

  a child thinks an object will disappear because they cant see it
• what happens in pre-operational stage?

  children display animism

  they become egocentric
• what is animism?

  believing that an inanimate object have feelings
• what is being egocentric?

  child is self-centred
• what happens in the concrete-operational stage?

  children develop the ability to conserve

  they develop decentration and reversibility
• what is decentration?

  child is able to deal with 2 bits of information at the same time
• what is reversibility?

  the child can reverse a process or action
• what is conservation?

  the child can understand the properties of an object

  e.g size length weight
• sensory-motor stage key points

  • lack object permanence
• pre-operational stage key points

  • animism
  • egocentric
• concrete operational stage key points

  • conservation
  • decentration
  • reversibility
• what happens in the formal operational stage?

  child has abstract thinking
• what is abstract thinking?

  child is able to solve things in their head

  e.g understanding scientific things
• criticism of piagets theory

  too reductionist
• why is piagets theory reductionist?

  doesnt take into account of a childs upbringing, emotions, education and genetics
• when did piaget create the experiment?

  1952
• what was piagets aim of the study?

  to prove that children can only conserve at a certain age which was at the concrete operational stage
• what was the hypothesis for the study?

  children in the concrete operational stage will be able to conserve

  children in the pre-operational stage will not be able to conserve
• what is the design of the study?

  independent measures
• what is the method of the study?

  natural experiment
• whats the independent variable?

  the age of the children
• whats the dependent variable?

  whether they can conserve or not
• what is the sample?

  small group of children from switzerland

  piagets own children
• findings of the study

  • children in the early pre-operational stage were not able to conserve at all
  • children in the late pre-operational stage were sometimes able to conserve
  • children in the concrete operational stage were able to conserve