piagets theory

• piagets theory 


  argues that children have the basic mental structures to enable them to make sense of the world around them
• cognitive development occurs at a result of physical development and environmental experience

  as a child grows so does their cognitive ability
• piagets suggests that children are like a scientist
• piagets 3 prosesses of adaption

  • assimilation
  • accomodation
  • equibration
• assimilation 


  refers to the way a child uses schema that they already have in place in order to try and understand the new situation
• accomodation 


  where the child finds that their existing schema does not apply to the new situation and therefore, they must change and adapt it to fit the demands of the environment
• equilibration 


  refers to the force behind learning and adapting to new situatons

  he argued that we dont like feeling frustrated by not understanding, so therefore the equilibration motivated us to achieve equilibrium by searching for a new solution
• stages of intellectual development

  1. sensorimotor
  2. pre-operational
  3. concrete operational
  4. formal operational
• sensorimotor stage 


  age 0-2

  infant aquires into by using sensory and motor skills

  can only understand objects which they directly interact with

  becomes curious due to object permanence

  • blanket and ball study
• pre-operational stage 


  age 2-7

  lots of development as a child grows understanding

  charracterised by egocentrism

  towards end, children develop ability to mentally represent objects and engage in pretend play
• concrete operational


  age 7-11

  child begins to show more logical and operational thought in that they are able to apply logic to physical objects only

  develop schema for conservation
• formal operational 


  age 11+

  child is able to represent abstract logical concepts- are able to come up with diverse answers to hypothetical questions

  show higher order thinking and reasoning and are able to hold problems in their heads to try and solve them

  understand how others behave
• key study of piagets theory- 3 mountains task

  AIM

  • to demontsrate the principle of egocentrism in pre-operational stage of children
• key study of piagets theory- 3 mountains task

  METHOD

  • child shown model of mountains
  • 1 large with snow on
  • 1 with a cross on top
  • 1 with a hut on top
  • child allowed to walk around and see them from different perspectives, then sat down at one viewpoint and presented with doll, who sits in different positions
  • then shown different picture cards of the possible views of the mountain form the dolls perspective
• key study of piagets theory- 3 mountains task

  RESULTS

  • different age= different results
  • 4= majority selected their view (egocentrism)
  • 6= selected different view to their own but no the dolls
  • 7/8= accurate on selecting the dolls viewpoint
• key study of piagets theory- 3 mountains task

  CONCLUSION

  • piaget infered these results that a child unable to see a view other then their own was egocentric and had not passed through the pre-operational stage
• evaluation of piaget 


  + confirmation of the theory accross cultures

  -subject to researcher bias

  -seen as reductionist in nature

  -methodology in study could lead to demand characteristics
• object permanence 


  a schema which refers to an infants ability to understand that just because an object is out of sight, does not mean that it no longer exists
• egocentrism 


  where children in pre-operational stage fail to take the perspectives of others

  their thoughts and actions are orientated towards themselves and they cannot see things from another point of view
• conservation 


  where the child understands that even though the apperance of something may change, the quantity stays the same
• class inclusion 


  feature of concrete operational stage, children understand then an object can belong to subsets of an overall classification