
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s Theory

Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Cognitive Changes in Adulthood
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Processes of Development
• Piaget observed own 3 children;
believed six processes used in
constructing knowledge.
– Schemes
 Organization
– Assimilation
 Equilibrium
– Accommodation
 Equilibration
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Schemes

Actions or mental representations that
organize knowledge:
 Behavioral schemes: Physical
activities characterizing infancy.
 Mental schemes: Cognitive
activities develop in childhood.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Assimilation and Accommodation

Both operate even in very young infants:

Assimilation:
 Incorporate new information or experience into existing
knowledge schemes.

Accommodation:
 Adjust existing schemes to take in new information and
experiences.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Organization

Children cognitively organize experiences:
 Grouping isolated behaviors into a higher-order
cognitive system; receives continual refinement.
 Grouping items into categories.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Equilibrium and Equilibration

Proposed explanation of cognitive shift
(qualitative) from one stage of thought to next:
 Disequilibrium — creates motivation for change;
shift occurs as children experience cognitive
conflict.
 Equilibration — they resolve conflict through
assimilation and accommodation, to reach a new
balance or equilibrium of thought.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Stages of Development

Piaget’s theory unifies experiences and biology to
explain cognitive development.
 Motivation is internal search for equilibrium.
 Four stages of development…progressively advanced
and qualitatively different.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor stage

First of Piaget’s stages:
 Birth to about 2 years
 Infants construct understanding of world by
coordinating sensory experiences with motoric
actions
 Contains six substages
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor Substages
1
Simple reflexes
Basic means of coordinating
sensation and action
through reflexive behaviors
2
First habits and
primary circular
reactions
Infants’ infant’s attempt to
reproduce interesting or
pleasurable event (1-4 mos)
Secondary
circular
reactions
Infant is more objectoriented moving beyond
preoccupation with the self
(4-8 months)
3
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor Substages
4
Coordination of
secondary
circular reactions
Significant changes in
coordination of schemes
and intentionality (8-12 mos)
5
Tertiary circular
reactions, novelty
and curiosity
Intrigued by objects’ many
properties; explores new
possibilities with them
(12-18 mos)
Internalization of
Schemes
Ability to use primitive
symbols; shift to mental
manipulation (18-24 mos)
6
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Object Permanence

Understanding that objects and events continue to exist even
when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched:
 One of infant’s most important accomplishments
 Acquired in stages
 Violation of expectations testing
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Infant’s Understanding of Causality
(a)
(b)
(c)
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage

New research techniques suggest Piaget’s
theory needs to be modified:
 Some abilities develop earlier
○ Intermodal perception; substantiality and
permanence of objects
 Transitions not as clear-cut; AB error
 No general theory on how development changes
in cognition and nature-nurture issue
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Preoperational Stage

Second Piagetian developmental stage
 About 2 to 7 years of age; two substages
 Children begin to represent the world with words,
images, and drawings

Not ready to perform Operations
 Internalized actions that allow children to do mentally
what they only did physically before
 Reversible mental actions
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
The Symbolic Function Substage
Symbolic
function
Egocentrism
Animism
First substage of preoperational
thought; young child gains ability
to represent mentally an object
that is not present (2-4 years)
Inability to distinguish between
one’s own and another’s view
Belief that inanimate objects have
lifelike qualities, capable of action
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
The Three Mountains Task
View 1
View
2 (d)
(c)
Child
seated
here
(d)
(b)
(a)
Child seated
here
(c)
(a)
(b)
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
The Symbolic Drawings
of Young Children
(a) A 31/2-year-old’s
symbolic drawing. Halfway
into this drawing, the 31/2year-old artist said it was “a
pelican kissing a seal.”
(b) This 11-year-old’s
drawing is neater and
more realistic but also
less inventive.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
The Intuitive Thought Substage

Children begin using primitive reasoning and want to
know answers to all sorts of questions (4-7 years):
 Why? questions exhaust adults
 Centration — focusing attention on one characteristic
to exclusion of all others
 Conservation — object or substance amount stays
same regardless of changing appearance; lacking in
preoperational stage
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s
Conservation Task
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Some Dimensions of Conservation: Number,
Matter, and Length
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Concrete Operational Stage

Piaget’s third stage (7-11 years)

Children can perform concrete operations

Logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning if applied to
specific, concrete examples

Consider several characteristics of object at once

Cross-cultural variations exist
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Classification Skills

Concrete operations child understands one person can be
father, brother, and grandson

Seriation — involves stimuli along quantitative dimension (e.g.
length)

Transitivity — if relation holds between first and second object,
and holds between the second and third object, then it holds
between first and third object
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Classification: An Important Ability in
Concrete Operational Thought
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Formal Operational Stage

Individuals move beyond concrete
operations and think in more abstract and
logical ways (11-15 years)

Abstract, Idealistic, and Logical Thinking
 Verbal problem-solving ability increases
 Increased ability to think about thought itself
 Thought is full of idealism and possibilities
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Formal Operational Stage

Children solve problems by trial-and-error

Adolescents think more like scientists

Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
 Have cognitive ability to develop hypotheses, or
best guesses, and systematically deduce the best
path to follow in solving a problem

Assimilation dominates initial development
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Adolescent Egocentrism

Heightened adolescents’ self-consciousness

Imaginary audience
 Belief that others are as interested in them as
they are
 Involves attention-getting behavior motivated by
desire to be noticed, visible, and “on stage”

Personal fable — adolescent’s sense of
uniqueness and invincibility
Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
Piaget and Education

Take a constructivist approach

Facilitate rather than direct learning

Consider child’s knowledge, level of thinking

Use ongoing assessment

Promote the student’s intellectual health

Turn classroom into setting of exploration
and discovery
Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
Evaluating Piaget’s Theory

Contributions
 Vision of children as active, constructive thinkers

Criticisms
 Some estimates of children’s competence is
inaccurate
 Development not uniformly stage-like
 Effects of training underestimated
 Culture and education influence development
Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
Neo-Piagetians

Argue Piaget got some things right,
but theory needs revision

More emphasis to memory, attention,
information-processing strategies, and
processing speed
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive
Development

Social contexts; minds are shaped by
cultural context in which they live

Tools are provided by society

Children actively construct their
knowledge and understanding through
social interactions
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
The Zone of Proximal Development

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
 Tasks too difficult for children to master alone
but that can be mastered with guidance and
assistance from more-skilled person

Scaffolding
 Changing level of support over course of a
teaching session to fit child’s current
performance level; dialogue is important tool
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Vygotsky’s Zone of
Proximal
Development
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Vygotsky: Language and Thought

Believed young children use language to
plan, guide, and monitor behavior

Language and thought initially develop
independently, then merge

Private speech: language of self-regulation
 Self talk (3 to 7 years of age)
 Inner speech: child’s thoughts
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Teaching Strategies based on Vygotsky’s
Theory

Successfully applied to education
 Effectively assess child’s ZPD
 Use child’s ZPD in teaching
 Use more-skilled peers as teachers
 Monitor and encourage private speech
 Place instruction in meaningful context
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Tools of the Mind
Emphasizes child’s self-regulation
 Give special attention to at-risk children

 Poverty
 Difficult conditions (e.g. homeless, drug
problems in home)
 Dramatic play has central role in classroom
 Child writings are important
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Evaluating Vygotsky’s theory
Social constructionist approach
 Importance of skills valued by specific
culture
 Knowledge constructed through social
interactions (sociocultural)
 Criticisms:

 Overemphasize role of language
 Facilitators may be too helpful, overcontrolling
Cognitive Changes in Adulthood
Piaget’s View of Adult Cognition

Thinking qualitatively in formal operations
same as adolescents

Adults have more knowledge

Research shows:
 Many don’t reach highest level until adulthood
 Many adults don’t use formal operational
thinking
Cognitive Changes in Adulthood

Thinking of young adults is beyond formal
operational stage of adolescents. It is…
 Realistic — Idealism decreases in face of real
world constraints
 Pragmatic — Switch from acquiring knowledge
to applying it
 Reflective and Relativistic — Move away from
absolutist thinking of adolescence
Cognitive Changes in Adulthood
Is There A Fifth, Postformal Stage?

Postformal thought is
 Reflective, relativistic, and contextual
 Provisional
 Realistic
 Open to emotions and subjective
More research needed
 Another possible stage may be wisdom
