Cognitive Development:
Piaget’s Theory and
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural
Viewpoint
How we gain knowledge: Piaget’
Piaget’s
Cognitive Processes
Adaptation is an inborn tendency to adjust to the
demands of the environment.
– The goal of adaptation is to adjust to the
environment; this occurs through assimilation and
accommodation.
Assimilation is the process of interpreting new
experiences by incorporating them into existing
schemes.
Accommodation is the process of modifying existing
schemes in order to incorporate or adapt to new
experiences.
Piagetian Concept
Example
Equilibrium
Toddler who has never seen anything fly
but birds thinks that all flying objects are
birds
Assimilation
Seeing an airplane flying prompts the child
to call it a birdie
Start
Accommodation
Organization
Finish
Child experiences conflict upon realizing
that the new birdie has no feathers.
Concludes it is not a bird and asks for the
proper term or invents a name.
Equilibrium restored
Forms hierarchal scheme consisting of a
superordinate class (flying objects) and two
subordinate classes (birdies and airplanes).
1
Vygotsky’
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural
Perspective
Sociocultural theory states that:
– Cognitive development occurs in a
sociocultural context that influences the
form it takes
– Most of a child’
child’s cognitive skills evolve from
social interactions with parents, teachers,
and other more competent associates
The role of culture in intellectual
development:
Vygotsky proposed that we should evaluate
human development from four
interrelated perspectives:
– MicrogeneticMicrogenetic-changes that occur over brief
periods of timetime-minutes and seconds
– OntogeneticOntogenetic-development over a lifetime
– PhylogeneticPhylogenetic-development over
evolutionary time
– SociohistoricalSociohistorical- changes that have occurred
in one's culture and the values, norms and
technologies such a history has generated
Tools of intellectual adaptation
Vygotsky (1930(1930-1935/1978) proposed that
infants are born with a few elementary
mental functions – attention, sensation,
perception and memory – that are
eventually transformed by the culture
into new and more sophisticated mental
processes he called higher mental
functions.
functions.
2
The Social Origins of Early Cognitive
Competencies:
Zone of Proximal Development range of
tasks that are too complex to be mastered
alone but can be accomplished with
guidance and encouragement from a
more skillful partner
– ScaffoldingScaffolding- the expert participant carefully
tailors their support to the novice learner to
assure their understanding
The role of language in cognitive
development:
According to Piaget:
– Children partake in egocentric speech,
speech,
utterances neither directed to others nor
expressed in ways that the listeners might
understand
– Egocentric speech played a little role in
cognitive development
– Speech tended to become more social as the
child maturesmatures-less egocentric
The role of language in cognitive
development (cont.)
According to Vygotsky:
– Thought and language eventually emerge
– A child’
child’s nonsocial utterances, which he termed private
speech,
speech, illustrate the transition from paralinguistic to
verbal reasoning
– Private speech plays a major role in cognitive
development by serving as a cognitive selfself-guidance
system,
system, allowing children to become more organized
and good problem solvers
– As individuals develop, private speech becomes inner
speech
3
Theories of Cognitive Development:
Vygotsky vs. Piaget
Vygotsky’
Vygotsky’s sociocultural
theory
Piaget’
Piaget’s cognitive
developmental theory
Cognitive development varies
across cultures
Cognitive development is mostly
universal across cultures
Stems from social interactions
Stems from independent
explorations
Social processes become
Individual (egocentric) processes
individualindividual-physiological processes become social processes
Adults are important as change
agents
Peers are important as change
agents
4