Cognitive Development - Piaget
I.
What is cognitive development?
A. Definition of cognition
B. The structural-functional approach
C. The information processing approach
II. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
A. Background
B. Piaget’s theory
1. Cognitive equilibrium
2. Cognitive schemata
a. Behavioral (sensorimotor) schemata
b. Symbolic schemata
c. Operational schemata
3. How do schema develop?
a. Organization
b. Adaptation: Assimilation and accomodation
III. Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
A. Properties of stages
1. Invariant developmental sequences
2. Hierarchical relations among stages
B. Sensorimotor intgelligence
1. The six stages of sensorimotor intelligence
2. Imitation and object permanence
C. Preoperational period
1. Preconceptual period
a. Emergence of symbolic function
b. Animism, transductive reasoning, and
egocentrism
2. Intuitive period
D. Concrete operational period
E. Formal operational period
Definition of cognition
Cognition:
• Refers to act of knowing
• Concerned with the mental processes by which
knowledge is acquired, elaborated, stored, and
retrieved
• Attention to the world
• Perception of the world
• Learning, thinking, remembering, and so on
Cognitive development:
• Changes that occur in mental skills and abilities over
time
Perspectives on Cognitive Development
The structural-functional approach:
• Emphasizes the biological functions and
environmental influences that promote
developmental changes in the organization and the
structure of intelligence
The information-processing approach:
• Focuses on the growth of specific cognitive
processing mechanisms, such as perception,
attention, memory, and so on
Piaget’s Theory
Cognitive equilibrium:
• What is intelligence?
• Basic life force that helps one adapt to
environment
• Type of equilibrium towards which all
cognitive structures tend
• Produce balanced relation between
thought processes and environment
• Balanced relation called “cognitive
equilibrium”
• Children as constructivists
Cognitive schema (or schemata):
• Cognitive structure
• Pattern of thought or action
• Behavioral (sensorimotor) schemas
• Organized pattern of behavivor used to represent
objects of experience
• First psychological structures to appear
• Symbolic schemas
• Ability to think about objects/events without
actually having them present
• Operational schemas
• Cognitive operations applied to objects/events
Piaget’s Theory, con’t
How do schema change?
• Organization
• Combine existing schemas into new schema
• Produces more complex intellectual structures
• Adaptation
• Two complementary processes: Assimilation and
accomodation
• Assimilation
• The process by which children attempt to
interpret new experiences in relation to
previous experiences
• Fit new information with existing schemas
• Accomodation
• The process by which children modify their
existing cognitive structures to account for
new experiences
• Existing schemas undergo change
• Two processes always occur together
• End result is cognitive equilibrium
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Properties of stage theories:
• Invariant developmental sequence
• Constant, unchanging order
• No skipping of stages
• Indicates strong maturational component
• Hierarchical relations among stages
• Structures of earlier stages not lost
• Incorporated into achievements of later stages
Stages of development:
Period of Sensorimotor Intelligence
Substages of the sensorimotor period:
• Stage 1: The use of reflexes (0 – 1 mo)
• Stage 2: Primary circular reactions (1 – 4 mos)
• Stage 3: Secondary circular reactions (4 – 8
•
•
•
mos)
Stage 4: Coordination of secondary schemas (8
– 12 mos)
Stage 5: Tertiary circular reactions (12 – 18
mos)
Stage 6: Invention of new means through mental
combinations (18 – 24 mos)
Period of Sensorimotor Intelligence
Specific developmental abilities in the sensorimotor
period:
• The development of intentional behavior
• Piaget’s well-known object hiding task
• Object permanence
• The A-not-B Error
• The development of mental representations
• Hidden displacements
• Imitation and deferred imitation
Preoperational Period
• Symbolic function and pretend play
• Egocentrism
• Animism
• Conservation Tasks
Concrete Operational Period
• Conservation
• Classification
• Seriation
• Conservation Tasks
Formal Operational Period