Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.

Jean Piaget

Developmental Theories
 Piaget - Cognitive Developmental
Stages
 Piaget’s writings: an attempt to answer questions like, how is knowledge acquired?
 These questions are answered in different content areas: mathematics, moral reasoning, and language.

Developmental Theories
 Knowledge is a process rather than a state.
 People “construct” knowledge.
 Knowledge is “biased”.
 Piaget’s thinking deeply rooted in biology
 mollusks

Developmental Theories
 Intelligence = “adaptation to the environment”.
 Mental embryology.
 Structuralism.
 Stage theory.
 Equilibrium.
 Qualitative changes.
 Quantitative changes.

Developmental Theories
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Egocentrism.
Cognitive development is cumulative.
Adaptation.
Assimiliation.
Accomodation.
Four processes that work together to guide development:
 Emotions
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Maturation
Experience
Social Interaction

Developmental Theories
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Stages are universal.
Piaget’s methodology – clinical method.
 Sensorimotor Period (B-2 years old)
 Stage 1: Modification of Reflexes (b to 1 month)
 Stage 2: Primary Circular Reactions (1 to 4 months)
 Stage 3: Secondary Circular Reactions (4 to 8 months)

Developmental Theories
 Stage 4: Coordination of secondary schemes (approximately 8 to 12 months)
 Stage 5: Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months)
 Stage 6: Invention of new means through mental combinations (18-24 months)
Object permanence

Developmental Theories
 Preoperational Period – 2 to 7 years
 Semiotic function develops
 Development of representational thought
 Language primary mode for expressing thought.
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Egocentrism
Rigidity of thought – centration
 Beaker of water experiment
 Lack of reversibility

Theories
 Piaget continued.
 Preoperational period (2-7 years).
 Now the child transfers the notion about objects, relations, causality, space, time to a new medium – internal representation – a more highly organized structure.
 Semiotic function develops.
 Representational thought makes it possible to use words and other representative means.

Theories
 Egocentrism – continues to decrease.
 Rigidity of thought – e.g. centration.
 Beaker of water experiment.
 Lack of reversibility.
 Thinking starts to become less rigid.

Theories
 Semilogical reasoning.
 Limited social cognition.
 Concrete Operational Period (7-11)
 Child uses mental operations which are applied to objects and events.
 The child classifies them, orders them, reverses them.

Theories
 Formal Operational Period (11-15)
 The ability to classify objects, order them, reverse them is taken a step further.
 The child can take the results of these concrete operations and generate hypotheses.
 Thought has become logical, abstract, and hypothetical.

Theories
 Scientist.
 Problems used to test for formal operational thought.
 Direct instruction in scientific thought not necessary.
 Memory – memory is not a passive or static state but reflects and is dependent on the entire cognitive structure.

Theories
 Example, array of 10 sticks and ask them to order them according to size.
 Developmental differences emerge.
 Differences seen with:
 3 and 4 year olds
 5 and 6 year olds
 7 year olds.

Theories
 Cognitive structures change and that reorganizes memory.
 Cognitive organization.
 Cognitive adaptation.
 Innate tendency to adapt to the environment.
 Adaptation.
 Accomodation.
 Assimilation.

Theories
 Only moderately discrepant events or characteristics can be accomodated to; great leaps not possible.
 Assimilation and accomodation in balance = equilibrium.

Theories
 Strengths of Piaget’s theory
 Role of cognition recognized.
 Changed the way we look at children.
 Searched for modes of thinking underlying overt behavior.
 Came up with norms of development.
 New perspective for developmental psychologists.
 Theory postulates an underlying continuity and organization to a range of seemingly unrelated behaviors.

Theories
 Strengths continued:
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Children actively construct their knowledge.
Research sensitive to children’s strategies and plans.
 Development follows a sequence that utilizes earlier forms.
 Children inherently seek stimulation.
 Children try to understand reality.
 Cognitive development does not depend on our ability to use language.

Theories
 Weaknesses:
 Lack of formal completeness.
 Need for a theory of performance.
 Only slight attention to the role of social and emotional development.
 Methodological and stylistic inadequacies.