COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Cognitive psychology involves the study of how we acquire, organise,
remember and use information.
Cognitive development focuses on how and when we develop and
use these mental abilities.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) studied the development of children's
understanding. He did this through observing them and talking
and listening to them while they worked on exercises he set.
PIAGET’S THEORY
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development proposes that we move
through four distinct and sequential stages from birth to
adulthood, which develop our cognitive abilities.
Each stage is linked to an approximate chronological age range,
though these are subject to individual differences.
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE
Birth – two years.
Differentiates self from objects Recognises self as agent of
action and begins to act intentionally. For example: pulls a
string to set mobile in motion or shakes a rattle to make a
noise .
Achieves object permanence: realises that things continue to
exist even when no longer present to the sense.
OBJECT PERMANENCE EXPERIMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKZ9IPRKkkU&feature=related
This clip shows a 13 month old child who is beginning to understand the concept of
object permanence.
PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE
2 – 7 years
Learns to use language and to represent objects by images and words.
Thinking is still egocentric: has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others.
Classifies objects by a single feature. For example: groups together all the red
blocks regardless of shape or all the square blocks regardless of colour.
EGOCENTRISM EXPERIMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
7 – 12 years
Can think logically about objects and events.
Achieves conservation of number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9)
Conservation refers to the idea that an object does not change its weight, mass, volume or
area when it changes shape or appearance.
Classifies objects according to several features and can order them in series along a single
dimension such as size.
CONSERVATION EXPERIMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=gnArvcWaH6I&feature=endscreen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=gA04ew6Oi9M
FORMAL OPERATIONAL
12 years and over
Focus is on complex, abstract, logical thinking.
This evidenced by an individual’s ability to develop plans to solve problems, identify a
range of possible solutions to problems, as well as developing hypotheses and
systematically testing solutions.
Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological problems
FORMAL OPERATIONAL EXPERIMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw36PpYPPZM
FORMAL OPERATIONAL
So, do all people achieve the formal operational stage?
Originally Piaget believed that they did, however, his later research suggested that this
may not be the case.
Formal operational thinking may depend on education and everyday experiences.
Mathematical training has been shown to be effective in enhancing formal
operational thinking.
STUDENT ACTIVITY:
How good is your logical thinking and reasoning ability?
Learning activity 10.12 on page 354 of textbook.
WAS PIAGET RIGHT?!
Strengths of Theory:
Great impact on psychology – his theory stimulated considerable interest + led to thousands
of studies by other psychologists.
Many aspects of Piaget’s theory have been confirmed, whilst others have been challenged.
Limitations of Theory:
For example: it is now suggested that infants know a lot more, and know it sooner, than Piaget
suggested.
Some psychologists also disagree with the idea of stage theories – they argue that
development results from life experiences rather than biological timing.