1

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 4, 4.1

PIAGET’S STAGE THEORY OF COGNITIVE

Piaget Born in Switzerland 1896 - 1980

Cognitive development theory• Children actively construct their understanding

of the world• 4 stages of cognitive development

Caring for Children

3

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORYPIAGET

Birth to 2 yrs

Sensorimotor Uses senses and motor skills, items known by use; object permanence

2 - 7 yrs Pre-operational Symbolic thinking, language used; egocentric thinking, imagination/ experience grow, child de-centers

7 - 11 yrs Concrete operational

Logic applied, objective/rational interpretations; conservation, numbers, ideas, classifications

11 yrs on Formal operational

Thinks abstractly, hypothetical ideas; ethics, politics, social/moral issues explored

Caring for Children

Chapter 6 4

PIAGET4 stages of cognitive development

• 1. Sensorimotor: • birth @ 2

• 2. Preoperational:• (begins @ time child starts to talk -

@ 7yrs.)• 3. Concrete:

• @ 1st grade to early adolescence)• 4. Formal Operations:

• adolescence

Chapter 6

Susie’s Pretty Cat FartedSensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete, Formal Operations

5

Chapter 6 6

PIAGETSENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Stage 1• Birth – 2• Understand world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions• Sight of rattle (seeing)

• Leads to

• Touch rattle (reaching)

Chapter 6

Stage 1• Organize world into:

• What can I put in my mouth• What is graspable• What makes noise

• 6 substages

7

PIAGETSENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Chapter 6 8

Substage 1: Reflexes

• Birth - 1 mo.• Sensation & physical action

• Coordinated mainly by reflexes• Rooting• Sucking

PIAGETSENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Chapter 6 9

Substage 1 cont.: • Rooting, sucking & grasping reflexes• Suck when lips are touched• Learns: suck when bottle nearby

• Classical conditioning

PiagetSensorimotor Stage Simple reflexes

Chapter 6

Schemes• Actions or mental representations that brain creates to organize knowledge. • Actions at this stage

• Ex: Sucking, looking & grasping

10

Cognitive Processes

Chapter 6

COGNITIVE PROCESSES

Adaptation: adjusting to new environments

• Mental structures help us adapt to world

• Children actively construct their own cognitive worlds

11

12

COGNITIVE PROCESSES

Schemes: mental representations or actions that organize knowledge

• Assimilation: incorporating new information

• Accommodation: adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences

Chapter 6

S C H E M A :M E N T A L R E P R E S E N T A T I O N S O R A C T I O N S T H A T O R G A N I Z E K N O W L E D G E

Thomas the Train

Wooden

Trains

Griffith Park Real

Trains

13

Chapter 6

V I S I T N Y & S E E A S U B WAY.W H E R E D O Y O U P U T T H I S I N Y O U R

S C H E M A ?

Thomas the Train

Wooden

Trains

Griffith Park Real

Trains

14

Chapter 6

Assimilation:

Thomas the Train

Wooden

Trains

Griffith Park Real

TrainsSubwa

y Trains

15

Chapter 6

Dad says: I am going to train for the marathon. Where does this go?

Thomas the Train

Wooden

Trains

Griffith Park Real

TrainsSubwa

y Trains

16

Chapter 6

Accommodation:Adjusting schemes to fit new information & experiences

Training

Running

Jumping

17

Chapter 6 18

Substage 2: Primary circular reactions

• 1 - 4 mo’s• Coordinates sensation & 2 types of schemes. • 1. Habits• 2. Primary circular reaction

• Repetition

PIAGETSENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Chapter 6 19

Substage 2 Cont.: 1. Habits

• Example:• May suck when no bottle present

P I A G E T

Chapter 6

PIAGETSENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Substage 3: Secondary circular reaction (Repetitive action) 4-8 mo.'s.

• Reproduces event initially occurred by chance.

• Imatate behaviors• Hear a sound & want to

reproduce it.

20

Chapter 6 21

Substage 4 cont.: Coordination of secondary circular reactions

• 8 - 12 mo.'s• Goal directed behavior• Infant coordinates hand & eye• Actions more outwardly directed; & intentionality emerges.

PIAGETSENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Chapter 6 22

Substage 4: Coordination of Secondary circular reactions

• Infant more object-oriented• Move beyond self• Repeat chance actions involving objects in

secondary circular reactions. • Action repeated because of its consequences.

• Imitates simple actions• Shake a rattle

PIAGETSENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Chapter 6 23

PIAGETSENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Object Permanence• End of sensorimotor period

• Understanding objects & events continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched

• Baby’s favorite game?• Why?

• Understanding of causality

Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development

Chapter 6 24

(a) (b)

Object Permanence

Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development

Chapter 6 25

Substage 5: Tertiary circular reactions• Novelty, & curiosity

• 12 - 18 mo’s• Purposely explores new possibilities with objects

• Continually doing new things to them & exploring results.

• Block, thrown, spin, slide

PIAGETSENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Chapter 6

Substage 6: Mental representations• Internalization of schemes

• 18 - 24 mo’s• Develops ability to use:

• Symbols• Block is an airplane

• Internalized sensory images• Apple

• Words that represent events

26

PIAGETSENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Chapter 6 27

PIAGETSENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Self-recognition•Towards end of stage•Rouge test Lewis & Brooks 1979

•Placed in front of mirror•Touched nose at 18 – 24 mos.

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

PIAGET’S PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

• 2 - 7 yrs. of age• Not yet capable of operations Preoperations definition:

• Children do not yet preform logical, reversible mental actions called operations.

• Internalized set of actions highly organized & conform to principles of logic.

• Do mentally what was done physically before.• Ex: Math problems in head

• Can’t reverse actions

Three Views of Cognitive Changes in Early Childhood

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

P R E O P E R A T I O N A L S T A G E O F D E V E L O P M E N TH T T P : D P / / W W W. Y O U T U B E . C O M / WA T C H ? V = P B Y V Z M 7 I Q 3 S

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

PIAGET’S PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

PIAGET’S PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

Symbolic Functions• Creates mental images of objects

• Store for later use• Disneyland

• Imaginative drawings• Mentally represent object not present

• Ex: Scribbles represent people• Awareness of what scribble represents

even over time.

Three Views of Cognitive Changes in Early Childhood

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

THE SYMBOLIC DRAWINGS OF YOUNG CHILDREN

(b) 11-year-old’s drawing, which is more realistic and less inventive

(a) 3½-year-old’s “a pelican kissing a seal”

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

1. Symbolic Function Cont.• Thoughts limited beliefs:

• Egocentrism:• Inability to see things from another person's point of view.

• What happens if parents divorce at this stage?

PIAGET’S PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

Symbolic Function Cont.• Animistic Thinking

• Imagining that inanimate objects have life & mental processes.

• Child trips over coffee table, what will they say?

PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

 Yr Mo  Comment

 2  1 Moon running (following the child).

 2  5There aren't any boats on the lake; they're asleep.

 2  5(on a winter morning) Oh good! The sun's come to make the radiators warm.

 2  6 The sun goes to bed because its sad.

 2 10(looking at blowing leaves) Do they like dancing?

 2 9 (looking at a hollow in a tree) Didn't it cry when the hole was made?

 2  9(watching a stone roll down a bank) Look at the stone. Its afraid of the grass.

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

Limits in preoperational thought

Do not understand at this stage:• Centration:

• Focusing attention on 1 characteristic to exclusion of others

• Conservation:• Realizes altering object’s substance does

not change it quantitatively

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

PIAGET’S PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

PIAGET’S CONSERVATION TASK

(b)(a)

A B CA B C

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

Centration experiment:• Number of objects set out in a row & then

moved closer together• More objects, fewer objects, or same number

of objects?• Focus on relative lengths of rows• Do not take into account relative densities or

that nothing has been added or taken away• Conclude fewer objects than before.

PIAGET PREOPERATIONALCONSERVATION

Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6

CONCRETE OPERATIONAL THOUGHT

7-11

Increased ability to use logic

Operations: • Internalized set of actions highly organized

& conform to principles of logic. • Do mentally what was done physically

before.• Ex: Math problems in head

• Mental actions applied to real, concrete objects

• Can reason logically if applied to specific or concrete examples

• Focus on several characteristics at once

What is Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development in Childhood?

Can understand ConservationKnow that ball of clay rolled out has the same amount of clay.

• Can take into account more than one dimension.

• Previous height or width • Not both

CONCRETE OPERATIONAL THOUGHT

Seriation:• Ability to order stimuli along a quantitative dimension• Ex: Child gets plate of dinner• Categorizes food

• What I like most - what I like least

CONCRETE OPERATIONAL THOUGHT

Seriation• Instructions organize according to

length & color

CONCRETE OPERATIONAL THOUGHT

Transitivity:• Ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions• Organize action figures smallest to largest

CONCRETE OPERATIONAL THOUGHT

Classification: Important Ability in Concrete Operational Thought

Family tree of 4 generations; a preoperational child has trouble classifying members

Understands a brother can be a son, etc.

04/11/2023 46

PIAGET’S THEORY

The formal operati

onal stage • Abstract thinking

• Why am I thinking what I am thinking?

• Logical inferences

PIAGET’S THEORY

Hypothetical-deductive reasoning• Develop & test hypotheses• Deduce best ways to solve problems

Idealism & possibilities• Qualities desired in self & others• Compare self with others

04/11/2023 47

04/11/2023 48

Evaluating Piaget’s theory• Volumes of research• More variation

• Individual• Cultural

• Many adults• Never demonstrate formal operational thinking

• Education in logic & science• Promotes development of formal operations

• Writing assignments to analyze information

• Does cognitive development proceeds in stages?

PIAGET’S THEORY

04/11/2023 49

ADOLESCENT EGOCENTRICISM

Heightened self-consciousness

David Elkind

2 types of social thinking• Imaginary audience

• Believe others are as interested in them as they are in themselves

• Pimple• Personal fable

• Uniqueness • Invulnerability

How Do Adolescents Think and Process Information?