GOOD MORNING

Theory of Cognitive development by Jean Piaget

Dr. Parag S. Deshmukh

Ist MDS.

Contents:

Introduction Classification of psychological theories Cognitive development Stages of cognitive development Contributions of piaget cognitive

theory Criticism conclusion References

Introduction

As the saying goes

“body does what mind says, for all behavioral act of a person there is a force behind which is known as mind or psyche. So it is essential on our part to study psychology.”

• Psychology –

Study of human mind and its functions.

Psychology is both a field of study and also a means of improving the quality of life ~Kimble 1984

It can be defined as ‘Science dealing with human nature, function and phenomenon of his soul in the main’.

For treating a child successfully or to manage a child in a dental setting, we as dentists should have thorough knowledge on personality development of the child.

“Child Psychology”“Is the science that deals with the study of child’s mind and how it functions, it also deals with the mental power or an interaction between the conscious and subconscious element in a child”

Different Theories Of Psychology Which Have An Application In Dentistry

Theories on personality Development

• Psychoanalytic theory or psychosexual theory

by Sigmund Freud

• Psychosocial theory or Erikson’s model of

Personality development

Theory on Cognitive Development

• Cognitive development theory by Jean Piaget

Theories on Learning and development of

Behavior

• Classical conditioning by Ivan Pavlov

• Operant conditioning by B.F. Skinner

• Social or Observational learning by Albert Bandura

• Theory of Hierarchy of Needs by Abraham Maslow

Other relevant theories

• Separation-Individuation theory by Margaret S

Mahler 

• Attachment theory – John Bowlby.

• Theory of moral development – Kohlberg L.

• Childrenese – Haim Ginott.

IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING CHILD PSYCHOLOGY IN DENTISTRY:-To understand the child as he comes to dental office &

know his problem in the way he explains.

Only after understanding the child and the parent, we can deliver treatment effectively.

To establish effective communication with child and parents, the basic skill is required.

Child and most importantly parents should develop confidence on our treatment and dentistry.

To teach and motivate them about importance of primary and preventive care and the importance of oral health.

To plan out effective treatment.

Biography

Switzerland, on August 9, 1896

Arthur Piaget, was a professor of medieval

literature with an interest in local history.

Rebecca Jackson, his mother, was intelligent and

energetic, but Jean found her a bit neurotic

1918, Piaget received his Doctorate in Science

from the University of Neuchâtel

He worked for a year at psychology labs in

Zurich and at Bleuler’s famous psychiatric

clinic

In 1919, he taught psychology and philosophy

at the Sorbonne in Paris.

He died in Geneva, September 16, 1980, one

of the most significant psychologists of the

twentieth century.

Cognitive Development of Children

• Cognition refers to the mental processes by which knowledge is acquired, elaborated, stored, retrieved, and used to solve problems

• Cognitive psychologists are also concerned with why one individual differs from another in many of these cognitive processes.

• Cognition includes processes like perception, thinking, concept formation, abstraction and problem solving.

Intelligence

Basics of the processes involved in cognition i.e. perception, thinking, abstraction etc. is intelligence.

Intelligence is a score derived from an intelligence test.

This indicates how the individual’s mental ability compares with that of others of the same development age.

Cognition and Age

It wasn’t until about the middle of the last century

that researchers began to systematically study the

cognitive processes of newborns and young infants

Newborn can recognize the sound of their mother’s

voice and some aspects of their mother’s language.

By six months of age they also showed some

evidence of conceptual knowledge

a model that emphasizes the biological functions and the environmental influences that promote developmental changes in the “organization” or “structure”, of intellect.

He created a broad theoretical system for the development of cognitive abilities; in this sense, his work was similar to that of Sigmund Freud, but Piaget emphasized the ways that children think and acquire knowledge.

Jean Piaget’s structural-functional approach –

Jean Piaget Research Work

Conversation &

observation of 3

children and nephew

Development of

thought process

Piaget’s Basic Ideas Of Cognition

Genetic Epistemology, “As the study of acquisition,

modification and abstract ideas and abilities on the

basis of an inherited or biological substrate, an

intelligent functioning that makes the abstract

thought possible”

Epigenesis

Every individual is born with the capacity to adjust or

adapt to both the physical and socio-cultural

environments in which he or she must live.

• Piaget rejected the idea that learning was the passive assimilation of the knowledge.

• He proposed that learning is dynamic process comprising successive stages of adaptation to reality.

• Piaget theory has two main strands:a. Mechanism by which cognitive

development takes place .b. 4 main stages through which child pass.

PIAGET’S VIEW OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Equilibration schemes Adaptation Organization Equilibrium

Equilibration

It is a mechanism that Piaget proposed to explain how children shift from one stage of thought to next

Eventually, they resolve the conflict and reach a balance or equilibrium of thought

For Piaget the motivation for change is an internal search for equilibrium

Cognitive Schemes: The structural aspects of intelligence

Describe the models or mental structures, that we

create to represent, organize, and interpret our

experience

A Scheme is a pattern of thought or action that is

similar in some respects to what the lay person calls a

strategy or a concept.

Three kinds of intellectual structures are:

• Behavioural (Sensorimotor) schemes

• Symbolic schemes

• Operational schemes

Behavioural schemes

A behavioural scheme is an organized pattern of behaviour that the child uses to represent and respond to an object or experience.

Symbolic Schemes

During second year, children reach a point at which they can solve problems and truly “think” about objects and events without having acted on them.

Operational Schemes

A cognitive operation is the internal mental activity that a person performs on his or her objects of thought to reach a logical conclusion

Organization:

It is the process by which children combine existing schemes into new and more complex intellectual structures, it takes place internally apart from direct contact with the environment and is both biological and psychological

Adaptation :

It is the ability of the person to adjust to the environment and to interact with it.

Assimilation and Accommodation.

Assimilation - From the beginning a child incorporates or

assimilates events within the environment into mental categories called cognitive structures.

A cognitive structure in this sense is a classification of sensations and perceptions.

For ex Bird:- Flying Object Bees:- Look Bird

Accommodation: Accommodation occurs when the child changes his or

her cognitive structure or mental category to better

represent the environment

Intelligence develops as interplay between

assimilation and accommodation

However, the child’s ability to adapt is limited by the

current level of development.

The notion that the child’s ability to adapt is age related

is a crucial concept in Piaget’s theory of development

Schemata:

Both the processes i.e. assimilation and accommodation are used simultaneously alternately throughout life

Through this continuous dual process child is instantly building various hierarchies of related behavior known as schemata.

It represents dynamic process of differentiation and organization of knowledge with the resultant evolution of behavior and cognitive functioning appropriate for the age of child.

Cognitive development stages:

Cognitive development stages:Sensorimotor Period -

Infants knowledge of world is limited to their

sensory perceptions and motor activities.

During the first 2 years of life,

a child develops from a newborn infant

Simple modes of thought that are the foundation

of language develop during this time,

Communication is limited because of the child’s

simple concepts and lack of language capabilities

Age Characteristics

Birth – 2 monthsSimple Reflex

Uses inborn motor and sensory reflexes (sucking, grasping, looking) to interact and accommodate to the external world.

2-4 monthsPrimary circular reactions / Habits

Children co-ordinates sensation and new schemas.

4-8 monthsSecondary circular reactions

Child becomes more focused on the world and begins to intentionally repeat an action in order to trigger a response in the environment.

8 months – 1 yearCoordination of reactions

Child starts to show clearly intentional actions. Children begins exploring the environment around them and will often imitate the observed behaviors of the others. understanding of objects begins. Also begins to recognize certain objects have specific work.

1 year – 18 monthsTertiary circulation reaction

Period of trial and error experimentation.

18 months – 2 years Early representational thought

Children begins to develop symbols to represent events or objects in the world. Begins to move towards understanding the world through mental operations rather than purely through actions. child knowledge develops by:Object permanence, causality and symbolic play.

Preoperational Period:

Because children above the age of 2 begin to

use language in ways similar to adults, it

appears that their thought processes are more

like those of adults.

During the preoperational stage, the capacity

develops to form mental symbols representing

things and events not present, and children

learn to use words to symbolize these absent

objects.

children understand the world in the way they sense it through five primary senses.

Concepts that can not be seen heard smelt, tasted or felt for example time and health.

Children use and understand language in a literal sense.

Egocentrism: A general feature of the thought process

and language during the preoperational period is egocentrism

Defined as inability to assume another persons point of view.

At this stage his own perspective is all that he can manage

Features of thought process:

Mountain Study

Animism

giving dental instrument and equipment lifelike names and qualities

Handpiece :- “Whistling Willie”

Conservation:• Piaget found that few children shows any

understanding of conservation prior to age of five.

Dental staff should use immediate sensations rather than

abstract reasoning in discussing concepts like prevention

of dental problems with a child at this stage.

Excellent oral hygiene is very important when an

orthodontic appliance is present

“Brushing and flossing remove food particles, which in

turn prevents bacteria from forming acids, which cause

tooth decay”.

“Brushing makes your teeth feel clean and smooth”, and

“tooth paste makes your mouth taste good”,

Period of Concrete Operations(7 yr – 11 yr)

An improved ability to reason emerges.

8 year old could watch the water being poured

from one glass to another, imagine the reverse

of that process, and conclude that the amount

of water remains the same no matter what size

the container is

The child’s thinking is still strongly tied to

concrete situations, and the ability to reason on

an abstract level is limited.

By seven or 8 years, most children develop the ability to conserve number, length, and liquid volume.  Conservation refers to the idea that a quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance.

Animism declines

Children are much more like adults

“Now wear your retainer every night and be sure

to keep it clean”,

“This is your retainer. Put it in your mouth

like this, and take it out like that. Put it in

every evening right after dinner before you

go to bed, and take it out before breakfast

every morning. Brush it like this with an

old tooth brush to keep it clean”

Features of concrete operations:

Logic: Children now are fairly good at

inductive logic which involves going from a specific experience to a general principal.

There is difficulty in using deductive logic which involves using a general principle to determine the outcome of a specific event

Reversibility:

Here is awareness that actions can be reverse

Eg.:

child might be able to recognize that his or her dog is a Labrador,that a Labrador is a dog.and that a dog is an animal

Period of Formal Operations

Ability to deal with abstract concepts and abstract reasoning develops by about age 11

Intellectually the child can and should be treated as an adult

Successful communication, in other words, requires a feel for the child’s stage of intellectual development.

• Aware that others think

• Experiencing tremendous biologic changes

in growth and sexual development

• They feel as though they are constantly “on

stage”, being observed and criticized by

those around them

• “Imaginary Audiences” by Elkind

The imaginary audience is a powerful influence

on young adolescents

The reaction of the imaginary audience to braces

on the teeth, of course, is an important

consideration to a teenage patient

“Others really care about my appearance and

feelings as much as I do”

“Personal fable

Personal Fable

“Because I am unique, I am not subject to

the consequences others will experience”.

Imaginary audience and the personal fable

have useful functions in helping us develop

social awareness and allowing us to cope in

a dangerous environment

Clinical Application: Dentistry

Accept or reject T/t

To wear or not to wear appliance

Decalcification of the teeth from poor oral

hygiene

A teenage patient may protest to his orthodontist

that he does not want to wear a particular

appliance because others will think it makes him

“look Goofy”

logic Deductive logic becomes important

during formal operational stage.

It requires ability to use general principle to determine specific outcome.

This type of thinking is helpful in science and mathematics.

Abstract thought

The ability to think about abstract concepts emerges.

child begin to consider possible outcomes and consequences of actions.

Important in long term planning.

Problem solving

Ability to systematically solve a problem in logical and methodical way emerges.

Child is able to quickly plan an organized approach to solving problem.

One role of an effective dental professional is to help teenagers test the reality that actually surrounds them.

It is the job of the dentist to carefully evaluate the development of the child, and to adapt his or her language

Adage “different strokes for different folks”

Evaluating Piaget’s theoryContributions:-

• Psychologists owe him a long list of masterful concepts of enduring power and fascination, assimilation, accommodation, object permanence, egocentrism, conservation and others

• Psychologists also owe him the current vision of children as active, constructive thinkers and they have a debt to him for creating a theory that generated a huge volume of research on children’s cognitive development

Piaget's focus on qualitative development

had an important impact on education.

While Piaget did not specifically apply his

theory in this way, many educational

programs are now built upon the belief that

children should be taught at the level for

which they are developmentally prepared.

Criticism

Problems With Research Methods

A major source of inspiration for the theory was Piaget's observations of his own three children

Well-educated professionals of high socioeconomic status.

Because of this unrepresentative sample, it is difficult to generalize his findings to a larger population.

Problems With Formal Operations

Research has disputed Piaget's argument that all children will automatically move to the next stage of development as they mature.

Some data suggests that environmental factors may play a role in the development of formal operations.

Underestimates Children's Abilities

Most researchers agree that children possess many of the abilities at an earlier age than Piaget suspected.

For example, children of this age have some ability to take the perspective of another person, meaning they are far less egocentric than Piaget believed.

Q. Is Piaget’s account of cognitive change clear and accurate?

Broad transformation in thinking but exactly what the child does to equilibrate is vague

On a variety of tasks infants and young children appear more competent than adolescents and adults who appear less competent, than Piaget assumed.

Culture and education

• Culture and education exert a stronger influence on children’s development than Piaget believed.

conclusion Dentistry for children can be demanding and

frustrating; at the same time, it can be enriching, satisfying, and memorable

Child patient management was a concern 30 years ago as well as today

Multidisciplinary research that results from combining the wealth of knowledge of both dentistry and psychology significantly helps in modifying behavior management and child development

1.Profitt- textbook of contemporary orthodontics.

2. textbook of craniofacial growth- Shridhar premkumar.

3.Textbook Of Pedodontics Shobha Tendon.

4. Library dissertation on theories of psychology. (department of pedodontics, SPDC)

5.Wikipedia the free encyclopedia.

"Children have never been good listeners to their elders, but they never failed to imitate them”

~ James Baldwin

thank You wishing you all

happy and prosperous new

year