L2 - Cognitive Development: Jean Piaget (completed notes) PDF

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Dr Emma Haycraft...

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Week 2 – Basic Developmental Psychology

Cognitive development: Jean Piaget Jean Piaget (1896-1980)  

“Genetic epistemology” – study of how we know things  psychology helped this study (alongside biology) Behaviourism & psychoanalysis two focuses before Piaget  child as passive  Piaget gave children an active role in shaping their dev’t

Development of the theory 

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Proposed cognitive dev’t occur through stages (discontinuous)  interested in systematic developments  problems harder for children to solve than adults = thinking differs Constructivist theory (active agent)  children make similar mistakes at similar ages Children interact with their environment and know more about the world

Key aspects of Piagetian theory 

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Schemas: organisational sequences of bhvrs - used to make sense of the world - evolving as env’t changes - children’s schemas update as they know more about the world (more understanding) Adaptation: changes an individual makes in response to the environment - assimilation: take new info into pre-existing schemas - accommodation: modify/change schema to adjust to new environment - assimilation & accommodation always happen together Equilibrium: when an experience can be explained by understanding (familiar) Disequilibrium: understanding is challenged by new experience (unfamiliar)

Piaget’s stage theory 4 main stages of cognitive development (invariable and universal – does occur at slightly different times/ages) 1. 2. 3. 4.

Sensori-motor Pre-operational Concrete operational Formal operational

Sensori motor stage: birth – 18 months/2 years -

Learn through senses Learn through reflexes Manipulates materials (interacting w/objects in their env’t)  gets things to happen Learn how to solve various problems  means-ends, problem solving Begin acquisition of thought & language  driven by them  reasoning

Week 2 – Basic Developmental Psychology Object permanence   

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Understanding objects have something to them and maintain their visual shape Objects still exist when you can’t see it (developed around 9-10 months) Hidden toy experiment - 4 months: no attempt to search for hidden object - 4-9 months: visual search for object - 9 months: search for & retrieve hidden object Partial view = look for object, but not if fully hidden A-not-B error task: looking under wrong cloth even when apple swapped in full view

Pre-operational stage: 18/24 months – 7 years Behaviours: -

Ideas based on perception Focus on one variable at a time; centration (not focusing on other elements) - so, fail conservation tasks Over-generalise based on limited experience Yet to acquire logical thinking Can solve practical problems (means-ends) - might ask for things to help them Can represent themselves w/gestures, drawing alongside better speech Thinking is often magical (e.g. Santa) Egocentric: hard to understand others feel differently  rigidity of thought Can only do things one way (i.e. can’t do things backwards) Limited social cognition  not very aware of others’ intentions Become imaginative in play Display animism  creating lifelike qualities for inanimate objects

Three mountain task: -

3D model of 3 mountains, placed at low table height so can look from every angle to familiarise themselves with it  perspectives changed at each point Asked what a doll would see at a different point  see if they know it will be different to their own (shown series of pictures and have to choose one  PO would choose photo of what they see)

Concrete operational stage: 7/8 years – 11/12 years Behaviours: -

Form ideas based on better independent reasoning Thinking mostly limitied to objects & familiar events Pass conservation tests  can conserve Lose concentration  more flexible thinking (decentration) Mathematical abilities increase  e.g. better at conservation tests involving weight/number

Week 2 – Basic Developmental Psychology -

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Understanding that superficial quantity changes doesn’t mean a change has actually occurred  conservation Number conservation task if passed first, then length  mass/weight  volume usually last No longer egocentric  can see more than one thing, and see things from other perspectives Conceptual orientation  understand, e.g. no more counters added Reversibility  able to watch counters extended, move them back and be sure there’s same number of counters

Formal operational stage: 11/12 years onwards Behaviours:       

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Think conceptually & hypothetically Better able to make logical deductions from abstract statements Adolescents  can reason like scientists (what, how, why) Reasoning about abstractions Applying logic Advanced problem solving  move through processes Abstract, hypothetical thinking… 1. Edith has darker hair than Lily 2. Edith’s hair is lighter than Susan’s 3. Who has the darkest hair? Appearance-reality distinction  can find it hard to contemplate dual reality  developing an awareness that things may not be what they look like Spatial cognition  understanding of 3D world  one model/symbol can represent a real thing Conservation  object properties remain unchanged even if they have been superficially changed Class inclusion  recognise relationship btwn groups and sub-groups Transitive inferences  understanding relationship btwn two or more premises that leads to the inference that follows logically Perspective taking  lessening egocentricity, so able to see things from other people’s perspectives

Implications for education

Week 2 – Basic Developmental Psychology 

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Piaget has been v influential in educational psychology and schooling  active learning in children  child-centred learning Children can only learn when ready – at right stage of cognitive development  progress to next level alongside stages  child learns alone (“little scientist”)

Piaget’s legacy  

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Comprehensive & detailed theory  intellectual dev’t from birth – adulthood Interaction btwn individual level of maturation (cog stage) and env’t that offers right experiences  able to pass tests with right interactions Piaget’s explanations not wholly useful…...