PSYB3 – Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development

Basic Overview Constructivism (children construct their own reality through interaction with the environment). Psychological developmental was the result of both inbuilt processes and experiences. Universal theory. The existence of schemas. Use of clinical method.

Schemas Schemas are building blocks of knowledge that help us to define, categorise and organise the world around us. In Piaget's theory, schemas are changed in order to accommodate new experiences. There are four stages in relation to schemas...

Schemas - processes Equilibrium - the world around us makes sense. Disequilibrium - something in our environment does not make sense. We need to change an existing schema. Accommodation - the process of modifying an existing schema to fit a new experience. Assimilation - the process whereby a new experience is understood in terms of an existing schema.

Stage Theory Piaget's theory is a stage theory. The four stages are as follows... Sensorimotor Pre-operational Concrete operational Formal operational

Sensorimotor Stage – Birth – 2 yrs Thinking is related to motor movements and sensations i.e sucking and grabbing. Feature of this stage is object permanence. Object permanance is the idea/understanding that an object still exists even if one cannot physically see it.

Sensorimotor stage - Key studies Piaget - shook a toy infront of a 4 month old baby and then covered it with paper. At 8 months, the child continues to reach for the toy. From this, Piaget concluded that children did not have object permanance until 8 months of age.

Sensorimotor stage- Key studies cont... Bower and Wishart (1972) Infants around 4 months were filmed playing with a toy. It was found that they still reached for the toy when the lights were turned out. + Findings have been replicated - Contradict Piaget's findings, suggesting Piaget underestimated children's abilities

Pre-operational stage (2-7 years) Reasoning is limited at this stage by egocentrism and centration. Egocentrism is the inability to see from another point of view. Centration is whereby the child concentrates on one feature and as a result fails to see the relevance of another. Heavy use of symbols during this stage e.g using a banana as a telephone in a game

Pre-operational stage - Key Studies Piaget (1956) - Three Mountains Children between 4 and 12 were shown a model of three mountains. A doll was placed at a viewpoint, and children had to select the correct image that portrayed what the doll could see. The youngest children were unable to distinguish between their own viewpoint and that of the doll.

Pre-operational stage - Key studies cont... Hughes and Donaldson (1979) Model brick wall in the shape of a cross. There were three dolls; two policeman and a boy. The child was asked to position the boy so the policeman could not see him. This was done for four arrangements. 22/30 children were successful on all four tasks. Young children could see from another viewpoint.

A02 - Piaget & Hughes and Donaldson - Piaget - Children may have found the experiment too complicated - Piaget - Lack of temporal validity - Piaget - cultural bias + Hughes and D - Methods are more child friendly + H&D - Findings challenge Piaget's description of development

Concrete operational stage (7-12 years) Children are no longer affected by egocentrism or centration. Children can carry out reversible operations (i.e conservation tasks). Conservation involves the ability to understand that if nothing has been added or taken away, then the amount of something remains the same, even when appearances have changed.

Concrete operational stage - Key Studies Piaget - set out two identical rows of counters. He asked the children if there were the same number in each row. One row was extended, and children were asked the question again. Children under 6 would say there were more counters in the longer row. These children were deemed 'unable to conserve'.

Concrete operational stage - Key Studies cont... McGarrigle and Donaldson (1974) Like Piaget's counter experiment, but there were two conditions; one where the experimenter altered the row, the other whereby 'Naughty Teddy' altered the row. 'Naughty Teddy' condition = 62% of children able to conserve. Experimenter condition = 16% of children able to conserve.

A02 - Piaget & McGarrigle & Donaldson - Piaget - Leading questions could have affected responses. Child is more likely to change answer based on conditioning in education (children are asked again if wrong). + M & D - experiment was more child friendly + M & D - challenges Piaget's findings

Concrete operational stage - Key Studies cont... Piaget (1952) Children were shown two identical cylinders with the same amount of liquid in each one. The liquid from one container was poured into two smaller ones. The children were asked if there was the same amount of liquid in the larger container as in the two smaller ones. Children below 7 could not conserve volume.

Concrete operational stage – Key features Class inclusion - the understanding of the relation between a class of objects and subclasses of objects. Seriation - putting things in order e.g smallest to largest.

Concrete operational stage - Key Studies cont... Piaget (1952) Children were asked if a box contained more brown beads or more wooden beads. Only children aged above six were able to answer the question correctly.

Concrete operational stage - Key Studies cont... McGarrigle Children were shown one white toy cow and three black toy cows. All cows were put on their sides 'sleeping'. Children were asked: 1) Are there more black cows or white cows? 2) Are there more black cows or sleeping cows? 25% of children answered Q1 correctly. 48% answered Q2 correctly. Wording affects children's responses.

Formal operational stage (12 years+) Children at this stage can think abstractly, hypothetically and systematically. Piaget did not think everybody reached this stage. Example of formal operational thinking is the ability to identify variables that influence the length of the swing of a pendulum e.g weight and length of string.

A02 - Strengths + Piaget's work has influenced early education i.e the existence of 'discovery play'. + Theory is universal. + Takes a nomothetic approach. + Cognitive development itself has good temporal validity as it will not change. + Considers nature and nurture.

A02 - Weaknesses - Questions were not standardised - possible researcher bias. - Experiments were too complicated for children to understand. - Ignored other types of thinking i.e mental processes. - Piaget often used his own children in his research - lack of objectivity.

A02 - Weaknesses - The stages are not fixed as Piaget suggested. Evidence comes from Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development. - Not all people reach the final stage. - Studies are outdated, and some are culturally biased e.g Three Mountains. Children from specific countries would not have been exposed to mountains.