Developmental Psychology Piaget: Cognitive Development Theory

Review: STAGE THEORIES A stage is a developmental period during which characteristic patterns of behavior are exhibited and certain capacities become established. Assume that: 1. Individuals must progress through specified stages in a particular order because each stage builds on the previous stage. 2. Progress through these stages is strongly related to age.

Principles of Development Development is orderly. Development is predictable and sequential. Development is gradual. While changes in development are orderly, they most often do not occur abruptly, or dramatically.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Read pages Summarize/Define the following in your notes: Cognitive development Sensorimotor development Object permanence Preoperational stage Reversibility Conservation Concrete operations Formal operations

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Attempts to explain the way a child sees the world the way they do.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Cornerstone Principles: Organization…how we organize new and old ideas, thoughts, etc. Drive for equilibrium…balance; emotional and/or mental Adaptation…ability to change behavior to fit the environment

Adaptation… Schema – organized and systematic approach to answering questions or solving problems Assimilation - involves interpreting new experiences in terms of existing mental structures without changing them. Accommodation - involves changing existing mental structures to explain new experiences.

Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years) develop the ability to coordinate sensory input with motor actions Primary circular reactions —actions with own self (suck thumb, blow bubbles) Secondary circular reactions —actions extend to outside environment (rattles, making noises over and over) Tertiary circular reactions —some repetition of actions, but w/ variations (banging an object on different furniture, dinner time & utensils!)

Sensorimotor Stage, cont. Object permanence develops when a child recognizes that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible. Leads to mental images, primitive beginning of symbolic thought. Basis for all thinking.

Preoperational Stage (2-7 years) gradually improve in the use of mental images. Emphasizes the shortcomings of thought processes during this stage Egocentricism - thinking is characterized by a limited ability to share another person’s viewpoint.

Centration - the tendency to focus on just one feature of a problem, neglecting other important aspects. Irreversibility - the inability to envision reversing an action. Conservation - Piaget’s term for the awareness that physical quantities remain constant in spite of changes in their shape or appearance. Animism - the belief that all things are living

Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years) “Concrete – images of tangible objects & events.” Decentration - focus on more than one factor; develop the skill of coordinating several aspects of a problem.

Concrete Operational Stage, cont. Reversibility - undo process mentally M&NR=1 M&NR=1 Classification - In this stage they begin to understand “Hierarchical Classification” - ability to focus simultaneously on two levels of classification. Start to develop problem-solving skills: Ex. Carnations & Daisies (both flowers)

Formal Operational Stage (adolescent to adult) Begin to understand hypothetical problems and situations. Characteristics of Formal Thought Become more systematic in their problem solving: not as much trial and error, can envision choices and outcomes and use reason to make a choice. Cognitive process in this stage can be characterized as: -Abstract; Systematic; Logical; Reflective

Formal Operational Stage, Video example 8&feature=related 8&feature=related Piaget’s experiments…This is what your experiments will look like! U&feature=related U&feature=related

Piaget acknowledged that some children may pass through the stages at different ages and that some children may show characteristics of more than one stage at a given time. But he insisted that cognitive development always follows this sequence, that stages cannot be skipped, and that each stage is marked by new intellectual abilities and a more complex understanding of the world.