DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT KELLY PYZDROWSKI

OVERVIEW Key concepts Invariant stages, universal stages, sensorimotor stage, pre- operational stage, concrete operational stage, formal operational stage Core theory: Piaget’s theory Core study: Piaget (1952) Application of research Educating children

PIAGET’S THEORY

SENSORIMOTOR STAGE Living in the “here and now” Lack of object permanence Learning through senses and actions

PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE The main achievement: Symbolic thought Egocentrism e.g. Piaget and Inhelder (1956) Lack of conservation skills

PIAGET (1952) Laboratory study investigating conservation in children of varying ages Found evidence that younger children cannot conserve due to an inability to decentre (they can only concentrate on one aspect of a problem at once) Pre-operational children also lack reversibility (the ability to mentally undo or reverse an action)

LIMITATIONS OF PIAGET (1952) We cannot be sure that young children use and interpret words in the same way as adults do Younger children may not understand what is expected of them and become confused Other studies show that young children can conserve earlier than Piaget suggests (e.g. McGarrigle & Donaldson, 1974; Rose & Blank, 1974; Samuel & Bryant, 1984)

CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE Can think logically but only if the concepts are familiar and involve real objects Can now conserve although some forms of conservation (such as area) will not be achieved until well into the concrete operational stage No longer egocentric – can now understand things from a variety of angles and viewpoints However, children at this stage cannot deal with abstract concepts or hypothetical tasks

FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE Can now deal with hypothetical situations; they can move beyond the actual states of the world and think of the possible ones Will solve problems in a systematic, logical manner in which all possible combinations of factors are considered

THE NATURE OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT It is important to note two aspects of the stages of cognitive development: They are invariant - this means that are always in the same order and none of the stages can be skipped because each successive stage builds on the previous stage and represents a more complex way of thinking They are universal - this means that apply to all children the world over, regardless of culture

THE PROCESSES USED IN COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT Schemas Equilibrium and the state of disequilibrium Assimilation Accommodation Operations

LIMITATIONS OF PIAGET’S THEORY Piaget may have underestimated some abilities and overestimated others Several studies question the findings of Piaget’s studies. They indicate that it is possible he underestimated the abilities of young children, especially in terms of egocentrism and conservation of number Other studies indicate that he may have overestimated some abilities. Some research shows that many adult people never reach the formal operational stage, especially on scientific reasoning problems (King, 1985)

THE WORK OF VYGOTSKY The importance of culture The role of others The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) Scaffolding The Russian psychologist Lev Semeonovich Vygotsky, 1896–1934

EDUCATING CHILDREN Piaget Children must discover for themselves Children are active learners Children must be cognitively ready Teachers need to take account of individual differences Vygotsky Scaffolding is very important in educating children Zone of proximal development Take account of the context in which the knowledge is to be applied

SUMMARY Piaget states that children’s cognitive development occurs in four stages: In the sensorimotor stage, children learn via senses and actions. They live in the here and now, lack symbolic thought, and have not developed full object permanence In the pre-operational stage, children have developed symbolic thought but cannot conserve and are egocentric. Egocentrism is demonstrated by the “three mountains” study In the concrete operational stage, children can conserve, are no longer egocentric, and can think logically, provided that situations are presented in a “concrete” way using familiar concepts In the formal operational stage, people are able to deal with hypothetical concepts and can solve problems in a systematic, logical manner in which all possible combinations of factors are considered

SUMMARY (CONT.) Children organise everything they know about a particular object or activity into schemas. Assimilation involves fitting new experiences or information into an existing schema without changing any other part of it or requiring a new schema to be formed. Accommodation involves changing a schema in a fundamental way or creating a new schema in order to cope with new incoming information Hughes’ policeman doll study indicates that children may not be as egocentric as Piaget believed The “naughty teddy” study by McGarrigle and Donaldson (1974) indicates that children may be able to conserve number earlier than Piaget believed, but this is controversial Piaget used naturalistic observations and clinical interviews to investigate children’s behaviour and thinking

SUMMARY (CONT.) Vygotsky emphasised the importance of adults and other skilled people in helping children learn. The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the range of skills that a person can demonstrate if helped, but could not manage if they were left to their own devices. Piaget’s theory has been applied to education. The main principles are that children are active, not passive learners; that they need to discover for themselves; that there are certain concepts that are beyond their reach until they have acquired the appropriate schemas to deal with them. Teachers need to recognize this and provide appropriate materials to challenge them. Vygotsky’s ideas have also been applied to education. He emphasised the usefulness of scaffolding, a means by which adults can provide the right framework in order for a child to learn.