1. Cognitive Development
How do we learn to think & reason????

2. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget ( )
Swiss psychologist who became leading theorist in 1930’s

3. Development of Schemas
ASSIMILATION
Schema- Framework that organizes information
process of taking new information or a new experience and fitting it into an already existing schema n

4. Accommodation
Accommodation - process by which existing schemas are changed or new schemas are created in order to fit new information

5. Sensorimotor Stage (birth – 2 yrs old)
Info is gained through the senses and motor actions
Child perceives and manipulates but does not reason

6. Object Permanence
Objects exist independent of one’s actions or perceptions of them

7. Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)
Emergence of symbolic thought
Egocentrism- “ Does your sister have a sister”
Lack the concept of conservation
These are speaker notes

8. Conservation Tasks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLEWVu815o
( south kids)

9. Concrete Operational Stage (7-12 years)
Can Conserve Mass, Weight and Numbers
Less egocentric
Inability to reason abstractly or hypothetically

10. Formal Operational Stage (age 12 - adulthood)
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
Pendulum Problem
Adolescent egocentrism

11. Critique of Piaget’s Theory
Underestimates children’s abilities
Underestimates the role of the social environment
Lack of evidence for qualitatively different stages

12. Heinz Dilemma
Just Kidding… this has nothing to do with Ketchup….

13. Lawrence Kohlberg's Moral Development
Level 1 (Pre-Conventional) 1.Obedience and punishment orientation (How can I avoid punishment?) 2. Self-interest orientation (What's in it for me?)

14. Levels cont… Level 2 (Conventional)
3. Interpersonal accord and conformity (Social norms)
(The good boy/good girl attitude)
4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation
(Law and order morality)

15. Levels Cont… Level 3 (Post-Conventional)
5. Social contract orientation
6. Universal ethical principles (Principled conscience)

16. Wrap up & review
In what stage of cognitive development do infant’s learn object permanence?
1) preoperational
2) formal operational
3) sensorimotor
4) conventional

17. Continues…
The ability to generate alternate hypotheses in order to explain a phenomenon demonstrates cognition in which of following Piagetian stages?
1) operational
2)abstract reasoning
3)formal operations
4) hypothetical operations

18. And…
Which of the following is the correct term for mental rule Piaget said we use to interpret our environment?
1)schema
2)assimilation
3)accommodation
4) hypothesis