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Piagets theory of Cognitive Development

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Title: Piagets theory of Cognitive Development


1
Piagets theory of Cognitive Development
  • Nature of intellectual development.
  • Intelligence
  • means by which humans adapt to the
    environment- construct an understanding of
    reality by interacting with it.
  • Knowledge-
  • does not come ready made, it is discovered
    actively, even invented.
  • NOT just a copy of the external world (i.e.
    passive registration of associations as in S-R
    psychology)
  • NOT just the unfolding of pre-formed structures
    (i.e. maturation as in the nativist /biological
    approach

2
  • Thus, knowledge is
  • constructed by continuous interaction between
    the subject and the external world. So Piagets
    theory is constructivist he sees the child as a
    scientist.
  • Structures develop in a predictable fashion
    summarised into four stages all children pass
    through these stages in the same order.
  • Underlying the changes are fundamental aspects of
    the development process which work in the same
    way throughout various stages these are-
  • Assimilation, accommodation and equilibration.

3
  • But what actually changes?
  • Schema
  • basic unit /building block of intelligent
    behaviour organised knowledge used to guide
    action.

Become more co-ordinated join together into
larger structures become more internal mental
processes rather than overt behaviours actual
thoughts
Schemas start simple basic reflexes, not really
linked together overt behaviour
4
  • How do schemas change?
  • Copy out the diagram on page 491
  • Define assimilation, accommodation, equilibrium,
    disequilibrium, equilibration and adaptation. Add
    a practical example to the diagram e.g. how does
    a baby change how he/she drinks. (see also your
    text book pg 37?)

5
Piagets 4 stages of cognitive development
6
Sensori motor stage
0-2 years
Intelligence in action. Child interacts with
environment by manipulating objects
7
Pre-operational stage
Pre-conceptual stage 2-4 years
Intuitive stage 4 7 years
Thinking dominated by perception but child
becomes more and more capable of symbolic
thinking. Language development occurs. Child
still unduly influenced by own perception of the
environment
8
Concrete operations stage
7- 11 years
Logical reasoning is developing but can only be
applied to objects that are real or can be seen.
9
Formal operations stage
12 years upwards
Person can now think logically about abstract
ideas and/or potential events. Can think
hypothetically.
10
Stages of cognitive development
  • Sensorimotor stage birth 2years
  • Intelligence is basically motor/practical.
    Interaction with environment consists of overt
    actions either sensory or motor (hence the name
    of this stage!)
  • No thought as we mean it understand the world
    through actions performed on it discovers
    relationship between sensation and action.

11
  • Frequent interaction with objects
  • Development of object permanence major
    achievement of this stage.
  • How does Piaget think this develops in the first
    year of life? Draw a table relating the
    development of object permanence to the
    sub-stages of the sensorimotor stage?
  • Object permanence fully developed at approx 18
    months, once child can take into account
    something might have happened which it hasnt
    seen.

object permanence
12
  • E.g. child sees toy placed in matchbox and then
    placed under pillow. Toy is removed without child
    seeing and empty box placed in front of child.
    Does child search under pillow for missing toy?
    Is so, object permanence is fully developed
    child can now infer invisible displacement.
  • This stage is very important for the development
    of the general symbolic function where a child
    starts to represent objects to itself in the form
    of mental images starting now to work things
    out in their heads no longer so dependent on
    having things actually present.

13
  • The three major ways in which the general
    symbolic function manifests itself are-
  • Language symbolic thought.
  • Deferred imitation imitate something not there.
  • Representational play using one object as
    though it were something else.
  • All of the above rely on the ability to remember
  • Task- Draw a summary diagram of the
    sensori-motor stage of cognitive development

14
Egocentric cannot distinguish between self and
environment
Learns thro sense and actions. How does this
develop over the 2 years?
Sensorimotor stage 0 2 years
Develops object permanence. Briefly chart the
development of this.
Development of general symbolic function How is
this shown in the infants behaviour?
15
Pre-operational stage - (2 7 years)
  • Operation mental routine for transposing
    information reversible. Child in this stage
    lacks this ability hence the name!
  • Influenced by how things look rather than
    logical principles /operations.
  • World is very concrete and absolute things are
    as they seem.
  • Continued development and use of internal images
    /symbols and language important for childs
    increasing sense of self-awareness.
  • Stage is actually split into two
  • pre-conceptual
  • intuitive

16
Pre-conceptual sub stage
Intuitive sub stage
2-4 years
4-7 years
Finds seriation tasks very difficult
Can do seriation task (often after trial and
error)
Can perform syncretic tasks accurately
Limited syncretic thought - finds concentrating
on more than two objects difficult
17
  • Pre-conceptual stage 2- 4 years
  • Child thinks in absolute terms cannot
    understand relative terms e.g. bigger.
  • Things are just biggest /big.
  • Can only classify things in terms of one
    attribute at a time centration
  • E.g. if you give a 3 year old some big green
    squares big red squares some small green
    squares small red squares s(he) can put all red
    shapes in one box and all green shapes in another
    OR could put all the big squares in one box and
    all the small squares in another BUT cannot sort
    out big red squares from big green squares and
    small red squares from small green squares into
    four separate groups.

18
  • Until child can decentre will be unable to
    classify things in a logical way.
  • Syncretic thought
  • tend to link things in a sequence on the
    basis of the previous item only no overall
    common factor
  • E.g. give a 3 year old a box of shapes and ask
    them to pick out 4 that are alike. Tend to pick
    out ones that are linked in some way to the
    previous shape but have no overall characteristic
    in common.
  • Copy the diagram on pg 493 and explain what the
    child is thinking.

19
  • Transductive reasoning
  • assumes two objects are the same if they
    have one attribute in common
  • i.e. A has 4 legs, B has 4 legs therefore A B
    (e.g. all 4 legged animals will be dog!)
  • This type of thinking can lead to
  • Animism

Belief that inanimate object are alive, e.g.
calling cars by a name!
20
  • Pre-conceptual child has difficulty with
    seriation
  • arrange objects on basis of a particular
    dimension e.g. height. Find it particularly
    difficult to introduce an item in to a series.
    Cannot cope with the concept of B is smaller than
    A but bigger than C

B
C
A
A
B
C
21
  • Intuitive stage 4 7 years
  • Child now beginning to be able to tackle problems
    s(he) couldnt do in the pre-conceptual stage.
    Still very limited in ability to think logically
    particularly in terms of classification
    experience difficulty with class-inclusion tasks.
  • Cannot understand the relationship between the
    whole (superordinate) class and the parts
    (subordinate) class.

22
  • E.g. give child some wooden beads mostly brown
    with a few white beads.
  • Qu. Are all the beads wooden?
  • Ans __________________
  • Qu. Are there more brown or white beads?
  • Ans __________________
  • Qu. Are there more brown beads or more wooden
    beads?
  • Ans. _________________
  • Child still influenced by what is immediately
    obvious (i.e. that there are more brown beads
    than white) than that they are all, in fact,
    wooden.
  • Piaget assumed this was because the child could
    not decentre.

Yes
Brown
Brown
23
  • Egocentrism
  • child sees world from own viewpoint cannot
    understand that others may see it differently .
  • E.g. Do you have a brother?
  • Yes, Andrew.
  • Does Andrew have a brother?
  • No.
  • How did Piaget Inhelder investigate this?

24
  • Conservation
  • things remain the same despite some change in
    outward appearance
  • Major feature of this stage - child fails to
    conserve perceptual appearance dominates
    things are what they seem.
  • Outline how a child would fail to conserve-
    liquid quantity, number, and substance quantity.

25
  • Lack of conservation another example of
    centration e.g. for volume, child is only
    taking one height of beaker into account fails
    to take note of width.
  • Child cannot compensate
  • allow for increasing height but decreasing
    width.
  • Has no reversibility
  • cannot mentally return situation back to
    beginning.
  • Task- Draw a summary diagram of the
    pre-operational stage of cognitive development
    remember to include the two sub-stages

26
Concrete Operational Stage 7 11 years.
  • In this stage children develop the mental
    structure called an operation.
  • Operation a mental action comprising
  • a)________________
  • b) ________________
  • Best demonstrated by the ability to conserve.
  • Can only do the operation with the objects
    actually present. Hence the stage is referred to
    as the concrete operational stage.

compensation
reversibility
27
  • Conservation is usually mastered in the same
    order
  • Number and liquid quantity
  • Substance /quantity length
  • Weight
  • Volume

6 7 years
7 8 years
8 10 years
11 - 12 years
28
  • Step by step acquisition of new operations
  • Decalage (i.e. displacement or slips in level
    of performance)
  • Horizontal decalage
  • inconsistencies within the same ability or
    operation (e.g. can conserve number but not
    weight)
  • Vertical decalage
  • inconsistencies between different abilities
    or operations (e.g. can do all types of
    classification but not all types of conservation)

29
  • Ability to classify is improving - child can now
    understand the relationship between superordinate
    and subordinate classes i.e. can understand the
    part /whole relationship this clearly relates
    to their ability to perform mathematical
    operations such as addition and subtraction.
  • Childs ability to decentre is growing
  • i) Can sort objects on the basis of 2 or more
    attributes

30
  • ii) Egocentrism decreases and child is more able
    to see things from anothers point of view
  • Transitivity tasks (eg if Mark is taller than
    Anne and Anne is taller than Jane who is taller,
    Mark or Jane?) still difficult unless they can
    use actual objects cannot do them in their
    heads.
  • Jane Anne Mark

31
The Formal Operational Stage (11 15 years)
  • Formal operational thinker can manipulate ideas
    /propositions (first order operations) Can reason
    just using verbal statements (second order
    operations)
  • Formal
  • Ability to follow the form of an argument without
    reference to content
  • E.g. in case of transitivity can reason If A is
    taller than B and B is taller than C then A must
    be taller than C this will be true
    irrespective of what A, B and c actually refer
    to!
  • Can think hypothetically now evidence of
    increasing ability to decentre. Can deal with
    possibilities and think about how things could be
    different from actual reality. Can deal with
    inconsistencies in behaviour both their own and
    others.

32
  • Can ask deep and meaningful questions like who
    am I? Who do I want to be?
  • Can experiment and search systematically for a
    solution to a problem considering all factors
    and arrive at a solutions by careful reasoning
    hypothetico-deductive reasoning
  • can propose and test a hypothesis and draw a
    conclusion /new hypothesis from this
  • May not be a universal stage adults make
    mistakes on formal reasoning tasks.
  • May be that only about 1/3 of average adolescents
    adults ever reach formal operations stage?
  • Dasen (1977) type of reasoning within formal
    operational thought does not appear in all
    cultures if it does, may not be typical mode of
    thought. Not considered of great value in every
    community even in some Western societies. Very
    dependent on secondary schooling.

33
  • Gladwin (1970) questioned how appropriate
    Piagetian tasks are for testing cognitive
    development of non-western populations.
  • Formal operational thought has often been
    acquired but in a culturally specific manner.
  • E.g. Pulawat navigators of Polynesia
  • show complex formal operational
  • thought when guiding canoes at sea
  • but fail standard western tests of
  • cognitive development.

34
  • Flavell (1977) formal operational thought may
    emerge during adolescence but isnt the typical
    type of thought during this stage.
  • Piaget (1972) all normal people develop formal
    operational thought by 20 yrs (if not sooner) but
    only in certain skill areas depending on
    aptitude and experience. In other words, if you
    have a certain aptitude for, say, history and
    study it to a high level then you may develop
    formal ops within the skill area of history only
    but may remain at the concrete operational stage
    when solving maths problems
  • Implication is that this fourth and final stage
    of cognitive development is dependent upon
    specific knowledge and training (i.e. secondary
    schooling) as well as general level of cognitive
    development - -different to other three stages
    which seem to develop irrespective of specific
    training.

35
Evaluation of Piagets theory
  • Object permanence Bower Wishart (1972)
  • - how object disappears influences infants
    reponse.
  • If infant is looking at something and lights are
    turned off infant carries on searching for over a
    minute
  • (using infra red cameras)
  • so DOES realise it is still there.
  • Baillargeaon Devos the disappearing carrot!!
    (see separate sheet)

36
Centration-
  • Donaldson child may not understand what they
    are supposed to do.
  • Sleeping cows alternative
  • Are there more black cows
  • or more cows?
  • 25 correct.
  • Are there more black cows
  • Or more sleeping cows?
  • 48 correct

37
  • Why the difference?
  • Task is now more child friendly more relevant
    to them.
  • Gelman (1978) more means different things to
    adults and children-
  • Adults more greater number.
  • Children more general concept larger,
    occupies more space, longer etc.

38
Egocentrism-
  • Gelman (1979) 4 year olds can appreciate a
    listener is blindfolded change their
    explanation to suit therefore can see things
    from their point of view.
  • Also change explanation when talking to 2 year
    old.
  • Can select appropriate presents for their mother.
  • Swiss mountain scene very difficult.
  • Borke Hughes more meaningful
  • task more accurate response

39
  • Hughes
  • policeman doll experiment
  • Where do you hide the
  • boy so he cannot
  • be seen?
  • 3.5 5 year olds
  • could do this 90
  • of the time.
  • Why?
  • It made sense to them

40
  • Perspective taking ability Flavell et all
    (1990)
  • Made a look like a
  • What does it look like?
  • What is it really?
  • 3 yr olds it is a sponge looks like sponge
    or
  • it is a rock looks like a rock
  • 4 yr olds it looks like a rock but is a
    sponge
  • 1. 2/3 yr olds know others experience things
    differently
  • 2. 4/5 yr olds use complex rules to work out what
    other sees.

41
  • Gopnik Wellman belive that 4/5 yr olds have a
    sophisticated theory of mind
  • Understanding that people, (not objects) have
    desires, beliefs etc which may be false
  • why do they come to this conclusion Box 34.5
    pg 497

42
Conservation
  • This may well occur much earlier than Piaget
    thought. His results may well be due to they way
    he phrased his questions i.e. by asking how much
    is in this beaker? (for example) both before and
    after the transformation!
  • Donaldson (1974) experimenter forces child into
    thinking something has changed by asking the same
    question twice! Child thinks - Well, something
    must have changed otherwise why ask the same
    question again?

43
  • Rose Blank (1974) did not ask
    pre-transformation question.
  • Result 6 yr olds often did much better on
    conservation task AND on standard Piagetian task
    a week later
  • Naughty Teddy transformation seen
  • as accidental so does not affect
  • number of counters.
  • Generally, children are much more able to
    conserve when the situation is meaningful for
    them.

44
  • However, it is possible that in the accidental
    /incidental conditions the child is actually
    being misled into giving the right answer for the
    wrong reasons!
  • Piagets version of the conservation task
    implication take note of the transformation
    so child gives a different answer second time the
    question is asked.
  • Accidental /incidental version implication
    take no note of transformation so child gives
    the same answer when the question is asked for
    the second time.

45
  • So what would happen if a change does actually
    take place in the accidental /incidental
    condition?
  • Children tested in this condition do not tend to
    spot the change that has taken place but children
    tested in Piagets standard way do spot the
    change.
  • Another criticism of Piaget words used in
    conservation task questions may not be understood
    by the children in the same way adults understand
    them. Typically a child is asked which beaker
    contains more. Children may be interpreting
    this as meaning fuller when they ask for more
    milk the level in the glass rises ?they say
    more to mean simply a higher level.
  • more than because level is higher

46
Cross-cultural tests of Piagets stages
  • Dasen 1994- 8-14 yr old Aborigines
  • Conservation of liquid, weight and volume
    spatial task either a) locating an object on a
    model and then find same location on second model
  • Or b) bottle of water tilted behind a screen
  • had to draw water level on outline
  • drawing of bottle.

47
  • Results-
  • On conservation tasks - same shift from pre-op to
    concrete op thinking BUT much later than Swiss
    children (10-13 instead of 5 -7). Quite a few
    adolescents and adults could not conserve.
  • On spatial tasks same shift again BUT much
    earlier than for Swiss children.
  • Why? Well, in Aboriginal culture, where things
    are matters a lot but how much of it you have
    matters little (numbers only go up to 5 any
    more is many!)
  • E.g. finding water is vital (good spatial skills)
    but exactly how much you have is not so important

48
  • How scientific were Piagets methods?
  • Methods used underestimated childs abilities
    language used was too complex and tasks not
    relevant for children.
  • Used clinical interview technique i.e. start off
    with same question for all but subsequent
    questions depend upon the answer to previous
    question thus we cannot compare children to
    establish general trends - procedure basically
    un-standardised (different for each participant).
  • Little detail given regarding numbers and ages of
    participants no statistical analysis.

49
  • Social Factors in Cognitive development.
  • Donaldson intellectual development cannot be
    understood in isolation from social
    understanding.
  • Children dont interpret words, they interpret
    situations more concerned to make sense of a
    situation than to work out what individual words
    mean.
  • Piaget tried to isolate cognitive aspects of
    development in order to study it - this basic
    flaw in Piagets work led to him underestimating
    the abilities of children.
  • Saw child as isolated individual - led to him
    excluding the contribution others make to a
    childs intellectual development

50
  • Applying Piagets theory to education
  • Three main implications of Piagets theory - not
    explicit instructions.
  • Concept of readiness give tasks tailored to a
    childs needs. (But kids can be trained to do
    tasks beyond them so may not be valid?)
  • What to teach curriculum needs to be roughly in
    line with Ps stages right order and
    appropriate concepts.
  • How to teach active self discovery teacher
    guides and directs provides opportunities for
    kids to explore

51
  • Central view of teacher in Piagetian classroom-
  • children learn from actions rather than passive
    observation
  • need to do things, not just watch active
    self-discovery/discovery learning.
  • Teacher needs to understand that child must
    construct knowledge for themselves and that this
    results in deeper understanding
  • I watch , I forget I do, I understand

52
  • Role of teacher-
  • 1. Assess individual stage of development to be
    able to set tasks tailored to child which are
    intrinsically motivating.
  • 2. Provide children with learning opportunities
    that enable them to move on to next stage i.e.
    need to create disequilibrium. But cant just
    provide materials and tell them to get on with
    discovering! Should create good balance between
    directing /guiding child and leaving them to
    explore for themselves.
  • 3. Focus on process of learning rather than end
    product - encourage questioning, experimentation
    and exploration. Look for reasons behind answers
    especially wrong answers!
  • 4. Teacher guides in childs process of
    discovery curriculum needs to fit individual
    needs of each child

53
Critically consider Piagets theory of cognitive
development.
  • Outline Piagets theory of how cognition develops
    and how schemas change.
  • Identify and briefly describe each stage.
  • Take 2 or 3 key concepts and describe the
    evidence P used to come to his conclusions about
    these concepts.
  • How can these studies be criticised?
  • How have Ps views been modified?
  • Discuss more general evaluation points e.g. what
    influence has Ps theory had and how can it be
    applied?
  • Maximum 750 /800 words.
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