Jean Piaget’s stages
1) sensorimotor stage (birth-2 years)
2) pre operational stage (2-7 years)
3) concrete operational stage (7-11 years)
4) formal operational thought (12+)
what is the sensorimotor stage
- birth-2 years
- the infant uses senses and motor skills to understand the world
- development of object permanence
define object permanence
objects continue to exist even when you can’t see them
what is the pre operational stage
- 2-7 years
- symbolic thinking emerges and language to understand the world
- children are egocentric
- ex: the moon follows me!
- fights: size of cereal boxes, sandwiches cut 2/4
what is the concrete operational stage
- 7-11 years
- logical operations, principles are applied
- understand logic and rational thought
- understand CONSERVATION
what is the formal operational thought
- 12+
- thinking abstractly, hypothetical concepts (what if questions)
- going from the real to the possible
- ethics, politics, moral issues are challenged
what is significant about Lev Vygotsky’s socio-cultural cognitive theory (1896-1934)
- social interactions and culture guide cognitive development
- interactions with others = important
- peer tutors, mentoring = important
behavioural and social cognitive theories
development is: an observable behaviour learned through experience and a continuous process
theorists include:
- Ivan Pavlov
- B.F. Skinner
- Albert Bandura
Ivan Pavlov method
classical conditioning (dog and bell)
Skinner’s operant conditioning
learning from the consequences of behaviours and actions
- rewards INCREASE the likelihood of recurrence
- punishments DECREASE the likelihood of recurrence
- development is shaped by rewards + punishments
Bandura’s social cognitive theory
- development occurs through observational learning (modelling, imitation)
- Bobo doll experiments = watch aggressive tv show (road runner at the time lol) = hit bobo doll harder
