Piaget theory of Cognitive Development
Explains how thinking,reasoning and understanding progress through childhood
Schema
A unit of knowledge and understanding about a person or object. Our motivation to learn comes from when our schema does not allow us to make sense of something new
Equilibrium
Occurs when we learn what we need to to escape disequilibrium.
This can be done through assimilation or accommodation
Assimilation+Accommodation
Assimilation is incorporating new information into an existing schema
Accommodation is creating one or more different schemes or altering and existing schema
The constant swinging between equilibrium and disequilibrium is what causes cognitive development and this continues through life
Strengths of Piaget’s Cognitive Development
- Howe et. al supported that children create their own mental representation of the world and learn independently by showing how children came to different conclusions about the movement of objects down a slope
- It has revolutionised classroom teaching as rather than children copying in silence, teaching is activity orientated and learning through discovery
Weaknesses of Piaget’s Cognitive Development
- Meadows says it omits the social nature of learning by suggesting children learn independently
- Vygotsky’s research suggested learning was a social process and that Cognitive Development was advanced by peers and adult
- It is criticised for underplaying the development of language on learnings. Bruner argues that rather than language ability because a reflection of a child’s cognitive development, the relationship is reverse.
Piaget’s stages of intellectual development
Sensori Motor
Pre- Operational
Concrete Operational
Formal Operational
Sensori Motor
Stage 1 - 0-2 years old
The child develops object permanence which is the knowledge that even when an object can no longer be seen, it continues to exist.
Piaget found that before the age of 8 months babies showed a lack of interest in a toy when hidden behind a cloth, suggesting that they believed it no longer existed.
Pre-Operational
Stage 2 - 2-7 years
The child develops perspective taking where they can understand that others have different points of view to them. However they lack reasoning ability and still make characteristic errors such as:
Class inclusion- that objects have sunsets and are subsets of larger categories
Egocentricism- the ability to only see their own point of view
Concrete Operational
Stage 3 - 7-11 years old
Conservation- the knowledge that despite something being moved or change there is the same amount is something e.g Piaget poured water in to a taller glass and asked children f there was the same amount of water
Seritation- the ability to order things into a sequence or order e.g height
Formal Operational
Stage 4- 11+years old
Abstract thought- the child does not need the object in front of them and can consider hypothetical situations
Weaknesses of Piaget’s stages of intellectual development
- The method used can be criticised. Donaldson argued that by asking children the same question twice (are they the same?) can mislead the child
- Other studies have found difference conclusions:
Hughes- asked children to hide the doll from a policeman’s and found 3-4yr olds could understand what others could see ie perspective taking
McGarrigle and Donaldson-naughty teddy moved counters but children under 7 could conserve
Bowed and Wishart- when they turned the light off babies still reached for doll suggesting Piaget’s babies only lacked motor skills, not object permanence.
Vygotsy’s theory of Cognitive Development
Vygotsky agrees with Piaget that there is a particular sequence of reasoning ability and this is different at different stages
However, Vygotsky suggests that cognitive development is a social process or learning through experts or experienced others
Higher mental functions such as reasoning and understanding can be understood in terms or cultural and interpersonal levels
In terms of cultural levels, we inherit technological and physiological tools and values with the most important one being language.
Interns of interpersonal levels we first learn on a social level through interacting with others (interpsychological) and secondly on an individual level (intrapsychological)
Zone of Proximal Development
The gap between an infants current and potential intellectual ability
Scaffolding
Tuition given by others to help the child cross the gap of the ZPD as much as they can, depending on their age.
The amount of help given declines as the child crosses the gap. For example, when learning to complete a jigsaw, they may be advised to complete the border first and as they master this task scaffolding is removed
Effective Scaffolding
Making the task easy
Gaining and maintaining the child’s interest
Demonstrating
Controlling the child’s frustration levels
Stressing elements that help to complete the task
Strengths of Vygotsky’s theory
- Roazzi and Bryant showed evidence of ZPD as children did less well at guessing the number of sweets in a jar than those who had the help of an older child
- Conner and Cross saw distinctive changes in the amount of help given by a mother over time
- It’s has been applied to education through the use of peer teaching and teaching assistants. Vergaehe found 7 year olds tutored by 10 year olds progressed further than just having classroom teaching
Weaknesses of Vygotsky’s theory
- Howe et al research suggested children form independent mental representations of the world. He found children came to different conclusions about the movement of an object down a slope
- Schaffer argues that it ignores motivational factors which children use to achieve goals and also emotional factors such as the joy of success and the frustration of failure
Baillageon’s explanation of early infant ability
Explains that even from a very young age, infants have a fairly well developed understanding of the physical world. For example object permanence- knowing objects continue to exist even when not in visual field.
She criticised Piaget for suggesting children under 8-9months had not developed object permanence
Baillageon argued that we are born with a physical reasoning ability which is a basic understanding of the physical world
Violation of expectation
The method used to study infants understanding of the physical world.
It supposes they will expect certain things to happen and uses the tendency for infants to look longer at things they do not understand.
It used a possible and impossible condition relating to a rabbit passing behind a window with a screen.
Impossible 33.07 seconds
Possible 26.11 seconds
Strengths of Baillageon
- It has internal validity as it eliminates the confounding variable of losing interest which may have shifted attention away from out-of-sight object
- It has become the paradigm method and is the accepted way to study children’s understanding of physical world
- It explains physical understanding is universal and we all have a reasoning system that is innate. This explains why there is little cultural differences
Weaknesses of Baillageon
- As babies can not communicate verbally, it is difficult to know their reasoning ability therefore conclusions may not be valid
- Schooner and Thellen argued confounding variables such as amount of movement of the drawbridge may explain why they looked longer
The Development of Social Cognition
Refers to the advancement in mental processes we use when interacting with others e.g. our knowledge of social situations when we decide how to behave.
Perspective Taking
The ability to understand other people’s point of view in social situations
Piaget thought physical and social perspective taking occurred simultaneously whereas Selman thought social perspective taking was a separate process
