Piagets theory of Cognitive Development

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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

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• 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.

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• 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
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• 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?)

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Piagets 4 stages of cognitive development
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Sensori motor stage
0-2 years
Intelligence in action. Child interacts with
environment by manipulating objects
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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
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Concrete operations stage
7- 11 years
Logical reasoning is developing but can only be
applied to objects that are real or can be seen.
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Formal operations stage
12 years upwards
Person can now think logically about abstract
ideas and/or potential events. Can think
hypothetically.
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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.

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• 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
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• 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.

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• 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

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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?
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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

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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
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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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!
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• 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
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• 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.

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• 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
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• 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?

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• 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.

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• 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

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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
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• 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
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• 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)

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• 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

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• 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

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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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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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)

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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

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• 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.

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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

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• 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

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• 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.

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• 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

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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?

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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

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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.

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• 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

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• 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.

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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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.