Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive

Development

• Piaget proposed that cognitive development, or development of mental abilities, occurs as we adapt to the changing world around us.

• According to Piaget adaption to the world around us occurs through two closely related processes called assimilation and accommodation.

Assilimation• Involves the process of taking in new

information and fitting it into and making it part of a existing mental idea (schema) about objects or the world.

• For example an infant may see a truck and call it a car because the infants schema only has knowledge of cars.

Accommodation• Sometimes we can not

assimilate information into our existing schema therefore we must accommodate.

• Accommodation refers to changing an existing schema in order to fit in new information.

Sensorimotor Stage (birth to two years)

• In this stage infants construct their understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with motor abilities.

• At the end of this stage an infant should have mastered the following two cognitive accomplishments:– Object Permanence– Goal directed behaviour

Object Permanence• Object Permanence refers to the

understanding that objects still exist even if they cannot be seen or touched.

• For example peek-a-boo game, out of sight, really is out of mind!

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFUInSY2CeY&feature=related

Goal- Directed Behaviour• An infant at this stage develops goal-directed

behaviour which is behaviour carried out with a particular interest in mind. They will be begin to think about things that want and how it get them.

Pre-operational Stage(2-7 years)

At this stage the infant becomes more able to think about and imagine things in their own mind. The key cognitive accomplishments at this stage are:

- Egocentrism- Animism- Transformation- Centration- Reversibility.

Egocentrism• Children in this stage are unable or have difficulty

in seeing things from another person’s perspective.

• For example a child may want a toy truck for his birthday, when then child is asked what their mother would like for her birthday the child may say toy truck.

• http://www.youtube.com/• watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0

Animism• The belied that everything which exists has a

conscience awareness.

• For example a child may tell you off for banging your books on the table because you will ‘hurt’ the table if you bang it too hard

Transformation• Understanding that something can change

from one for or state to another.

• For example a child may understand an ice block, then a glass of water but not comprehend the melting process of how it has changed forms

Centration• This process involves a child only being able to

focus on one quality or feature of an object at a time.

Reversibility• The ability to follow a line of reasoning back to

its original starting point.• For example Jim was asked if he has a brother,

he replied ‘’Yes, his name is Tom”. Jim was then asked does Tom have a brother, he replied “no”.

Concrete Operational Stage

(7-12 years)• The thinking of a concrete operational chilld revolve around what they know and what they can experience. The key cognitive accomplishments in this stage are:

• Conservation• Classification

Conservation• Refers to the idea that an object does not

change its weight, mass volume or area when the object changes its shape or appearance.

• http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=55837&title=Piaget_Conservation_Tasks

Classification• The ability to organise

information into categories based on common features that sets them apart from other classes or groups.

• For example pre-operational child will be able to classify farm animals and understand although they are all together they all belong to different groups.

Formal Operational Stage12 years+

• More complex thought processes become evident in this stage the key cognitive accomplishments:

• Abstract ThinkingA way of thinking that does not rely on visualising concepts in order to understand them.

• Logical Thinking Individuals are able to develop strategies, solve

problems and identify solutions to problems.