7. Intelligence & Piaget

Jean Piaget

1896-1980

• Theory of Cognitive Development

• Theory of Developing New Schemas

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Children move through distinct stages and each stage needs to be fully completed before progressing to the next one

1. Sensorimotor stage

2. Pre-operational stage

3. Concrete operations stage

4. Formal operations stage

Sensorimotor stage

0-2 years

• Object permanence

• Causality

• Schemas

Schema

a structured set of ideas that helps your brain process information

Pre-operational stage

2-7 years old

• Key concepts:

  • Animism

  • Egocentrism

Animism

attributing souls/spirits to plants, inanimate objects, natural phenomena

Egocentrism

difficulty seeing others’ perspectives, “self” centering

Concrete operations stage

7-11 years old

• Conservation

• Reversibility

• Classification

• Seriation

• Decentration

Conservation

understanding that an object’s mass/volume stays the same even when the appearance/shape or container changes

Reversibility

ability to recognize that actions can be undone or reverse to return object or state to its original condition

• if 2 + 3 = 5, then 5 - 3 = 2

• a ball of clay flattened into a pancake can be rolled back into its original ball shape without losing any mass

Classification

the ability to identify, sort, and organize objects into groups according to shared characteristics (such as size, shape, or color)

Seriation

child can understand complex instructions and carry them out — they can work out how multiple options relate to each other and can be sorted

• ex. organizing a scattered pile of multiple sticks form shortest to longest

• If A > B, and B > C, then A > C

Decentration

ability to focus on multiple aspects of a problem or situation at the same time

• ex. while looking at the liquid conservation task, the child can “deceter” from just looking at the hight of the liquid in the glass, to reach the logical conclusion that the amount of liquid has not changed

• this mental process allows a child to recognize conservation

Formal operations stage

11 years and older

• Metacognition

• Logical reasoning

• Abstract thinking

• Systematic problem solving

Metacognition

“thinking about thinking”: the ability to monitor, evaluate, and direct one’s own internal thought processes

• rather than just reacting to information, individuals analyze how they arrived at a conclusion

Logical reasoning

ability to create hypotheses about a problem, conclude logical implications from them, and test them systematically to find the correct answer

Abstract thinking

ability to conceptualize highly complex ideas that have no physical form, such as justice, morality, philosophy, etc.

Systemic problem solving

ability to approach a complex situation with variables, testing different combinations, and keeping track of results

Piaget’s mechanisms of developing new schemas

• Assimilation

• Accommodation

• Equilibrium

Assimilation

fitting new information into existing schemas

• a toddler who knows the schema for “dog” sees a cow for the first time and calls it a “dog”

Accommodation

modifying or creating schemas because new information does not does not fit existing mental structure

• ex. child learns that cows moo and are larger than dogs, prompting them to create a new “cow” schema

Equilibrium

the self-regulatory mechanism that coordinates assimilation and accommodation to restore cognitive balance

Critiques of Piaget

• not every child completes every stage at a given age (not universal)

• original theory is based on observations of Piaget’s children (WEIRD sample)

• underestimates peer influence

• doesn’t consider cultural differences

What does WEIRD stand for

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic

Definition of intelligence

potential for individuals to understand the world around them and to functino successfully in it

What aspects make up general intelligence

• vocabulary

• reasoning

• spatial ability

• memory

• processing speed

Fluid intelligence

ability to think and reason abstractly (“street smart”)

Crystalized intelligence

information and skills acquired through experience (“book smart”)

Intelligence testing examples

• Binet and Simon

  • screened for mental abilities among children to identify academic support needs

• Wechsler Intelligence Scale (WISC)

  • adult and children verison

The Flynn Effect

shte substantial and long-standing increase in average cognitive ability test scores

Piaget and Vygotsky chart