PSY 231 - Piaget Theory

Piaget’s Theory

different stages of thinking that develop through children’s shifting competencies and changing theories of the world

Modern Theories of Cognition

• Sociocultural Perspective

• Information Processing

• Theory of Mind

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

• Birth - 2yrs: Sensorimotor

• 2 - 7yrs: Preoperational Stage

• 7 - 11yrs: Concrete Operational Stage

• 12+: Formal Operational Stage

Sociocultural Perspective

a person’s cognitive dev is largely influenced by their surrounding culture

Information Processing

study mental processes involved in acquiring, storing and using knowledge

Theory of Mind

involves the ability to understand and attribute mental state to oneself and others

Piaget’s Basic Principle

children are curious and constantly trying to make sense out of the world

Schema

linked mental representation of the world which we use to both understand and respond to situations (concepts)

Assimilation

new experiences are readily incorporated into existing theories

Accomodation

a child’s theory is modified based on experiences they have

Equilibrium

the process of trying to maintain a balance between two conflicting forces

Disequilibrium

when children find themselves needing to accommodate because they cannot assimilate

Piaget’s major shifts in thinking

• Age 2

• Age 7

• Age 11

Sensorimotor Stage (Birth - 2yrs)

• adapting to & exploring the environment

• understand objects

• using symbols

Preoperational Stage (2 - 7yrs)

use symbols to represent objects

Egocentrism

the inability to see the world from another’s viewpoint

Centration

the tendency to focus on ONE salient (visible/important) aspect of a situation and neglect the others

Concrete Operational Stage (7 - 11yrs)

children first use mental operations to solve problems & reason

Mental Operations

strategies and rules that make thinking more efficient and systematic

6 Mental Operations of Concrete Operations

• Seriation

• Transivity

• Classification

• Decentering

• Reversibility

• Conservation

Seriation

the ability to sort objects according to size, shape, etc.

Transivity

the ability to recognize logical relationships & perform “transitive inferences”

Classification

the ability to name and identify sets of objects according to appearance, size, etc.

Decentering

children now consider multiple aspects of a problem (no longer make conservation errors)

Reversibility

numbers or objects can be changed, then return to original state

Conservation

quantity or amount does not change when nothing has been added or taken away, despite changes in form or spatial arrangement

Formal Operational Stage (12+ yrs)

children apply mental operations to abstract entities; they think hypothetically and reason deductively

Concrete Operations

“They don’t, women have babies”

Formal Operations

could converse about the implications for family structure, job requirements, impact on society in general

Deductive Reasoning

the ability to draw appropriate conclusions from facts that are known

Syllogism

a type of logical argument where a conclusion is drawn from two premises

3 Main Contributions of Piaget’s Theory

• study of Cognitive Dev

• A “New View of Children” (children constructing their understanding of the world)

• Dev Psy is largely characterized by explaining counterintuitive findings

Piaget’s Theory Limitations

• timing of many “milestones” seems flawed

• theory is vague regarding mechanisms of change

• variability in performance is not explained

• does not account for sociocultural influences