Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

What did Jean Piaget suggest

• Children reason (think) differently to adults and see the world in different ways

• Cognitive development is a result of maturation (biological process of aging) and interaction with the environment

Define a Schema

• Schemas are mental structures which contain knowledge about the world

• Schemas can be behavioural (e.g. grasping an object), cognitive (e.g. classifying objects) and social

• Some Schemas may represent a group of related concepts (E.g schema for dogs=fur, wet nose, 4 legs)

According to Piaget which schemas are innate?

• grasping - triggered when someone touches palm of the babies hand

• Rooting - a baby will turn its head towards something when it touches it’s cheek

• Sucking - triggered by something touching baby’s lips

How to new schemas develop?

New experiences lead to new schemas being developed and becoming more complex, through the process of adaptation (accommodation and assimilation)

Assimilation

Applying an existing schema to a new scenario or object

Make sense of new info by referring to info already have

Try to fit new info in to schema

Accommodation

Forming a new schema distinct from the existing schema

Existing schema has to change because the incoming intro conflicts with what is already known (disequilibrium)

Equilibration

Mental balance between what us already known and incoming information

Most new info is fitting in to existing schemas- child can deal with most new info through assimilation

Driving force behind adaptation - we seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (adaptation)

Disequilibrium

When new info cannot be fitted in to existing schemas

The order of the process of adaptation

EXISTING SCHEMA → dogs have 4 legs, tail and are fluffy

ASSIMILATION - meet a car (4 legs, fully, tail) and may fit it in to existing schema for dogs

EQUILIBRATION

NEW SITUATION- hear cat meow

DISEQUILIBRIUM - bones information does not fit into existing schema of dogs. Creates an unpleasant state of information not fitting

ACCOMMODATION - seeks equilibrium by creating a new schema for cats

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AO3- issues and debates

P- Piaget’s theory explains cognitive development through the combined interaction of nature and nurture

E- Piaget believed that cognitive development was a result of nature- biological maturation , as the child becomes older certain mental processes become possible

E- nurture- as a child interacts with the environment their understanding of the world becomes more complex

L- approach is holistic

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