Piaget's cognitive development

Theoretical features

• Genetic epistemology: the development of knowledge

• Theoretical roots in biology and philosophy

• Emphasis on adaption

• Synthesis of nature and nurture - constructivism

Theoretical features

• Knowledge is abstracted from our experience

• Children progress through discrete stages in an invariant order

• Children’s logical thought is qualitatively different in different stages

Mechanisms

• Principle of Adaptation:

  • Assimilation: incorporating new objects into an already existing scheme

  • Accommodation: modifying or re-organising mental structures in response to a new object/event

• Equilibration: A pattern of self-regulation achieving balance between existing schema and modifying them to deal with new information from the environment

• Principles of organsiation: The method of integrating the schema and putting them together to achieve aims

Stages of development

Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years)

• Description: Infants learn about the world through their senses and actions.

• Key Developmental Milestones:

  • Object Permanence: Understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched.

  • Coordination of Reactions: Beginning to show intentional actions and combine schema (mental structures).

Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years)

• Description: Children begin to use language and think symbolically, but their thinking is still intuitive and egocentric.

• Key Developmental Milestones:

  • Symbolic Play: Using objects to represent other objects, which shows the beginning of abstract thinking.

  • Egocentrism: Difficulty in seeing things from perspectives other than their own.

  • Animism: Belief that inanimate objects have feelings and intentions.

Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years)

• Description: Children's thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete. They can perform operations on concrete objects and events.

• Key Developmental Milestones:

  • Conservation: Understanding that quantity remains the same even when its shape changes.

  • Classification: Ability to group objects based on common features.

  • Seriation: Ability to arrange objects in an order according to size, shape, or any other characteristic.

Formal Operational Stage (12 years and up)

• Description: Adolescents develop the ability to think about abstract concepts. Logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning emerge.

• Key Developmental Milestones:

  • Abstract Thought: Ability to think about hypothetical situations and abstract concepts.

  • Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning: Ability to develop hypotheses and systematically deduce which is the best path to follow in solving a problem.

  • Problem-Solving: Enhanced ability to think about multiple variables and outcomes simultaneously.

Limitations

• Infants and young children are more cognitively competent than Piaget recognised

• Margaret Donaldson: tasks (and the language used in the tasks) need to make human sense

• Object permanence in young infants

  (Baillargeon & DeVos, 1991)

• Contextually meaningful tests of visual

  perspective-taking (e.g., Hughes)