3. PIAGET’S STAGE THEORY OF
COGNITIVE
Piaget
Born in Switzerland 1896 - 1980
Cognitive development theory
• Children actively construct their understanding of
the world
• 4 stages of cognitive development
Caring for Children
4. Chapter 6 4
PIAGET
4 stages of cognitive development
• 1. Sensorimotor:
• birth @ 2
• 2. Preoperational:
• (begins @ time child starts to talk - @ 7yrs.)
• 3. Concrete:
• @ 1st grade to early adolescence)
• 4. Formal Operations:
• adolescence
6. Chapter 6 6
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE 1
BIRTH - 2
Stage 1
• Birth – 2
• 1st schema
• Understand world by coordinating sensory
experiences with physical actions
• Sight of rattle (seeing)
• Leads to
• Touch rattle (reaching)
7. Stage 1
• Organize world into:
• What can I put in my mouth
• What is graspable
• What makes noise
• 6 substages of Stage 1
Chapter 6 7
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE 1,
CONT., BIRTH - 2
10. SENSOR IMOTOR STA GE 1, CONT.,
BIRTH – 1 MO. COGNITIVE PROCESSES
Adaptation: adjusting to new
environments
• Mental structures help us adapt to world
• Children actively construct their own
cognitive worlds
Chapter 6 10
12. Schemes
• Actions or mental representations that
brain creates to organize knowledge.
• Actions at this stage
• Ex: Sucking, looking & grasping
Chapter 6 12
SENSOR IMOTOR STA GE 1, CONT.,
BIRTH – 1 MO. COGNITIVE PROCESSES
13. BIRTH – 1 MO. COGNITIVE
PROCESSES
Schemes: mental representations or
actions that organize knowledge
• Assimilation: incorporating new
information (old file)
• Accommodation: adjusting schemes to fit
new information and experiences (new file)
13
15. S C H E M A :
M E N TA L R E P R E S E N TA T I O N S O R A C T I O N S T H A T
O R G A N I Z E K N O W L E D G E
Thomas
the Train
Wooden
Trains
Griffith
Park Real
Trains
Chapter 6 15
16. V I S I T N Y & S E E A S U B W A Y.
W H E R E D O Y O U P U T T H I S I N Y O U R S C H E M A ?
Thomas
the Train
Wooden
Trains
Griffith
Park Real
Trains
Chapter 6 16
18. Dad says: I am going to train for the marathon. Where does
this go?
Thomas
the Train
Wooden
Trains
Griffith
Park Real
Trains
Subway
Trains
Chapter 6 18
27. Chapter 6 27
Substage 4 Cont.: Coordination of Secondary circular
reactions
• Infant more object-oriented
• Move beyond self
• Repeat chance actions involving objects in secondary
circular reactions.
• Action repeated because of its consequences.
• Imitates simple actions
• Shake a rattle
PIAGET
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE
28. Chapter 6 28
PIAGET
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE
Object Permanence
• End of sensorimotor period
• Understanding objects & events continue
to exist even when they cannot be seen,
heard, or touched
• Baby’s favorite game?
• Why?
• Understanding of causality
Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development
30. Chapter 6 30
Substage 5: Tertiary circular reactions
• Novelty, & curiosity
• 12 - 18 mo’s
• Purposely explores new possibilities with
objects
• Continually doing new things to them &
exploring results.
• Block, thrown, spin, slide
Substage 5
12 - 18 mo’s
31. Chapter 6 31
PIAGET
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE
Self-recognition
•Towards end of stage
•Rouge test Lewis & Brooks 1979
•Placed in front of mirror
•Touched nose at 18 – 24 mos.
32. Substage 6: Mental representations
• Internalization of schemes
• 18 - 24 mo’s
• Develops ability to use:
• Symbols
• Block is an airplane
• Internalized sensory images
• Apple
• Words that represent events
Chapter 6 32
PIAGET
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE
34. PIAGET’S
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE
• 2 - 7 yrs. of age
• Not yet capable of operations
Preoperations definition:
• Children do not yet preform logical, reversible mental
actions called operations.
• Internalized set of actions highly organized &
conform to principles of logic.
• Do mentally what was done physically before.
• Ex: Math problems in head
Three Views of Cognitive Changes in Early Childhood
Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6
35. # 8 P R E O P E R A T I O N A L S TA G E O F D E V E L O P M E N T
H T T P : D P / / W W W. Y O U T U B E . C O M / W A T C H ? V = P B Y V Z M 7 I Q 3 S
Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6
37. PIAGET’S
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE
Symbolic Functions
• Creates mental images of objects
• Store for later use
• Disneyland
• Imaginative drawings
• Mentally represent object not present
• Ex: Scribbles represent people
• Awareness of what scribble represents even over
time.
Three Views of Cognitive Changes in Early Childhood
Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6
38. THE SYMBOLIC DRAWINGS OF
YOUNG CHILDREN
(b) 11-year-old’s drawing, which is
more realistic and less inventive
(a) 3½-year-old’s “a
pelican kissing a seal”
Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6
39. 1. Symbolic Function Cont.
• Thoughts limited beliefs:
• Egocentrism:
• Inability to see things from another
person's point of view.
• What happens if parents divorce
at this stage?
PIAGET’S
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE
Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6
40. Symbolic Function Cont.
• Animistic Thinking
• Imagining that inanimate objects have
life & mental processes.
• Child trips over coffee table, what will they
say?
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE
Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6
41. Limits in preoperational thought
Do not understand at this stage:
• Centration:
• Focusing attention on 1 characteristic to
exclusion of others
• Conservation:
• Realizes altering object’s substance does not
change it quantitatively
Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6
PIAGET’S
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE
42. # 8 P I A G E T P R E O P E R A T I O NA L
C O N S E RVA T I O N
Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6
43. Centration experiment:
• Number of objects set out in a row & then moved
closer together
• More objects, fewer objects, or same number of
objects?
• Focus on relative lengths of rows
• Do not take into account relative densities or that
nothing has been added or taken away
• Conclude fewer objects than before.
PIAGET PREOPERATIONAL
CONSERVATION
Chapter 9, Ages 2 - 6
44. CONCRETE OPERATIONAL
THOUGHT
7-11
Increased ability to use logic
Operations:
• Internalized set of actions highly organized &
conform to principles of logic.
• Do mentally what was done physically before.
• Ex: Math problems in head
• Mental actions applied to real, concrete objects
• Can reason logically if applied to specific or concrete
examples
• Focus on several characteristics at once
What is Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development in Childhood?
45. Can understand Conservation
Know that ball of clay rolled out has the
same amount of clay.
• Can take into account more than one
dimension.
• Previous height or width
• Not both
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL
THOUGHT
46. Seriation:
• Ability to order stimuli along a
quantitative dimension
• Ex: Child gets plate of dinner
• Categorizes food
• What I like most - what I like least
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL
THOUGHT
49. Transitivity:
• Ability to logically combine relations
to understand certain conclusions
• Organize action figures smallest to
largest
CONCRETE
OPERATIONAL THOUGHT
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PIAGET’S THEORY
The formal operational
stage
• Abstract thinking
• Why am I thinking what I am
thinking?
• Logical inferences
52. PIAGET’S THEORY
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
• Develop & test hypotheses
• Deduce best ways to solve problems
Idealism & possibilities
• Qualities desired in self & others
• Compare self with others
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Evaluating Piaget’s theory
• Volumes of research
• More variation
• Individual
• Cultural
• Many adults
• Never demonstrate formal operational thinking
• Education in logic & science
• Promotes development of formal operations
• Writing assignments to analyze information
• Does cognitive development proceeds in stages?
PIAGET’S THEORY
54. 9/19/2016 54
ADOLESCENT
EGOCENTRICISM
Heightened self-consciousness
David Elkind
2 types of social thinking
• Imaginary audience
• Believe others are as interested in them as they are
in themselves
• Pimple
• Personal fable
• Uniqueness
• Invulnerability
How Do Adolescents Think and Process Information?
58. SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY
Born in Russia, 1896- 1934 (same year as Piaget)
Sociocultural theory (L. Vygotsky)
• Social & cultural interaction
• Guide cognitive development
• Child needs interaction
• With more skilled adults & peers
• Interactions teach skills
• How to learn
• Memory, attention, reasoning involves learning to use society’s
inventions
Caring for Children
