Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who was born in 1896 and died in 1980. He is known for his work studying cognitive development in children. Piaget identified four main stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. He believed that children construct an understanding of the world through experiences interacting with objects and adapting their mental models of how the world works. Piaget made many contributions to the field through his observations of children and publications documenting language development, moral development, and intellectual growth through different stages.

1. The Works of Jean Piaget
1896 – 1980
Barrington Roy Schiller

2. “ Children have real understanding only of
that which they invent themselves, and each
time that we try to teach them something
too quickly, we prevent them from
reinventing it themselves”
Jean Piaget

3. INTRODUCTION
• The Man
• Chronology
• The work s
• The Theories
• Terminology
• Bibliography

4. THE MAN
• 1896 Born August 9th Neuchatel, Switzerland
• 1906 Published first paper
• 1918 Obtained Doctorate in Zoology from
Neuchatel and studied Psychology at Zurich
• 1923 The language and thought of the Child
• 1924 Judgement and Reasoning in the Child

5. The MAN (cont)
• 1925-29 Professor of philosophy at Neuchatel
• 1929 Professor of Child Psychology at Geneva
and established centre of Genetic Epistemology
• 1939 – 1952 Chairperson of Sociology at Geneva
• 1940 – 1971 Chairperson of Genetic and
experimental psychology at Geneva
• 1948 Published “The Origins of Intelligence in
Children” Revised 1952

6. THE MAN (cont)
• 1955-1980 Director of International Centre
for Genetic Epistemology
• 1964 The early Growth of Logic in the
Child
• 1970 Science of Education and the
psychology of the Child
• September 16th 1980 Died at age 84

7. THE WORKS
• Observations of an Albino Sparrow
• Identified the child’s four stages of mental
growth
• Standardized Burt’s test of intelligence
• Interest in cognitive development begins
• Becomes interested in child language
development

8. THE WORKS (cont)
• Based much of work on observation of
limited numbers
• Interned in Genetic Epistomology ,
established Centre for Genetic
Epistemology

9. EPISTOMOLOGY
• Term for part of Cognition Theory
• Endeavours to investigate cognition in the
most varied fields of knowledge by
throwing a critical light on the objects of
investigation

10. “Epistemology itself can be science when it
is concerned with research into mechanisms
of scientific knowledge”
Jean Piaget

11. Piaget: What makes the wind?
Julia: The trees.
Piaget: How do you know?
Julia: I saw them waving their arms.
Piaget: How does that make the wind?
Julia: I saw them waving their arms.
Piaget: How does that make the wind?
Julia: (Waving her hand in front of his face): Like
this. Only they are
bigger. And there are lots of trees.
Piaget: What makes the wind on the ocean?
Julia: It blows there from the land. No it’s the
waves….

12. THE WORKS (cont)
• Beliefs not correct by adult criterion but are not
incorrect either
• classifying them as ‘true’ and ‘false’ we miss the
real point and show a lack of respect for the child.
• young children are in very good stead when they
do not know enough or have enough skill to
handle the kind of explanation that elders would
prefer to have known.

13. THE WORKS (cont)
• The Language and Thought of the Child,
published in 1923,
• Judgment and Reasoning in the Child; published
in 1924;
• The Child’s conception of the world, published in
1926,
• The Child’s Conception of Physical Causality,
published in 1930
• The Moral Judgment of Child, published in 1932

14. "The adult thinks socially, even when he is alone
and the child under seven thinks egocentrically, even
in the society of others”
"They form logic of action but not yet a logic
of thought."

15. THE WORKS (cont)
• Moral Judgment of the Child (1932). four stages
of moral development of child
• Logic and Epistemology (1953). four stages of
cognitive development :Genetic Epistemology
• laid foundations for the development of another
set or schema
• Theory included large number of different skill
sets of schemas influenced by Gestaltists

16. THE THEORIES
• THE THEORY OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• INFORMATION PROCESSING COGNITIVE
THEORY

17. series of 4 distinct stages in intellectual development
• (1) Motor or Individual Stage : (Birth to 2 years)
In this stage, motor habits assume a ritual character or he
responds according to his own desires.
(2) Co-operative Stage : (2 to 7 years of age)
In this stage, the child’s play is with a disregard for rules.
(3) Codification of Rules Stage : (7 to 11 years of age)
In this stage, rules are respected through the notion of them
is vague.
(4) Egocentric Stage : (11 to 12 years of age)
In this stage, the child observes the society’s rules,
customs, etc.
THE THEORY OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT

18. THE PIAGETIAN STAGE
(BIRTH TO 2 YEARS)
• infants (small child) construct an understanding of
the world by coordinating sensory experiences
• infant progresses from reflective, instinctual action
at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought
• understanding that objects continue to exist when
they are out of sight emerges at this time

19. THE SECOND PIAGETIAN
STAGE(2 to 7 YEARS)
• children begin to think symbolically and they use
language
• children begin to represent the world with words,
images and drawings
• use of language is not always as sophisticated, as
it might seem
• unable to take the viewpoint of other one
• doesn’t realize that your views differ from his.

20. THIRD PIAGETIAN STAGE
(7 to 11 YEARS)
• can perform operations, and logical
reasoning
• replace intuitive thought as long as
reasoning can be applied to specific or
concrete examples
• mastery of Conservation
• begin to use concepts of time, space and
number.

21. FINAL PIAGETIAN STAGE
(11 to 15 YEARS)
• think in abstract and more logical terms
• learns in this final stage to manipulate abstract
ideas, make hypothesis, and is also able to see the
implications of his own thinking and that of others
• able to compare their parents with ideal parents
with the ideal standard.
• full adult intellectual ability is attained to formal
operations
cont.

22. FINAL PIAGETIAN STAGE
(11 to 15 YEARS)
• Older adolescents are capable to reason inductive
and deductive way of logic
• able to learn algebra, mathematics, physics,
philosophy, psychology and other abstract subjects
• children continuously gain specific knowledge

23. INFORMATION PROCESSING
COGNITIVE THEORY
How individuals process information about their world

24. Moral Development
• (1) Motor or Individual Stage : (Birth to 2 years)
• (2) Co-operative Stage : (2 to 7 years of age)
• 3) Codification of Rules Stage : (7 to 11 years of age)
• 4) Egocentric Stage : (11 to 12 years of age)

25. )
(1) Motor or Individual Stage (Birth to 2 year)
In this stage, motor habits assume a ritual
character or he responds according to his own
desires.
(2) Co-operative Stage : (2 to 7 years of age)
In this stage, the child’s play is with a disregard
for rules.
(3) Codification of Rules Stage : (7 to 11 years of age)
In this stage, rules are respected though the
notion of them is vague.
(4) Egocentric Stage : (11 to 12 years of age)
In this stage, the child observes the society’s
rules, customs, etc.

26. Intellectual Development
• there is a growth of intellect in childhood
• all children pass through a series of
distinct stages
• intellect grows through the process of
Assimilation Fitting new information into existing schemes. and
• Accommodation. Altering existing schemes or creating new ones in response to new
information.

27. Language Development
• By 6 months environmental influences have great
importance
• At about the age of 1 The first word is spoken
• By the age of 1½ to 2 years, their vocabulary may
include from 24 to 270 words,
• This increases up to 2600 or more words at the age
of six.
• Starting primary school the children understand
around 8,000 words and use about 4000

28. By the age of three children use syntactically correct
sentences.
By the age of five they use highly complex
constructions
It is now assumed that child’s language reflects their
concepts and it develops as their concepts expand

29. Parent’s role in the Child’s
Language Development
FOR INFANTS
1. Be a proactive conversational partner.
2. Parents’ as well as other members of the family should talk if the infant understands
what they are saying
3. Family members should use a language style with which the child should feel
comfortable.
FOR TODDLERS
1. Continue to be an active, and pleasant conversational partner.
2. Partner should remember to listen.
3. When you are in conversation use a language style with which you feel comfortable.
4. You should consider ways of expanding your child’s language abilities and horizons.
5. Parents’ and other family members should adjust to a child’s idiosyncrasies instead
of working against them.
6. One should resist making normative comparisons.

30. TERMINOLOGY OF PIAGETIAN TERMS
Assimilation Fitting new information into existing schemes.
Adaptation Adjustment to the environment.
Accommodation Altering existing schemes or creating new ones in response to new information.
Conservation The principle that some characteristics of an object remain the same despite changes in
appearance.
Compensation The principle that changes in one dimension can be offset by changes in another.
Classification Grouping objects into categories.
Decentration Focusing on more than one aspect at a time.
Egocentrism The assumptions that others experience the world in the same manner as you do.
Equilibration Search for mental balance between cognitive schemes and information from the
environment.
Object
Permanence
Understanding that objects have a separate. Permanent existence.
Operations Actions carried out by thinking them through instead of actually performing the actions.
Organization Ongoing process of arranging information and experience into mental systems or
categories.
Reversibility Thinking backward from the end to the beginning.
Schemes Mental systems or categories of perception and experience.
Seriation Arranging objects in sequential order according to one aspect; like size, weight, and
volume.

31. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Bee, H. 2002. Lifespan Development. Boston
• Bringuier, J-C, 1980. Conversations with Jean Piaget.
United States of America.
• Flanagan, C. 1994. A Level Psychology, Letts Study
Guide. London.
• Stubbotsky. 1992. Foundations of the Mind. Hertfordshire.
• Vygotsky, L. 1997. Thought and language. United States
of America.
• Flavell, J. Developmental Psychology of Jean Piaget.
Pricetown NJ
• www.top-psychology.com October 2002
• www.Piaget.org October 2002