Jean Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development

1. Theories of Cognitive Development
1. Jean Piaget
Prof. Tanmay L. Joshi (SET)
HPT Arts & RYK Science College, Nasik.
M: 9890614667
Email id: tljoshi13@gmail.com

2. Jean Piaget
(1896-1980)• A Swiss Psychologist
• Father (Prof. Arthur P.): History
• Mother (Rebecca): Very talented & Enthu. but
Neurotic.
• 1st book on Animals at the age of 10.
• Submitted 1 thesis to ‘Natural History Journal’
• 2 years he worked as assistant for I.Q. Testing.• 2 years he worked as assistant for I.Q. Testing.
• Most Influential Child-psychologist of 20th
Century.
• ‘Childish activities of children has some logic’.
• He spend his life in observing children for 60
years. (20-80)
• “His theory is so simple that only a Genius
could do it”(Einstein)

3. Piaget’s Theory
Dissatisfied with philosophers & others.
Developed a different attitude- Intelligence is a
product of evolutionary adaptation (biological+
Evolution).
To understand human mind- study the mental activity
from birth, observe the development & changes in
adaptation to the environment.
Piaget believed that children form mental concepts orPiaget believed that children form mental concepts or
Scheme as they experience new situations and
events.
Ex: Pointing to a picture of a dog & telling “it’s a dog,”
the child forms a schema for “dog” that looks
something like that picture.
Child adapt/form the concept of “DOG”.

4. Adaptation: 2 prolonged process
Assimilation:
Piaget also believed that children first try to
understand new things in terms of schemes they
already process.
The body has ‘assimilated’ to external event &The body has ‘assimilated’ to external event &
convert them into biological material. (apple)
Similar phenomenon apply to mental activity.
We process mental structures that assimilate
external events/ thoughts.
To incorporate/ absorb knowledge into the mind.

5. Accommodation:
Process of altering or adjusting old schemes to fit
new information and experience.
Ex: the child might see a “Cat” and say “Dog”
because both objects are having some similarbecause both objects are having some similar
characteristics.
But when corrected, the child might alter the
scheme for dog to include “barking”
(different from mau, mau!!)

6. Piaget proposed 4 distinct stages of cognitive
development that occur from infancy to
adolescence.
Sensory-motor Stage(0-2 years)
Preoperational Stage(2-7 years)
Concrete Operational Stage(7-12 years)
Formal Operational Stage(12 years old to adulthood)

7. 1.Sensory-motor Stage(0-2 years)
• Infants use their senses and motor abilities to
learn about the world around them.
• Involuntary reflexes to interact with objects &
world.
• They began to interact deliberately with objects by
grasping, pushing, tasting & so on.grasping, pushing, tasting & so on.
• Infants move from simple to complex pattern.

8. 1.Sensory-motor Stage(0-2 years)
• At the end, infants develop Object permanence:
the knowledge that an object exists, even when it
is temporarily out of sight.
• At the end of this stage, Symbolic thoughts, which
is the ability to represent object’s in one’s thoughts
with symbols such as words, becomes possible for
thinking.

9. 2.Preoperational Stage(2-7 years)
Time of developing language & concepts.
Instead of depending only on senses & motor skills,
the child now can ask questions & explore their
surroundings more fully.
Children at this stage can understand,(through
symbolic thinking), that a line of wooden blockssymbolic thinking), that a line of wooden blocks
can “stand in” for a train.
able to use mental concepts but unable to use
those concepts in a more rational, logical sense.
TV characters becomes real to them.
Unable to differentiate the level of water from 2
different sizes of glass.

10. 2. Preoperational Stage(2-7 years)
Egocentrism: the inability to see the world through
anyone else’s eyes except one’s own.
Centration: the tendency of a young child to focus only
on one object while ignoring other relevant
features.(number of Coins in 2 lines)features.(number of Coins in 2 lines)
Conservation: the ability to understand that simply
changing the appearance of an object does not change
the object’s nature. (2x4 & 4x2)
Irreversibility: the inability of the young child to
mentally reverse an action.

11. 3. Concrete Operational Stage(7-12 years)
Finally became capable of conservation & reversible
thinking.
Children at this stage able to conserve, reverse their
thinking, and classify objects in terms of their many
characteristics.
They can also think logically and understand analogies
but only about concrete events.
Why there is a darkness in the night?
Children consider others perspectives also.

12. 4. Formal Operational Stage(12 yrs Onwards)
Abstract thinking becomes possible.
Teenagers understand concepts that have no physical
reality, but deeply involved in hypothetical thinking
about possibilities & impossibilities.
App: successful college students need formalApp: successful college students need formal
operational thinking to succeed in college careers bcoz
clg classes require critical thinking, problem solving
abilities and abstract thinking based on formal
operational skills.
In math: X=5/ Y= 1.
Thinking War!