Theories of a cognitive development

THEORIES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
BY: ROMMEL LUIS C. ISRAEL III

THEORIES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
A.Piaget’s Main Tenet: The child actively seeks
knowledge
B.Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory of Cognitive
Development.
C. Information Processing Theories
D.Bio-cultural theories

COGNITION
•The process of learning in the broadest sense
•Includes perception, memory, judgement, and
thinking.
•Both a mental activity and behavior
 Provides an understanding of the world
arising from biological, experiential,
motivational and social influemces.

PIAGET’ MAIN TENET:
THE CHILD ACTIVELY
SEEKS KNOWLEDGE

JEAN PIAGET
• A swiss psychologist and genetic epistemologist
• Famously known for his theory of cognitive
development (how children develop intellectually
throughout the childhood period)
• Before, children were often thought as mini-adults.
But, Piaget suggested that the way children think is
fundamentally different from the way adults think.
From: https://www.verywellmind.com/jean-piaget-
biography-1896-1980-2795549

3 BASIC COMPONENTS TO PIAGET’S
COGNITIVE THEORY
1. SCHEMAS - building blocks of knowledge
2.  ADAPTATION PROCESSES - enable the transition from one
stage to another (equilibrum, assimilation and accomodation)
3. STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT-sensorimotor, pre-
operational, concrete operational, formal operational.
From: https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

SCHEMA
"a cohesive, repeatable action
sequence possessing component
actions that are tightly interconnected
and governed by a core meaning.“
- Piaget, 1952. P. 7

SCHEMA
• The basic building block of intelligent behavior (way of
organizing knowledge)
• Units of knowledge, each relating to one aspects of the
world (including objects, action and abstract (i.e.
theoretical) concepts, where the child uses to
understand a situation/experience that will serve as
basis for organizing actions to respond to the
environment.
Reference:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

STIMULUS-RESPONSE PATHWAY
From: Bio, Ninja (Composer). (2020, January 24). Overview Of The Stimulus-Response Pathway [Web Photo].
Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://ib.bioninja.com.au/_Media/stimulus-response_med.jpeg

SCHEMA
• The development of a person’s mental processes is the
increase in the number and complexity of schemata (plural of
schema) that a person had learned.
• Schema can be defined as a set of linked mental
representations of the world, which we use both to
understand and to respond to situations.
• The assumption: we store this mental representations and
apply them when needed.
Reference: https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

EXAMPLE OF SCHEMA
BUYING A MEAL IN THE RESTAURANT
The schema is a stored form of the pattern of behavior:
looking at a menu,
ordering food,
eating it and
 paying the bill.
This is an example of a type of schema called a 'script.' Whenever they
are in a restaurant, they retrieve this schema from memory and apply it
to the situation.

SCHEMA
INNATE SCHEMA-
 Neonatal Schema, cognitive structures underlying
innate reflexes.
Genetically programmed.
Reference:

EXAMPLE OF INNATE SCHEMA
SUCKING SCHEMA
Babies have sucking reflex
Triggered by something that touches the baby’s lips (nipple,
a comforter, or a person’s finger)
GRASPING REFLEX
When you touch the palm of the baby’s hand

EXAMPLE OF INNATE SCHEMA
ROOTING REFLEX
Baby turns it head towards something that
toucher its cheek
Shaking a rattle would be the combination of 2
schemata:
1.Grasping
2.Shaking
Reference:

ADAPTATION PROCESSES
• Jean Piaget viewed intellectual growth as a process of
adaptation (adjustment) to the world.
• This happens through:
1. Assimilation
2. Accomodation
3. Equilibration

ADAPTATION PROCESSES
ASSIMILATION
using an existing schema to deal with a new
object or situation
Reference:

ASSIMILATION
EXAMPLE OF ASSIMILATION
A 2-year-old child sees a man who is bald on
top of his head and has long frizzy hair on the
sides. To his father’s horror, the toddler shouts
“Clown, clown” (Siegler et al., 2003).

ACCOMMODATION
•This happens when the existing schema
(knowledge) does not work and needs to be
changed to deal with a new object or situation
From:

ACCOMMODATION
EXAMPLE OF ACCOMMODATION
In the clown incident, the Father explained to his
son that the man was not a clown, not wearing any
costume of a clown.
The boy then was able to change his schema of a
clown.
The boy made this idea about the true concept of
a clown.
Reference:

EQUILIBRATION
Equilibrium occurs when a child's schemas can
deal with most new information through
assimilation. However, an unpleasant state of
disequilibrium occurs when new information
cannot be fitted into existing schemas
(assimilation).
From:

EQUILIBRATION
Equilibration is the force which drives the
learning process as we do not like to be
frustrated and will seek to restore balance by
mastering the new challenge (accommodation).
Once the new information is acquired the
process of assimilation with the new schema will
continue until the next time we need to make an
adjustment to it.

ADAPTATION
PROCESSESES
PARADIGM
IMAGE FROM:
HTTPS://WWW.SIMPLYPSYCHOL
OGY.ORG/PIAGET-
ADAPTATION.JPG?EZIMGFMT=R
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WEBP

PIAGET’S 2 IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS ON THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIRST INTELLIGENCE TEST
STARTED BY ALFRED BINET
1.Children of the same age tended to make the
same mistakes and gets the same answers
wrong.
2.Errors of children of a particular age differed
in systematic ways from those of older or
younger children.

STAGES OF
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT

1. SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (BIRTH TO 2
YEARS)
Child is able to use internal representation of
external events without simply relying on
reflexes.
Divided into 6 sub-stages characterized by the
ability of the child to explore the physical
environment and engaging in symbolic thought
and deferred immitation.

6 Sub-stages:
a. Basic reflex activity
b. Primary circular reactions
c. Secondary circular reactions
d. Coordination of secondary circular reaction
e. Tertiary circular reactions
f. Inventing new means using mental combination
YEARS)

It is in the 6 substages that children gradually
acquire an understanding of the world and
what is referred to as object permanence.
YEARS)

2. PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE (2-7 YEARS)
The development of symbolic function as the
ability to use symbols such as words , images,
gestures to represent real objects and events
Reflected in the use of language in creative
writing, in imaginative play, and even in an
increase in deferred immitation

2 DIVISIONS/SUB-STAGES:
a.Pre-conceptual sub-stage
b.Intuitive sub-stage

PRE-CONCEPTUAL SUB-STAGE
•Limits children’s thinking to animistic thinking
(attributing lifelike characteristics to inanimate
objects.
•Children here are egocentric
•They view things from their own perspective,
usually find difficulties toaccept and understand
other person’s view.

THE INTUITIVE SUB-STAGE
• Children uses certain mental operations but may not be
aware of the principles used for lack of ability to explain
them.
• Have limited ability in problem involving part-whole
relations even in classification and conservation.
• Able to learn to conserve numbers but not physical
properties as mass and volume.

3 CHARACTERISTICS OF PRE-OPERATIONAL
THOUGHTS THAT LIMITS CHILDREN’S THINKING,
ACCDG. TO PIAGET:
a. The child’s inability to understand rversiblity
b.That logical operations can be changed back to
the original state
- Tendency to focus on ends rather than
means.

c. That there are logical steps involved in an
operation.
- focusing on “one and only” dimension of a
problem.

3. CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (7-11
YEARS)
 Children are able to perform tasks that they
were unable to do and master in the preceding
stage, such as:
a.Conservation
b.Classification, and
c. Part-whole relations

4. FORMAL OPERATIONS STAGE
(11-16 YEARS OLD)
Can use abstract reasoning
Can be flexible whenever they consider varied
solutions to a problem
Note: no all children and adults attain this stage.
Depends upon the nature of the problems to be
solved and the preparation acquired for formal
schooling.

PIAGET’S CONCEPT OF EGOCENTRISM AND
OBJECT PERMANENCE
Have implication on the child’s learning
process
Have implication in distinguishing child’s self
from others
“The mind guides the child’s own behavior and
that of others.”

VYGOTSKY’S SOCIO-
CULTURAL THEORY OF
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT

LEV VYGOTSKY
• Known for his work SOCIO-CULTURAL
THEORY
• A seminal Russian Psychologist
• Believed that a social interaction plays an critical
role in children’s learning.
Picture From: Kendra, Cherry (Composer). (2019, September 16). Lev Vygotsky [Web Photo]. Retrieved January 27,
2020, from https://www.verywellmind.com/thmb/R6VsFPYEhfY-
1Hw7CEUutK2RDmg=/768x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/LevVygotsky-cropped-
74865beb474f476a9059cf9bc93e6f5d.jpg.
Reference: Kendra, Cherry (2019). Biography Of Levy Vygotsky, One Of The Most Influential Psychologist. Retrieved
January 27, 2020, from https://www.verywellmind.com/lev-vygotsky-biography-2795533.

“What the child is able to do
in collaboration today, he
will be able to do
independently tomorrow.”
- Vygotsky

LEV VYGOTSKY’S THEORY
•Emphasizes the need for social interaction in
failitating the child’s development.
•It assumes that the thought processes that are
internalized accrue from interaction with others
in the social environment.

LEV VYGOTSKY’S THEORY
Recognizes the important role laguage plays in
learning tahe art of communication and regulating
other intellectual functions as children engage in:
•Social speech
•Egocentric speech
•Inner speech

EGOCENTRIC SPEECH
•The transition from the social activity of children
to more individualized activity
•Involves thinking until they are able to overcome
difficulties
•It is in this speech where inner speech develops
•The child instructs himself in solving problems and
drawing up plans

INNER SPEECH
•It is in the age of maturity that egocentric speech
materialized into inner speech
•It is the egocentric speech that has been
internalized and which develops intellectual
capacities.
Note: Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
emphasizes learning as fundamentally socially-
mediated activity

VYGOTSKY VS. PIAGET’S THEORY OF
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
VYGOTSKY’S THEORY
 complex forms of thinking have their origins
in
social interaction
PIAGET’S THEORY
 Focuses on child’s private exploration
From: Kendra, Cherry (2019). Biography Of Levy Vygotsky, One Of The Most Influential
Psychologist. Retrieved January 27, 2020, from https://www.verywellmind.com/lev-vygotsky-

CRITICAL PART IN LEV VYGOTSKY’ THEORY
1.Imitation
2.Guided learning
3.Collaborative learning

THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT
• Vygotsky called this process as SCAFFOLDING
"[The] distance between the actual developmental level as
determined by independent problem solving and the level
of potential development as determined through
problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration
with more capable peers.“
From: Vygotsky LS. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological
Processes. Cambridge: MA: Harvard University Press; 1978.

The adult must gain and keep the child’s
attention, model the best strategy, and adapt
the whole process to the child’s developmental
level
Vygotsky used this term to signify tasks that
are too hard for the child to do alone but that
he can manage with guidance.

• This is the gap between what the child knows and what he
does not yet know. It is here where the child needs the help
of more knowledgeable others.
• Example, A beginning reader provide a scaffold when they
help him sound out a new word.
From: Kendra, Cherry (2019). Biography Of Levy Vygotsky, One Of
The Most Influential Psychologist. Retrieved January 27, 2020, from
https://www.verywellmind.com/lev-vygotsky-biography-2795533.

ROLE OF PARENTS/TEACHERS
Provides educational opportunities that lie within a
child’s zone
of proximal development.
Pairing less skilled children with more
knowledgeable classmates
(kids can also learn a great deal from peers)
From: Kendra, Cherry (2019). Biography Of Levy Vygotsky, One Of The Most Influential Psychologist. Retrieved January 27,

ROLE OF THE TEACHER
The teacher would provide the scaffolding for
children’s discovery through:
•Questions
•Demonstrations
•Explanations
Reference: Tharpe R., Gallimore R. (1988). Rousing minds to
life: Teaching, learning, and schooling in social context.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

ROLE OF TEACHERS
Teacher makes adjustment in the amount and
type of support he gives to the child as he tries
to acquire skills
When the child has acquired the skill, the
teacher withdraws support
This is similar to concepts of Reciprocal
Instruction and Guided Participation

RECIPROCAL INSTRUCTION
•The use of community learners models
•Learning abilities and skills development are
acquired though social interaction.

GUIDED PARTICIPATION
•The active participation of both the learners
and the more experienced people
•Usually in cultural activities of the community

VYGOTSKY’S THEORY: 2 PRINCIPLES OF
CULTURAL INFLUENCE
1. CULTURES ARE VARIED
- use of different ways, tools and settings to
failitate
children’s development
2. VARIATIONS IN CULTURE AS WELL AS CULTURAL
CONTEXT
- must be considered in assessing children’s
cognitive

3 CATEGORIES OF THINKING AND PROBLEM
SOLVING ACCORDING TO VYGOTSKY
1. Some can be performed independently by the child
2. Others can not be performed even with the help from
others
3. Between the first 2 are tasks (which are in the zone of
proximal development) that can be performed with
help from others
- will become skills and abilities that can be
independently
practiced.

INFORMATION
PROCESSING
THEORIES

INFORMATION-PROCESSING APPROACH
• Human mind as a system that processes information
- similar to computer programming where
processes
involved are subject to limitations, and
observance
of logical rules
• Views development accdg. To cognitive competencies as
derived from the changes in the processes and
strategies applied in the process

ASSUMPTIONS OF INFORMATION-
PROCESSING APPROACHES
1.Thinking is information-processing
2.Mechanism of change are important to
describe
3.The cognitive system is self-modifying
4.Careful task analysis is crucial

THINKING IS INFORMATION PROCESSING
•Putting into mind whatever information there is to
process
- render information understandable, functional
and
usable
•Underlying questions about the process
(perceiving, encoding, representing, and storing
information) change as children gets older and

ME HANISM OF CHANGE ARE IMPORTANT
TO DESCRIBE
• Mechanisms that helps in instituting change in the children’s
cognitive development: encoding, strategy construction,
automatization, and generalization.
• Constantly used cognitive skills eventually become a routine,
automatized.
-Cognitive system is better able to work on new aspects
of the problems, which may require application of new
cognitive skills

THE COGNITIVE SYSTEM IS SELF-
MODIFYING
•Child is able to modify his responses to new
situations/problems bu utilizing acquired
knowledge and strategies from solving earlier
problems.
•New and better ways of responding to
situations are developed.

CAREFUL TASK ANALYSIS IS CRUCIAL
•Cognitive performance is dependent on the
problem or situation
•Ability to handle problem or situation according to
his level of development
•Task analysis is needed to appraise the actual
performance and how it vary according to age.

•Analysis reveals how children of different ages
understand, approach, and solve a problem and
the strategies they apply in solving such.
•Tasks analysis often involves error analysis or
attending to the errors children make.

•Involves examining incorrect answers for
evidence of less sophisticated, although
systematic, strategies that children apply to
problems.
- often relies on microgenetic analysis
method

MICROGENETIC ANALYSIS
•Close scrutiny, detailed examination of how a
child solves a problem on a particular learning
situation or in the succeeding learning activities
that immediately follow.

METACOGNITION
•Individual’s knowledge and control of cognitive
activities
•Knowledge that develops through time, over
childhood
•Includes knowledge of the self, his frame of
mind, knowledge about task, and the strategies
that can be applied.

BIO-CULTURAL THEORIES
•The established link between physiological
processes and the development explained
through universal changes and individual
development.
•One of the most current trends in
developmental psychology

THEORIES OF NATIVISM,
ETHOLOGY AND
SOCIOBIOLOGY

NATIVISM
•Views human as endowed with genetic traits
seen in all members of the species, regardless
of differences in their environments
•According to Developmentalists: peculiarities in
behavior can be identified early in life,
developed in all individuals in every culture, but
do not exist in other species.

NATIVISM:
Example:
- a child learns to speak the language in the
absence
of formal instructions from adults at home.
- he learns by imitating and hearing.
 Note: no evidence has been found of
grammatical
language in non-human species.

NATIVISM
To some critics:
•While children learn language in the same way,
the environment factors and the characteristics
of language cannot be discounted where the
rate at which a language is learned is taken into
account.

ETHOLOGY
•Genetically survival behaviors assumed to have
evolved through natural selection.
Example:
Ethologist say that nature has equipped
birds with
nest-building genes which is imperative
for survival.

ETHOLOGY
•“Emotional relationships are important for
infant’s survival. Emotional bonding is achieved
between the infant and the mother everytime
she attends to the needs of the infant.”
•“Infants crying is genetically programmed and
adults are genetically programmed to a baby’s
crying needs.”

ETHOLOGY
Note:
Ethologist are criticized for placing too much
emphasis
on heredity.
- ethological theories are hard to test for
the same
reason that behavior like attachment for
survival is

SOCIOBIOLOGY
•Focuses on the study of society using the
methods and concepts of biological science.
•Emphsizes genes that aid group survival (like
the ethologists)
•Living in group affords humans better chances
of survival.

SOCIOBIOLOGY
•To support their views, sociobiologists look for
social rules and behaviors that exist in all cultures.
•Example:
- Any society has to put up a set of rules to
regulate
conduct of human behavior.
- respect for other people’s rights/lives

SOCIOBIOLOGY
•Critics of sociobiology do not favor the genes.
- they said that rules that govern life in a
society are
passed on over many generations
because they are
workable through language, not genes.

SOCIOBIOLOGY
•Behavior Genetics supports that a broad range
of traits and behaviors as follows are a result of
heredity:
- intelligence
- shyness
- aggressiveness

SOCIOBIOLOGY
• Hereditary traits are observable accross the lifespan
Stubborn children who are difficult to get along with
encounter more problems in the adult life.
Good-tempered children in their young age looked at life
more positively and were able to adjust to difficult and
complicated situations in life.
Bad-tempered students had fewer years of school, less
achievements in life, and with low paying job.

SOCIOBIOLOGY
• Environment determine how hereditary traits affect an
individual’s development, and to what extent.
Example:
Only ill-tempered boys with low status occupations
change jobs often in the adulthood. Those with jobs with
high status had more stable careers.
 Points to psychological behavior as product of both
heredity and environmnent. Inherited characteristics are
reflected in the same response patterns that influence
human reactions to world realities.

BROFENBRENNER’S
ECOLOGICAL THEORY

URIE BRONFENBRENNER
•a Russian-born American developmental
psychologist
•His research on child development altered
the point of view of developmental psychology
- called the attention of many additional
environmental and societal influences
which
which strongly affected upon child

NESTED SYSTEMS:
URIE BRONFENBRENNER’S KEY CONCEPT
1.Microsystem
2.Mesosystem
3.Exosystem
4.Macrosystem

NESTED SYSTEMS:
URIE
BRONFENBRENNE
R’S KEY CONCEPT
Image from:
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vn3j6XnAhXUfd4KHSUsCjMQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=
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9h_iod2BlHqC6yNS&ust=1580258397487633

MICROSYSTEM
•Encompasses individuals human relationship,
interpersonal interactions and most immediate
surroundings.
•The child’s relationship with parents, siblings,
and school environment.
Reference: Child Development Theories: Urie Bronfenbrenner. (2019). Retrieved January 28, 2020, from
https://www.firstdiscoverers.co.uk/child-development-theories-urie-bronfenbrenner/.

MESOSYSTEM
•encompasses the different interactions between
the characters contained within the
microsystem.
• includes relationships between a child’s family
and their school teachers
Example:
Microsystem – schools a child attends and her
own family
Mesosystem – parents involvement in the school
and the

EXOSYSTEM
• incorporates elements of the bio-ecological systems which do not
directly affect the child, but may have an indirect influence.
• Socio-economic context
- government’s basic services to its citizens hampered by the
economic slowdown and budget deficits.
- parent’s loss of job, low income would indirectly affect the child.
Reference: Child Development Theories: Urie Bronfenbrenner. (2019). Retrieved January 28,
2020, from https://www.firstdiscoverers.co.uk/child-development-theories-urie-
bronfenbrenner/.

MACROSYSTEM
• encompasses cultural and societal beliefs, decisions and
actions which influence an individual child’s development.
Example: religious influences or beliefs of the society
about the
importance of education (cultural context)
Reference: Child Development Theories: Urie Bronfenbrenner. (2019). Retrieved
January 28, 2020, from https://www.firstdiscoverers.co.uk/child-development-
theories-urie-bronfenbrenner/.

REFERENCES
Cherry, Kendra (2019). Jean Piaget Biography (1896-1980). Retrieved January 23, 2020, from
https://www.verywellmind.com/jean-piaget-biography-1896-1980-2795549.
McLeod, Saul (2018). Jean Piaget’s Theory Of Cognitive Development. Retrieved January 23,
2020, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html.
Piaget, J., & Cook, M. T. (1952). The origins of intelligence in
children. New York, NY: International University Press.

REFERENCES
Siegler, R. S., DeLoache, J. S., & Eisenberg, N. (2003).
How children develop. New York: Worth.
Kendra, Cherry (2019). Biography Of Levy Vygotsky, One Of The Most Influential Psychologist.
Retrieved January 27, 2020, from https://www.verywellmind.com/lev-vygotsky-biography-
2795533.
Vygotsky LS. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher
Psychological Processes. Cambridge: MA: Harvard University
Press; 1978.

REFERENCES
Child Development Theories: Urie Bronfenbrenner.
(2019). Retrieved January 28, 2020, from
https://www.firstdiscoverers.co.uk/child-development-
theories-urie-bronfenbrenner/.

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