2. Children actively
construct knowledge
Learning through
manipulation and
exploration
Developed through
observation of his own
children
Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Jean Piaget
(1896-1980)
3. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive
Development
Children actively construct their knowledge of the
world
• Children build mental structures that help them adapt to the
world
Schemes: actions or mental representations that
organize knowledge
• Babies’ schemes are structured by simple actions
• Older children’s schemes include strategies and plans for
solving problems
4.
5. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor
Stage
Preoperational
Reasoning
Concrete
Operational
Formal
Operational
Birth to 2
Years
2 to 6 or 7 Years
6 or 7 to
11 or 12 Years
11 or 12 -
Lifetime
Intelligence in
action: child
interacts with
environment
by
manipulating
objects; object
permanence
Thinking dominated by
perception, but child
becomes more capable
of symbolic
functioning;
conservation problem;
language development
occurs
Logical
reasoning only
applied to
objects that
are real or can
be seen
Individual can
think logically
about
potential
events or
abstract ideas;
advanced
reasoning
6. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive
Development: Sensorimotor Stage
Sensorimotor stage lasts from birth to about 2 years
7. Piaget’s Six Substages of Sensorimotor
Development
Substage Age Example
1 Simple reflexes Birth to 1 month Rooting, sucking, and grasping reflexes; newborns such
reflexively when their lips are touched.
2 First habits and
primary circular
reactions
1 to 4 months Repeating a body sensation first experienced by chance (sucking
thumb, for example); then infants might accommodate actions by
sucking their thumb differently from how they suck on a nipple.
3 Secondary circular
reactions
4 to 8 months An infant coos to make a person stay near; as the person starts to
leave, the infant coos again.
4 Coordination of
secondary circular
reactions
8 to 12 months Infant manipulates a stick in order to bring an attractive toy within
reach.
5 Tertiary circular
reactions, novelty,
and curiosity
12 to 18 months A block can be made to fall, spin, hit another object, and slide
across the ground.
6 Internalization of
schemes
18 to 24 months An infant who has never thrown a temper tantrum before sees a
playmate throw a tantrum; the infant retains a memory of the
event, then throws one himself the next day.
8. Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage:
Object Permanence
Object permanence: the understanding that objects
continue to exist even when they cannot be seen,
heard, or touched
• Important accomplishment made during the first year
To Piaget, children are like little scientists, examining
the world to see how it works
9. Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage:
The A-Not-B Error
Data do not always support Piaget’s claim that
certain processes are crucial in transitions from one
stage to the next
A-not-B error: occurs when infants make the mistake
of selecting a familiar hiding place (A) rather than a
new hiding place (B) as they progress into substage 4
of the sensorimotor stage
10. Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage:
Perceptual Development and Expectation
Several theorists argue that infants’ perceptual
abilities are highly developed very early in life
• Certain cognitive abilities appear to be present much earlier
than Piaget’s theory predicts
11. Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage:
The Nature-Nurture Issue
Core knowledge approach: infants are born with domain-
specific innate knowledge systems
• Space, number sense, object permanence, language
• Critics argue nativists neglect the infant’s social immersion to
focus on what happens in the infant’s head apart from the
environment; and morality may emerge through infants’ early
interactions
12. Preoperational Stage:
The Symbolic Function Substage
Symbolic function substage: the child gains the ability
to mentally represent an object that is not present
• Between ages 2 and 4, the child scribbles designs
representing people, houses, cars, etc.; and begins to use
language and pretend play
• Egocentrism: inability to distinguish between one’s own
perspective and someone else’s perspective
Preschool children often show the ability to take another’s
perspective on some tasks but not others
• Animism: belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities
and are capable of action
15. Preoperational Stage:
The Intuitive Thought Substage
Intuitive thought substage: the child uses primitive
reasoning and wants to know the answers to all sorts
of questions
• Second substage of preoperational thought
• Between ages 4 and 7 years old
• “Why?” questions signal the emergence of interest in
figuring out why things are the way they are
• Substage called intuitive because young children seem
unaware of how they know what they know
16. Centration and the Limits of
Preoperational Thought
Centration: focusing of attention on one
characteristic to the exclusion of all others
Conservation: awareness that altering the appearance
of an object or substance does not change its basic
properties
• Conservation may appear earlier than Piaget thought
• Attention is especially important in explaining conservation
19. Formal Operational Stage:
Adolescent Egocentrism
Adolescent egocentrism: heightened
self-consciousness of adolescents
• Reflected in beliefs that others are as interested in them as
they themselves are
Involves two types of social thinking:
• Imaginary audience: feeling one is the center of attention
and sensing one is on stage
• Personal fable: sense of personal uniqueness and invincibility
Danger invulnerability
Psychological invulnerability
20. Applying Piaget’s Theory:
Piaget and Education
Take a constructivist approach
• Children learn best when they are active and seek solutions
for themselves
Facilitate rather than direct learning
• Pedagogies like guided play
• Consider the child’s knowledge and level of thinking
• Teachers need to interpret what a student is saying and
respond in a way not too far from the student’s level
• Examine children’s mistakes in thinking to help guide them
to a higher level of understanding
21. Applying Piaget’s Theory:
Piaget and Education 2
Turn the classroom into a setting of exploration
and discovery
• Teachers observe students’ interests and natural
participation to determine the course of learning
• Peer interaction is encouraged so different viewpoints can
contribute to advances in thinking
22. Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
Contributions Limitations
Shows how thoughts and beliefs affect
behavior
Provides guidelines for appropriate
behavior at different ages
Emphasis that young children learn
through play and exploration of
environment
Focus away from formal instruction and
towards discovery learning
May have underestimated ages that
children are capable of certain tasks
Changes maybe more gradual that
proposed
Ignores cultural differences
23. Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
Piaget made important contributions to
developmental psychology
• Enduring concepts: assimilation, accommodation, object
permanence, egocentrism, conservation, and more
• Current vision of children as active, constructive thinkers
• Huge volume of research generated
• Careful observations and inventive ways to discover how
children act on and adapt to their world
Piaget revealed that cognitive change is more likely if
the context allows for gradual movement
24. Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
Some cognitive abilities emerge earlier than Piaget
estimated; others, later
• Many adolescents still think in concrete operational ways or
are just beginning to master formal operations
• Many adults are not formal operational thinkers
• Children can be trained to reason at a higher cognitive
stage; and culture and education exert a strong influence
Neo-Piagetians argue for more emphasis on how
children use attention, memory, and strategies to
process information
25. Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive
Development
Vygotsky also emphasized that children actively
construct their knowledge and understanding
• Emphasized the role of the social environment in
stimulating cognitive development
Society provides tools to support cognitive development
Cognitive development is shaped by the cultures in which we live
28. Vygotsky: Language and Thought
According to Vygotsky, children use speech both for
social communication and to help them solve tasks
• Private speech is used for self-regulation—to plan, guide,
and monitor their behavior
Later becomes inner speech
• Children use private speech more often when tasks are
difficult, etc.
• Children who use private speech are more socially
competent than those who don’t
29. Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive
Development: Teaching Strategies
Place instruction in a meaningful context
• Provide opportunities to learn in real-world settings
Transform the classroom with Vygotskian ideas
• Tools of the Mind curriculum
30. Evaluating Vygotsky’s Theory
Social constructivist approach: emphasis on the social
contexts of learning and the construction of
knowledge through social interaction
Critics point out Vygotsky was not specific enough
about age-related changes
• Does not adequately describe how changes in
socioemotional capabilities contribute to development
• May have also overemphasized the role of language
• Emphasis on collaboration and guidance may have pitfalls
32. Cognitive Changes in Adulthood:
Is There a Fifth, Postformal Stage?
Some theorists suggest young adults move into a
new qualitative stage
Postformal thought is described as:
• Reflective, relativistic, and contextual
• Provisional
• Realistic
• Recognized as being influenced by emotion
Critics argue research has yet to show that
postformal thought is qualitatively different than
formal operational thought
33. Are There Cognitive Stages in Middle and
Late Adulthood?
Some gradual, quantitative cognitive changes have
been proposed and studied
• Fluid and crystallized intelligence
Ability to reason abstractly; and accumulated information
and verbal skills
• Cognitive mechanics and cognitive pragmatics
Declining mechanics; increasing pragmatics
Current theory and research focuses on specific
aspects of information processing
• Attention, memory, and thinking
34. Comparison of Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s Theories
Theoretical Focus Vygotsky Piaget
Sociocultural Context Strong emphasis Little emphasis
Constructivism Social constructivist Cognitive constructivist
Stages No general stages of development
proposed
Strong emphasis on stages
(sensorimotor, preoperational,
concrete operational, and formal
operational)
Key Processes Zone of proximal development,
language, dialogue, tools of the culture
Schema, assimilation, accommodation,
operations, conservation, classification
Role of Language A major role; language plays a powerful
role in shaping thought
Language has a minimal role; cognition
primarily directs language
View on Education Education plays a central role, helping
children learn the tools of the culture
Educational merely refines the child’s
cognitive skills that have already
emerged
Teaching Implications Teacher is a facilitator and guide, not a
director; establish many opportunities
for children to learn with the teacher
and more-skilled peers
Also views teacher as a facilitator and
guide, not a director; provide support
for children to explore their world and
discover knowledge
Editor's Notes
The cognitive perspective on child development was advanced by Jean Piaget, who is arguably the single most influential force in the field. He was a Swiss cognitive theorist and he developed his theory through extensive observation and testing of his own children.
According to his theory, children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world. Piaget maintained that in infancy and early childhood, children’s understanding is different from adults’. He believed preschoolers’ thinking is full of faulty logic. (e.g. babies don’t realize objects hidden from view continue to exist; children under 7 often say the amount of a liquid changes when poured into a different-shaped container). Over time, children eventually revise their incorrect ideas as they attempt to achieve balance between their internal structures of knowledge and information they encounter in their everyday worlds.
Assimilation: using existing schemes to incorporate new information
Accommodation: adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences
Organization: grouping isolated behaviors and thoughts into a higher-order, smoothly functioning cognitive system
Continual refinement is a part of development
Equilibration: shifting from one stage of thought to the next
This slide illustrates Piaget’s theory of cognitive development through stages.
Instructor’s note: The slide provides a brief overview of each stage as you cycle through, with demonstration opportunities for stage-associated tasks/problems and video examples at each click (For detailed instructions of the “Demonstration of Piaget’s Classic Tasks” see IM > Unit Development > Module 1: Cognitive Development in Childhood > Activities/Demonstrations.)
(Click) Sensorimotor Stage
Demonstrate the concept of object permanence by showing and then hiding a book. Then ask students if the book still exists. (This exercise will be obvious to them.) Please note that the next slide in this presentation contains a video on object permanence.
Click the “Sensorimotor Stage” link to play the video demonstrating the object permanence task.
Discussion question: How are your expectations of the book different from that of the children in the video, and why?
(Click) Preoperational Reasoning
Demonstrate the concept of conservation using coins first in two stacks and then spread out on a table. Ask students if the spread out coins are the same in number as the stacked coins. (This exercise will be obvious to them.)
Click the “Preoperational Reasoning” link to play the first video demonstrating the conservation task.
Discussion question: Why aren’t the children in the video able to successfully answer the conservation questions but you are?
(Click) Concrete Operational
Explain that by this stage of development, children’s thinking is complex enough to master the conservation task.
Click the “Concrete Operational” link to play the second video demonstrating the conservation task.
Discussion question: What has changed about the children who can now successfully complete the conservation tasks?
(Click) Formal Operational
Demonstrate the concept of formal operational by asking the class to consider this hypothetical scenario: Suppose that from this moment on every human baby is born with only one leg; how would society have to change? Students should be able to formulate a variety of real-world adjustments such as new modes of transportation, fashion, etc.
Click the “Formal Operational” link to play the video demonstrating the distinction between the concrete and formal operational stages.
Discussion questions: How does the one-leg scenario relate to the example of formal operational shown in the video? How are both of these examples of formal operational cognitive development? What is the distinction between the concrete and formal operational stages?
Further explanation: Keep in mind that Piaget’s theories are still debated and researchers have had divergent outcomes, particularly between various cultures, that seem to suggest a more continuous development that Piaget imagined. Cultural diversity also appears to affect the full realization of complex reasoning described by the formal operational stage.
Photo 1 shows the child’s perspective from where he or she is sitting. Photos 2, 3, and 4 were taken from different perspectives. For example, Photo 2 shows what the mountains look like to a person sitting at spot B. When asked what a view of the mountains looks like from spot B, the child selects Photo 1, taken from spot A (the child’s own view at the time) instead of Photo 2, the correct view.
We tend to have explanations for why things are the way they are, based not on nature or randomness, but on agency and reason first. second and fourth graders say things like “it’s pointy so bears can scratch their backs” or “It’s wet so we can take a bath”
Concrete operational stage: children can perform concrete operations and they can reason logically as long as reasoning can be applied to specific or concrete examples
Lasts from about 7 to 11 years of age
Classify or divide into sets and subsets and consider interrelationships
Seriation: ability to order stimuli along a quantitative dimension
Transitivity: ability to logically combine relations to reach certain conclusions
Pros
Cognitive theory shows how thoughts and beliefs affect behavior and other domains of development
Provided guidelines for what is appropriate for children at different ages
i.e. emphasized that young children learn through play and direct sensory contact with the environment – discouraged use of formal instruction at this age
Active view of children encouraged parents and educators to allow children to engage directly in solving problems (aka discovery learning)
Cons
He may have underestimated the ages when children are capable of doing certain things – when his tasks are scaled down in difficulty and made more relevant to their experience, their understanding appears closer to that of an older child.
These changes may not occur in such distinct stages but more likely occur more gradually
Ignored cultural differences that might affect the way children think additionally, showed that children’s performance improves on these tasks with training, which calls into question Piaget’s stance on education/teaching practices
Vygotsky’s theory has been especially influential in the study of children’s cognition
Vygotsky agreed with Piaget that kids are active, constructive beings
BUT he viewed cognitive development as a socially mediated process
Vygotsky is best known for his concept of zone of proximal development—**can anyone explain what this is?? range of skills learner can perform with assistance but not independently
Child follows an adult's example adult guidance and gradually develops the ability to do certain tasks without help or assistance. The zone can be measured as: The distance between a child’s actual developmental level in problem-solving on his own and the potential development level under guidance
