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Report on Jean
Piaget’s Cognitive
Developmental Theory
Submitted to:
Ms. Sherryl Muli Abellanosa
Submitted by:
Aira Jean MAningo
Alvin Mar Martin
Alyssa Camille Malig-on
April Bhernalyn Bernadisco
Carl John Samporna
Chloe Faye Go
Clint Desabille
After high school, Piaget went on to study zoology at the University of Neuchâtel,
receiving his Ph.D. in the natural sciences in 1918, and later developed a deeper interest in
psychoanalysis. He was employed at the Binet Institute in the 1920s, where his job was to develop
French versions of questions on English intelligence tests.
He became intrigued with the reasons children gave for their wrong answers on the
questions that required logical thinking. He believed that these incorrect answers revealed
important differences between the thinking of adults and children. Before Piaget’s work, the
common assumption in psychology was that children are merely less competent thinkers than
adults. Piaget showed that young children think in strikingly different ways compared to adults.
Early Work
Piaget (1936) described his work as genetic epistemology (i.e. the origins of thinking).
Genetics is the scientific study of where things come from (their origins). Epistemology is
concerned with the basic categories of thinking, that is to say, the framework or structural
properties of intelligence.
Schemas
Piaget defined a schema as 'a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component
actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning'.
In simpler terms, Piaget called the schema the basic building block of intelligent behavior
– a way of organizing knowledge. Indeed, it is useful to think of schemas as “units” of knowledge,
each relating to one aspect of the world, including objects, actions and abstract (i.e. theoretical)
concepts. Wadsworth suggests that schemata (the plural of schema) be thought of as 'index cards'
filed in the brain, each one telling an individual how to react to incoming stimuli or information.
When Piaget talked about the development of a person's mental processes, he was referring to
increases in the number and complexity of the schemata that a person had learned.
When a child's existing schemas are capable of explaining what it can perceive around it,
it is said to be in a state of equilibrium, i.e. a state of cognitive (i.e. mental) balance.
A 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 is that we store these mental
representations and apply them when needed.
Piaget described how - as a child gets older - his or her schemas become more numerous
and elaborate. He believed that newborn babies have a small number of innate schemas - even
before they have had much opportunity to experience the world. These neonatal schemas are the
cognitive structures underlying innate reflexes. These reflexes are genetically programmed into
us. For example babies have a sucking reflex, which is triggered by something touching the baby's
lips. A baby will suck a nipple, a comforter (dummy), or a person's finger. Piaget therefore
assumed that the baby has a 'sucking schema'.
Assimilation
- how humans perceive and adapt to new information
- process of fitting and assimilating new information into
pre-existing cognitive schemas
- occurs when humans are faced with new or unfamiliar
information and refer to previously learned
information in order to make sense of it
Accommodation
- the process of taking new information in one's
environment and altering pre-existing schemas in order
to fit in the new information
- happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be
changed to deal with a new object or situation
- imperative because it is how people will continue to interpret new concepts,
schemas, frameworks, and more
Equilibration
This is the force which moves development along. Piaget believed that cognitive development
did not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds.
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).
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.
Stages of Development
Stage of Development Key Feature Research Study
Sensorimotor Object
Blanket & Ball Study
0 - 2 yrs. Permanence
Preoperational
Egocentrism Three Mountains
2 - 7 yrs.
Concrete Operational
Conservation Conservation of Number
7 – 11 yrs.
Manipulate ideas
Formal Operational in head, e.g.
Pendulum Task
11yrs + Abstract
Reasoning
In this period, which "extends from birth to the acquisition of language", intelligence is
demonstrated through motor activity without the use of symbols. Infants progressively construct
knowledge and understanding of the world by coordinating experiences (such as vision and
hearing) with physical interactions with objects (such as grasping, sucking, and stepping).
Knowledge of the world is limited (but developing) because it is based on physical interactions /
experiences. Infants progress from reflexive, instinctual action at birth to the beginning of
symbolic thought toward the end of the stage. Children acquire object permanence, which is a
child’s understanding that objects continue to exist even though he or she cannot be seen or heard,
at about 7 months of age (memory). By the end of the sensorimotor period, children develop a
permanent sense of self and object.
In this period (which has two sub stages), intelligence is demonstrated through the use of
symbols, language use matures, and memory and imagination are developed, but thinking is done
in an illogical, irreversible manner. Egocentric thinking predominates. Piaget's second stage starts
when the child begins to learn to speak at age two and lasts up until the age of seven. During the
Pre-operational Stage of cognitive development, Piaget noted that children do not yet understand
concrete logic and cannot mentally manipulate information. Children’s increase in playing and
pretending takes place in this stage. However, the child still has trouble seeing things from different
points of view. The children's play is mainly categorized by symbolic play and manipulating
symbols. Thinking in this stage is still egocentric, meaning the child has difficulty seeing the
viewpoint of others.
The Pre-operational Stage is split into two sub stages: the symbolic function sub stage, and
the intuitive thought sub stage. The symbolic function sub stage is when children are able to
understand, represent, remember, and picture objects in their mind without having the object in
front of them. The intuitive thought sub stage is when children tend to propose the questions of
"why?" and "how come?" This stage is when children want the knowledge of knowing everything.
3. Concrete Operational Stage (Elementary and Early Adolescence)
In this stage, which occurs between the ages of 7 and 11 years, intelligence is
demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete
objects. Operational thinking develops (mental actions that are reversible). Egocentric
thought diminishes. During this stage, a child's thought processes become more mature and
"adult like". They start solving problems in a more logical fashion.
Abstract, hypothetical thinking is not yet developed in the child, and children can only
solve problems that apply to concrete events or objects. At this stage, the children undergo
a transition where the child learns rules such as conservation, which states that physical
quantities do not change based on the arrangement, and/or appearance of the object (i.e.
number, length, liquid, mass, weight, area, volume).
In this stage (adolescence and into adulthood, roughly ages 11 to approximately 15-
20), intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract
concepts. This form of thought includes "assumptions that have no necessary relation to
reality." At this point, the person is capable of hypothetical and deductive reasoning.
During this time, people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts.
However, research has shown that not all persons in all cultures reach formal
operations, and most people do not use formal operations in all aspects of their lives. Only
35% of high school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal operations; many
people do not think formally during adulthood.
Focus on the process of learning, rather than the end product of it.
Using active methods that require rediscovering or reconstructing "truths".
Using collaborative, as well as individual activities (so children can learn from each
other).
Devising situations that present useful problems, and create disequilibrium in the child.
Evaluate the level of the child's development, so suitable tasks can be set.
Criticisms
Are the stages real? Vygotsky and Bruner would rather not talk about stages at all, preferring
to see development as a continuous process.
Because Piaget concentrated on the universal stages of cognitive development and biological
maturation, he failed to consider the effect that the social setting and culture may have on
cognitive development (re: Vygotsky, 1978).
Piaget’s methods (observation and clinical interviews) are more open to biased interpretation
than other methods because Piaget conducted the observations alone. The data collected are
based on his own subjective interpretation of events.
The concept of schema is incompatible with the theories of Bruner (1966) and Vygotsky
(1978). Behaviorism would also refute Piaget’s schema theory because behaviour cannot be
directly observed as it is an internal process. Therefore, they would claim it cannot be
objectively measured.
Studies have shown that development can to some degree be accelerated, and that children
often grasp ideas earlier than what Piaget found.
Sources
McLeod, S. A. (2015). Jean Piaget. Retrieved July 18, 2015 from
www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.htm.
Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2003). Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Educational
Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved July 18, 2015 from
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/piaget.html.
Jean Piaget. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved July 18, 2015, from
http://www.biography.com/people/jean-piaget-9439915.