Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

• Piaget's theory describes qualitative changes or stages in cognitive growth from infancy to adolescence, within the context of social experience.
• Piaget's theory is divided into four main stages:
  • Stage 1: Sensorimotor intelligence (birth to 2 years)
  • Stage 2: Preoperational thought (2 to 7 years)
  • Stage 3: Concrete operations (7 to 11 years)
  • Stage 4: Formal operations (11 to 15 years)

Piaget's Terminology

• Maturation: The process by which children seek balance between what they know and their experiences.
• Experience: The active interaction of the child with their environment.
• Social transmission: Information and customs transmitted from parents and others in the child's environment.

Key Concepts

• Object permanence: Realizing that objects continue to exist even when hidden from view.
• Egocentrism: Understanding the world only from one's personal perspective, finding it difficult to understand others' viewpoints.
• Conservation process: Recognizing that the appearance or shape of something can change without changing its quantity.
• Scheme: A method of interacting with the environment, which can apply to various situations.
  • Example: An infant sucking on a block, demonstrates using the 'sucking' scheme to explore the block.
• Adaptation: The child adapting to their environment to survive. This involves two main processes.
  • Assimilation: Fitting new information into existing frameworks. Example: A child banging a new toy the same way they bang a rattle.
  • Accommodation: Modifying existing frameworks to fit new information. Example: If a new toy is too heavy to hold using one hand, the child needs to modify their method.

Stages of Cognitive Development

• Stage 1: Sensorimotor (birth to 24 months):

  • The infant understands the world through senses and actions. Six substages describe this phase.
  • Children at this age are egocentric, seeing the world from their perspective only.
  • Phase 1: Use of reflexes (birth to 1 month): Infants experience the world through their senses, the parents are important in stimulating those senses.
  • Phase 2: Primary circular reactions (1 to 4 months): Infants repeat actions that happen by chance, such as the sucking of thumbs. These actions become more deliberate and coordinated, parents stimulate the senses via rattles and toys.
  • Phase 3: Secondary circular reactions (4 to 8 months): Infants repeat actions that show connections with objects eg picking up and shaking a rattle. Object permanence is usually established around 6 to 8 months.
  • Phase 4: Coordination of secondary schemas (8 to 12 months): The infant connects actions to their results. For example, shaking a toy to hear a bell ring. Actions become coordinated or modified.
  • Phase 5: Tertiary circular reactions (12 to 18 months): Infants begin to experiment with objects and actions, trying different ways of interacting with their world.
  • Phase 6: Invention through mental combination (18 months to 2 years): Using mental imagery to manipulate objects and reach goals . Infants begin to apply old skills in new situations.

• Stage 2: Preoperational (2 to 7 years):

  • Children demonstrate imaginative play, use of symbols representing real life.
  • Children show a large capacity for learning language.
  • Children show egocentrism.
  • Cannot understand logical concepts such as conservation.
    • The intuitive substage (4 to 7 years) shows children can complete simple operations but struggle to explain why.

• Stage 3: Concrete operational (7 to 11 years):

  • Children grasp the concept of conservation.
  • Children can sort objects by qualities.
  • Children's egocentric tendencies decrease.
  • Concepts of classification, seriation, and reversibility develop.

• Stage 4: Formal operational (11 years to 15 years):

  • Children can think about abstract concepts, consider abstract thought, systematic problem-solving, and perspectives of others.
  • Able to see consequences of actions and make decisions with long-term implications.

Supporting Parent Mental Health

• Parents need to stimulate the child's senses, encourage exploration, and provide opportunities for interaction.
• Use questions to help understand the child's reasoning, but don't push too hard.
• Provide toys to encourage development.
• Provide activities and opportunities that allow children to apply their skills to novel situations.

Explore the stages of cognitive growth defined by Piaget, focusing on the qualitative changes from infancy to adolescence. This quiz covers the four main stages, key concepts, and pivotal terminology used in Piaget's theory. Test your understanding of how children learn and adapt to their environments!