Lesson 6: Piaget's Cognitive Developmental Theory PDF

LESSON 6  Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory (1896-1980) Switzerland Cognitive theory of Jean Piaget deals with the development of a person's thought processes, how they change and influence the way people understand and interact with the world. Piaget identified that...

LESSON 6  Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory (1896-1980) Switzerland Cognitive theory of Jean Piaget deals with the development of a person's thought processes, how they change and influence the way people understand and interact with the world. Piaget identified that children are not less intelligent than adults instead children think differently from the way adults think. To him intelligence is not a fixed trait from birth Intelligence and thought processes change as we grow Due to biological maturation and environmental experiences The term Cognition derived from Latin word "cognoscere" means "to know“; "to recognize" or "to conceptualize. Children’s ability to understand the world, think about and solve problems, develops in a stop-start, discontinuous manner rather than gradual changes over time People construct an understanding of the world around them, then experience discrepancies between what is already known and what is new in the environment Knowledge cannot simply emerge from sensory experiences Every child is born with basic mental structure, genetically inherited, on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is built THE BUILDING BLOCK OF KNOWLEDGE Schema: A schema is a logically organized pattern of thought (cognitive framework) that helps to interpret or understand aspects of one’s experiences in the world they inhabit Types of schemas Object schemas: Focuses on what an inanimate object is and how it works. For example, your overall schema for a car might include subcategories for different types of automobiles such as a compact car or sports car. Person schemas: Focuses on specific individuals. For example, your schema for your friend might include information about her appearance, her behaviors, her personality, and her preferences. Social schemas: General knowledge about how people behave in certain social situations. Self-schemas: Knowledge about yourself. This can include both what you know about your current self as well as ideas about your idealized or future self. Event schemas: Patterns of behavior that should be followed for certain events. This acts much like a script informing you of what you should do, how you should act, and what you should say in a particular situation. Role of schema in learning process. 1. Schemas influence what we pay attention to. People are more likely to pay attention to things that fit in with their pre-existing schemas. 2. Schemas impact how quickly people learn. People learn more quickly when the information fits with the existing ideas. 3. Schemas help simplify the world. New information could be classified and categorized by comparing new experiences to existing old experiences. 4. Schema allow us to think quickly. When things are rapidly changing or new information is coming in quickly, people are able to assimilate it automatically without spending a great deal of time interpreting it. 5. Schemas can also change how we interpret incoming information. When learning new information that does not fit with existing schemas, people sometimes distort or alter the new information to make it fit with what they already know. 6. Schemas can also be remarkably difficult to change. People often cling to their existing schemas even in the face of contradictory information. 7. Prejudice is one example of a schema that prevents people from seeing the world as it is and inhibits them from taking in new information. PROCESSES THROUGH WHICH SCHEMAS ARE ADJUSTED OR CHANGED: Assimilation: new information is interpreted into pre-existing schemas Accommodation: existing schemas might be altered or new schemas might be formed as a person comes in contact with new information or have new experiences. Children try to strike a balance between assimilation and accommodation through a mechanism called equilibration. Equilibrium helps explain how children are able to move from one stage of thought to the next. Piaget's Four Stages of Development Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that intelligence is something that grows and develops through four different stages of mental development. The sequence of stages is universal across cultures and unchanging order but not at the same rate They are: Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years An infant's knowledge of the world and behavior is limited. At this earliest stage of cognitive development, infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through basic reflexes, sensory experiences, motor responses and manipulation of objects. Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes: Children learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, and listening Infants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen (object permanence) Objects are separate and distinct entities that have an existence of their own outside of individual perception hence they attach names and words to objects. Infants realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them SUB STAGES OF SENSORIMOTOR: Reflexes (0-1 month): The child understands the environment purely through inborn reflexes such as sucking and looking. Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months): Coordinating sensation and new schemas. A child may suck his or her thumb by accident and later intentionally repeat the action because he/she finds them pleasurable. Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months): The child becomes more focused on the world and intentional repeat of action to trigger a response in the environment. Coordination of Reactions (8-12 months): Showing clear intentional actions; exploring the environment and imitating the observed behavior of others. Children recognize certain objects as having specific qualities. For example, a child might realize that a rattle will make a sound when shaken. Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months): A period of trial-and- error experimentation. For example, a child may try out different sounds or actions as a way of getting attention from a caregiver. Early Representational Thought (18-24 months): Children begin to move towards understanding the world through mental operations rather than purely through actions. Object Permanence: According to Piaget, developing object permanence is one of the most important accomplishments at the sensorimotor stage of development. Preoperational stage: ages 2 to 7 (toddler and early childhood) Children begin to engage in symbolic play and learn to manipulate symbols but do not yet understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information. Language development is one of the hallmarks of this period. Kids at this stage learn through pretend play. Pretending a broom is a horse. Role-playing many other characters "mommy," "daddy," "doctor,". Key features of this stage: Egocentrism: The child's thoughts and communications are typically egocentric. Unable to take on another person's perspective or world view. Animism: Treating inanimate objects as living ones. Example, children dressing and feeding their dolls as if they are alive. Concentration: The process of concentrating on one limited aspect of a stimulus and ignoring other aspects. Conservation: Struggle with understanding the idea of constancy: For example, give a child the choice between two pieces objects, one piece is rolled into a compact ball while the other is smashed into a flat shape; the preoperational child will likely choose the flat shape since it looks bigger even though the two pieces are exactly the same size. Developmental psychologists refer to the ability to understand that other people have different perspectives, thoughts, feelings, and mental states as theory of mind. Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11 Children gain a better understanding of mental operations. And begin thinking logically about concrete events but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts. Important processes during this stage: Seriation: The ability to sort objects in an order according to size, shape or any other characteristic. Example, if children are given different-sized objects, they may place them accordingly. Transitivity (inductive logic): The ability to recognize logical relationships among elements in a serial order. For example, a child may learn that A is taller than B and B is taller than C, but might still struggle to understand then that A must be taller than C. Classification: The ability to group objects together on the basis of common features. Example, there is a class of objects called dogs. There is also a class called animals. But all dogs are also animals, so the class of animals includes that of dogs. Decentering: The ability to take multiple aspects of a situation into account. Example, the child will no longer perceive wide but short cup to contain less than a normally-wide, taller cup. Reversibility: The child understands that numbers or objects can be changed, then returned to their original state. E.g. the child will be able to determine that if 4+4=8 then 8-4=4, the original quantity. Conservation: Kids at this stage understand that if you break a candy bar up into smaller pieces it is still the same amount at when the candy was whole. Socio-centric (elimination of egocentrism): The ability to view things from another's perspective. The child performs operations: combining, separating, multiplying, repeating, dividing etc Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up to adulthood A period of developing the ability to think about abstract concepts. Skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning also emerge during this stage. Conclusion Piaget believed that children take an active role in the learning process, acting much like little scientists as they perform experiments, make observations, and learn about the world. As kids interact with the world around them, they continually add new knowledge, build upon existing knowledge, and adapt previously held ideas to accommodate new information. Criticism Much of Piaget's focus at this stage of development focused on what children could not yet do. The concepts of egocentrism and conservation are both centered on abilities that children have not yet developed; they lack the understanding that things look different to other people and that objects can change in appearance while still maintaining the same properties. Martin Hughes, for example, reasoned that children failed at the three mountains task simply because they did not understand it. He believed that children as young as age 4 were able to understand situations from multiple points of view hence children become less egocentric at an earlier age than Piaget believed. OUR THOUGHT Rom 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.” 1Cor 13:11 “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.”