CHAPTER 4
Theories of Cognitive
Development
, DIEGO RIVERA, Sweet Home — Singing the Corrido (mural, 1925)
Piaget’s Theory
Information-Processing Theories
,Core-Knowledge Theories
Sociocultural Theories
Dynamic-Systems Theories
THEMES
NATURE AND NURTURE
THE ACTIVE CHILD
CONTINUITY/DISCONTINUITY
MECHANISMS OF CHANGE
THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
RESEARCH AND CHILDREN’S WELFARE
A 7-month-old boy, sitting on his father’s lap, becomes intrigued with
the father’s glasses, grabs one side of the frame, and yanks it. The
father says, “Ow!” and his son lets go, but then reaches up and yanks
the frame again. The father readjusts the glasses, but his son again
grasps them and yanks. How, the father wonders, can he prevent the
boy from continuing this annoying routine without causing him to
start screaming?
Fortunately, the father, a developmental psychologist, soon realizes
that Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development suggests a simple
solution: Put the glasses behind his back. According to Piaget’s
theory, removing an object from a young infant’s sight should lead
the infant to act as if the object never existed. The strategy works
perfectly; after the father puts the glasses behind his back, his son
, turns his attention elsewhere. The father looks skyward and thinks,
“Thank you, Piaget.”
The author whose son loved to grab his glasses is not the only one who has
Theories of Cognitive
Development
, DIEGO RIVERA, Sweet Home — Singing the Corrido (mural, 1925)
Piaget’s Theory
Information-Processing Theories
,Core-Knowledge Theories
Sociocultural Theories
Dynamic-Systems Theories
THEMES
NATURE AND NURTURE
THE ACTIVE CHILD
CONTINUITY/DISCONTINUITY
MECHANISMS OF CHANGE
THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
RESEARCH AND CHILDREN’S WELFARE
A 7-month-old boy, sitting on his father’s lap, becomes intrigued with
the father’s glasses, grabs one side of the frame, and yanks it. The
father says, “Ow!” and his son lets go, but then reaches up and yanks
the frame again. The father readjusts the glasses, but his son again
grasps them and yanks. How, the father wonders, can he prevent the
boy from continuing this annoying routine without causing him to
start screaming?
Fortunately, the father, a developmental psychologist, soon realizes
that Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development suggests a simple
solution: Put the glasses behind his back. According to Piaget’s
theory, removing an object from a young infant’s sight should lead
the infant to act as if the object never existed. The strategy works
perfectly; after the father puts the glasses behind his back, his son
, turns his attention elsewhere. The father looks skyward and thinks,
“Thank you, Piaget.”
The author whose son loved to grab his glasses is not the only one who has
