Psychology - cognition
and development
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
● Schemas: An understanding of an object, person or idea.A cluster
of related facts usually based on previous experiences and used
to generate future expectations.
● Assimilation: The process of fitting new experiences into existing schemas
without making any change.A child tries to understand new information in terms
of their existing knowledge about the world.
● Accommodation: The process of adjusting or changing existing schemas
because new, conflicting information creates a disequilibrium. This Occurs when
a child adapts an existing schema in order to understand new information that
doesn’t appear to fit.
● Equilibration: This is experiencing a balance between existing schemas and new
experiences. Equilibrium is the driving force beyond these changes or “adaption”.
The intellect strives to maintain a sense of balance.If an experience cannot be
assimilated into existing schemas, then there is a state of imbalance which is
experienced as an unpleasant state and the individual seeks to restore the
balance through the process of equilibration.
● Lifespan learning: This process takes place throughout life as our experiences
present us with knowledge. Such knowledge can either be assimilated or we
must accommodate by creating new schemas.
, 2
✔️ There is evidence to support the existence of innate
schemas. Fantz showed that infants as young as 4 days old
show a preference for a schematic face rather than the same
features all jumbled up. This shows that it is the unique
configuration of a face rather than a complex pattern that is preferred. This
supports Piaget’s view that when a child’s born they already have a few
schemas.
✔️ The ‘facial preference’ finding has been replicated in a number of studies,
such as Goren et al. Although none of the studies make it unclear whether this is
just a lining for things that are symmetricalI in general an innate face preference
makes sense because such a preference would have adaptive significance as a
new-born who can recognise and respond to its own species will better elicit
attachment and caring. This additional evidence of innate schemas increases
the external reliability of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
❌ There is actually little research to support Piaget’s ideas about the effects of
disequilibrium. Some of Piaget’s co-workers did show that children’s learning
was helped when there was a mild conflict between what they expected to
happen and what did happen, but Bryant argues that this isn’t the type of conflict
that Piaget was talking about as Piaget’s conflict was a more major dissonance
between two things. Some of the aspects of the theory are not really testable
because the concepts are difficult to operationalise meaning this theory lacks
falsifiability.
✔️ Piaget produced the first comprehensive theory of children’s cognitive
development. The theory has been more extensively developed than any other. It
has changed our ideas about children and has had a general influence on
educational practice.
Piaget’s stages of intellectual development
● Stage 1 - sensorimotor stage 0-2 years:
○ The infant learns to coordinate sensory input with motor
actions (circular reactions)
, 3
○ The key development of this stage is object permanence, this is where a
child’s understanding that objects that are no longer visible nevertheless
continue to exist. This occurs at around 8 months.
● Stage 2 - pre-operational stage 2-7 years:
○ Children have a kind of logic, but it can’t be used as a basis for
understanding how the world really works. Children rely on appearance
rather than reality.
○ A pre-operational child fails to see the logic that volume cannot change.
○ Conservation tasks:
■ Juice starts at the same amount in the same sized glasses. The
child was asked if they have the same amount in. One glass is then
poured into a thinner,taller glass and the same question was asked.
Children who had completed this stage answered the same amount
whereas children who hadn’t answered that the tall glass has more.
○ Children at this stage are egocentric, where they see things dorm their
own viewpoint and are unaware of other possible viewpoints.
■ Mountain task - Children were shown a set of pictures and asked to
choose the one that showed the doll’s perspective. 4 year old
children tended to choose their own perspective, rather than the
perspective of the doll.
● Class inclusion - Relation between two classes where all members of one class
are included in the other. Young children can classify objects into categories such
as type of animal but they have difficulty with categorising into smaller
sub-groups.
● Stage 3 - concrete operational stage 7-11 years
○ Children acquire the rudiments for logical reasoning. Conservation was
the single most important achievement of the concrete operational stage
because it provides evidence of the child’s command of logical operations.
○ Children are still lacking the ability to think in the abstract.
● Stage 4 - formal operational stage 11+ years
○ Can now solve abstract problems. They can solve problems using
hypothetico-deductive reasoning, thinking like a scientist.
○ Children also display idealistic thinking and are no longer tied to how
things are but also able to imagine how things might be if certain changes
are made.
and development
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
● Schemas: An understanding of an object, person or idea.A cluster
of related facts usually based on previous experiences and used
to generate future expectations.
● Assimilation: The process of fitting new experiences into existing schemas
without making any change.A child tries to understand new information in terms
of their existing knowledge about the world.
● Accommodation: The process of adjusting or changing existing schemas
because new, conflicting information creates a disequilibrium. This Occurs when
a child adapts an existing schema in order to understand new information that
doesn’t appear to fit.
● Equilibration: This is experiencing a balance between existing schemas and new
experiences. Equilibrium is the driving force beyond these changes or “adaption”.
The intellect strives to maintain a sense of balance.If an experience cannot be
assimilated into existing schemas, then there is a state of imbalance which is
experienced as an unpleasant state and the individual seeks to restore the
balance through the process of equilibration.
● Lifespan learning: This process takes place throughout life as our experiences
present us with knowledge. Such knowledge can either be assimilated or we
must accommodate by creating new schemas.
, 2
✔️ There is evidence to support the existence of innate
schemas. Fantz showed that infants as young as 4 days old
show a preference for a schematic face rather than the same
features all jumbled up. This shows that it is the unique
configuration of a face rather than a complex pattern that is preferred. This
supports Piaget’s view that when a child’s born they already have a few
schemas.
✔️ The ‘facial preference’ finding has been replicated in a number of studies,
such as Goren et al. Although none of the studies make it unclear whether this is
just a lining for things that are symmetricalI in general an innate face preference
makes sense because such a preference would have adaptive significance as a
new-born who can recognise and respond to its own species will better elicit
attachment and caring. This additional evidence of innate schemas increases
the external reliability of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
❌ There is actually little research to support Piaget’s ideas about the effects of
disequilibrium. Some of Piaget’s co-workers did show that children’s learning
was helped when there was a mild conflict between what they expected to
happen and what did happen, but Bryant argues that this isn’t the type of conflict
that Piaget was talking about as Piaget’s conflict was a more major dissonance
between two things. Some of the aspects of the theory are not really testable
because the concepts are difficult to operationalise meaning this theory lacks
falsifiability.
✔️ Piaget produced the first comprehensive theory of children’s cognitive
development. The theory has been more extensively developed than any other. It
has changed our ideas about children and has had a general influence on
educational practice.
Piaget’s stages of intellectual development
● Stage 1 - sensorimotor stage 0-2 years:
○ The infant learns to coordinate sensory input with motor
actions (circular reactions)
, 3
○ The key development of this stage is object permanence, this is where a
child’s understanding that objects that are no longer visible nevertheless
continue to exist. This occurs at around 8 months.
● Stage 2 - pre-operational stage 2-7 years:
○ Children have a kind of logic, but it can’t be used as a basis for
understanding how the world really works. Children rely on appearance
rather than reality.
○ A pre-operational child fails to see the logic that volume cannot change.
○ Conservation tasks:
■ Juice starts at the same amount in the same sized glasses. The
child was asked if they have the same amount in. One glass is then
poured into a thinner,taller glass and the same question was asked.
Children who had completed this stage answered the same amount
whereas children who hadn’t answered that the tall glass has more.
○ Children at this stage are egocentric, where they see things dorm their
own viewpoint and are unaware of other possible viewpoints.
■ Mountain task - Children were shown a set of pictures and asked to
choose the one that showed the doll’s perspective. 4 year old
children tended to choose their own perspective, rather than the
perspective of the doll.
● Class inclusion - Relation between two classes where all members of one class
are included in the other. Young children can classify objects into categories such
as type of animal but they have difficulty with categorising into smaller
sub-groups.
● Stage 3 - concrete operational stage 7-11 years
○ Children acquire the rudiments for logical reasoning. Conservation was
the single most important achievement of the concrete operational stage
because it provides evidence of the child’s command of logical operations.
○ Children are still lacking the ability to think in the abstract.
● Stage 4 - formal operational stage 11+ years
○ Can now solve abstract problems. They can solve problems using
hypothetico-deductive reasoning, thinking like a scientist.
○ Children also display idealistic thinking and are no longer tied to how
things are but also able to imagine how things might be if certain changes
are made.
