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3: Cognitive Development - Piaget

Outline– What is cognition?– Piaget’s Theory

Overview Features of the theory Sensorimotor stage Preoperational stage Concrete operations stage Formal operations stage

– Problems with the theory– Learning Outcomes

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What is cognition?

Virtually everything we do involves thinking or cognitive functioning– Recalling a phone number– Remembering a list– Following directions– Reading your watch (how much time until…?)

How do children become able to do all these things?

Why are some better at some tasks?Why are some quicker to develop?

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Overview of Piaget’s theory

Very influentialStage theory

– 1) Sensorimotor stage0-2 years

– 2) Preoperational stage2-7 years

– 3) Concrete operational stage7-11 years

– 4) Formal operation stage11+ years

Stages are invariant and universal

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Features of Piaget’s theory

genetic epistemology biological approach structuralism

Mechanisms of development– Cognitive organisation– Cognitive adaptation

AssimilationAccomodation

– Cognitive equilibriation

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Sensorimotor stage

6 substages:– Modification of reflexes (0-1 month)– Primary circular reactions (1-4 months)– Secondary circular reactions (4-8 months)– Coordination of secondary schemes (8-12

months)– Tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months)– Mental combinations (18-24 months)

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Trends in sensorimotor stage

Rigidity flexibility– Behaviour adapts to larger range of stimuli

Isolation coordination– Series of different actions can be performed

on an objectReactivity intentionality

– Progression to planned behaviourOvert actions mental representations

– Objects and people are represented symbolically

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Object permanence

Objects are tied to infant’s awareness of them– “out of sight, out of mind”

Hidden toy experiment– 4 months: no attempt to search for hidden

object– 4-9 months: visual search for object – 9 months: search for and retrieve hidden object

A-not-B task (Diamond, 1985)– 9 months: A/B error after 1/2 second delay– 12 months: 10 second delay needed to produce

error

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Preoperational stage

Egocentrism– 3 mountains

Rigidity of thought– Cannot mentally reverse sequences

Therefore no addition or subtraction

Semilogical reasoning– Transductive reasoning

“I haven’t had my nap so it isn’t afternoon”

Limited social cognition– Lack of awareness of intentions in others

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Concrete operations stage

Seriation– mentally arrange items along a dimension

(e.g. height, weight, time or speed)Classification

– Sort objects into groups– Class inclusion

Number concepts– Numbers are arbitrary– Invariance of number

Conservation

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Formal operations stage

Reasoning about abstractions– Hypothetical and abstract notions

Future ‘other worlds’

Applying logic– Deductive reasoning (“if … then…”)

Advanced problem solving– Systematic

Pendulum task

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Problems with Piaget

Did Piaget underestimate children’s abilities?– Object permanence in 3-month-olds (Bower,

1974)– Number conservation in 4 year olds

(McGarrigle & Donaldson, 1974)

Does development take place in stages?– Domain specficity vs. domain generality

Perspective-taking– Perceptual– Affective– Cognitive

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Problems with Piaget

What about culture?– Piaget’s tasks are culturally biased– Schooling and literacy affect rates of

developmente.g. Greenfield’s study of the Wolof

– Formal operational thinking is not universale.g. Gladwin’s study of the Polynesian islanders

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Learning outcomes

Demonstrate an understanding of Piaget’s theory.

Be familiar with the experiments carried out by Piaget

Show an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the theory.

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Reading

Just about every book on developmental psychology has a section on Piaget. – e.g.:

– Bee, H. (2000). The developing child. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Ch. 6

– Bukatko, D. & Daehler, M. W. (2001). Child development. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Ch. 8

– Dworetzky, J. P. (1996). An introduction to child development. St Paul, MN: West. Ch. 9.

– Seifert, K. L. , Hoffnung, R .J. & Hoffnung, M. (2000). Lifespan development. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

– Smith, P. K. & Cowie, H. (1992). Understanding children's development. Oxford: Blackwell