Cognitive Thinking

Pages 85-89A.P. 376-380

Objectives

• Compare and contrast assimilation and accommodation

• Describe the 4 stages of Cognitive development by Jean Piaget

• Analyze the differences in each stage

ThinkingAccording to Piaget, cognitive development consists of mental adaptations to new observations.

Two adaptive processesAssimilation: absorbing new information into existing cognitive structures

Accommodation: modifying existing cognitive structures in response to new information

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Jean Piaget [Zhan Pee-ah-ZHAY]

• Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Theory. Children don’t think like adults do.

• Thinking, perceiving, remembering= Cognitive Development

• Schemata- Cognitive rules of the World • 2 different ways to develop cognitively • Assimilation is a mental process that modifies new

information to fit with existing schemes• F.E.: Read about a new film by favorite actor/author OR

golden retriever and poodle both dogs

Assimilation

Piaget cont…

• Accommodation- Restructuring or modifying schemas to incorporate new information

• F.E. cat does not belong in the dog category, scheme.

• Child bird schema is fly; then learn butterfly flies BUT IS NOT A BIRD.

4 stages of COGNITIVE DEVELOPEMENT

• 1st Sensorimotor Stage- ( Birth-2 years old)• Reflexive or instinctive motor responses• Mental representation- Children can now form

mental images of objects and events AND use them to problem solve

• Object Permanence- Liberates the child from his/her immediate surroundings.

• F.E. Peek-A-BOO!

4 stages

Sensorimotor stageBirth–2 years

Major accomplishment is object permanence.The understanding that an object continues to exist even when you cannot see or touch it

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Preoperational

Preoperational stageAges 2–7

Focused on limitations of children’s thinking.

Children at this age could not reason.Unable to perform operationsEgocentricCannot grasp concept of conservation

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PRE OPERATIONAL STAGE: 2-7 years

• 2nd stage; allows sense of self, different from others

• Egocentrism- Self-centered focus. Cannot empathize

• Glass exercise Page 86• Conservation- Realize stretched out beads are

just as long as scrunched up beads

Not yet to conservation or stage 2

ConservationOf substance“Do the two pieces have the same amount of clay?”

Of number“Do the two rows have the same number of pennies?”

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3rd stage: Concrete Operational Stage: 7-11 years old

• Mental operations- Overcome problem of Irreversibility

• Addition, subtraction, division, multiplication

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Concrete operationsAges 7–12

Children’s thinking is still grounded in concrete experiences and concepts, but they can now understand conservation, reversibility, and causation.

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4th stage Formal Operations :12-Adulthood

• Abstract reasoning- reason about situations they have not experienced first hand and they think about future possibilities

• Search systematically for answers to problems• Ask around, internet, call, tweet, FB, • Premise common to culture and experience• This one time and football camp…., 2nd guy I

was there, Story.

Formal operations stage

Ages 12–adulthood

Teenagers are capable of abstract reasoningCan compare and classify ideasCan reason about situations not personally experiencedCan think about the futureCan search systematically for solutions

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Stage 4

Current views of cognitive development

Cognitive abilities develop in continuous, overlapping waves.Preschoolers are not as egocentric as Piaget thought.Children understand more than Piaget thought.Cognitive development is spurred by growing speed and efficiency of information processing.Cognitive development depends on the child’s education and culture.

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More counter to Piaget

• Lev Vygotsky, Russian psychologist, said Piaget really DOES NOT take into account education and culture

• Nomadic tribes. Aborigines count to five then everything else is many

• Do not quantify things

Summary

• 4 stages of Cognitive development• 2 points each from each stage: age or term• Modern Viewpoint