The Cognitive Development Theory The self-development theory by psychologist Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget  Born in Switzerland in 1896  Died in 1980  He was originally a biologist who studied mainly molluscs, but developed a greater interest in studying the cognitive functions and mental development of children  His discoveries about the way in which children’s minds work and develop has been extremely influential in educational theory

Piaget's Observations About Children's Development  All children go through a similar set of stages throughout their development  There are four stages  These stages follow after one another in a chronological order  Each stage often occurs at a certain age  There is a set of learned cognitive functions as per its corresponding stage  Piaget's observations are still regarded as important today

Main Beliefs  The self emerges only as a person masters each stage of development  The process of growing up is the biggest impact on a child’s ability to understand the world around him or her: psychologically, children are unable to undertake certain experiences until they are mature enough to do so  There are certain points in a child’s development at which completely new capabilities emerge as the child progresses on to a completely new stage

The following are Piaget’s four stages of children’s development. These characteristics have been concluded from experiments.

First Stage: Snsorimotor  This stage takes place from birth to the age of 2  Basic reflexes to allow for survival  Spatial abilities to help understand the world around them  Habits  Coordination between vision and objects  Creativity  Considering an action before doing it

Second Stage: Pre-operational  This stage takes place between the ages 2 and 7  Learn to use and represent objects with images and words  Cannot accept the viewpoints of others (egocentric thinking)  Recognize a similar characteristic of similar objects (e.g. Children at this stage can recognize why a group of red objects are grouped together, etc.)  Have large imaginations  Assign emotions to inanimate objects  Can solve problems and obtain goals, but cannot fully use logic

Third Stage: Concrete operational  This stage takes place between the ages of 7 and 11  Can classify objects according to details; understand the concept of sorting  Understand that there can be more than one method of solving the same problem  Understand that a number of objects can be rearranged but still have the same quantity  Able to view situations from another person's perspective

Fourth Stage: Formal operational  This stage takes place from the age of 11 onward (through puberty)  Able to think logically  Can reason  Can use evidence to make conclusions  Values  Moral judgement

Piaget's Theory  Babies come into the world vulnerable to external dangers  They are unable to take care of themselves  They gain the abilities needed to survive on their own as they adapt to new situations  They organize new learning in a way that they can understand  However, this organizing is hindered by the development of the young brain which has not yet been completed

Criticism  Research done by later psychologists, such as Kohlberg and Gilligan, show that about one third of adults did not reach the final stage by the age of 30  People may not progress through each of the stages at the same pace and rate  However, Piaget is praised for showing that cognitive and social development of people is relatively orderly and predictable

Conclusion Jean Piaget’s theory concludes that: Socialization and self- emergence proceed in stages as the human brain develops.

This presentation was made possible by Bishop Reding HSP3M Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology