PIAGET’S WORLD VIEW 1. Human nature: positive, curious 2. Active individual 3. Interactionist: nature & nurture 4. Discontinuity: qualitative change, stages 5. Stages are universal

PIAGET’S CONTRIBUTIONS Intelligent behavior helps organisms adapt to their environments. People actively construct new understandings of the world based on their interactions.

PIAGET’S CONTRIBUTIONS Young children, even infants, are intelligent. They think differently than older children and adults. Focus on the processes of development. Target: logico-mathematical thought.

PIAGET’S 3 PROCESSES OF DEVELOPMENT 1. ADAPTATION process of adjusting to the demands of the environment.

PIAGET’S 3 PROCESSES OF DEVELOPMENT (CONT) 1a. ASSIMILATION: interpreting new information in terms of existing schemes.

PIAGET’S 3 PROCESSES OF DEVELOPMENT (CONT) 1b. ACCOMODATION: modifying existing schemes to better fit new information.

PIAGET’S 3 PROCESSES OF DEVELOPMENT (CONT) 2. ORGANIZATION process of combining existing schemes into new and more complex ones.

PIAGET’S 3 PROCESSES OF DEVELOPMENT 3. EQUILIBRATION process of searching for balance between cognitive structures and the environment.

STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

INFANCY SENSORI-MOTOR DEVELOPMENT PERCEPTIONS (Sensori) ACTIONS (Motor)

INFANCY SENSORI-MOTOR DEVELOPMENT From Reflexes, senses, and motivation

INFANCY SENSORI-MOTOR DEVELOPMENT Object permanence Planful thinking Ability to solve problems in the head

SYMBOLIC DEVELOPMENT SYMBOLS something stands for something real

SYMBOLS symbolic play language, memory stories, fantasy, concepts 1. OBJECTS symbolic play 2. WORDS language, memory 3. IDEAS stories, fantasy, concepts

PRESCHOOL AGE PRE-OPERATIONAL THOUGHT 1. SYMBOLIC FUNCTION: ability to make one thing represent something else past, present, future language pretend play

PRESCHOOL AGE PRE-OPERATIONAL THOUGHT 2. PERCEPTUAL SALIENCE: understanding is dominated by single most perceptually salient feature Child reasons based on how things appear rather than on logic

PRESCHOOL AGE PRE-OPERATIONAL THOUGHT 3. EGO-CENTRISM: view the world solely from one’s own perspective

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD CONCRETE OPERATIONS 1. Thought is operational: consists of internalized, reversible, organized systems of action 2. Thought is logical: can reason logically about concrete objects, events, and situations

Film Clip: Piaget Conservation

Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory 1. Underestimated the cognitive abilities of infants & young children

Film Clip: Baillargeon’s Impossible Event

Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory (Cont) 2. Claimed that broad stages of development exist Overemphasized abruptness of shifts May be more domain specific

Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory 3. Did not describe contribution of social environment 4. Too universal

SUMMARY OF PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

AGE: Newborn DEVELOPMENT Reflexes Senses Motivation

1. SENSORI-MOTOR AGE: Infancy DEVELOPMENT Action schemes Object permanence Planful problem-solving

2. PRE-OPERATIONS AGE: Early childhood DEVELOPMENT Symbolic thought No logic

3. CONCRETE OPERATIONS AGE: Middle childhood DEVELOPMENT: Logic Still concrete No hypothetical thought

LAST NAME, first name Name the major advance and the major limitation for each stage of cognitive development. 1. Sensorimotor: 2. Preoperations: 3. Concrete operations:

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