1. Early Cognitive Development

2. Jean Piaget

3. Building Blocks of Cognitive Development
____________ used to understand world
Generalizations based on experience that form basic units of knowledge
Organize past experience, provide framework for understanding future experience
Can apply to behaviors, mental symbols, mental activities

4. Building Blocks of Cognitive Development
Adaptation of schema
______________
Understand new experiences by fitting them within existing schema
i.e. infants will use sucking behavioral schema to experience everything; children label many animals “doggy”
Process of modifying schemas to fit new experiences when familiar schema don’t work

5. Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development Believed child’s mind develops in series of stages

6. Sensorimotor Stage (Birth - 2 yrs.)
Before ~6 mo. seem to lack “object permanence”

7. Preoperational Stage (2 - 6 yrs.) Lack concept of _______________
Principle that mass, volume, number are constant despite changes in form/shape
May have difficulty distinguishing imagination/reality
_________________
Inability to take another’s point of view
Not intentionally “selfish” or “inconsiderate”
Important period of language development

8. Preoperational Stage (Egocentrism)
Why does the sun shine?
“To keep me warm”
Why is there snow?
“For me to play in”
Why is grass green?
“Because it’s my favorite color.”
How many brothers do you have?
“One.”
How many brothers does your brother have?
“None.”

9. Concrete Operational Stage
(7 – 11 yrs.)
Begin to understand :

10. Formal Operational Stage
(12 – Adult)

12. Current evaluation of Piaget’s theories
Helped reshape the way we view children’s thinking and its development
Challenged idea that children’s minds work like adults, but just know less information
Many believe the sequence he outlined is fairly accurate
But many now view cognitive development as more fluid and have evidence that some development happens earlier than Piaget believed

13. Lawrence Kohlberg and his stages of Morality
MORAL DILEMMA ACTIVITY
Preconventional Morality
Conventional Morality
Postconventional Morality

14. Preconventional Morality
Morality of self- interest

15. Conventional Morality
Morality is based upon obeying laws to
I won’t speed down Broad St. because
my friends and family will look down on
me. Besides, the world would be chaotic
if everyone did it.

16. Postconventional Morality
I won’t speed down Broad St. b/c a society w/o laws is not good. If I feel the law is unjust then I’ll try to change it.