1. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 What Are the Developmental Tasks of Infancy and Childhood? Infants and children face especially important developmental tasks in the areas of cognition and social relationships – tasks that lay a foundation for further growth in adolescence and adulthood

2. Jean Piaget and Cognitive Development Children undergo a revolution of thought in each stage

3. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Theories Piaget's theory is based on the idea that the developing child builds cognitive structures Used mental "maps" or schemas for understanding and responding to physical their environment Piaget's theory supposes that people develop schemas (conceptual models) by either assimilating or accommodating new information Showed that a child's cognitive structure increases in sophistication with development

4. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Cognitive Development The process by which thinking changes over time

5. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Schemas Mental structures that guide thinking According to Piaget, they are the building blocks of development Schemas form and change as we develop knowledge Right now, you are building a schema about schemas

6. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Assimilation Mental process that modifies new information to fit it into existing schemas A baby will begin to suck o a bottle the way he or she sucked a breast

7. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Accommodation Mental process that restructures existing schemes so that new information is better understood Example: When children learn a butterfly is not a bird

8. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Operational Formal Operational

9. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

10. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Operational Formal Operational Birth to about age 2 Intelligence takes the form of motor actions. Experiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing) Sensorimotor intelligence Mental representations Object permanence

11. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Developmental Milestones Mental Representation Ability to form internal images of objects and events Object Permanence Knowledge that an object exists independently of one’s own actions or awareness

12. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Object Permanence

13. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Object Permanence; A not B error Watch Object Permanence video At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue8y- JVhjS0&feature=related

14. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Operational Formal Operational Age 2 – 7 years Intelligence is intuitive in nature Representing things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning Egocentrism Animistic thinking Centration

15. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Developmental Milestones Egocentrism Self-centering point of view The inability to realize there are other viewpoint beside theirs. (the world revolves around the child and was invented for them) “The only reason bees make honey is so I can eat it”

16. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Developmental Milestones Animistic Thinking Inanimate objects are imagined to have life and mental process Centration The inability to consider more than one factor at a time

17. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Developmental Milestones Irreversibility: The inability to think through a series of events or mental operations and then reverse the steps For example, a child can’t imagine pouring the juice from the tumbler back into the bottle.

18. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Operational Formal Operational About age 7 to age 11 The cognitive structure is logical but depends upon actual events. Acquires Conservation Mental operations

19. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Developmental Milestones Conservation The child in this stage masters this ability, to logically determine that a certain quantity will remain the same despite adjustment of the container, shape, or apparent size.

20. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 This child lacks conservation abilities…she still cannot see that both glasses have the same amount in them

21. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 A Lack of Conservation

22. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Developmental Milestones Mental Operations Solving problems by manipulating images in one’s mind For example, a child might be able to recognize that his or her dog is a Labrador, that a Labrador is a dog, and that a dog is an animal.

23. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Operational Formal Operational From about age 12 on Abstract thought appears

24. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Developmental Milestones To think abstractly To reason logically and draw conclusions from the information available To apply all these processes to hypothetical situations. During this stage the young adult is able to understand such things as love, "shades of gray", logical proofs, and values.