1. Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget
Theory of Cognitive Development

2. Schemas, schemas, schemas!
Born with innate schemas
Based on natural reflexes
As child interacts with environment, these are modified
Constantly built, used and updated
Children actively construct knowledge!

3. Assimilation Interpret new experiences in terms of our current schemas
Make the new information “fit”
Interpret the world around you in ways you are comfortable with & already know.

4. Accommodation
Adjust our schemas to incorporate information from new experiences
Information doesn’t “fit!”
Initially confusing
update and/or creating new schemas
Growth & new knowledge
Progress through stages of cognitive development

5. Sensorimotor Stage
Birth-2 years 
Infants try to make sense of the world using
innate skills
i.e. looking, sucking, grasping, and listening
Knowledge of the world limited to:
sensory perceptions
motor activities
Object Permanence- understanding that things can exist when they aren’t seen/heard
Reflexes
Behaviors  limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli

6. Preoperational Stage Ages 2-7 Language Development
Language Development
Not just words, begin to classify
Egocentrism- can’t take the point of view of
other people
What will someone think is in a piggy bank?

7. Preoperational Stage (Continued)
Theory of Mind
Ability to infer other people’s mental states
Develops between 3 ½ and 4 ½

8. Preoperational Stage (Continued)
Animism- belief that everything that exists has some kind of consciousness.
Artificialism- belief that natural phenomena are created by human beings
Symbolism- something is allowed to stand for or symbolize something else
Children can not:
understand concrete logic
mentally manipulate information

9. Concrete Operational Stage
Ages 7-11
Begin to have :
Logical thought about concrete events
don't understand abstract/hypothetical concepts
Inductive logic- going from a specific experience to a general principle
difficulty with deductive logic- going from a general principle to determine the outcome of a specific event
Conservation- ability to understand that redistributing material does not affect its mass, number or volume
Use reversibility- awareness that actions can be reversed
My dog is a Labrador, a Lab is a dog, and a dog is an animal.
7 + 8 = 15 so 15 – 7 = 8
Problem solving is generally random!

11. Formal Operational Stage
Begins around ages adulthood
New thought processes emerge:
Abstract thought
Logical thought
Deductive reasoning
Problem-solving (instead of trial and error)
Systematic planning
Long Term planning
Can appreciate nuanced conversation

12. “If a card has a vowel on one side, then it has an even number on the other side.”  Which cards do I need to turn over to test the rule?

13. The Answer… The E and the 7.
The E must have an even number on the back -- that much is obvious. 
The 7 is odd, so it cannot have a vowel on the other side -- that would be against the rule
The rule says nothing about what has to be on the back of a consonant such as the K
Nor does it say that the 4 must have a vowel on the other side

14. Criticisms
Assumption that we automatically progress from stage to stage
What about the effect of the environment?
Education, culture, birth order, etc
Only used his own children
Recent research suggests that timing is wrong:
Children understand object permanence at a
younger age
Children of 4-5 years do understand their own mental processes as well as other peoples
aka less egocentric than Piaget thought
Some of Piaget’s tasks asked questions twice
(conservation) which made children think he
wanted a different answer!