1. Cognitive Development

2. Jean Piaget Schemas the most basic psychological structures
provide a template for action in the world
Adaptation
the process by which schemas change

3. Adaptation Assimilation Accommodation
process by which a person absorbs a new experience into an existing schema
Accommodation
process by which an existing schema is modified to adapt to a new experience

4. Assimilation and accommodation are invariant!
So … what changes?
Schemas and structures change!

5. Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor (birth - 2 years)
Preoperational (2 - 6 years)
Concrete Operational ( years)
Formal Operational (11+)

6. Sensorimotor Stage (birth - 2 yrs)
How does Piaget see the young infant?
Active
Initiating behavior
Learning to distinguish among the features in the environment
Learning to modify own behavior to fit the demands of the situation

7. Special Qualities of Sensorimotor
Egocentrism
the inability to perceive a situation or person except in relation to the self
Lack object permanence
the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight
major task of the sensorimotor stage

8. Reflexive Schemas (birth-1 month)
infant exercises innate reflexes in an automatic and involuntary manner

9. Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months)
Infant repeats a chance behavior involving his/her own body that led to a pleasurable outcome
Primary
Circular

10. Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months)
Infant directs attention to objects
repeats chance behavior involving object that led to a pleasurable outcome
Not truly intentional
Conservative

11. Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months)
Understanding of Object Permanence
begin searching for objects that are partially hidden
yet they quickly forget or ignore those objects they cannot see

12. Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions (8-12 months)
Intentional, goal-directed, original behavior
Truly intelligent behavior

13. Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions
Understanding of Object Permanence
AB search error: baby looks for object in the last place it was found, even when baby saw it moved to a new place

14. Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months)
Trial and error experimentation
“little scientists” who “experiment in order to see”

15. Tertiary Circular Reactions
Understanding of Object Permanence:
no longer makes the AB search error when they see the object moved to new place
however, if the baby did not see the object moved, will continue to search in the last place it was found
when the baby doesn’t find it there, will show distress

16. Representation (18-24 months)
Mentally represent object/event in mind
Symbolic problem solving
Well-developed object permanence
Deferred Imitation
ability to remember and copy the behavior of models who are not immediately present

17. Preoperational Stage (2 - 6 years)

18. Emergence of the Symbolic Function
Children are first able to form and use symbols
Deferred imitation
Language
Pretend play

19. Forms of Play
Sensorimotor play
Functional play
Pretend play

20. Development of Pretend Play
Increasingly detached from real-life
Increasingly detached from the self
Increasingly complex combinations of schemes of action
Serves an emotionally integrative function
Familiarity with social role possibilities
Fun and useful!!!

21. Limitations to Preoperational
Egocentric
Perception bound
Centered and rigid

22. Egocentrism Sensorimotor Preoperational
inability to distinguish the self from others
Preoperational
inability to distinguish one’s mental representations from others’ mental representations

23. Egocentrism
Perspective taking games

24. Egocentrism
Animism
belief that inanimate object have lifelike qualities

25. Thinking is Perception Bound
Maynard the Cat Study
confusion of appearance & reality in preschoolers

26. Perception Bound Thinking

27. Centered and Rigid Thinking
Center on a single, salient feature and ignore other, less salient, features
Lack the ability to mentally retrace through a series of steps

28. Main Limitation: Conservation
Preoperational children lack conservation!
Conservation = the knowledge that an underlying physical dimension remains the same despite superficial changes in its appearance

29. Conclusions Children think about the world differently than adults.
Children actively construct their knowledge about the world.
Cognitive development follows an invariant and universal sequence.