Understanding Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. AND Sensorimotor Stage and Object Permanence

Piaget's views are sometimes referred to as Constructivist.
1. This is because according to Piaget, a child's understanding of the world is actively constructed through experience and discovery.
  1. Piaget believed that it is important for a child to actively explore and experience objects and situations in order to learn about them; only through active discovery could a child's understanding develop properly.
    1. Piaget's notions of discovery learning has had enormous influence in nursery and primary education, leading to methods that allow for self-discovery through play rather than by instruction.
    2. Due to his emphasis on discovery learning it is sometimes suggested that Piaget neglected the role of other people in cognitive development. In fact he recognised that parents and teachers played an important part through their provision of stimulating experiences and materials to aid the development of cognition.
Piaget proposed that cognitive or intellectual development takes place in four stages.
1. He thought that the sequence of stages was invariant, meaning that each child passes through these stages in the same order.
2. He also proposed that the stages were universal, meaning that the same sequence of development applies to children from all cultures.
3. Although there are indicative ages for each stage, progression through the stages depends on the maturity of the individual's nervous system; as the biological structures involved in thought become more complex and sophisticated, so does the capacity to think and understand.
  1. At each stage the child's understanding of the world is qualitatively different; the child thinks differently, making different mistakes and using different strategies to solve problems.
STAGE 1. The Sensorimotor Stage. 0-2 Years.
1. At the start of this stage, 'knowledge' consists mainly of simple motor reflexes such as grasping and sucking. There is no intentional behaviour and the child's cognition is limited to sensations and motor movements.
  1. The child simply responds to stimuli and has no object concept or person concept, meaning there is no awareness of objects or people that are outside the child's immediate presence.
  2. A child in the early stages of the sensorimotor stage does not distinguish between self and others, apparently not recognising that objects and other people exist independently of him or herself.
2. From around 8 months of age the child begins to act intentionally - for example, banging a spoon on the table to listen to their noise it makes.
  1. Trial-and-error behaviour is demonstrated - for example, the child might bang different objects on the table to see whether they make a noise too.
    1. Towards the end of the sensorimotor stage the child has acquired general symbolic function, which is the ability to understand that one thing can stand for another; this is linked to the development of language and the capacity for pretend play.
3. The sensorimotor stage can be sub-divided into six sub-stages.
  1. 1. Reflex Stage.
    1. Behaviour is limited to basic reflexes e.g. sucking.
  2. 2. Habit Stage.
    1. First habits develop e.g. sucking thumb.
  3. 3. Single-action Goal Stage.
    1. Goal-directed activity in a single action e.g. reaching objects.
  4. 4. Sequence-action Goal Stage.
    1. Can co-ordinate organised sequence of actions to achieve a goal e.g. reaching object and moving it.
  5. 5. Tertiary Reaction Stage.
    1. Activity is deliberately varied in trial-and-error testing e.g. banging different spoons to see noises each makes.
  6. 6. Symbolic Stage.
    1. The ability to memorise (represent) language is starting to be acquired, child understands pretend.
Object Permanence.
1. A key feature of the sensorimotor stage occurs at around the age of 8 months, when the child acquires an ability known as object permanence.
2. Object permanence is the understanding that objects exist independently and continue to exist even if they cannot be seen.
  1. In order to have object permanence, a child needs the ability to hold a simple mental representation of the object.
    1. Essentially this means that the child needs to be able to remember.
3. Piaget demonstrated object permanence in a simple study.
  1. RESEARCH CARD: Piaget (1963)
4. Evaluations.
  1. Perhaps infants under the age of 8 months did not search for the toy for other reasons: they lacked the necessary motor skills; they were not interested; the deliberate covering of the toy led them to infer that it was forbidden.
    1. Piaget's tests are sometimes described as lacking 'human sense'. For these and other reasons, critics have suggested that Piaget underestimated the age at which children develop object permanence.
  2. Studies using alternative methods have shown that children as young as 3 months may have object permanence.
    1. Bower and Wishart (1972) made an object disappear by turning out the lights and then observed the child using an infrared camera. They found that the infants continued to reach for the object in the dark, suggesting they had object permanence.

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Understanding Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. AND Sensorimotor Stage and Object Permanence

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