piaget 1896-1980

piaget 1896-1980

1. wo was he

   • wone of first theorists to come up with comprehensive theory of cognitive development
   • before him: view was the only difference between the was adults and children process information is that adults process it more quickly
     • he proposed infants and children think in a qualitatively different way from each other and adults
   • he believed the childs own actions on the world were crucial to development
   • ressentiallyseen the child as developing in isolation: constructing their own view of the world

2. assumptions underlying Piaget's theory

   • 1 nature/nurture
     • maturation
       • the natural unfolding over time of genetic programs for development
     • inherrant tendancies
       • he child will inherently act on their enviroments
     • equiliberation
       • the process of finding a balance between reacting to and understanding objects, events and the relationships between the two
     • fundamentally he believed development is the interaction abtween innate factors and experience with them
   • 2 sociocultural influences
     • children in different cultures all over the world develop in much the same way
       • but educational/cultural opportunities may affect the speed of development of different children in different cultures and ultimately the level of development
   • 3 the childs active role
     • knowledge is constructed created and formed through revision of it and reorganisation of tin conjunction with how it is used in experience
       • therefore children are highly active participants in what they learn and how they understand the world
   • 4 continuity/discontinuity
     • in his early work piaget described distinct discontinuous stages of development
     • his later work descried a spiral of development in which change consistently occurred sometimes at different rates
   • 5 individual diferences
     • piaget placed little emphasis on this in development

3. schemas

   • mental structures co ordinated and systematic way of reasoning
   • older children/adolescents have more complicated schemas involving processes i.e. meaning o life
   • at all stages children and adults apply schemas as a way of interacting withe environment
   • erlier schemas set the sage for constructiong new and more sophisticated schemas

4. key concepts in paginate theory

   • believed schemas change through complimentary processes
     • assimilation
       • process of interpreting an experience interims of other ways of thinking
     • accommodation
       • modifications that occur in thinking and behaviour when old schema no longer fits
     • equilibration
       • a process which by assimilation and accommodation, more organised, powerful and complex schemas are created

5. piagets stages of development

   • occur in an invariable sequence
   • when a child begins a new schema, schemas are somewhat unstable and disorganised
   • by the end of the schemas checks are well formed and well organised
   • speed of progression is determined by the environs
   • each stage is defined by qualitatively different levels of thinking
   • sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years
     • key feature is action
     • initially infants movements are reflexive not deliberate or planned
     • significant achievement of this stage is development of means to an end behaviour
     • second development is childs separation from self and environment
     • 3rd development is perception of object permanence
     • end of this stage is signified by deferred imitation
   • proportional stage: 2-7 years
     • key feature is semiotic functioning; chips ability to use a symbol, object or a word to stand for something
       • this allows child to think of past and future event and to use language
     • children in this stage are egocentric, unable to separate their own perspectives from others
     • at this stage children are still unable to use knowledge to problem solve i.e. would fail conservation task
       • conservation is the ability to understand the appearance in a quantity o water etc. child fails to understand that the quantity is conserved
   • concrete operational stage7-12 years
     • children believed to enter this stage when they console conservation tasks correctly
     • horizontal dacelagae
       • stages o development within stages
     • children stat to think logically at this stage but only with physical objects i.e. they can't ye t think hypothetically
   • formal operational stage 12 years plus
     • thinking at this stage is both logical and abstract
     • adolescents can also reason hypothetically
     • adolescents can think of the nature of and their role in society
     • internal cognitive structures now highly organised

6. pianist theory of object permanenceTheory – Object permanence: Piaget believed that a 1 yr old had OP, but 6 mth didn’t •Provided detailed description of how OP develops across six substages •Evidence from observation and simple hiding games

   • evidence evaluation
     • • No dispute about infant’s behaviour in standard Piagetian task • No disagreement about importance of OP • BUT other researchers offer different interpretation of infant behaviours on these tasks and what child’s behaviour means