Piaget's Theory & Cognitive Development in Children

Child Psychology: Chapter 6 Study Guide

Piaget’s Theory

Basic Principles of Piaget’s Theory

• Assimilation
• Accommodation
• Equilibration

Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor Stage (Birth-2 Years)

• Adapting to and Exploring the Environment
• Understanding Objects
• Using Symbols

Preoperational Stage (2-7 Years)

• Egocentrism
• Animism
• Centration

Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 Years)

• Mental Operations
• Reversibility
• Can Solve Conservation Tasks

Formal Operational Stage (11+ Years)

• Hypothetical Thinking
• Deductive Reasoning

Piaget’s Contributions to Child Development

• The Study of Cognitive Development
• A New View of Children
• Fascinating Discoveries

Educational Applications of Piaget’s Theory

• Facilitate Rather Than Direct Children’s Learning
• Recognize Individual Differences When Teaching
• Be Sensitive to Children’s Readiness to Learn
• Emphasize Exploration and Interaction

Weaknesses of Piaget’s Theory

• Piaget’s Theory Underestimates Cognitive Competence in Infants and Young Children and Overestimates Cognitive Competence in Adolescents
• Piaget’s Theory Is Vague Concerning Mechanisms of Change
• Piaget’s Stage Model Does Not Account for Variability in Children’s Performance
• Piaget’s Theory Undervalues the Influence of the Sociocultural Environment on Cognitive Development

Modern Theories of Cognitive Development

The Sociocultural Perspective: Vygotsky’s Theory

• Sociocultural Perspective
• Intersubjectivity
• Guided Participation
• Zone of Proximal Development
• Scaffolding
• Private Speech

Information Processing

• Sensory Memory
• Working (Short-Term) Memory
• Long-Term Memory
• Central Executive

How Information Processing Changes with Development

• Better Strategies
• More Effective Executive Functioning
• Increased Automatic Processing
• Increased Speed of Processing

Core-Knowledge Theories

Understanding Core Domains

Understanding Objects and Their Properties

• Object Permanence
• Object Movement
• Differences Between Liquids and Solids

Understanding Living Things

• Movement
• Growth
• Internal Parts
• Inheritance
• Illness
• Healing
• Teleological Explanations
• Essentialism

Understanding People

• Folk Psychology
• Understanding Intention
• Theory of Mind

Phases

• People Can Have Different Desires
• People Can Have Different Beliefs
• Different Experiences Can Lead to Different States of Knowledge
• Understanding That Behavior Is Based on a Person’s Beliefs About Events and Situations, Even When Those Beliefs Are Wrong
• People May Feel One Emotion But Show Another