Cognitive Development Approach
Piaget’s View
1
What is Cognition?
The term cognition
is derived from the
Latin word
“cognoscere” which
means “to know” or
“to recognize” or “
to conceptualize”.
Cognition refers to
all activity,
processes, and
products of the
mind.
2
Introduction
o Cognitive development approach was
develop as a reaction to behaviorism.
o Cognitivists objected to behaviorists because
they felt that behaviorists thought assume
learning was simply reactionary and ignored
idea that play important role in a thinking.
o Cognitive development approach describes
change in mental processes and abilities.
o Especially, the approach focus on how
people acquire, process and interpret
information in a mind.
o Cognitive development approach closely
linked with field of philosophy rationalism
that believe reason is the source of the
3
knowledge.
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was multi-brilliant
Swiss psychologist, biologist
and philosopher, who was work
for several decades on the
understanding of children’s
cognitive development.
On August 9, 1896 he was born
in Neuchatel, Switzerland
At age of 11, he published an
article ‘an albino sparrow’.
He made of over sixty books and
several hundred articles.
In 1918, he received ph. D. [aged of
21], from university of Neuchatel,
in biology.
4
In 1923, he married to valentine
Chatenay and had three children:
Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent.
He start his career development at
a museum in Geneva, Alfred Binet
testing laboratory in Paris,
Jean Jacques Rousseau institute
and lateral period of his life he
taught and researched at Geneva
University about the genetic
epistemology.
On Sept. 16, 1980 [aged of 84]
Piaget passed away in Geneva,
5 Switzerland.
Piaget’s Main Tenets/Assumptions
Human being come into the world with a few inborn capabilities
like sucking, listening, grasping, reaching etc. which all
subsequent learning and knowledge is base.
Children are not just passive recipients of information, they
actively interact with their external world and process it using
what they already know. In other word human is information
processor.
Children are like “little scientists” they actively try to explore
and make sense of the world around them.
Cognitive development is a combined result of maturation of
the brain and environmental experiences. 6
Theoretical notion of
Piaget’s cognitive
development approach
1. COGNITIVE PROCESS: According
Piaget, children are constructs
their knowledge through the
following process;
I. Schema
II. Adaptation:
Assimilation &
Accommodation
III. Organization
IV. Equilibration
7
I. Schema
Mental framework or structure that helps interact and
interpret new information that includes both physical and
mental actions.
In initial period of life, human have more physical and
simple schema such as sucking, looking, grasping etc. after
then mental and more complex schemas that include
strategies and plans for solving problems.
Schema is continuously change. An individual change their
schema through the process of assimilation and
accommodation, and find equilibration between new and
old schema.
II. Adaptation [Assimilation and
accommodation]
Adaptation is the child’s tendency to adjust to
the demand of the environment. This occurs in
two ways: assimilation and accommodation
Assimilation
Process of translating new
information/experience on the basis of
previously existing knowledge.
This process the original schema is does not
change but adding new dimensions and make
broader their old schema on the basis of new
information. For example, different size and
colors cats.
9
Accommodation
Process of revising and modifying an
existing knowledge and ways of
thinking to apprehend environment
events.
This process change or modify our
existing knowledge and prepare new
schema on the basis of similarities
and differences of new information.
10
III. Organization
Organization refers to the child’s tendency to
arranging of isolated behaviours and thoughts into
higher-order system.
In other word, grouping of items into different
categories.
Undergoes continual refinement.
11
IV. Equilibration
A mechanism that Piaget proposed to explain how children shift
(qualitative) from one stage of thought to next.
The shift occurs as children experience cognitive conflict or
disequilibrium, in trying to understand the world. Eventually,
they resolve the conflict and reach a balance of thought.
Disequilibrium
Situation of cognitive conflict or imbalance between
assimilation and accommodation.
It is a driving force of intellectual development that keeps an
individual continuous active until to reach new balance of
thought and ends of the disequilibrium.
12
Summary
• Schemas In Piaget’s theory, actions or mental
representations that organize knowledge.
• Assimilation Piagetian concept of the incorporation
of new information into existing knowledge
(schemas).
• Accommodation Piagetian concept of adjusting
schemas to fit new information and experiences.
• Organization Piaget’s concept of grouping isolated
behaviors into a higher-order, more smoothly
functioning cognitive system; the grouping or
arranging of items into categories
13
• Equilibration A mechanism that Piaget proposed to
explain how children shift from one stage of thought
to the next. The shift occurs as children experience
cognitive conflict, or disequilibrium, in trying to
understand the world. Eventually, they resolve the
conflict and reach a balance, or equilibrium, of
thought.
14
2. STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Piaget proposed four distinct stages of cognitive development
and each of Piaget’s stages are age related and based on the
ability of individual mental operation.
IV. Formal operational stage [11 to 15]
III. Concrete operational stage [7 to 11]
II. Preoperational stage [2 to 7]
I. Sensory motor stage [Birth to 2]
Piaget believed that later cognition of individual is more
advanced and qualitatively different than early cognition
activities.
15
Stage - I
Sensory motor stage
¨ The first stage of Piagetian, lasting from birth to about 2
years of age.
¨ Infants construct understanding of the world by
coordinating sensory experiences [seeing and hearing]
with physical motor actions [reaching and touching].
¨ During this stage, the infant begins to develop Simple
reflexes, First habits, Hand-eye coordination, Object
permanence, Curiosity and Creativity, and Trial and error
experiment.
Object permanence: knowing something exists, even
though it can’t be seen.
16
Major Characteristics and Developmental
Changes
• The infant knows the world through their movements
and sensations.
• Children learn about the world through basic actions
such as sucking, grasping, looking, and listening.
• Infants learn that things continue to exist even though
they cannot be seen (object permanence).
• They are separate beings from the people and objects
around them.
• They realize that their actions can cause things to
happen in the world around them.
17
Sub-stages of sensorimotor stage
Piaget divided into 6 sub-stage to sensorimotor stage basis
on the child cognitive activities.
1. Simple reflexes [from birth to 1 month]
Sensation and actions coordinated through inborn
reflexes.
In other word, child able to do automatic responses to
particular stimuli.
For Examples, If you put nipple or pacifier in near a
newborn’s mouth he/she will automatically suck it.
18
Cont.....
2. First habits & primary circular reactions [1 to 4 month]
¨ In this sub-stage, infant behaviors are more focused on their
own bodies and repeats over and over again.
Piaget’s term, the word primary refers to our bodies centered
activities and the term circular refers to regular repeated
reactions.
¨ Infant able to showing their reactions without stimulus and
intentionally.
For example, A child may suck his/her thumb by accidently
and then latter intentionally repeats the action.
19
Cont.....
3. Secondary circular reactions [4 to 8 month]
In this period, child behavior more focuses on the
outside world or object-oriented action and intentionally
repeat the same action for enjoyment.
For example, if a child gets a toy he/she will pick up and
put it in his/her mouth.
20
Cont.....
4. Coordination of secondary reactions [8 to 12 month]
¨ Infant able to coordinating vision and touch, hand and
eye action, and goal-directed action.
For example, a child realize that a rattle will make a
sound when shaken/pressed.
¨ Able to understanding object permanence.
For example, when his/her mother hides an attractive
toy beneath a pillow, the infant know that the toy still
exists, also knows where it exists, and attempt to
retrieve it.
21
Cont.....
5. Tertiary circular reactions [12 to 18 month]
¨ In this sub-stage child involve third type of activities such as
curiosity and interest in novelty, and trial and error
experimentation.
Piaget’s word, the term tertiary refers to curiosity and
interest in novelty.
For example, if children cannot reach a thing, they try to
ride a chair to reach up to it.
22
Cont.....
6 Internalization of schema [18 to 24 month]
¨ Children begin to develop symbols to represent events or
objects in the world.
For example, nana its means cloth, papa it means food etc.
¨ Now understanding the world through mental
manipulation rather than physical actions.
23
Stage - II
Preoperational stage
¨ The second Piagetian stage of cognitive development,
lasting approximately from about 2 to 7 years of age.
¨ Preoperational stage is foundation period of mental
operation because this stage is more symbolic than
sensorimotor thought but does not involve operational
thought or absent of ability to logical thinking about
object and event.
24
Stage - II
Preoperational stage
¨ Children begin to represent the world with
words, images and drawings, and reduces the
connection of sensory information and
physical actions.
¨ During this stage, children begin to develops
language skills, and imagination ability.
¨ Children begins to rudimentary concept and
classify object based on the single feature.
25
sub-stages of Preoperational stage
I. Symbolic function sub-stage [2 to 4]
¨ First sub-stage of preoperational thought, occurring between about 2 to 4
years of age.
¨ Children gain ability to mentally represent an object and event that is not
present.
For example, a child can imagine a his father as a horse and enjoy riding on
it.
¨ Animism: inability to distinguish living and non-living things, treating
inanimate objects as living ones.
For example, children bathing, dressing, and feeding their doll as if they are
alive.
26
Cont….
Egocentric conversations
¨ Egocentrism: inability to
distinguish own view
from another’s view.
For example, if I can’t see
you, you can’t see me.
¨ More uses in language ‘I
and My’
27
Cont....
II. Intuitive Thought sub-stage [4 to 7]
¨ Second sub-stage of preoperational thought, occurring
between 4 to 7 years of age.
¨ Children begin to use of primitive reasoning and seeks
answers to all kind of questions.
Centration: It refers to the tendency to focus on only
aspect to the exclusion of all others.
An example of
centration
28
Stage - III
Concrete operational stage
Third Piagetian stage of cognitive development, lasts
from about 7 to 11 years of age.
At this stage, the child thinks operationally, and logical
reasoning replaces intuitive thought but only concrete
situation/manner.
During the period, child gains some important ability
are: classification skill, conservation of knowledge,
reversibility, seriation etc.
29
Classification
Classification: dividing thing into
different sets and subsets based
on the appearance, size, shape,
and other characteristics.
For example, living and non-
living things, Family tree etc.
30
Conservation of knowledge:
ability to understanding that
redistributing of material does
not affects its mass, number ,
quantity.
31
Other dimensions of conservation: number, matter, and length
Concrete
operational
child’s
answer
There
equal
number
.
There
are
equal.
There
are
equal
length.
Reversibility: ability to understanding that number and
object appearance can be changed, then returned to
their original condition or actions can be reversed .
For example, 8+7=15 then 15-7=8, 8 is original quantity.
Seriation: ability to sort in order according to size, shape
or any other characteristics.
For example, sticks of different lengths to orderly arrange
by length.
33
Stage - IV
Formal operational stage
Fourth and final stage of Piaget’s cognitive development approach,
which emerges between about 11 years of age through adulthood.
Peak point/more complete stage of cognitive development.
In this stage, individuals think in more abstract, idealistic, and logical
ways.
They also advances following specific cognitive abilities, which aren't
became in childhood;
Develop hypothetical-deductive reasoning: Cognitive ability to
develop hypotheses, and systematically find best way to solve
every kinds problems (algebraic, science even social).
In contrast, children are more likely to solve problems by trial and
error.
34
Cont…
• Develop ability to thinking about thinking: tendency to
think about thought itself.
• Deduction and induction: Deduction is reasoning from
abstract, general principle to specific. Inductive thinking is
the complementary process of observing a number of
specific events and concluding an abstract, general
principle to explain those events.
• Interpropositional logic: ability to judge whether
propositions are logically connected to one another.
For example, all school students are green. Kularam is a
school student. Therefore, Kularam is green.
• Develop ability to future speculation and imagine
possibilities.
35
