Preview

Discuss Piaget's theory of cognitive development

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1235 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Discuss Piaget's theory of cognitive development
Discuss Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development
Cognitive Development can be defined as the development of thought processes. This includes thinking, concept understanding, problem solving, and decision making and remembering from childhood on to adulthood. There are two theories of Cognitive development that offer us two different ways of understanding it. The first is called Domain general. This theory states that one line of development determines all of the changes in a child’s intellectual system (van Geert, 1998). This means that if one thing goes wrong then it will impact on all other areas of a child’s cognitive system, resulting in a high scale problem.
The second is the Domain specific theory. This theory varies from the domain general theory as it states, different lines of cognitive development operate independently. It sees cognition as a heterogeneous system.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is the most well-known psychologist in the field of cognitive development. He was a French man that originally trained in biology and philosophy sectors.
Piaget was the first person to suggest that children see the world differently to adults; he then developed methods to investigate this before any other psychologist had studied this area.
Piaget set the basis for his research methods primarily on case studies because they were descriptive and for Piaget, the domain general theory of cognitive development was the correct one. The problem with this is that it is impossible to use case studies in order to draw conclusions about cognitive development to the entire population, therefore lacking population validity.
Piaget used the direct method of question and answer to find out how a child’s reasoning differs from an adult (D.M.G. Hyde, 1970). He believed that the differences in intellectual development are always a result of either direct or indirect changes that occur in a person’s logical ability.
120281576
Piaget



References: Anders, Y., Rossbach, H. G., Weinert, S., Ebert, S., Kuger, S., Lehrl, S., & von Maurice, J. (2012). Home and preschool learning environments and their relations to the development of early numeracy skills. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27(2), 231-244. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.08.003 Feldman, D. H. (2004). Piaget 's stages: the unfinished symphony of cognitive development. New Ideas in Psychology, 22(3), 175-231. doi: 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2004.11.005 Inagaki, H., Meguro, K., Shimada, M., Ishizaki, J., Okuzumi, H., & Yamadori, A. (2002). Discrepancy between mental rotation and perspective-taking abilities in normal aging assessed by Piaget 's three-mountain task. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 24(1), 18-25. doi: 10.1076/jcen.24.1.18.969 Piaget, I. (2008). Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood (Reprinted from vol. 15, pg. 1, 1972). Human Development, 51(1), 40-47. doi: 10.1159/000112531 Shayer, M. (2003). Not just Piaget; not just Vygotsky, and certainly not Vygotsky as alternative to Piaget. Learning and Instruction, 13(5), 465-485. doi: 10.1016/s0959- 4752(03)00092-6 van Geert, P. (1998). A dynamic systems model of basic developmental mechanisms: Piaget, Vygotsky, and beyond. Psychological Review, 105(4), 634-677. doi: 10.1037/0033- 295x.105.4.634-677 D.M.G. Hyde, M.G.H (1970) Piaget and Conceptual Development. Great Britain. Holt, Rinehart and Winston Ltd, 21-35. Piaget, J. (1972) Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood. Human development, 15, 1-12 Jean Piaget and Barbel Inhelder, J.P, B.I. (1969) The Psychology of the Child. Great Britain. Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1-13. G. Neil Martin, Neil R. Carlson and William Buskist (2010) Fourth edition Psychology. Great Britain. Pearson Education Limited, 512-515.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Theories of development are very important as these theories and frameworks can heavily influence current practice and help us to understand the complexities of children’s behaviours their reactions and can also help us figure out different and new ways of learning. Starting with the constructivist approach (piaget). Piaget worked on intelligence testing and during this period he realised that children would consistently give wrong answers to certain questions so he began to consider and review why this was. He used his own children in the testing and his theory was often referred to as a constructivist approach as he suggested children constructed thoughts according to the experiences around them. Piaget’s beliefs helped people understand why children’s thinking is sometimes different from our own. The belief was seen to be that as the children develops so does there way of thinking.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, observed how children learn and develop. His observations led to the discovery that children have certain problem-solving strengths and weaknesses depending upon their age. Through extensive research and observations, Piaget developed the theory of cognitive development. Piaget’s theory concluded that cognitive development occurs in four distinct stages; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations. Children progress through the four stages of hierarchical development, building on the…

    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cyp Core 3.1:

    • 1646 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Piaget studied the thinking and logic of children and he believed that children had different logic to adults. Piaget started his theory by observing and studying his own children and concluded that children learn and build their ideas on what they see and experience, not by what they are taught. The more the children see and gain in experience the more their schemas would change and develop as they add new information.…

    • 1646 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cognitive development starts from the age of infancy and continues through the period of adolescence and on to adulthood. The basic components of cognitive development are mental processes; memory, critical thinking/ problem solving, categorization, language, and creativity, all of which are formed in the youngest years of a child’s life (Wells, Encyclopedia of Children’s Health). Jean Piaget originated and based his work in Switzerland. He had a PhD in Zoology, which he used to develop a biologically rooted theory named the “Theory of Cognitive Development,” describing the advancements in this form of development from birth to adolescence in four universal stages (Central Michigan University, Piaget and Beyond). Lev Vygotsky was born in Western…

    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ed209 TMA01

    • 2230 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Born in Switzerland in 1896, Jean Piaget (The Open University, 2006b) is known as one of the most influential contributors in the field of developmental psychology. His theory of cognitive development originated from a series of observations conducted in 1920, while working as a translator of intelligence tests in Alfred Binet 's laboratory. Noticing that children tended to give systematic wrong answers, he suggested that these errors revealed a fundamental, qualitative difference in children 's cognitive abilities, and found confirmation of this hypothesis in observations of his own children. Is this relevant? It…

    • 2230 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Piaget's work keeps on adding to the comprehension of subjective improvement in kids and how to instruct kids adequately. Analysts have regularly seen youngsters as an adaptation of grown-ups yet littler renditions. Through Piaget's hypotheses, he has served to show youth is an uncommon and critical human improvement period. Piaget's work is persuasive and keeps on affecting understudies and analysts ("Cognitive Development", 2015). The modern day usage of the Jean Piaget Cognitive Development Theory has been in schools within today's society. It applied in school by applying visual aids, instructions short and spoken out loud, becoming understanding of all students’ emotions and knowledge. Even though giving kids a great deal of the hands-on practice will help them obtain knowledge rather faster. Provide them with a wide range of experiences having the ability to build a foundation of knowledge and understanding ("Cognitive Development",…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Jean Piaget is one of the most noted psychologist in the field because of his contribute to developmental psychology and cognitive psychology. He studied his children and created a system on how kids learn and how they think. He created a theory describing how children understood the world in four stages. The four stages are Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, and Formal Operations.…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Piaget theory was about how early cognitive development happens through a process where actions prompt thought processes. He had belief that cognitive development follows a process of four stages that are the same for all children, but can reach that stage at different times. First stage is Sensori-Motor: Birth to 2 years old. In this stage, children are learning about the world around them through their senses. The second stage is the Preoperational Stage: 2 – 7 years old. In this stage, children sees their world as it is. Piaget’s third stage is the Concrete Operational Stage: 7 – 11 years old. Children at this stage are not yet able to think in complex thoughts, but are starting to mentally solve problems, with concepts such as numbers,…

    • 160 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Theories of Learning

    • 2770 Words
    • 12 Pages

    When it comes to the educational reflections of his theory, Piaget sees the child as “continually interacting with the world around him/her solving problems that are presented by the environment” and learning occurs through taking action to solve the problems. Moreover, the knowledge that results from these actions is not imitated or from birth, but “actively constructed” by the child. In this way thought is seen as deriving from action; action is internalized, or carried out mentally in the imagination, and in this way thinking develops. For Piaget, action should be praised as fundamental to cognitive development, and development is the result of two ways, which are assimilation and accommodation. When the action occurs without causing any…

    • 2770 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some of the theories of development and how the frameworks to support development can influence practice:…

    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    CYP31 2

    • 2448 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Jean Piaget born 1896 and died 1980 was a theorist who came up with a theory on children’s cognitive development. He came up with his theories as a result of working on intelligence test, where he noticed that children consistently gave similar wrong answers to some questions and out of interest, he began to wonder why this was. Jean Piaget came up with a theory that children pass through 4 stages of cognitive development and these are known as the sensory motor, pre- operational, concrete operational and formal operational. The sensory motor relates to those of the ages of birth to 2 years old and features their development of object permanence as well as the child beginning to use symbols i.e. language. The pre operational stage relates to those from the ages of 2 to 7 years and features the child being able to use symbols in thought and play and it features their egocentrism, centration, animism and inability to conserve. From 7 to 11 years old, the concrete operational stage features the ability to conserve and children beginning to solve mental problems using practical supports such as counters and objects and the formal operational stage is from ages 11 to 15 years old and this is where young people can think about situations that they have not experienced and being able to juggle with ideas in their minds. (Children and young people’s workforce, 2010, pg. 65)…

    • 2448 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jean Piaget began to develop his theory in the 1950s thought the way in which children’s thoughts can be different from adults. He concluded that children’s logic stemmed from their direct experiences.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Piaget studied cognitive development and saw it as how children adapt to the world to try and find meaning and to develop their understanding. He believed that it was the role of the adult to provide the child with a stimulating environment which allowed the children to manipulate objects and ideas. Piaget saw cognitive development as a set of stages that all children needed to go through and that they had to fully complete one stage before moving on to the next, these stages are; sensory motor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational. “Although there have been criticisms of Piaget, the contribution that he has made to our understanding of children’s intellectual development is still significant. He suggested that children progress through a series of stages in their thinking, each of which corresponds to broad changes in the structure and logic of their intelligence” (Brigid, D et al 2010 p153) Piaget claims…

    • 2542 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Piaget in the Classroom

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The educational implications of Piaget’s theory are closely tied to the concept of intelligence as the dynamic and emerging ability to adapt to the environment with ever increasing competence (Piaget, 1963). According to the development ideas presented by Piaget’s theory, cognitive structures are patterns of physical and mental action that underlie specific acts of intelligence and correspond to changes in child development. A review of the assumptions and ideas grounded in his theory and investigation into research conducted since will illustrate applications of his developmental ideas on modern educational practice.…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Piaget’s theory develops different ideas of how children attain knowledge. He sees children as active thinking people. Therefore, children are usually pursuing knowledge. This is considered as a natural characteristic that defines the child. The theory leads to Piaget’s concerned with the growth of intelligence of a child. For Piaget, children build knowledge based on their personal interpretation of the world at the different stages of their life that range from infancy, childhood and adolescence.…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays