Jean Piaget's Influence On Cognitive Development

“The definition of cognitive development is the process of the development of the children understanding of the world as a function of age and experience”. (www.definitionpsychology.com)
Jean Piaget has been a strong influence on the understanding of children’s development and his work “identified particular stages of cognitive development which continues to influence how we work with children” (Meggitt, Walker, 2004, pg109). Piaget was a Swiss psychologist born August 1896. He published his first paper when he was aged 10 and received a Ph.D. of natural sciences aged 22. Piaget published many books and articles including The Psychology of Intelligence and “The Grasp of Consciousness” (www.muskingum.edu). He studied children’s thinking and
Piaget had noticed that children of similar ages were inclined to make similar mistakes which were then confirmed in the observations of his own children. Piaget used the term schemas, he proposed that the first schemas were formed during the reflex stage in a baby. These schemas are “which helps people to organise their thinking and shape their understanding of the world around them” (Scott et al, 2008, pg71). Something later then happens which may cause feel of discomfort which Piaget referred to as disequilibrium which causes us to rethink the schema which was created know as assimilation. In order to restore equilibrium (feeling of comfort) again we have to rethink and readjust our thinking which is known as accommodation. To explain his theory Piaget used the idea of stages to describe development and stated that children move through a series of stages and that “no stage can be missed out” (Meggitt, Walker, 2004, pg109). “Piaget stresses that these stages are not fixed or definite” (Hayes, 1993, pg123). The sensorimotor stage (0-2yrs) is when the child learns through their senses and “interactions with objects by seeing what they can do” (Daly et al, 2009, pg80) Object permanence this is when a child understands that people and objects are permanent and exist even when cannot be seen this occurs between 7-9months.
Vygotsky’s views conflict with Piaget’s on the social and cultural influences as Vygotsky considered that the use of language was the driving force to a child’s cognitive development. Vygotsky also placed more importance on the social influences impacting on cognitive development whereas Piaget was criticised for underestimating this as he stated “much of what child learns begin by accident –The child accidentally performs some action, perceives it, like it and then repeats the action assimilating it into her or his existing schemes” (Hook et al, 2002,