The Cognitive Development TheoryThe self-development theory by psychologist Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget

Born in Switzerland in 1896

Died in 1980

He was originally a biologist who studied mainly molluscs, but developed a greater interest in studying the cognitive functions and mental development of children

His discoveries about the way in which children’s minds work and develop has been extremely influential in educational theory

Piaget's Observations About Children's Development

All children go through a similar set of stages throughout their development

There are four stages

These stages follow after one another in a chronological order

Each stage often occurs at a certain age

There is a set of learned cognitive functions as per its corresponding stage

Piaget's observations are still regarded as important today

Main Beliefs

The self emerges only as a person masters each stage of development

The process of growing up is the biggest impact on a child’s ability to understand the world around him or her: psychologically, children are unable to undertake certain experiences until they are mature enough to do so

There are certain points in a child’s development at which completely new capabilities emerge as the child progresses on to a completely new stage

The following are Piaget’s four stages of children’s

development.

These characteristics have been concluded from experiments.

First Stage: Snsorimotor

This stage takes place from birth to the age of 2

Basic reflexes to allow for survival

Spatial abilities to help understand the world around them

Habits

Coordination between vision and objects

Creativity

Considering an action before doing it

Second Stage: Pre-operational

This stage takes place between the ages 2 and 7

Learn to use and represent objects with images and words

Cannot accept the viewpoints of others (egocentric thinking)

Recognize a similar characteristic of similar objects (e.g. Children at this stage can recognize why a group of red objects are grouped together, etc.)

Have large imaginations

Assign emotions to inanimate objects

Can solve problems and obtain goals, but cannot fully use logic

Third Stage: Concrete operational This stage takes place between the ages of 7 and 11

Can classify objects according to details; understand the concept of sorting

Understand that there can be more than one method of solving the same problem

Understand that a number of objects can be rearranged but still have the same quantity

Able to view situations from another person's perspective

Fourth Stage: Formal operational

This stage takes place from the age of 11 onward (through puberty)

Able to think logically

Can reason

Can use evidence to make conclusions

Values

Moral judgement

Piaget's Theory

Babies come into the world vulnerable to external dangers

They are unable to take care of themselves

They gain the abilities needed to survive on their own as they adapt to new situations

They organize new learning in a way that they can understand

However, this organizing is hindered by the development of the young brain which has not yet been completed

Criticism

Research done by later psychologists, such as Kohlberg and Gilligan, show that about one third of adults did not reach the final stage by the age of 30

People may not progress through each of the stages at the same pace and rate

However, Piaget is praised for showing that cognitive and social development of people is relatively orderly and predictable

Conclusion

Jean Piaget’s theory concludes that:

Socialization and self-emergence proceed in stages as the human brain develops.

This presentation was made possible by

Bishop Reding HSP3M Psychology , Sociology and Anthropology