Sociology - Cognitive Development
Friday, 19 May, 2017 2:49 PM
Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development
Information is not just poured into their minds from the environment
Schemas
Actions or mental representation that organise knowledge
• Behavioural schemes (physical) characterise infancy
• Mental schemes (cognitive) develop in childhood
For example, a child may have a schema about a type of animal, such as a dog. If the child's
sole experience has been with small dogs, a child might believe that all dogs are small, furry,
and have four legs. Suppose then that the child encounters an enormous dog. The child will
take in this new information, modifying the previously existing schema to include these new
observations
Assimilation
Incorporating new information into existing schemes
Accommodation
Adjusting schemes to fit new information and experience
Adaptions
Involves adjusting to new environmental demands
Sensorimotor Stage
• Birth to 2 years
• Infants understand the world through their sensory experiences
• Infants are only aware of what is immediately in front of them.
• 7-9 months, infants begin to realize that an object exists even if it can no longer be seen
known as Object Permanence
• 18-24 months: early language development
Preoperational Stage
• 3-7 years
• Children begin to represent the world with words, images, and drawings
The Symbolic Function Substage
- First substage of preoperational thought
- 2 to 4
- Child gains the ability to represent mentally an object that is not present.
- This ability vastly expands the child’s mental world
• Egocentrism
- Is the inability to distinguish between one’s own perspective and someone else’s
perspective.
- Piaget and BarbelInhelder(1969) studied children’s egocentrism by devising the three
mountains task
• Animism
- The belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action
- The sidewalk made me mad; it made me fall down
The Intuitive Thought Substage
- The second substage of preoperational thought
- 4 to 7 years of age.
- Children begin to use primitive reasoning and want to know the answers to all sorts of
questions
Uni Page 1
Friday, 19 May, 2017 2:49 PM
Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development
Information is not just poured into their minds from the environment
Schemas
Actions or mental representation that organise knowledge
• Behavioural schemes (physical) characterise infancy
• Mental schemes (cognitive) develop in childhood
For example, a child may have a schema about a type of animal, such as a dog. If the child's
sole experience has been with small dogs, a child might believe that all dogs are small, furry,
and have four legs. Suppose then that the child encounters an enormous dog. The child will
take in this new information, modifying the previously existing schema to include these new
observations
Assimilation
Incorporating new information into existing schemes
Accommodation
Adjusting schemes to fit new information and experience
Adaptions
Involves adjusting to new environmental demands
Sensorimotor Stage
• Birth to 2 years
• Infants understand the world through their sensory experiences
• Infants are only aware of what is immediately in front of them.
• 7-9 months, infants begin to realize that an object exists even if it can no longer be seen
known as Object Permanence
• 18-24 months: early language development
Preoperational Stage
• 3-7 years
• Children begin to represent the world with words, images, and drawings
The Symbolic Function Substage
- First substage of preoperational thought
- 2 to 4
- Child gains the ability to represent mentally an object that is not present.
- This ability vastly expands the child’s mental world
• Egocentrism
- Is the inability to distinguish between one’s own perspective and someone else’s
perspective.
- Piaget and BarbelInhelder(1969) studied children’s egocentrism by devising the three
mountains task
• Animism
- The belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action
- The sidewalk made me mad; it made me fall down
The Intuitive Thought Substage
- The second substage of preoperational thought
- 4 to 7 years of age.
- Children begin to use primitive reasoning and want to know the answers to all sorts of
questions
Uni Page 1
