Cognitive Development Piagets Theory Cognitive development is stagebased

Cognitive Development

Piaget’s Theory • Cognitive development is stage-based – qualitatively distinct ways of thinking – four main stages • • Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete operational Formal operational

Some Piagetian Terms • Operation: Mental manipulation • Symbol: Something that stands for something else. • Assimilation: fit new experiences into existing knowledge • Accommodation: changing existing knowledge to fit new experiences

Sensorimotor Development • Piaget: – sensory functions and motor skills – thinking is doing – period ends the development of object permanence • Current View: – more than just sensing and moving; intuitive thinking as well – physical knowledge more detailed

Object Knowledge • Object Permanance (Baillargeon & De. Vos, 1991) Animations by Dr. Chris Lalonde

Test Stage Possible event: 3 - to 4 -month old Impossible event:

Spelke (1991) • Familiarization: – ball dropped behind screen – screen raised – looking time to the event is measured

Test Stage • Consistent: – Platform added – the ball is seen resting on the raised platform

Test Stage • Inconsistent: – Platform added – the ball is seen resting on the floor

Results • Blue shows habituation • 4 -mo-old infants looked longer at inconsistent event (red dot) compared to consistent event (green)

Training familiarization Test 1 consistent Test 2 inconsistent

Results • 2 ½-mo-olds look reliably longer at the inconsistent event

Baillargeon (1987) • 4 -mo-olds are surprised when screen falls unhindered

Baillargeon (1994) Possible Impossible • 3 -mo-olds are think object will fall if it loses all contact with support • 6 -mo-olds understand that a significant portion must remain on the support

Preoperational Development • Age 2 -4: – understand, create, and use symbols – draw, pretend, and talk – thinking dominated by seeing and touch • Ages 4 -7: – make intuitive guesses about the world – difference between imagination and reality – increasingly less egocentric • Piaget’s “three mountain” test of egocentricity • “Sally-Anne” test of theory of mind

Draw What Puppet Sees

Sally-Anne Task

Concrete Operational Thought • thinking is no longer dominated by simple appearance • can use simple logic – reversibility, complementary, place in series – only performed on real or remembered objects • can reason only about what is, not what is possible

Saul Kassin, Psychology. Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Reprinted by permission.

Changes Over Concrete Operational

Formal Operational • Abstract Thinking – Analogy – Logical deduction – Strategic – Systematic – Hypothesis Testing

Pendulum Task

Summary • Positives – Child as active learner – Interesting tests – Children’s thinking becomes increasingly more systematic, consistent, and integrated – Errors in thinking • Negatives – Tests measure Performance vs. Competence – Less Stage-Like vs. Continuous – Less Global vs. Specific