Early Cognitive Development Jean Piaget 1896 1980 Highly

Early Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget • 1896 -1980 • Highly influential Swiss developmental psychologist • Suggested nature and nurture work together • Searched for origins of intelligence in infancy and factors that lead to changes in knowledge over life span

Building Blocks of Cognitive Development • Schemas used to understand world – Generalizations based on experience that form basic units of knowledge • Organize past experience, provide framework for understanding future experience – Can apply to behaviors, mental symbols, mental activities

Building Blocks of Cognitive Development • Adaptation of schema – Assimilation • Understand new experiences by fitting them within existing schema – i. e. infants will use sucking behavioral schema to experience everything; children label many animals “doggy” – Accommodation • Process of modifying schemas to fit new experiences when familiar schema don’t work

Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development Believed child’s mind develops in series of stages

Sensorimotor Stage • (Birth - 2 yrs. ) – Take in information through sensory and motor interactions – seem to live in present – Before ~6 mo. seem to lack “object permanence” • Lack awareness that objects continue to exist when not perceived (“out of sight, out of mind”) • Begins developing by ~8 mo.

Sensorimotor Stage (Object Permanence)

Preoperational Stage • (2 - 6 yrs. ) – Too young to perform mental operations – Lack concept of “conservation” • Principle that mass, volume, number are constant despite changes in form/shape – May have difficulty distinguishing imagination/reality – “Egocentrism” • Inability to take another’s point of view – Not intentionally “selfish” or “inconsiderate” – Important period of language development

Preoperational Stage (Lack of Conservation) Why it matters in Real Life!

Preoperational Stage (Egocentrism) • Why does the sun shine? “To keep me warm” • Why is there snow? “For me to play in” • Why is grass green? “Because it’s my favorite color. ” • How many brothers do you have? “One. ” • How many brothers does your brother have? “None. ”

Concrete Operational Stage • (7 – 11 yrs. ) – Begin to understand : • • Conservation Reversibility Mathematical operations Concrete analogies

Concrete (Reversibility)

Formal Operational Stage • (12 – Adult) – Abstract reasoning • Can think of imagined reality, symbols • Piaget believed this allowed for development of moral reasoning

Formal (Deductive Reasoning)

Current evaluation of Piaget’s theories • Helped reshape the way we view children’s thinking and its development – Challenged idea that children’s minds work like adults, but just know less information • Many believe the sequence he outlined is fairly accurate – But many now view cognitive development as more fluid and have evidence that some development happens earlier than Piaget believed

Lawrence Kohlberg and his stages of Morality –MORAL DILEMMA ACTIVITY • Preconventional Morality • Conventional Morality • Postconventional Morality

Preconventional Morality • Morality of self- interest • Their actions are either to avoid punishment or to gain rewards.

Conventional Morality is based upon obeying laws to 1. Maintain social order 2. To gain social approval I won’t speed down Broad St. because my friends and family will look down on me. Besides, the world would be chaotic if everyone did it.

Postconventional Morality • Morality based on universal ethical principles. • I won’t speed down Broad St. b/c a society w/o laws is not good. If I feel the law is unjust then I’ll try to change it.