Theories of Cognitive Development, including Piaget and Vygotsky pt1 Dr. Amanda Waterman

Introduction to Cognitive Development

Overview of the Podcast

• Dr. Amanda Wman introduces herself as a developmental psychologist at The Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds. She outlines the podcast's focus on theories of cognitive development, specifically discussing Piaget and Vygotsky, along with memory development theories.

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

Key Concepts in Piaget's Theory

• Piaget proposed that children actively construct knowledge through interaction with their environment, emphasizing the importance of this engagement for cognitive growth.

• He introduced the concept of "schemes," which are organized ways children understand the world; these schemes evolve as children interact more with their surroundings.

Processes of Scheme Development

• Assimilation: Children incorporate new information into existing schemes when they encounter similar objects or experiences, maintaining equilibrium in their understanding.

• Accommodation: When faced with new information that doesn't fit existing schemes, children must adjust their understanding (or scheme) to accommodate this new knowledge, leading to a state of disequilibrium that promotes further learning.

Stages of Development

• Piaget believed in universal stages applicable across cultures and invariant progression through these stages without skipping any steps. This implies a discontinuous model where qualitative shifts occur at each stage rather than gradual changes over time.

• The four stages identified by Piaget are:

• Sensory Motor Stage (birth to 2 years)

• Pre-operational Stage (2 to 7 years)

• Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years)

• Formal Operational Stage (11 years and up)

Sensory Motor Stage Milestones

Important Developments in Early Childhood

• During the sensory motor stage, children build schemas primarily through sensory experiences and physical interactions.

• A critical milestone is object permanence, where infants learn that objects continue to exist even when out of sight; this realization typically develops around 8 to 12 months old based on experimental observations by Piaget involving hidden toys.

Understanding Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensory Motor Stage and Object Permanence

• The sensory motor stage involves mental representation, with object permanence as a foundational element. This ability allows children to internalize representations of their environment, which is crucial for memory development.

Pre-Operational Stage Characteristics

• The pre-operational stage is marked by limitations in children's cognitive abilities, particularly egocentrism. Piaget demonstrated this through the three mountains task, where children struggle to see perspectives different from their own.

Three Mountains Task

• In the three mountains task, children are asked to choose pictures representing how they view a scene versus how a doll views it. Children aged two to seven typically select images based on their perspective rather than the doll's viewpoint.

Conservation Tasks

• Another significant limitation during this stage is the inability to conserve quantity. In an experiment involving jars of liquid, children fail to recognize that pouring liquid into differently shaped containers does not change the amount present.

• When presented with two equal amounts of liquid in jars A and B, and then poured into jar C (a different shape), children often claim that jar C contains more liquid simply because it appears taller.

• This misunderstanding highlights children's focus on one physical aspect (height) while neglecting other relevant factors (volume), illustrating their developmental limitations in logical reasoning during the pre-operational stage.