Cognitive Development in Humans Notes
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Cognitive Development Notes
Jean Piaget
Published in 1952, from decades of observation of children, including his own
Childrens knowledge composed of schemas: basic units of knowledge used to organize past experiences and serve as a basis for new ones
Schemas are constantly being modified by assimilation and accommodation
Assimilation and Accommodation
Assimilation: taking in new information by incorporating into an existing schema (we assimilate new experiences by relating them to thing we already know)
Accommodation: when the schema changes to accommodate new knowledge
Overview of Piagets Theory
Four distinct, universal stages
Each stage is characterized by increasingly sophisticated levels of thought
Stages occur in order
Each stage builds on what was learned in the previous stage
Criticisms?
People develop at different rates
Stage One: Sensorimotor
Busy discovering relationships between their bodies and the environment
Research has shown that infants have well developed sensory abilities; child relies on seeing, touching, sucking, feeling;
Use senses to learn about themselves and the environment
According to Piaget, intelligence appears from sensory perceptions and motor activities
Concept of separate selves: world is not an extension of themselves
Increased ability to coordinate separate activities (looking and reaching)
Object permanence: around 10 months of age, object continues to exist even while not in view
Directed groping: perform motor experiments to see what will happen (vary movements)
Begins to recognize cause-and -effect; development of intentionally
Stage runs from birth to age 2, but truly ends when child uses words as symbols
Stage Two: Preoperational
Will react to all similar objects as though they are identical (all women are “mommy” ; all men are “daddy”)
Thought is transductive: