Chapter Four: Cognitive Development (Jean Piaget)
Learning Objectives
- Describe learning in terms of schema development via assimilation and accommodation.
- Describe Piaget’s 4 Stages of Development and the key learning accomplishments in each stage.
Schema Development
Jean Piaget (1896–1980) is a stage theorist who studied childhood development. He focused on children’s cognitive growth and development. He believed that thinking is a central aspect of development and that children are naturally inquisitive. However, he said that children do not think and reason like adults (Piaget, 1930, 1932).
Piaget said that children develop schemata to help them understand the world. Schemata are concepts (mental models) that are used to help us categorize and interpret information. By the time children have reached adulthood, they have created schemata for almost everything. When children learn new information, they adjust their schemata through two processes: assimilation and accommodation. First, they assimilate new information or experiences in terms of their current schemata: Assimilation is when they take in information that is comparable to what they already know. Accommodation describes when they change their schemata based on new information. This process continues as children interact with their environment.
For example, 2-year-old Blake learned the schema for dogs because his family has a Labrador retriever. When Blake sees other dogs in his picture books, he says, “Look, Mommy, dog!” Thus, he has assimilated them into his schema for dogs. One day, Blake sees a sheep for the first time and says, “Look, Mommy, dog!” Having a basic schema that a dog is an animal with four legs and fur, Blake thinks all furry, four-legged creatures are dogs. When Blake’s mom tells him that the animal he sees is a sheep, not a dog, Blake must accommodate his schema for dogs to include more information based on his new experiences. Blake’s schema for dog was too broad since not all furry, four-legged creatures are dogs. Now, he modifies his schema for dogs and forms a new one for sheep.
Watch It
Illustration of Schema, Assimilation, and Accommodation– View this brief video to develop your understanding of schema, assimilation, and accommodation.
Our Knowledge System
Stages of Cognitive Development
Piaget also thought children’s cognitive development unfolds in a series of stages approximately associated with age ranges. Piaget’s stages theory exemplifies the discontinuity approach to development, which means as we progress to a new stage, there is a distinct shift in thinking and reasoning (as opposed to gradual changes happening over time). He proposed a theory of cognitive development that unfolds in four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational (see Table 1).
Table 1 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
|
Age (years) |
Stage |
Description |
Developmental issues |
|
0–2 |
Sensorimotor |
World experienced through senses and actions |
Object permanence Stranger anxiety |
|
2–6 |
Preoperational |
Use words and images to represent things but lack logical reasoning |
Pretend play Egocentrism Language development |
|
7–11 |
Concrete operational |
Understand concrete events and analogies logically; perform arithmetic operations |
Conservation Mathematical transformations |
|
12– |
Formal operational |
Formal operations Utilize abstract reasoning |
Abstract logic Moral reasoning |
The first stage is the sensorimotor stage, which lasts from birth to about 2 years old. Children learn about the world through their senses and motor behavior during this stage. Young children put objects in their mouths to see if the items are edible, and once they can grasp objects, they may shake or bang them to see if they make sounds. Between 5 and 8 months old, the child develops object permanence, which is the understanding that even if something is out of sight, it still exists (Bogartz, Shinskey, & Schilling, 2000). According to Piaget, young infants do not remember an object after it has been removed from sight. Piaget studied infants’ reactions when a toy was first shown to an infant and then hidden under a blanket. Infants who had already developed object permanence would reach for the hidden toy, indicating that they knew it still existed. In contrast, infants who had not developed object permanence would appear confused.
Watch It
Piaget – Stage 1 – Sensorimotor stage: Object Permanence -View this brief video demonstrating different children’s ability to understand object permanence.
In Piaget’s view, around the same time, as children develop object permanence, they also begin to exhibit stranger anxiety, which is a fear of unfamiliar people. Babies may demonstrate this by crying and turning away from a stranger, clinging to a caregiver, or attempting to reach their arms toward familiar faces such as parents. Stranger anxiety results when a child is unable to assimilate the stranger into an existing schema; therefore, she can’t predict what her experience with that stranger will be like, which results in a fear response.
Piaget’s second stage is the preoperational stage, which is approximately 2 to 7 years old. In this stage, children can use symbols to represent words, images, and ideas, which is why children in this stage engage in pretend play. A child’s arms might become airplane wings as he zooms around the room, or a child with a stick might become a brave knight with a sword. Children also begin to use language in the preoperational stage. Still, they cannot understand adult logic or mentally manipulate information (the term operational refers to logical manipulation of information, so children at this stage are considered pre-operational). Children’s logic is based on their own personal knowledge of the world so far, rather than on conventional knowledge. For example, Dad gave a slice of pizza to 10-year-old Keiko and another slice to her 3-year-old brother, Kenny. Kenny’s pizza slice was cut into five pieces, so Kenny told his sister he got more pizza than she did. Children in this stage cannot perform mental operations because they have not developed an understanding of conservation, which is the idea that even if you change the appearance of something, it is still equal in size as long as nothing has been removed or added.
Watch It
A typical child on Piaget’s conservation tasks– This video shows a 4.5-year-old boy in the preoperational stage as he responds to Piaget’s conservation tasks.
During this stage, we also expect children to display egocentrism, which means that the child is not able to take the perspective of others. A child at this stage thinks that everyone sees, thinks, and feels just as they do. Let’s look at Kenny and Keiko again. Keiko’s birthday is coming up, so their mom takes Kenny to the toy store to choose a present for his sister. He selects an Iron Man action figure for her, thinking his sister will, too if he likes the toy. An egocentric child is not able to infer the perspective of other people and instead attributes his own perspective.
Piaget developed the Three-Mountain Task to determine the level of egocentrism displayed by children. Children view a 3-dimensional mountain scene from one viewpoint and are asked what another person at a different viewpoint would see in the same scene.
Watch It
Piaget’s Mountain Task -Watch the Three-Mountain Task in action in this short video from the University of Minnesota and the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Piaget’s third stage is the concrete operational stage, which occurs from about 7 to 11 years old. In this stage, children can think logically about real (concrete) events; they have a firm grasp on the use of numbers and start to employ memory strategies. They can perform mathematical operations and understand transformations, such as addition is the opposite of subtraction, and multiplication is the opposite of division. In this stage, children also master the concept of conservation: Even if something changes shape, its mass, volume, and number stay the same. For example, if you pour water from a tall, thin glass to a short, fat glass, you still have the same amount of water. Remember Keiko and Kenny and the pizza? How did Keiko know that Kenny was wrong when he said that he had more pizza?
Children in the concrete operational stage also understand the principle of reversibility, which means that objects can be changed and then returned back to their original form or condition. Take, for example, water that you poured into the short, fat glass: You can pour water from the fat glass back to the thin glass and still have the same amount (minus a couple of drops).
The fourth, and last, stage in Piaget’s theory is the formal operational stage, which is from about age 11 to adulthood. Whereas children in the concrete operational stage are able to think logically only about concrete events, children in the formal operational stage can also deal with abstract ideas and hypothetical situations. Children in this stage can use abstract thinking to problem solve, look at alternative solutions, and test these solutions. In adolescence, a renewed egocentrism occurs. For example, a 15-year-old with a very small pimple on her face might think it is huge and incredibly visible, under the mistaken impression that others must share her perceptions.
Review & Practice
- Stages of Development (pdf)- Use this worksheet to review and practice identifying the 4 stages of cognitive development.
-
Critical Thinking
- What is the difference between assimilation and accommodation? Provide examples of each.
- Create or find a metaphor to illustrate your understanding of schemata.
- Based on what you read about Piaget’s description of how children learn, what are some ways you can see his ideas influenced early childhood education?
- Based on your own experiences, can you take a critical perspective toward Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development theory?
This chapter was remixed from Spielman, R.M., Jenkins, W.J., & Lovett, M.D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/9-2-lifespan-theories
