Piaget Theory Of Cognitive Development Essay

Piaget 's theory of cognitive development is a broad theory about the nature and development of human intelligence. Although it is commonly known as a developmental stage theory, it also engages with the nature of knowledge itself and how individuals get to acquire, construct, and use the knowledge obtained. Piaget state that cognitive development is an advancing reorganization of mental processes as a result of biological maturation and experiences experienced in the individual environment. Children build an perception of the world around them, then experience differences between what they have known and what they find out in their surroundings. Apart from that Piaget argues that the concept that cognitive development is at the center of human

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development states four stages of cognitive development. During the first Sensorimotor Stage which Piaget

Jean Piaget, known for his interest in the Epistemology in children is seen as the pioneer of Developmental Psychology. Piaget 's Cognitive development theory led to a great deal of research work in the field of educational philosophy . But in the discipline of Psychology, every theory has been faced with a counter theory or an alternative. So is the case with Piaget 's theory. Lev Vygotsky, a soviet psychologist came up with the socio-cultural theory, which is another strong theory emphasizing child development and is seen as a major counter theory to Piaget 's work (Saul McLeod, 2004). Theories of these two cognitive psychologists have been compared and contrasted on different levels. This essay will look into the differences and similarities between their theories.

One of Piaget’s key views was stages of cognitive development, he divided cognitive development into separate stages as follows: sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage. It was hypothesized

The first stage of Piaget’s Cognitive Development theory is the Sensorimotor Stage, which he states takes place from birth

One of the most well known theories in cognitive development is Piaget 's theory. The psychologist Jean Piaget theorized that as children 's minds development, they pass through distinct stages marked by transitions in understanding followed by stability. Piaget describes four different stages of development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operation, and formal operations. Each stage describes the thinking patterns of a child depending on his or her age. In order to compare the thinking processes of a three-year old and a nine-year old using Piaget 's theory, you must compare two sequential stages of cognitive development: preoperational and concrete operations.

Piaget asserts, children are born with inherited scripts, called schema, these schema are building blocks for cognitive development. As a child grows, he acquires more of these building blocks; moreover, these building blocks become more complex as the child progresses through different stages in development (Huitt, Hummel 2003). Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development are as follows. First, The sensorimotor stage where an infant has rudimentary motor skills, and can eventually

Jean Piaget was a Twentieth century Swiss psychologist and was the first psychologist to systematically study the cognitive development of children. Thomas (2005) wrote that early in Piaget’s career he worked with children and his observations and interactions with the students led him to the theory that a young person's cognitive processes are inherently different from those of adults (pp. 188-9). According to Ahmad, et al. (2005), Piaget showed that when compared to adults, young children think in differently and he then came to the conclusion that cognitive development was an ongoing process which occurred due to maturation and interaction with the environment (p. 72).

Piaget’s cognitive development theory analyses the growth of children’s development for thinking and their understanding. In fact, American Psychological Association (2015) defines cognitive development as the ‘The development of processes of knowing, including imagining, perceiving, reasoning, and problem solving’. This essay analyses Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Jean Piaget was a psychologist who was acknowledged for his significant contribution of research in child development (Woolfolk & Margetts 2016, p. 80). Throughout this essay, Jean Piaget’s key concepts will be analyzed and linked to the development and learning of children. Further to this a reflection on the importance of Piaget’s theory in influencing individual’s

Jean Piaget used observations of his own children to develop the four stages that we know he created today. Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development that included four distinct stages: the sensorimotor stage, from birth to age 2; the preoperational stage, from age 2 to about age 7; the concrete operational stage, from age 7 to 11; and the formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence and spans into adulthood. He believed that there were four necessary ingredients for cognitive development which included: “maturation of the nervous system, experiences gained through interaction with physical world, social environment, and child’s active participation in adapting to environment & constructing knowledge from experience.” (Sullivan, 2014, Slide 3)

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development contains of four stages of intellectual development. The first stage is the sensory motor stage ( birth-2 yrs.), in this stage child does not know the physical object in existence when out of stage. Second stage is called the preoperational stage (age2-7), no abstract conceptualisation is possible where it needs concrete physical situation. In the stage is concrete operational stage (age7-11), starts to conceptualize with experience that accumulates. The fourth stage is formal operation (11-15), cognitive structures resembles like adults and includes conceptual reasoning.

On August 9, 1896, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, One of the most famous psychiatrist in the world was born, Jean Piaget! At the beginning of his life, he was interested in biology but then he turned his attention to studying the evolution of thought in children, which led him to study psychology. “Over the course of his career in child psychology, he identified four stages of mental development, called “schema.” He also developed new fields of scientific study, including cognitive theory and developmental psychology. He died on September 16, 1980, in Geneva, Switzerland.” (Editors, 2015)

First at all, Piaget’s cognitive development theory is the most essential theory among others (Müller et al., 2009 and Scholnick et al., 1999 as cited in Lourenço, 2002, pp.281-295). This theory aims to explain the mechanisms and processes of children in understanding and discovering the world. There are 3 basic elements in theory of cognitive development which are schema, assimilation and accommodation. A schema composed of both a basic unit of knowledge in organizing past experiences and the foundation for obtaining new knowledge. Schema can exist in several ways such as stereotype and script. Script is the process of ordering a Happy Meal in McDonald

It stresses on learning through thinking. It studies how people treat, organize, and transform information to affect their behavior. The most representative theorist of cognitive theory is Jean Piaget (1896-1980). He was born in Switzerland, and he has three children. It is impressive that most of his research is based on observation and studying of his own children. Cognitive development stages are the central part of Piaget’s theory, which demonstrate the development stages of children’s ability to think from infancy to adolescence, how to gain knowledge, self-awareness, awareness of the others and the environment. These stages are respectively relative to 4 ranges of age. It consists of characteristics of each stage and phenomena of each. The first stage between birth to 2 years old, children learn the external through senses and action, instinctively. They sense object permanently and they usually show anxiety to strangers. The second stage is between age of 2 to 6 years old, children form ideas with words and images, which is tend to be over generalizing. Developmental phenomena of this stage include pretending play, egocentrism and language development. And then the third stage from 7 to 11 years old, children think logically about concrete events and understand similar events. In this period, abilities of conversation and mathematical transformation get to be developed. Last stage, 12

Piaget’s stage theory on cognitive development is divided into 4 stages; sensorimotor stage (0 – 2 years), Preoperational stage (2 – 4 years), Concrete operations (7 – 11 years), Formal operations (11 – 15 years). The theory was developed by Piaget who observed his own children, and the process they went through to make sense of the world around them. This theory explains to us how the mind processes new information it receives though different encounters. The rate at which children develop will differ but the sequence of development will always stay the same, they will go through all 4 stages of cognitive development. In the Sensorimotor stage children will learn through trial and error, they will test different things to find out how they