COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

• Cognition – Inner processes and products of the mind that leads to knowing,
including
– Attending
– Remembering
– Symbolizing
– Categorizing
– Planning
– Reasoning
– Problem solving
– Creating and
– Fantasying

• Cognitive Development – Refers to the changes that occur in individual’s mental

skills and abilities over time.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
• Scheme – (Schema for singular, Schemata for plural)
• An organized pattern of thought or action that one constructs to interpret
some aspect of one’s experience.
• Represent the way that people organize and understand the things around
them.

• Equilibration – The art of maintaining the transition from disequilibrium to

equilibrium
• Disequilibrium – The cognitive conflict or discomfort experienced while
constructing schema is called disequilibrium.
• Equilibrium - Resolving the cognitive conflict or discomfort experienced
while constructing schema by adjustment.

• Assimilation – A process of adding new concept to the already learnt

concept.
• Accommodation – A process of revising the learnt concept to fit the new
information received.

• Organization – The process of internal rearrangement of schemas and

exploring the links and associations between the schemas, to develop a
strongly interconnected cognitive system.
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Stage 1: Sensorimotor Stage (Birth-2yrs)
Stage 2: Preoperational Stage (2-7yrs)
Stage 3: Concrete Operations (7-11yrs)
Stage 4: Formal Operations (11-on)

• Characteristics
• Each stage is a structured whole
• Each stage is continuation of next stage
• The stages follows an invariant sequence
• The stages are universal
 6 substages to Sensorimotor Stage:
Stage 1 (0-1mo) – Reflexes
Stage 2 (1-4mos) – Primary Circular Reactions
Stage 3 (4-8mos) – Secondary Circular Reactions
Stage 4 (8-12mos) – Purposeful coordination of secondary Reactions
Stage 5 (12-18mos) – Tertiary Circular Reactions
Stage 6 (18-24mos) – Mental Solutions
Object Permanence – knowledge that an object continues to exist
independent of our seeing, hearing, touching, tasting or smelling it!
 Pre-conceptual Period (2-4 Years)
A. Accomplishments
1. Symbolic Function
2. Begin Pretend Play
B.Errors
B.Egocentrism
 The Pre-operational Stage: 2-7 Years,
A. Accomplishments
B. Errors in Conservation: Liquid
The Concrete Operational Stage: 7-11 Years
Accomplishments
1. Logical Reasoning
2. Reversibility
 The Formal Operations Stage (11 Years and Up)

Mental actions performed on ideas and propositions.

Can reason logically about hypothetical processes
and events that may have no basis in reality.

- Deductive reasoning
- Does everyone reach this stage?
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development