Cognition and development 1 | Piaget’s theory of cognitive development Flashcards
(20 cards)
AO1 What is a schema according to Piaget
A schema is a mental framework of beliefs or expectations developed through experience used to interpret new information
AO1 What is assimilation in Piaget’s theory
Assimilation is when new information is added to an existing schema without changing the schema
AO1 What is accommodation in Piaget’s theory
Accommodation is when new information causes a change in existing schemas or the creation of new ones
AO1 What is equilibration in Piaget’s theory
Equilibration is the process of balancing assimilation and accommodation to move from disequilibrium to a state of understanding
AO1 What are the four stages of Piaget’s cognitive development
The four stages are sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational,
AO1 What is the age range and key feature of the sensorimotor stage
From birth to 2 years characterised by development of object permanence
AO1 What is object permanence
Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible
AO1 What is the age range and key feature of the pre-operational stage
From 2 to 7 years characterised by egocentrism animism and lack of conservation
AO1 What is egocentrism in Piaget’s theory
Egocentrism is the inability to see the world from someone else’s point of view
AO1 What is conservation in Piaget’s theory
Conservation is the understanding that quantity remains the same even when the appearance changes
AO1 What is class inclusion in Piaget’s theory
Class inclusion is the understanding that some classes of objects can belong to multiple categories at the same time
AO1 What is the age range and key feature of the concrete operational stage
From 7 to 11 years children gain the ability to conserve and perform logical operations on concrete objects
AO1 What is the age range and key feature of the formal operational stage
From 11 years onwards characterised by abstract reasoning and hypothetical thinking
AO3 What is a strength of Piaget’s theory in terms of real-world application
One strength is it has practical applications in education such as discovery learning and readiness to learn
AO3 What is a methodological strength of Piaget’s research
Piaget used detailed observational studies and clinical interviews providing rich qualitative data
AO3 What is a methodological criticism of Piaget’s research
A criticism is that he often studied his own children which limits generalisability due to potential bias and small sample
AO3 What is a criticism of Piaget’s methods with younger children
Children may have lacked the verbal ability to understand instructions leading to underestimates of their cognitive abilities
AO3 What is a challenge to Piaget’s idea of egocentrism
Research by Hughes using the Policeman Doll study showed that younger children can take another person’s perspective
AO3 What is a challenge to Piaget’s idea of conservation
McGarrigle and Donaldson found that children conserved more effectively when a naughty teddy accidentally moved counters
AO3 What is a theoretical limitation of Piaget’s theory
It underplays the role of social and cultural factors in cognitive development which Vygotsky emphasised
