Piaget’s Theory Of Cognitive Development

Question 1

Schema

Answer 1

Mental framework of knowledge and beliefs about a specific place, object, person or time that provides shortcuts allowing us to process efficiently

Piaget proposed that the main cognitive structure that changes during cognitive development is the schema
• Allow us to process large volumes of data quickly and efficiently:
~~ Some schemas are innate: all babies born with the schema for sucking and gripping
~~ becomes more sophisticated over time allowing us to understand more complex situations

Question 2

2 types of learning

Answer 2

Accommodation - occurs when we are exposed to new information which changes our existing knowledge and so to deal with this we form a new schema

Assimilation - occurs when we are exposed to new information that fits in with our previous knowledge so we incorporate it into existing schemas

Question 3

Motivation to learn

Answer 3

According to Piaget we are motivated to learn when our existing schemas do not allow us to make sense of something new

Question 4

Equilibration

Answer 4

Piaget suggested when we encounter an unfamiliar situation and assimilation is not enough to understand it we are in a state of disequilibrium
We explore our environment to improve our understanding and develop schemas
Once we can fully understand the new scenario we have achieved equilibrium