Piaget: Stages of Intellectual development

Question 1

Stage 1: sensorimotor (0-2yrs)

Answer 1

• coordination learnt through sensory input
• egocentric > cannot understand another viewpoint
• develop circular reaction + develops object permanence at 8mnths

Question 2

Stage 2: pre-operational (2-7yrs)

Answer 2

• cannot conserve: rely on ‘appearance’ rather than ‘reality’
• can’t understand class inclusion: classification systems of objects into categories

Question 3

Egocentrism task

Answer 3

• asked to look at Swiss mountain scene
• doll placed opposite to them
• asked to pick picture the doll sees
  **Those who were ego, couldn’t see doll viewpoint and chose their own.

Question 4

Conservation task

Answer 4

• numbers: counters spread apart are the same as when close together
• volume: liquid moved from tall skinny beaker is the same when poured into short wide beaker
• mass: round ball of clay flattened is still the same amount of clay

Question 5

Class Inclusion Task

Answer 5

• shown 4 toy cows (3 black, 1 white)
• then asked ‘are there more black cows or more cows?’
• they couldn’t ans question and said more black cows

Question 6

stage 3: concrete operational (7-11yrs)

Answer 6

• grasp basic of logical reasoning i.e. volume, number, mass
• no longer egocentric
• can’t understand abstract reasoning e.g. problems that require memory and mental processes

Question 7

Formal operational (11+yrs)

Answer 7

• solve abstract problems
• use hypothetico-deductive reasoning and imagination and make predictions

Question 8

research support/refute

Answer 8

Donaldson ‘naughty teddy’ study:
- Criticized conservation task for Demand C, as children saw researcher move objects, so they assumed they had to give diff ans
- replicated study, with teddy moving objects by ‘accident’, instead of researcher
- found children in Pre-operational stage could cope better at understanding task, so Piaget may have underestimated their abilities

Question 9

Application: education

Answer 9

• child centred learning ad discovery learning
  **Plowden Report > children not bio ‘ready’ to be taught certain concepts until they reached ‘right’ age
  For ex: it would be difficult to teach a child in the Pre operational abstract mathematical calculations. However Bryant/Trabasso found training did improve performance
• helped provide better training for teachers

Question 10

issues/debates

Answer 10

• culture bias: based off western culture with a focus on individual achievement
  ** involved children from European academic families who valued abilities
• Nature (bio stages and innate schema) and nurture (sensory/motor development)

Question 11

alternative explanations

Answer 11

Vygotsky: suggests development can be explained in terms of social rather than individual factors.