Dr Kotie Jansen van Rensburg

April 2017
Piaget studied how children think and develop
He believed individual development is more
important than environment and cultural
background
Interested in the development of intelligence:
thinking, language, perception, morality and
adaptation to the environment
Constructivist theory = building of knowledge and
cognitive processes to construct realities
 Schemes: ways of processing information
 Sensorimotor schemes: action schemes:
sucking, grasping, looking
 Cognitive schemes: concepts, thinking,
solving problems
 Adaptation: ability to adjust to demands of
the environment
 Organisation: combination of existing
reflexes like grasping into more complex
actions like visually directed reaching e.g.
baby reaches for other objects in his visual
field
 Assimilation: transforming new information
to fit with existing ways of thinking into
current cognitive system
 Accommodation: changing the way you think
about things in order to integrate new
experiences
 Operations: reversible mental actions which
combine to form stages of cognitive
development
 Equilibrium: state of balance between the
cognitive system and the environment
3 stages of equilibrium: dissatisfaction with
current thinking – disequilibrium, adoption of
more sophisticated way of thinking, stable
equilibrium
 The 4 stages occur in a fixed sequence, but
the age of the child may vary

 1. sensorimotor stage: 0-2 years

the baby processes information through
his senses and motor actions, e.g. sucking
and grasping
Piaget divides this stage into 6 sub-stages
 1. sensorimotor stage: 0-2 years
 Sub-stage 1: use of reflexes like sucking and
grasping
 Sub-stage 2: 1-4 months: learns new
patterns of behaviour by performing actions
accidentally, liking it and repeating it –
primary circular reaction or response
 Sub-stage 3: 4-8 months: secondary circular
responses – involving other people, e.g.
cooing or smiling, gets reaction and repeats
action – goal directed behaviour
 1. sensorimotor stage: 0-2 years
 Sub-stage 4: 8-12 months: coordinated
secondary circular responses. Baby
coordinates 2 or more actions to solve new
problems, e.g. look and feel. Action becomes
intentional
 Sub-stage 5: 12-18 months: tertiary circular
responses. Baby experiments with different
actions to obtain an accidentally discovered
response, e.g. squeaky toy, experiments
through trial and error
 1. sensorimotor stage: 0-2 years
 Sub-stage 6: 18-24 months: invention of new
means through mental combinations. Baby
develops symbolic representation through
pictures, words, numbers, gestures, language

In this stage the baby learns object

permanence: awareness that something exists
if not visible
 1.sensorimotor stage: 0-2 years
Imitation: copying of behaviour of others
Deferred imitation: reproducing behaviour of
somebody who is not present
 2. pre-operations stage: 2-7 years
 Period of intellectual curiosity
 Pre-logical stage, cannot interpret reality
correctly
 Increased use of symbols, e.g. language and
symbolic play
 Divided in 2 stages:
pre-conceptual: 2-4 years, egocentric,
concrete
 2. pre-operations stage: 2-7 years
intuitive / transitional stage 5-7 years,
less egocentric, classifies objects
according to size, shape, colour
Symbolic representation develops more
complex thought processes and ability to
understand other people’s feelings – moves
from egocentric to sociocentric thinking
Child learns basic principles of numeracy
 3. concrete operations stage: 7-11 years
 Ability develops to perform reversible mental
actions on concrete objects
 Thinking becomes more logical
 Develops ability to understand changes in
amounts through logical deduction, e.g.
volume and mass
 Learns to classify objects according to
dimensions such as length
 Learns to theorise about concrete and later
abstract things
 4. formal operations stage: 12 years →
 Abstract thinking increases and the child
starts using metacognitive skills
 Ability to think about own mental processes
 Compares reality with things that may or may
not be true
 Thinking becomes more systematic
 Develops ability to plan for the future
 Becomes self-centred again
 4. formal operations stage: 12 years →
 Concerned with own feelings and thoughts,
believes they are unique
 Starts behaving independently
 Risk-taking behaviour: driving, sex, alcohol
abuse, gambling
 Planning, reasoning and impulse control is
not yet fully developed
 Post-formal or adult thinking: ability to deal
with uncertainty, inconsistency, contradiction
and compromise
 Thinking is flexible and adaptive
 Criteria for adult thinking:
 Ability to move from abstract reasoning to
practical situations
 Understanding that most problems do not
only have one cause and solution
 Ability to choose the best solution and
motivate his choice
 Recognition that problems involve inherent
conflict
 Cognitive development as a series of stages
implies sudden changes in intellectual
functioning – occurs gradually. Some
theorists describe cognitive development as a
process in which children gradually acquire
more skills, e.g. verbal and mathematical
reasoning
 Underestimation of abilities of preoperational
children – can be trained to perform
operational tasks
 Competence versus performance: Piaget
assumed children lack conceptual
competencies to perform tasks, but which
was due to inability to perform motor actions
 Description or explanation of cognitive
development: theorists say Piaget described
cognitive development but did not explain
how it occurs
 Failure to consider individual differences:
Piaget disregarded individual differences and
wanted to create a theoretical framework of
development and common qualities in
children
 Failure to include influence of culture and
social influences on cognitive development –
did not give attention to the importance of
social interactions with others in the cognitive
development of children