StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

How Did Piaget View Cognitive Development - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Development is the process by which organisms grow and adapt to their ever changing environment. For humans in particular, development has many stages, which starts from what the person already has. and would then include learning from outside sources, such as things learned through experiences, social interactions, and the like …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.4% of users find it useful
How Did Piaget View Cognitive Development
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "How Did Piaget View Cognitive Development"

Running Head: PIAGET AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT How Did Piaget View Cognitive Development? How Did PiagetView Cognitive Development? Development is the process by which organisms grow and adapt to their ever changing environment. For humans in particular, development has many stages, which starts from what the person already has (instinct, primitive reflexes, etc.) and would then include learning from outside sources, such as things learned through experiences, social interactions, and the like (Slavin, 2009, p. 30). Many theories regarding development in humans today are categorized as to whether the theory is more on the inherent characteristics of a child, also known as the nature aspect, and as to whether the theory involves the nurture aspect, or environmental factors that could affect human development (ibid., p. 31).

With regards to the nurture aspect of development, Jean Piaget has many accepted theories regarding human development. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was one of the leading developmental psychologists that mainly focused on the impact of environmental and social factors on human development, particularly cognitive development in children. His theories on how a child’s way of thinking grows and adapts through acquiring experiences through the process of interacting with nonliving things as well as by engaging in social interaction with other children or adults, was very much looked upon especially during the pre-war era.

Most of the theories were to be tested as models for improving people’s learning in school or at work, but were not tested fully after World War II broke out (Hsueh, 2005, p. 1). In theory, development can either be continuous or discontinuous. Continuous development is related to the human development through gradual progress from infancy to adulthood. Discontinuous development, on the other hand, occurs through a fixed sequence that has discrete and predictable stages (Slavin, 2009, p. 32). In Piaget’s view on cognitive development in humans, the trend is rather discontinuous (Richardson & Sheldon, 1996, p. 178), and that growth is seen as having specific, qualitatively different stages.

Each stage then has particular information-processing approaches that would be based on memory and language skills acquired at a certain stage. Also, cognitive growth is stimulated by what a child perceives (Ogden, 1964, p. 1), and that the process of learning can be enhanced by letting the child experience and discover new things suitable for his or her age (Richardson & Sheldon, 1996, p. 185). The child, then, would be able to gain new knowledge when previously-acquired knowledge would get challenged by new stimuli, and the said process encourages the child to think of other ways to get out of the problem, like adapting to changes and recalling what caused such changes (Slavin, 2009, p. 32). This is in order to resolve a similar problem that might arise.

Theoretically, in Piaget’s stages of development, all children must pass all four stages. These stages include the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage and formal operational stage. It was stressed that no child can skip a stage. In recent studies though, some children either skipped a stage or finished a stage much faster than the average. This created some revisions in his original ideas due to issues regarding the validity of his claim (Langer & Killen, 1998, p. 250). But, despite this fact, Piaget’s ideas still get “rediscovered” and reexamined, thus keeping them in line with many newer theories on how cognition develops in individuals (Hsueh, 2005, 3).

Jean Piaget presented ideas that sparked many new theories about the development of human cognitive learning (Hsueh, 2005, p. 2). His idea of progressing in separate and distinct stages was both revolutionary and radical since during the time it was proposed, many theories were available regarding the continuous and inherent growth and development in humans. Children grow up as what they were preprogrammed to do, and Piaget challenged this idea by presenting tests that show how at a certain age children would be able to answer problems and solve them based on how much they have experienced and have perceived at that time.

Another thing is that even though there may be distinct stages in the cognitive development, the four main steps in the process of problem-solving, mainly assimilation, accommodation, equilibration and reflective abstraction were normally employed (Langer & Killen, 1998, p. 248). The only difference between all stages of growth would be the amount of previously perceived experiences at a specific stage of growth, in a specific individual. Based on the research conducted, it can be concluded that it is true that most of Piaget’s theories would still hold true until today even though some of them were already refuted, but the very basic idea of cognitive learning is still his achievement.

His legacy is that he introduced the concept that cognitive learning is stimulated by letting a child perceive ideas and solutions as an effective way of letting a child think outside the box and become more creative not just in a single area of growth but in the development of the person as a whole. References Hsueh, Y. (2005). The lost and found experience: Piaget rediscovered. The Constructivist, 16(1). Retrieved May 17, 2010 from Citeseerx database. Langer, J. & Killen, M. (1998). Piaget, evolution, and development.

New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Ogden, C.K. (1964). The early growth of logic in the child. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. Richardson, K. & Sheldon, S. (1996). Cognitive development to adolescence. East Sussex: Psychology Press. Slavin, R.E. (Ed.). (2009). Educational psychology theory and practice. Johns Hopkins University

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“How Did Piaget View Cognitive Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
How Did Piaget View Cognitive Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/education/1566951-how-did-piaget-view-cognitive-development
(How Did Piaget View Cognitive Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
How Did Piaget View Cognitive Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words. https://studentshare.org/education/1566951-how-did-piaget-view-cognitive-development.
“How Did Piaget View Cognitive Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/education/1566951-how-did-piaget-view-cognitive-development.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF How Did Piaget View Cognitive Development

Theory of Cognitive Development by Jean Piaget

Name Instructor Course Date Lifespan Development: Jean Piaget and His theory of cognitive development Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is one of the most influential specialists in the field of child development.... He carried extensive research which enabled him to explain children's cognitive development (Johnson 10).... He concluded that adolescent cognitive development was influence by five characteristic indicators.... As a result of biological maturation and environmental interaction, mental processes are progressively reorganized and led to cognitive development....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Piaget's Contributions to Psychology

The purpose of this paper is to discuss a Jean Piaget's contributions to the science of psychology, particularly the theory of cognitive development.... The theory of cognitive development built by Jean Piaget over a period of several decades stands as a powerful exemplification of a constructivist approach, and remains the most detailed theory of cognitive development.... The four stages of cognitive development are “sensorimotor (birth to about age 2), preoperational: (begins about the time the child starts to talk to about age 7), concrete (about first grade to early adolescence) and formal operations (adolescence)” (Langer and Killen 1998, p....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Critically evaluate information-processing accounts of cognitive development

The teachers who proclaimed Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein unfit for elementary school must have found those men's future fame to be… The teachers who, by and large, bored Jean Louise Finch (the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird) basically to death throughout her years in school must have wondered why such a bright student appeared so uninterested in her general surroundings. The ways in which The first major formulation of a developmental psychology was completed by Jean Piaget, who uses a system of schemas to describe the development of the mind from birth to adulthood....
13 Pages (3250 words) Essay

In What Ways are Piaget's and Kolhberg's Views of Moral Development Comparable

The third stage is based upon 'mutual expectations' where social-cognitive development brings about more refined acceptance of perspectives and one person is able to perceive on the basis of relationships amongst individuals....  The paper presents Kohlberg's six stages of moral development theory in comparison with Piaget's two stages of moral judgment theory to understand the limitations and strengths of each.... hellip;  Piaget's theory of moral development is based on peer interaction where children learn moral behavior through interaction with their friends....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

Piagets Stage Theory

hellip; The author points out that basing on this finding, Jean Piaget developed a stage theory that defines and describes the cognitive development of children.... In Piaget's view, cognitive development refers to the changes depicted in children, during their cognitive process, and the abilities they acquire.... Piaget Observes that every human being must pass through cognitive development, and language plays an important role during this process (Kock, 2006)....
8 Pages (2000 words) Case Study

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

This report "Piaget's Theory of cognitive development" discusses cognitive development as a process of intellectual learning from infancy to early adulthood.... cognitive development may refer to how an individual perceives, thinks and understands their world.... The major areas of cognitive development are intelligence and reasoning, information processing and development of the language.... As such, the paper will analyse and evaluate Piaget's Theory of cognitive development....
7 Pages (1750 words) Report

Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development

The paper "Piaget's Theory of cognitive development" discusses that the theory has been challenged by many on several grounds.... urthermore, Piaget purported that the center of human beings is cognitive development.... The language spoken by human beings is a result of understanding and knowledge obtained through cognitive development.... This theory brings out development to be a very smooth process.... He recognized sharp stages of development yet development is a continuous process that takes place throughout an individual's life....
5 Pages (1250 words) Literature review

The Normal Stages of Human Beings Cognitive Development

The paper 'The Normal Stages of Human Being's cognitive development' presents the cognitive development that takes place from childhood to adulthood and as such, used the theory to explain that intellectual development begins with the identification of objects at infantry.... hellip; The author of the paper discusses the history of Piaget's theory that dates back to the early 1960s with the identification of the four stages of cognitive development....
6 Pages (1500 words) Term Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us