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Jean Piaget Theory Of Cognitive Development Essay

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Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who specifically studied children and how they learn. Piaget began his career by studying zoology but soon became interested in psychoanalysis and cognitive processes. He began his studies on children in 1920 working with Theodore Simon, conducting tests that tested what challenged children at specific ages and what children were unable to do at certain ages. Today, he is widely known for his Theory of Cognitive Development which consists of 4 stages related to age and the intellectual, biological, and emotional development of children. Each stage has an average age range and typical indications of children being in this stage based on his own observational studies. …show more content…

Children in this stage are usually 7-11 years old. Children in this stage are characterized by more rational and organized thinking. Instead of basing their knowledge off of just their own personal experiences, they use “reasoning from specific information to a general principle” (Cherry). Children in this stage can think more logically based on information given and prior knowledge combined. They also are able to look at a situation from other people’s perspectives, making them somewhat less self-centered and more open minded. They also start to understand that their thoughts and opinions could differ from everyone else’s. An important development in this stage is the ability to grasp the idea of constancy. They can now understand “ that the amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example”(Cherry). Once children fully develop their concrete operational skills, they move on to stage 4: formal operational stage. Children in this stage are generally ages 11+. This is the peak of their emotional and intellectual development. They are just “forming the ability to think abstractly with more complex understandings of logic and cause and effect”(Jean Piaget Biography). This is why, for example, children 12-13 start to learn Algebra. They are able to understand abstract concepts and apply them to hypothetical situations. Children

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According to Piaget there are four stages of intelligence. They are as follows: the Sensorimotor stage from birth to 2 years of age. In this stage Piaget states that the child is able to objects and stimuli but lack an internal representation of the outside world. The Preoperational stage from ages two to seven in which the child is able to use language to communicate, they also have the ability to think in images and draw those images. The Concrete Operational stage from ages seven - eleven is where the child should be using logical reasoning and is able to think in multiple dimensions.

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Which leads to the third stage is concrete operations starts at age seven to eleven. Where the physical involvement stores; the child starts to theorize which leads to creating a logical structure that explains the child’s physical capabilities such as problem solving. For instance, math equations, we use numbers in order to solve a math equation. The final stage is Formal Operations starts at the beginning age of eleven to fifteen. By this point, the child 's cognitive growth is like those of an adult and includes conceptual

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Furthermore, a study by Kail and Bisanz, suggested the inability to conserve of pre-operational children is due to the task being set for a higher stage, meaning their attention is more likely to wander and they would answer without fully attempting (Rose & Blank, 1974). Lastly, Piaget found the ages of stages were averages. Meaning some children aged 3 and 4 could be in a stage lower or higher and vice versa for older

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This stage examines the relationship between sensation and motor behavior. Next, the preoperational stage lasting from four to seven years old; this stage entails symbolizing objects, and representing objects through speech. Moreover, the concrete stage occurs from seven to eleven years old. The concrete stage develops mastery of logical and rational thinking.

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(Burton, Westen, & Kowalski, 2014, p. 464). Piaget has proposed 4 stages in his theory of cognitive development; the first is sensorimotor stage, pre-operational stage, concrete operational stage and finally, formal operational stage. Mollie and her friends are in the Pre-operational stage of cognitive development. This can be shown as they are in a pre-school

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Introduction Development refers to the pattern of continuity and change in human capabalities that occurs throughout the course of life (King, 2008). Children development is is a part of human development that refers to a biological, emotional, and psychological changes that take a place in human beings between birth to adult. To develop from the child to adult, there are two main focus which is nature and nurture that must come together. Nature refers to the gene or heredity, meanwhile nurture involve the environment around us.

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Unique critical thinking is likewise conceivable at this stage. For instance, math comparisons can be threadbare with numbers, not simply with articles. 4. Formal operations (beginning at ages 11-15) By this point, the kid's logical structures resemble those of a grown-up and incorporate calculated thinking.

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Theories of these two cognitive psychologists have been compared and contrasted on different levels. This essay will look into the differences and similarities between their theories. These two psychologist 's theories differ from each other in numerous ways. To begin with, Jean Piaget 's cognitive development theory proposes that children adapt to their environment by actively constructing knowledge as they perceive and explore their surroundings. His theory comprised of four stages of development.

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The concrete operational stage; Kids at this point of development begin to think more logically, but their thinking can also be very inelastic. They struggle between real and imaginative thoughts. Thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete. They also become less egocentric and they think about other

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Piaget theorized that there are four stages of Cognitive Development to account for the steps and sequence of children 's intellectual development. The final stage of Piaget 's theory is known as the formal operational stage. This is the stage where adolescence is placed. The formal operational stage begins around age twelve and lasts throughout our adult lives.

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The first stage is the sensory motor stage ( birth-2 yrs.) , in this stage child does not know the physical object in existence when out of stage. Second stage is called the preoperational stage (age2-7), no abstract conceptualisation is possible where it needs concrete physical situation. In the stage is concrete operational stage (age7-11), starts to conceptualize with experience that accumulates. The fourth stage is formal operation (11-15), cognitive structures resembles like adults and includes conceptual reasoning.

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Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development that included four distinct stages: the sensorimotor stage, from birth to age 2; the preoperational stage, from age 2 to about age 7; the concrete operational stage, from age 7 to 11; and the formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence and spans into adulthood. He believed that there were four necessary ingredients for cognitive development which included: “maturation of the nervous system, experiences gained through interaction with physical world, social environment, and child’s active participation in adapting to environment & constructing knowledge from experience.” (Sullivan, 2014, Slide 3) The sensorimotor stage occurs between birth and age 2. Infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and handling objects.

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His approach of studying the development of the human mind was a synthesis of ideas drawn from biology and philosophy. He looked at human beings as biological organisms who must adapt successively to their environment. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development revolutionized the study of children’s cognitive development and it has undergone some revisions over the years. It also provides a set of basic principles to guide our understanding of cognitive development that are found in most recent theories.

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Brief History Jean Piaget was a Twentieth century Swiss psychologist and was the first psychologist to systematically study the cognitive development of children. Thomas (2005) wrote that early in Piaget’s career he worked with children and his observations and interactions with the students led him to the theory that a young person's cognitive processes are inherently different from those of adults (pp. 188-9). According to Ahmad, et al. (2005) , Piaget showed that when compared to adults, young children think in differently and he then came to the conclusion that cognitive development was an ongoing process which occurred due to maturation and interaction with the environment (p. 72).

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and it begins with the sensorimotor stage, a child from birth to the age of 2 years old learns and thinks by doing and figuring out how something works. The second stage is the preoperational stage and in this stage children from ages 2 through 7 years are developing their language and they do pretend play (Berk, 2005, p.20). Concrete operational is the third stage and children ages 7 to 11 years old lack abstract but have more logic than they did when they were younger. The last stage is formal

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