Cognitive developmental approaches place a special emphasis on how individuals actively construct

their thinking. They also focus heavily on how thinking changes from one point in development to
another. In this chapter, we will focus on the cognitive developmental approaches of Jean Piaget and
Lev Vygotsky. We also will explore the possibility that adults think in a qualitatively more advanced
way than adolescents do.

Piaget’s theory is a general, unifying story of how biology and experience sculpt cognitive
development. Piaget thought that, just as our physical bodies have structures that enable us to adapt
to the world, we build mental structures that help us adapt to the world. Adaptation involves
adjusting to new environmental demands. Piaget stressed that children actively construct their own
cognitive worlds; information is not just poured into their minds from the environment. He sought to
discover how children at different points in their development think about the world and how
systematic changes in their thinking occur.

PROCESSES OF DEVELOPMENT
Schemes.
As the infant or child seeks to construct an understanding of the world, said Piaget (1954), the
developing brain creates schemes. These are actions or mental representations that organize
knowledge. In Piaget’s theory.
Behavioral schemes-(physical activities) characterize infancy
 Mental schemes-(cognitive activities) develop in childhood.
 A baby’s schemes-are structured by simple actions that can be performed on objects, such as
sucking, looking, and grasping.
 Older children-have schemes that include strategies and plans for solving problems. By the time
we have reached adulthood, we have constructed an enormous number of diverse schemes,
ranging from driving a car to balancing a budget to the concept of fairness.
 Assimilation-occurs when children use their existing schemes to deal with new information or
experiences.
 Accommodation-occurs when children adjust their schemes to take account of new information
and experiences.
 Organization-is the grouping of isolated behaviors and thoughts into a higher-order system.
In trying to understand the world, the child inevitably experiences cognitive conflict, or disequilibrium.
 Equilibration-is a mechanism by which children shift from one stage of thought to the next.
Cognition-is qualitatively different in one stage compared with another.

SENSORIMOTOR STAGE

The sensorimotor stage lasts from birth to about 2 years of age. In this stage, infants construct an
understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences (such as seeing and hearing) with
physical, motoric actions—hence the term “sensorimotor.” At the beginning of this stage, newborns
have little more than refl exes with which to work. By the end of the sensorimotor stage, 2-year-olds
can produce complex sensorimotor patterns and use primitive symbols. Substages Piaget divided the
sensorimotor stage into six substages: (1) simple reflexes; (2) first habits and primary circular
reactions; (3) secondary circular reactions; (4) coordination of secondary circular reactions; (5) tertiary
circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity; and (6) internalization of schemes.
 Simple reflexes-the first sensorimotor substage, corresponds to the first month after birth. In this
substage, sensation and action are coordinated primarily through reflexive behaviors, such as
rooting and sucking. Soon the infant produces behaviors that resemble reflexes in the absence of
the usual stimulus for the reflex.
 First habits and primary circular reactions-is the second sensorimotor substage, which develops
between 1 and 4 months of age. In this substage, the infant coordinates sensation and two types
of schemes: habits and primary circular reactions.
 Habit-is a scheme based on a reflex that has become completely separated from its eliciting
stimulus.
 Primary circular reaction-is a scheme based on the attempt to reproduce an event that initially
occurred by chance.
 Secondary circular reactions-is the third sensorimotor substage, which develops between 4 and
8 months of age. In this substage, the infant becomes more object oriented, moving beyond
preoccupation with the self. The infant’s schemes are not intentional or goal-directed, but they
are repeated because of their consequences.
 Coordination of secondary circular reactions-is Piaget’s fourth sensorimotor substage, which
develops between 8 and 12 months of age. To progress into this substage, the infant must
coordinate vision and touch, hand and eye. Actions become more outwardly directed. Significant
changes during this substage involve the coordination of schemes and intentionality. Infants
readily combine and recombine previously learned schemes in a coordinated way. They might
look at an object and grasp it simultaneously, or they might visually inspect a toy, such as a
rattle, and finger it simultaneously, exploring it tactilely. Actions are even more outwardly
directed than before. Related to this coordination is the second achievement— the presence of
intentionality.
 Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity is Piaget’s fifth sensorimotor substage, which
develops between 12 and 18 months of age. Schemes in which the infant purposely explores
new possibilities with objects, continually doing new things to them and exploring the results.
Piaget says that this stage marks the starting point for human curiosity and interest in novelty.
 Internalization of schemes-is Piaget’s sixth and final sensorimotor substage, which develops
between 18 and 24 months of age. In this substage, the infant develops the ability to use
primitive symbols.
 Object permanence-is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot
be seen, heard, or touched. Acquiring the sense of object permanence is one of the infant’s most
important accomplishments.
 A-not-B error Also called AB error; this occurs when infants make the mistake of selecting the
familiar hiding place (A) of an object rather than its new hiding place (B) as they progress into
substage 4 in Piaget’s sensorimotor stage.
 Core knowledge approach States that infants are born with domain-specifi c innate knowledge
systems. Among these domain-specific knowledge systems are those involving space, number
sense, object permanence, and language.