Cognitive Development

Theory
SUBMITTED TO – DR. NANDHA KUMARA PUJAM S.
SUBMITTED BY – SHREYA AGARWAL
MSc FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
SEMESTER I
RASHTRIYA RAKSHA UNIVERSITY
 
 What and Why
• Cognitive Development Theory was developed by
Psychologist Jean Piaget which suggested that
intelligence changes as children grow.
• Incorrect answers in Intelligence tests that require
logical reasoning reveal important differences
between the thinking of adults and children.
• Piaget was more interested in understanding how
the fundamental concepts like number, time,
quantity, justice etc. emerged in children.
 Piaget’s Assumptions
• Piaget studied children from infancy to adolescence including
his three babies, and also conducted clinical interviews and
observations of older children.
• He branched out with his own assumptions about children’s
intelligence:
• Children’s intelligence differs from an adult in quality
rather than quantity.
• Children actively build up their knowledge about the
world around them.
• The best way to understand a child’s reasoning was to see
things from their point of view.
 Four Stages of Development

STAGE AGE GOAL

SENSORIMOTOR BIRTH TO 18-24 MONTHS OBJECT PERMANENCE

PREOPERATIONAL 2 TO7 YEARS OLD SYMBOLIC THOUGHT

CONCRETE OPERATIONAL 7 TO 11 YEARS OLD LOGICAL THOUGHT

ADOLESCENCE TO
FORMAL OPERATIONAL ADULTHOOD SCIENTIFIC THINKING
 Stage 1 – Sensorimotor
• The infant learns about the world through their
senses and actions. Infant lives in the present.
• Cognitive abilities that develop during this age
include – object permanence, self-recognition,
deferred imitation, representational play.
• They develop the capacity to represent the world
mentally – emergence of general symbolic function
• Object permanence – objects exist even when you
cannot see them - where the infant searches for
objects when they disappear.
 Stage 2 – Preoperational
• Toddlers and young children learn to represent the
world through language and mental imagery.
• Children think about things symbolically.
• Child’s thinking is dominated by how the world looks,
not how the world “is”.
• Infants of this stage also demonstrate animism (non-
living objects having life and feelings), artificialism,
symbolic representation.
• Children do not develop logical thought, or operational
thought.
 Stage 3 – Concrete Operational
• Children begin to think about concrete events logically.
• Demonstrate understanding of Conservation – things may
change in appearance but certain properties remain same.
• Children have the ability to mentally reverse things.
• Children become less egocentric and think more about others’
needs.
• Children can conserve number, mass and weight at the ages of
6, 7 and 9.
• Operational thought only with respect to material or Concrete
things – that is when objects are physically present for the
child to see.
 Stage 4 – Formal Operational
• Formal operations are carried out on ideas. It is
free from physical and perpetual constraints.
• During this stage, adolescents can deal with the
concept of “abstract thought”.
• They follow form of argument without examples.
• Adolescents can deal with hypothetical problems
and find solutions logically and with variations.
• This stage sees emergence of scientific thinking,
formulating abstract theories and hypotheses in
problem solving situations.
 Basic Concepts and Definitions
• Schemas – the very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and
evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge are based.
• Adaptation – intellectual growth is a process of adaptation or
adjustment to the world. It happens through Assimilation,
Accommodation and Equilibration.
• Assimilation – Cognitive process of fitting new information into
existing cognitive schemas, perceptions and understanding.
• Accommodation – cognitive process of revising existing cognitive
schemas, perceptions and understandings so new information can be
incorporated.
• Equilibration – cognitive process in which the child’s schemas are
capable of explaining what it can perceive around it, causing state of
equilibrium or state of mental balance.
 References
• https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.htm
l
• https://educationaltechnology.net/jean-piaget
-and-his-theory-stages-of-cognitive-developm
ent/