The Theory of Cognitive Development
Cognitive theories focus on how our mental processes or cognitions change over time. The theory of cognitive development is a comprehensive theory about the nature and development of human intelligence first developed by Jean Piaget. It is primarily known as a developmental stage theory, but in fact, it deals with the nature of knowledge itself and how humans come gradually to acquire it, construct it, and use it. Moreover, Piaget claims that cognitive development is at the center of the human organism and language is contingent on cognitive development. Let’s learn more about Piaget’s views about the nature of intelligence and then dive deeper into the stages that he identified as critical in the developmental process.
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is one of the most influential cognitive theorists in development, inspired to explore children’s ability to think and reason by watching his own children’s development. He was one of the first to recognize and map out the ways in which children’s intelligence differs from that of adults. He became interested in this area when he was asked to test the IQ of children and began to notice that there was a pattern in their wrong answers. He believed that children’s intellectual skills change over time that that maturation rather than training brings about that change. Children of differing ages interpret the world differently.
Making sense of the world
Piaget believed that we are continuously trying to maintain cognitive equilibrium or a balance or cohesiveness in what we see and what we know. Children have much more of a challenge in maintaining this balance because they are constantly being confronted with new situations, new words, new objects, etc. When faced with something new, a child may either fit it into an existing framework (schema) and match it with something known (assimilation) such as calling all animals with four legs “doggies” because he or she knows the word doggie, or expand the framework of knowledge to accommodate the new situation (accommodation) by learning a new word to more accurately name the animal. This is the underlying dynamic in our own cognition. Even as adults we continue to try and make sense of new situations by determining whether they fit into our old way of thinking or whether we need to modify our thoughts.
Understanding Schema
A schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. Schemas can be useful because they allow us to take shortcuts in interpreting the vast amount of information that is available in our environment.
However, these mental frameworks also cause us to exclude pertinent information to focus instead only on things that confirm our pre-existing beliefs and ideas. Schemas can contribute to stereotypes and make it difficult to retain new information that does not conform to our established ideas about the world.
Illustration:
For example, a young girl may first develop a schema for a dog. She knows that a dog is small, has hair, four legs, and a tail. When the little girl encounters a cat for the first time, she might initially call it a dog.
After all, it fits in with her schema for the characteristics of a dog; it is a small animal that has hair, four legs, and a tail. Once she is told that this is a different animal called a cat, she will modify her existing schema for a dog and create a new schema for a cat
Assimilation and Accommodation
Assimilation of knowledge occurs when a learner encounters a new idea, and must ‘fit’ that idea into what they already know. This is the same as filling a container. On the other hand, accommodation of knowledge is more substantial, requiring the learner to reshape those containers.
Illustration
For example, John is a young boy whose family owns a typical native dog (asong pinoy) named Bantay. One day, John visits his grandmother, who has just adopted big bulldog. Even though this new dog looks quite different than John's familiar Bantay, John still recognizes that the bulldog is also a dog. John put the new object -- his grandmother's bulldog -- into an already established category -- 'dog.' The Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget called this assimilation. Let's say John next visited his aunt, who has a cat. John points at the cat and says 'dog!' His concept of dog, which successfully included both Bantay and his grandmother's bulldog, is too broad; he calls anything that has four legs and fur a 'dog.' His father explains that this is a 'cat,' and John adjusts his concept of 'dog' accordingly. This is known as accommodation. Both are part of Piaget's idea of adaptation, or the ways in which children learn about and categorize the world.
Both assimilation and accommodation are related to the idea of schemas. Schemas are simply established patterns used to organize knowledge. Schemas underlie how we think in a lot of ways; for example, stereotyping involves accessing a schema about how one type of person usually acts and using it to predict their behavior. Assimilation and accommodation are the ways that children incorporate new information into their schemas. John filed 'bulldog' under the existing header 'dog,' adding it to his schema of 'dog.' But when John encountered a cat, he learned that his schema of 'dog' shouldn't include all four-legged furry animals, so he adjusted the schema to exclude cats.
References
Bruner, J. S. (1966). Toward a theory of instruction. Cambridge, Mass.: Belkapp Press.
Dasen, P. (1994). Culture and cognitive development from a Piagetian perspective. In W .J. Lonner & R.S. Malpass (Eds.), Psychology and culture (pp. 145–149). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Piaget, J. (1932). The moral judgment of the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Piaget, J. (1936). Origins of intelligence in the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
