1/5/2023 Piaget theory of cognitive development 1
UNIT- 13
PERSONALITY
Prepared by
Poonam Rana
Department of Psychiatric Nursing
MN,10Th Batch
Piaget theory of cognitive development
1/5/2023
NMC, NC 2
General Objective:
• At the end of the class, [Link] Nursing and BNS 2 nd year students will
be able to explain about Cognitive development Theory of Jean Piaget.
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Specific Objectives:
At the end of the class, [Link] Nursing and BNS 2 nd year students will be
able to:
• define the terms
• describe about the Component of Jean Piaget’s
• explain about the Stages of Cognitive Development theory of Jean
Piaget’s
• explain the application of theory
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Introduction (1/2)
• Jean Piaget ( August 9, 1896- September 16, 1980) was
Swiss psychologist who developed Cognitive
Development theory suggests that children's
intelligence undergoes changes as they grow.
• He is a natural scientist and developmental
psychologist well known for his work studying children
and his theory of cognitive development.
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Introduction (2/2)
• Piaget studied children from infancy to adolescence, and carried out
many of his own investigations using his three children .
• Cognitive Development is the combined result between the maturity of
the brain and nervous system with the environment adjustments.
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There are three basic components of cognitive development:
1. Schemas
2. Adaptations
i. Assimilation
ii. Accommodation
iii. Equilibrium
3. Stages of Development
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Key concepts
[Link] : (categories of knowledge ):
• Knowledge that help us to interpret and understand the world.
2. Adaptation : Intellectual growth as a process of adaptation which result
from 3 processes:
i. Assimilation (adding to an existing schema)
Using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation.
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ii. Accommodation (Changing on existing schema):
Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering and existing
schemas in light of new information, a process known as accommodation.
iii. Equilibration:
A balance between applying previous knowledge (assimilation) and
changing behavior to account for new knowledge (accommodation).
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Stages of Cognitive Development:
• Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development state that children move
through four different stages of intellectual development which reflect the
increasing difficulty of children’s thought.
• His theory focuses on understanding how children acquire knowledge
regarding fundamental concepts such as object permanence, number,
categorization, quantity, causality and justice.
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Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development include:
1. Sensorimotor: Birth to ages 18-24 months
2. Preoperational: Toddlerhood (18-24 months) through early childhood
(age 7)
3. Concrete Operational: Age 7 to 11 years
4. Formal operational: Adolescence to Adulthood
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1. Sensory Motor Stage (0-2 years)
• During this stage child received the information through all the senses
and motor actions.
• The child tries to make sense of the world during this stage by
coordinating sensory experiences (seeing, hearing) with motor actions
(reaching, touching).
• Object permanence or object constancy develop when they grow older.
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Six sub-stages of first stage given by Piaget:
1. Stages of Reflex activities: (birth to 1 month)
2. Primary circular reactions: (1-4 months)
3. Secondary circular reactions : (4-8 months)
4. Coordination of secondary reactions: (8-12 months):
5. Tertiary circular reactions: (12-18 months)
6. Early representation thought: (18- 24 months):
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1. Stage of reflex activities: (birth to 1 month)
The child understands the environment purely through
inborn reflexes or Building knowledge through reflexes
(Grasping, Sucking)
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[Link] circular reactions :(1-4 months)
• Sensation and schema get coordinated.
• Primary - Infants focus on their own bodies
• Circular – Repetition
• Actions are repeated because the infant finds them pleasurable.
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3. Secondary Circular Reaction (4-8 Months)
• The child becomes more focused on the world and begins to intentionally
repeat their action to get a response form the environment.
"Out of sight, out of mind".
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4. Coordination of secondary Reaction (8-12 Months)
• After repeatedly observing that certain actions lead to
certain consequences, infants gradually acquire
knowledge of cause-effect relationships.
• Example a child might realize that a rattle will make a
sound when shaken.
• During this substage, the child starts to show clearly
intentional actions.
• At this stage, Object permanence is acquired.
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5. Tertiary Circular Reaction (12-18
Months)
• This is a stage of Trial and Error.
• Explore their surroundings, make
mistakes and repeat their mistake to seek
attention form their caregivers.
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6. Early Representational Thought(18-24 Months)
• Children begin to develop symbols to represent events or objects in
the world in the final sensorimotor substage.
• During this time, children begin to move towards understanding
the world through mental operations rather than purely through
actions.
• Repetitions of others behavior after it has occurred. (imitation)
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2. Pre Operational Stage (2-7 years)
• During this stage, young children can think
about things symbolically.
• They begin to use language, memory and
imagination.
• there are two sub-stages of this stage
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1. Pre-conceptual stage (2-4 years)
i. Egocentrism: Children believe that their way of thinking is the only
way to think.
ii. Animism: Children tend to refer to inanimate objects as if they have
life-like qualities and are capable of actions.
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2. Intuitive stage (4-7 years)
• Difficulty in conservation .
• Cannot do reversible thinking.
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3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
• Can do operation on concrete objects but find it hard to solve abstract
problems.
• During this stage children begin to thinking logically about concrete
event.
• Begin to understand the concept of conservation.
• Understanding of reversibility
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3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
• Elimination of ego-centrism and begin to think about how other
people might think and feel.
• During this stage, the child begin to develop transitivity, seriation
classification and decentric.
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Seriation
Transitivity
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4. Formal Operational Stage (12 years-Adulthood)
• The final stage of Piaget's theory involves an increase in logic, during this
time, thinking moves from concrete to abstract.
• The ability to think about the hypothetical possibilities and to solve
problems through logical deductions and in a systematic manner.
• Begins to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to
specific information as well as inductive logic.
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Applications of Piaget's theory (1/3)
• Teach parent about process of child's cognitive development and the
implications for education purchasing of toys and interactions.
• Assess cognitive development to determine language and abstraction
level to use in therapy.
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Applications of Piaget's theory (2/3)
• This theory provides broad development perspective to the
teachers and curriculum designer to make a better curriculum
for the children.
• Emphasis on discovery approach in learning because child
learn faster by doing things, rather than hearing about them.
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Applications of Piaget's theory (3/3)
• Use collaborative, as well as individual activities because Kids learn
as much from each other as from parents or teachers.
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• Summarization
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