{"id":978,"date":"2022-11-01T21:24:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T19:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/support.centreforelites.com\/jean-piagets-theory-of-cognitive-development\/"},"modified":"2023-07-13T14:20:02","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T12:20:02","slug":"jean-piagets-theory-of-cognitive-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/support.centreforelites.com\/ru\/jean-piagets-theory-of-cognitive-development\/","title":{"rendered":"JEAN PIAGET\u2019S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was born in Switzerland. After receiving his doctoral degree at age 22, Piaget formally began a career that would have a profound impact on both psychology and education. After working with Alfred Binet, Piaget developed an interest in the intellectual development<\/a> of children. Based upon his observations, he concluded that children were not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently. Albert Einstein<\/a> called Piaget’s discovery “so simple only a genius could have thought of it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"JEAN<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Piaget (1983) argued that knowledge developed through cognitive structures known as <\/span>schemas<\/i><\/b>. Schemas are mental representations of the world and how the individual interacts with it. As a child develops, his or her schemas develop as a result of his or her interaction with the world. All children are born with an innate range of schemas, such as a schema for sucking, reaching, and gripping. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are in turn modified as a result of experience; Piaget called this process of modification adaptation<\/b>. He also argued children actively construct<\/i>knowledge themselves as a result of their interaction with new objects and experiences. For this reason, Piaget is also known as a constructivist. The child\u2019s interaction with new events and objects as well as the intermingling of these with existing knowledge cause him or her to develop cognitively.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two types of adaptation.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7            <\/span><\/span><\/span>Assimilation<\/span><\/b> \u2013 This process occurs when new events (such as objects, experiences, ideas and situations) can be fitted into existing schemas of what the child already understands about the world.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7            <\/span><\/span><\/span>Accommodation<\/span><\/b>\u2013 This process occurs when new events do not fit existing schemas. Either a schema has to be modified to allow the new world view, or a new schema has to be created. Accommodation is the creation of new knowledge and the rejection or adaptation of existing schemas.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adaptation is predicated on the belief that the building of knowledge is a continuous activity of self-construction; as a person interacts with the environment, knowledge is invented and manipulated into cognitive structures. When discrepancies between the environment and mental structures occur, one of two things can happen. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either the perception of the environment can be changed in order for new information to be matched with existing structures through assimilation, or the cognitive structures themselves can change as a result of the interaction through accommodation. In either case, the individual adapts to his or her environment by way of the interaction. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is clear that Piaget believed that cognition is grounded in the interface between mind and environment. The result of this interplay is the achievement or working toward a balance between mental schemes and the requirements of the environment. It is a combination of maturation<\/a> and actions to achieve equilibration<\/i><\/b> that advances an individual into a higher developmental stage.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equilibration is a mechanism that Piaget proposed to explain how children sh<\/span>ift from one stage<\/span> of thought to the next. The shift occurs as children experience cognitive conflict or disequilibrium in trying to understand the world. Eventually, they resolve the conflict and reach equilibrium of thought.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Piaget then proposed a theory of cognitive development<\/a> to account or the steps and sequence of children’s intellectual development<\/a>. He believed that any child moves through four stages in sequential order during cognitive development<\/a> and these are: <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Table of Contents<\/p>\n