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Psychology 3260: Personality & Social DevelopmentDon Hartmann, Spring 2007

Lecture 9: Piaget

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Overview of Piaget Lecture

Intersects with text, pp. 50-63 Coffee & Cream Lecture:

Introduction to Piaget Piaget’s Theory A Practical Application Evaluation Summary

Black & White Marbles Next: Lecture #10: Peers I

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Coffee & Cream

Begin with two identical large cups, Cup 1 containing 8 oz. of cream, Cup 2 containing 8 oz. of coffee (or diet Coke)

Remove 2 oz. of cream from Cup 1 and place it in Cup 2. Mix thoroughly.

Remove 2 oz. of the coffee/cream mixture in Cup 2 and place it in Cup 1.

Question: Is there1. More coffee in Cup 1 than cream in Cup 2?2. More cream in Cup 2 than coffee in Cup 1?3. The same amount of cream in Cup 2 as coffee in Cup 1?4. None of the above.

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Introduction to Piaget

3rd Most influential psychologist of the 20th century

Father of Cognitive Developmental Theory

Background facts

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Major Thesis

Social development is a consequence of changes in cognitive development

Responsible in large part for Social Cognition (e.g., gender conceptions, humor)

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The Nature of Piaget’s Theory

Strong stage theory. Stages are: Qualitative (rather than quantitative) Coherent (consistent) Fixed (just four, no more) Universal (applicable to all, though not all are

believed to achieve all the stages), and Invariant (we all go through them in the

same order; no skipping).!

o Based on structure of thought, rather than on content of thought

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How does Growth Occur?

o 1. Through both nature and nurture; maturation + certain critical experiences

o 2. In general, through accommodation and assimilation

o 3. Though Cognitive Disequilibrium

o 4. Though Interactions with Peers—particularly when older

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Stages (1)

Sensorimotor (0‑2). From reflex to reflective! Develops distinction between self & non-self Object… Delayed…

Preoperational (2‑7). At this stage children have not yet gained the operations that allow them to think logically. Perception is characterized by centration & thinking by egocentrism Increasing use of symbols (e.g., pretend play), but Perceptual centration & Egocentrism, which together Preclude conservation

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Egocentrism

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Stages (2)

Concrete operation (7‑12) use operations (e.g., transitivity), but fixed on

real Can conserve

Formal operations (12‑?); can deal with Abstractions logical reasoning hypotheticals

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Some Conservation Tasks

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Still More Conservation Tasks

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Some important implications of Piaget: Learning?

Learning is a product of one's cognitive development. The child's existing cognitive

structures determine how he/she interprets social experiences and, hence, what is likely to be learned from interactions with others

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What about Personality?

Dependent upon cognitive development; e.g., can't have notion of gender, until conservation.

The Brain: Cognition; you get it, right?

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A Practical Application: Teaching Traditional Gender Behavior

Match the instructional approach to the developmental level of the child

Has the child developed the notion of gender constancy?

Help the child form concept that she is a girl.

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How Stages are “Discovered” Someone has a notion that a stage-like progression

typifies some developmental phenomena (e.g., how babies occur)

Select children of various ages (cross-sectional study), and inquire about the phenomena

Follow up with longitudinal study to insure that the changes typify each individual’s developmental trajectory Adjust design so that time period covers critical

growth period Insure that sufficient assessments are conducted to

distinguish continuous from stage-like development

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Evaluation: Strengths

Importance of cognition -- even for social content!

o Process of thinking rather than content of thought

o Wonderful descriptive frameworko Wonderful descriptive framework

o Always take into account developmental level

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Evaluation: Weaknesses

Strong on developmental function; weak on IDs Specific ages often erroneousa. When we think an

event or a process occurs is in part a function of how we conduct the assessment!

Characteristics of stages gone awrya: Coherence of stages: conservation problems not

conservation problem....(Gertrude Stein) Backsliding, Training individuals at an age earlier than when the operation

is to have developed Universality (e.g., in moral development we have substantial

cultural differences) Description not explanation

aKuhn, D. (1992). Cognitive development. In M.H. Bornstein & M.E. Lamb (Eds.) Developmental psychology: An advanced textbook (3rd ed.) Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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Summary

What about Coffee & Cream? Answer tomorrow.

Piaget in all his glory Next: Lect. #10: Peers Io Go in Peace!

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What about Black & White Marbles? Urn 1 contains 100 white marbles; Urn 2 100 black

marbles. Take 20 of the white marbles from Urn 1 and place them

in Urn 2. Mix the marbles well. Take 20 of the mixture of marbles in Urn 2 and place them

in Urn 1 The Question:

1. Is there more black marbles in Urn 1 than white marbles in Urn 2?

2. Is there more white marbles in Urn 2 than black marbles in Urn 1?

3. Is there is same number of white marbles in Urn 2 as black marbles in Urn !?

4. None of the above.