JEAN PIAGET THEORY OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

1. PRESENTED BY:
Ms. GURKIRAT KAUR
ASST. PROF.
CHITKARA UNIVERSITY

2. Intellectual Development
1896-
1980

3.  Jean Piaget was born in Neuchatel,
Switzerland, on August 9, 1896.
 He was the oldest child of Arthur Piaget,
professor of medieval literature at the
University, and of Rebecca Jackson.
 In his early years, he studied about mollusks
and he love sciences
 Eventually, Piaget changed his study from
mollusks to the study of philosophy.

4.  After high school, he attended the University of
Neuchatel, where he eventually obtained his
Doctorate in Science in 1918.
 During university, he had two philosophical
essays published, which were important to the
general orientation of his thinking
 He worked for a year at psychology labs in Zurich
and at Bleuler’s famous psychiatric clinic.
 After a semester at the University of Zurich where
he developed an interest for psychoanalysis, he
left Switzerland for France.

5.  In 1919, he taught psychology and
philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris. Here he
did research intelligence testing.
 In 1921, he became director of studies at the
J.J. Rousseau Institute in Geneva.
 In 1923, he married Valentine Chatenay and
had three children, whose intellectual
development from infancy to language as
studied by Piaget.
 He died in Geneva on September 16, 1980

6.  Schema/Scheme: A representation in the mind of a set
of ideas or actions which go together
 Assimilation: The process of taking in information into
our previously existing schemas.
 Accommodation: Involves altering existing ideas or
schemas as a result of new information or new
experiences.
 Equilibration: A mechanism that assists children in
achieving a balance between assimilation and
accommodation

7.  Piaget proposed that children’s thinking does not
develop completely smoothly
 Instead there are certain points at which it takes off
and progresses into completely new areas and abilities.
 In his view, early cognitive development involves
processes based upon actions which later progress into
changes in mental operations.

8. 1. Each stage is a structured whole and in a
state of equilibrium
 The stages are qualitative within the structures
and quantitative between structures
2. Each stage derives from the previous stage
and incorporate and transform to prepare
for the next
 No going back

9. 3. The stages follow an invariant sequence.
 There is no skipping stages.
4. The stages are universal.
 Culture does not impact the stages. Children
everywhere go through the same stages no
matter what their cultural background is.
5. Each stage is a
coming into being.
 There is a gradual
progression from stage to
stage (Brainerd, 1978).

10. 1.
 Piaget’s theory is based on the idea that the SENSORIMOTOR
developing child builds cognitive structures STAGE
(networked concepts for understanding and
responding to physical experiences within his or
her environment) 2.
PRE-
 Jean Piaget formulated four stages of intellectual- OPERATIONAL
cognitive development and the process by which STAGE
children progress through them.
 During all development stages, the child 3.
experiences his or her environment using what ever CONCRETE
OPERATIONAL
mental maps he or she has consulted so far. STAGE
4.
FORMAL
OPERATIONAL
STAGE

11. Sensorimotor Stage (Infancy):
 In this periods intelligence is demonstrated through
motor activity, without the use of symbols.
 Knowledge of the world is developing but limited
because of how it is based on physical interactions
and experiences.
Pre-operational stage (Toddler and Early
Childhood):
 Intelligence is demonstrated through the use of symbols,
language use matures, and memory and imagination are
developed in this period. Egocentric thinking predominates.

12. Concrete operational stage (Elementary and
early adolescence):
 In this stage intelligence is demonstrated through logical and
systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects.
 Operational thinking develops and egocentric thought
diminishes
Formal operational stage (Adolescence and
adulthood):
 Intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols
related to abstract concepts (conceptual reasoning). Early in
the period egocentric thought revisits.

13.  Sensory contact understanding.
 The child explores the world surrounding
them using it’s senses
 Initially sucking/grasping reflex and moving
onto reaching for objects out of reach.

14.  Major development within this stage.
 Initially the baby cannot understand a object
exists out of sight.
 As the baby reaches around 7/8 months a
child will begin to understand the
object/person still exists when out of sight.

15.  Toddler can understand the use of symbols
and language. This is an example of symbolic
thinking. I.E pretend play.
 Language is now understood.

16.  Animism…child understands ‘bad table’,
believes inanimate objects have feelings as
they do.
 Egocentricism…Can only see the world from
their own point of view
 All these developments take place in the Pre-
Operational Stage.

17. 8

18. Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years)
•"Operation" - Forms of mental action
through which older children solve
problems and reason logically
•Key feature of stage is extensive
representation
•Pre-op kids develop “theory of mind”
(understanding of mental processes)

19. Limits of preoperational stage
•Still very egocentric
–Mountain task

20.  The children are now able to conserve,
 They understand that although the appearance
has changed the thing it self does not.

21. What is CONSERVATION?
“the awareness that a quantity remains
the same despite a change in its
appearance”
=

22.  Most of previous characteristics discussed
have now developed.
 The child shows logical thinking and is able to
work through abstract problems and use logic
without the presence of concrete
manipulation.
 E.g. If Kelly is taller than John and John is
taller than Pete who is the tallest? This is an
example of inferential reasoning.

23. Stages of Cognitive Development Continued
 These stages form what Piaget called an invariant
developmental sequence.
 He believed that children progress through the stages in
exactly the order in which they are listed.
 They cannot skip any of these stages because each succeeding
stage builds on the previous one and correspond to a more
intricate way of thinking.

24.  Jean Piaget’s theories are imbedded into the school
system in the sense that the curriculum is based on his
stage theory.
 The curriculum is designed to teach students at the first
stage and progressively teach new learning to change
the schemas in order to move students through each
stage.
 The teacher starts at the basics introducing a new sublet
and once the knowledge of that subject is mastered,
they would create a schema.

25.  Underestimated the importance of knowledge
 Gagne: Complex skills can be acquired easily once
simpler prerequisite skills have been learned.
Development is based on LEARNING new skills -
continuous not discontinuous.
 Underestimated the ability of children
 . Tasks were methodologically flawed
 Underestimated the impact of CULTURE:
 Piaget’s tasks are culturally biased
 Schooling and literacy affect rates of development
 This suggest that there were design flaws with Piagets original
study.

26.  Demand characteristics:- the children may
have wanted to please the experimenter
therefore changing their behaviour.
 Social setting:-Piaget ignored the effect of
the social setting upon the child.The way
adults use language and gestures.

27. Strengths
•Active rather than passive view of the
child.
•Revealed important invariants in
cognitive development.
•Errors informative.
•Perceptual-motor learning rather than
language important for development.
•Tasks.

28. In Summary…….
•Piaget’s theory is wide-ranging
and influential.
•Source of continued controversy.
•People continue to address many
of the questions he raised, but
using different methods and
concepts.

29. 1. Jane has learned to feed herself with a
spoon. When her mother gives her a fork,
she immediately begins to feed herself.
Jane has __________ the fork into her
schema for utensils
a) accommodated
b)appropriated
c)assimilated

30. 2. A schema is a...
a) Category of knowledge that allows us to
interpret and understand the world.
b)Process of taking in new information.
c)Process of balancing old knowledge and
new information.
d)None of the above

31. 3. Jean Piaget was a _____________.
a) Child psychologist
b)Developmental psychologist
c)Biologist
d) Genetic epistemologist

32. 4. The ability to think abstractly and
systematically solve problems emerges
during the ___________.
a) concrete operational stage
b)sensorimotor stage
c) formal operational stage
d)preoperational stage