Piaget and Vygotsky

1. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: PIAGET’S
THEORY VS VYGOTSKY’S

2. PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Genetic epistemology – experimental study of
the origin of knowledge
• Intelligence Means ?
– A elementary life action that enables an
organism to adapt to it’s environment
– Cognitive equilibrium – balancing thought
processes and the environment
– Constructivist approach – constructed
knowledge by a child

3. PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Gaining Knowledge: Schemes and Processes
– Schemes: mental patterns (thought/action)
• Organization – merge existing schemes
into new/complex schemes
• Adaptation – environmental adjustments
–Assimilation – existing schemes with
new information
–Accommodation – changing existing
schemes for new information

4. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Invariant developmental sequence
– Sequencing fixed
– Individual differences entering/emerging
stages

5. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• The Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years)
– Coordinate sensory inputs and motor skills
– Transition from being reflexive to reflective
– Development of Problem-Solving Abilities
• Reflex activity (birth – 1 month)
• Primary circular reactions (1-4 months)
–first motor habits, repetitive

6. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Secondary circular reactions
(4-8 months)
–Repetitive actions with objects
beyond the body
• Coordination of secondary reactions
(8-12 months)
–Coordinate 2 or more actions to
achieve an objective (intentional)

7. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Tertiary circular reactions -12-18 months
–Active experimentation, trial & error
• Symbolic problem solving -18-24 months
–Inner (mental) experimentation

8. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
– Development of Imitation
• Novel responses by 8-12 months of age
• Deferred imitation – 18-24 months
• Research now shows 6-month-olds are
capable of deferred imitation

9. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
– Development of Object Permanence
• Objects continue to exist when they are
no longer visible/detectable
• Appears by 8-12 months of age
–A-not-B error: search in the last place
found, not where it was last seen
• Complete by 18-24 months

10. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Challenges to Piaget Account
– Neo-nativism –
• Infants are born with substantial innate
knowledge
• Require less time/experience to be
demonstrated
• Young children seem to possess some
object permanence, memory

11. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Challenges to Piaget’s Approach
– Theory theories
• Neo-nativist and Piagetian perspective
combined
–Infants are prepared at birth to make
sense of some information
–Beyond this, Piaget’s constructivist
approach is generally accurate

12. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• The Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)
– Symbolic function / representational insight
• One thing represents another
• Language
• Pretend (symbolic) play –
developmentally a positive activity
• New views on symbolism
–Dual representation – think about an
object in 2 ways at one time (3 years)

13. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Deficits in preoperational thinking
–Animism
»Attribute life/life like qualities to
inanimate objects
–Egocentrism
»View world from own perspective,
trouble recognizing other’s point of
view

14. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Deficits in preoperational thinking
–Appearance/reality distinction
»Cannot distinguish between the
two
–Dual encoding
»Representing an object in more
than one way at a time

15. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Deficits in preoperational thinking
–Lack of conservation – do not realize
properties of objects do not change
just because appearance does
»Lack of decentration – concentrate
on more than one aspect of a
problem at the same time
»Lack of reversibility – mentally
undo an action

16. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Did Piaget Underestimate the Preoperational
Child?
– New evidence on egocentrism
• Piaget’s tasks were too complex
– Another look at children’s reasoning
• Animism not routine among 3-year-olds
– Can preoperational children conserve?
• Can be trained at 4 years (identity
training)

17. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• The Development Theory of Mind (TOM)
– Belief-desire reasoning
• Understand behavior is based on
–What an individual knows or believes
–What they want or desire
• Develops after preschool age
• False-belief task – desire, not belief
–Based on lack of cognitive inhibition
–Improves with interaction with siblings

18. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• The Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
– Cognitive operations
• Internal mental activity to modify
symbols to reach a logical conclusion
–Conservation – capable of
»Decentering
»Reversibility

19. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
–Relational logic – capable of
»Mental seriation
»Transitivity
• Horizontal decalage – different levels of
understanding that seem to require
same mental operations
–Based on complexity
• Limited to real or tangible aspects of
experience

20. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• The Formal Operational Stage (11-12 +)
– Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
• Ability to generate hypotheses and use
deductive reasoning (general to specific)
• Inductive reasoning
–Going from specific observations to
generalizations

21. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
– Personal and Social Implications of Formal
Thought
• Thinking about what is possible in life
• Stable identity
• Understanding of other’s perspectives
• Questioning others
• Thinking of how the world “ought to be”

22. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
– Does Everyone Reach Formal Operations?
• Early Piaget – Yes, at least some signs
by 15-18
• Other researchers – No. Lack of
education
• Later Piaget – Yes, but only on problems
that are either interesting or important
• Seem to be more adolescents at this
level than 30 years ago

24. AN EVALUATION OF PIAGET’S THEORY
• Piaget’s Contributions
– Founded cognitive development
– Stated children construct their knowledge
– First attempt to explain development
– Reasonably accurate overview of how
children of different ages think
– Major influence in social and emotional
development, and education
– Influenced future research

25. AN EVALUATION OF PIAGET’S THEORY
• Challenges to Piaget
– Piaget failed to distinguish competence
from performance
– Does cognitive development really occur in
stages?
• Little evidence of broad stages
– Does Piaget “explain” cognitive
development? – more of an description
– Little attention to social/cultural influences

26. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• The Role of Culture in Development
– Ontogenetic development – development
of an individual over his or her lifetime
– Microgenetic development – change over
relatively brief periods of time
– Phylogenetic development – changes over
evolutionary time
– Sociohistorical development – changes in
one’s culture

27. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• Tools of Intellectual Adaptation
–Born with elementary mental
functions (attention, memory)
–Culture transforms these into higher
mental functions
»Culture specific tools allow the use
of the basic functions more
adaptively (language, pencils)

28. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• The Social Origins of Early Cognitive
Competencies
– Many discoveries active learners make
occur in collaborative dialogue with a tutor
– The Zone of Proximal Development
• Difference between what a learner can
do independently and what can be done
with guidance

29. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• Scaffolding – tendency to tailor support
to a learner near the limit of capability
• Guided participation/apprenticeship
–May be very formal and context
dependent
–May occur in day-to-day activities

31. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• Working in the Zone of Proximal
Development in Different Cultures
– Cultures where adults and children are
segregated, learning is in schools
– Cultures where adults and children are
together most of the day, learning is
through real life observation
– Verbal versus nonverbal emphasis of
instruction

32. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• Playing in the Zone of Proximal Development
– More likely to engage in symbolic play
when others are present
– Cooperative social play of preschoolers is
related to later understanding of others’
feeling and beliefs

33. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• Implications for Education
– Active, not passive learning
– Assess what is known to estimate
capabilities
– Guided participations structured by
teachers who would gradually turn over
more of activity to students
– Cooperative learning exercises – help each
other; very effective!

34. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• The Role of Language in Cognitive
Development
– Primary method of passing modes of
thinking to children
– Becomes important tool of intellectual
adaptation

35. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• Piaget’s Theory of Language/Thought
–Egocentric speech
»Self-directed utterances
»Reflected ongoing mental activity
»Shifted to communicative speech
with age
»Little role in cognitive development

36. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• Vygotsky’s Theory of Language/Thought
–Egocentric is really an illustration of
transition from prelinguistic to verbal
reasoning
–Private speech – communicative
“speech for self”
»Serves as a cognitive self-
guidance system; does not
disappear, becomes inner speech

37. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• Which viewpoint should be endorsed?
–Vygotsky
»Social speech gives rise to private
speech
»More common with difficult tasks
»Self-instruction improves
performance
»Does tend to turn into inner
speech

38. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• Vygotsky in Perspective: Summary
– Cognitive development involves
• Dialogues with skilled partners within the
zone of proximal development
• Incorporation of what tutors say into
what they say to themselves
– Expect wide variations in development
across cultures

39. VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
• Vygotsky in Perspective: Evaluation
– Not yet received intense scrutiny
• Verbal guided participation may be less
adaptive in some instances than others
• Collaborative problem solving can
undermine performance
– More a perspective, not a theory with as
many testable hypotheses as Piaget