Does cognitive development occur through the use of other figures in society, or is it something that we have to broaden through our own personal experience? Jean Piaget and Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky are both key figures in forming a constructivist theory about how the mind develops, and how we learn to perceive the world. Whereas Piaget places great emphasis on cognitive constructivism; in that we must learn through experience and build on our previous knowledge, Vygotsky’s theory focused more upon the need for a social background out of which knowledge may be absorbed. The strengths and weaknesses of both theories shall be discussed in this essay.
Piaget suggested that cognitive development occurs through various stages, and as new experiences occur, the child adjusts their views to fit with the new information, hence developing into the next stage. The sensorimotor stage occurs before the age of two, and focuses primarily on the child developing a sense of the world through reflex actions (as these are some of the few actions a child is capable of at that age). For example, a child may develop the cognition that sucking on their thumb will be a pleasurable and reassuring experience, hence they learn to repeat this action to generate the same experience, based on operant conditioning theory (Skinner, 1963). Up to the age of six, the child goes through the preoperational stage. This involves seeing the world from an egocentric point of view, and not being able to mentally manipulate data that is given to them. However, they do begin to play role-play games, which indicate increased understanding of how others interact, and the significance of symbols. Piaget and Inhelder (1956) found that, when asking children to choose which photograph depicted the viewpoint of a doll that was placed near a model mountain, until the age of seven they would identify their own viewpoint. This implies that they are not simply aware of the fact that others do not sense information in the same way that they do. Furthermore, children do not understand the idea that a fixed amount of water, transferred from one glass to a differently shaped glass, has the same volume as before. This is the idea of conservation, and children only develop this in the next stage of their development. The concrete operational stage occurs from the age of seven to eleven. In this period, children begin to grasp conservation ideas, such as the fact that a quantity of clay will stay the same, despite being moulded into a different shape. This relates to the new found ability to understand reversibility; working backwards through mental processes to form conclusions that could not have been perceived before achieving this stage of cognitive development. Finally, the formal operational stage comes at age twelve and involves the child being able to think deductively and abstractly. For example, they can now imagine hypothetical situations that have not occurred, purely through imagination, not based on their own schemas. In addition, reasoning and logic enabled the child to solve mental and mathematical problems.
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The theory is supported at each stage by various experiments. These give the theory high validity, as it becomes scientific, rather than simply speculative. For example, Piaget tested the idea that children up to the age of nine months will not search for an object that is concealed. After nine months, they will search for the object, yet when it is moved to a new location, they will still search in the object’s original place. This shows that the baby has learned that the object has permanence, but not that their actions have no influence over the object itself. Despite all of this evidence, Piaget often tested on his own children, which means that researcher bias may have occurred. It may also be argued that the experiments were too confusing, or asked too much of the babies’ poor motor control at that stage in their lives (supported by Bower & Wishart, 1972, by making an object disappear simply by turning off lights, and observing babies searching for the object for a duration of time). Furthermore, Marvin (1975) found that the egocentric theory has a flaw, in that children aged four will choose a gift for their mother that is not based on what the child would enjoy; they are seeing the situation from the mother’s point of view. However, this is not to say that all Piaget’s research could be contested by further investigation. Some of the research can be supported by respected other theories. The idea that a child will go through the four stages by collecting new data through experiences (assimilation), realising that the data does not support their current view (accommodation), and resolving this conflict by altering or creating new cognitions (equilibrium) is supported by the great theory of cognitive dissonance, (Festinger et al.). By combining both biological factors, and the child’s interaction with the environment, Piaget’s theory is strengthened. However, evidence is lacking that suggests a difference in structural differences between the stages, in terms of neurological features One other point to note is that the theory is very rigid in terms of which order the different phases occur in, and at what age. This implies that there is no overlap between them, and this can prove problematic when individual differences arise in experiment results.
Vygotsky suggested a very different theory. He claimed that speech and language are the roots of all knowledge, and children are born with a private, inner speech, that never goes away, but becomes more internalised as development occurs. This internal speech is innate, and is built upon by experiencing social situations with others demonstrating language skills, hence enabling children to plan actions in their mind, and carrying these out in the physical world. In addition, language is the means by which ideas are transferred to children by adults; which is the means by which they acquire knowledge. He also places emphasis on the type of method we use to ensure that development occurs, through the culture the child is brought up in. For example, in some cultures it is valued for children to improve memory through use of mnemonics and so forth, yet in some less developed cultures, the societal influence encourages the method of tying knots into string in order to improve this cognitive function. Therefore, the end result is similar, yet the means by which this is acquired differ greatly.
One of the most important concepts in Vygotsky’s theory is that of ‘scaffolding’. If we consider the example of a child attempting a simple logic problem alone, in comparison with the same child having been offered methods from a more knowledgeable figure that would help them complete the task, it is noticeable that the child with the guidance will be able to complete the task when the solitary child cannot. This is because the child internalises the information provided through language by the guidance figure, and uses it to develop their cognitive understanding of the world (Shaffer, 1996). In contrast to Piaget’s theory, social factors are very much accounted for here. For example, on a grand scale, all cultures should vary slightly with cognitive development. This is because children from different backgrounds will not experience the same situations throughout their early life. This is shown through the “Strange Situation” experiment, in the way that children from different cultures would react differently, based on their upbringing and culture (Ainsworth et al., 1978) http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky
Private speech – innate. Never goes away, but becomes more internalised.
(Evidence – sounding out words, reaction from children)
Zone of proximal development – always just above children’s current achievable developmental level.
Scaffolding – using other people as a means to learn new ideas and develop
Through internalising language and actions of others, we learn how to act
(Evidence, different cultures act in different ways, due to their upbringing, Strange Situation etc. – different types of attachment)
Innate cognitive thought – recognising symbols and understanding before development occurs
Other higher people (teachers, parents etc), societal influences (cooperation with peers etc. To complete tasks), interaction with knowledgeable others (working through jigsaw together, without actually providing much instruction etc)
(Evidence, Freund – playing with dolls house with mother before attempting alone produces the greatest improvement, whereas playing alone, then playing alone later does not produce a significant change)
Positive – feral children (have not learned these things), mute children
Surely animals use language too? Yet they do not possess self-awareness, so how can this be? Against – only humans possess external cognitive / internal cognitive speech
Against – “There is also good negative evidence, such as a lack of marked brain architecture differences, the too rapid emergence of symbolic culture in sapiens, and so forth” ??????
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Bower, T. G. R., & Wishart, J. G. (1972). The effects of motor skill on object permanence. Cognition, 1, 165-172.
Festinger, L., Riecken, H., & Stanley, S. (1956). When Prophecy Fails. New York: Harper.
Schaffer, H.R. (1996). Is the child father to the man? Psychology Review, 2, 2-6.
Skinner, B.F. (1963). Operant Behaviour. American Psychologist, 18, 503-515.
Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1956). The child’s conception of space. London: Routledge.
http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/piaget-and-the-development-of-intelligence-1402
http://psychology.about.com/od/piagetstheory/p/preoperational.htm
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070726224440AAgadVZ
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/constructivism.html
http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/94974/piaget_vs_vygotsky_the_cognitive_development_pg2.html?cat=72
Jean Piaget
Comes through experience: Sensorimotor stage – reflexes
Preoperational stage – egocentric – SELF?!??!!?
(Evidence, learning through letting children see situations from their own point of view)
Concrete operational stage – logical thinking, less egocentric
Formal operational stage – mastering abstract thought, algebra etc., complex problems.
Through interaction with the world, children learn. Schemas provide the basis
(Evidence – children’s experiences shape how they view the world, each is different. “Concepts of reading and writing are as the child has constructed them)
Intertwined with development; cognitive thought does not progress until development starts.
Schemas – children learn to attribute certain actions to situations, so they learn how to act
(Similar to Vygotsky? Could be applied to the other theory, with working through tasks with parents etc?)
Assimilation, accommodation, equilibrium – forming ideas, contradictory information, changing views to settle cognitive dissonance (Festinger et al.)
Stages? Can it be that clear cut? Vygotsky uses ‘developments’ – smoother transition
Disregards social settings that have been shown to have an impact?
Observed by Piaget, on his own children? Biased + small sample size? Confusing experiments that may lack validity
