Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

1. Psychology 001Introduction to PsychologyChristopher Gade, PhDOffice: 621 HeafeyOffice hours: F 3-6 and by apt. Email: gadecj@gmail.com Class WF 7:00-8:30 Heafey 650

2. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) • While earning his education, Piaget worked under Carl Jung, and did work with Alfred Binet in his administration of intelligence tests. • Became interested in the cognitive development of children. • Began observing the development of his children. • From these observations, Piaget was able to establish his own terminology and theories of how “normal” children develop cognitively.

3. Piaget’s Theories of Development • Schemas – a concept, or framework, that organizes and interprets information. • Equilibrium – a cognitive state of mind that comes from harmony between information being presented and the child’s present schemas • Disequilibrium – a cognitive state of mind caused whennew information contradictscurrent schemas • Piaget believed that when we encountered disequilibrium, children had two choices: • Assimilation – interpreting one’s new experience in terms of one’s existing schema. • Accommodation – adapting one’s current schemas to incorporate new information.

4. Doggy Doggy???

5. Piaget’s Proposed Stages of Cognitive Development • Sensorimotor stage (birth to almost 2 years of age) • Preoperational stage (just before 2 years to 7 years of age) • Concrete operational stage (about 7 to 11 years of age) • Formal operational stage (11 years on)

6. The “Are You Smarter Than a ____ Year-Old” Game

7. Sensorimotor Stage • Experience the world through the senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing, and grasping). • Object permanence • 11:50-14:00 • Sense of self

8. Preoperational Stage • Representing things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning. • Distinguishing appearance from reality • Egocentrism • Symbolism • 14:00-18:15 • Language development

10. Concrete Operational Stage • Analogies • Run  Walk • Fast  ??? • Slow, Heart, Run • Conservation • Mathematical transformations • penny example

11. Formal Operational Stage • Abstract reasoning • Moral reasoning begins to develop • Note: there’s a large amount of skepticism as to whether or not this stage actually exists, and if most people ever completely master this stage

12. If everyone in this class studies hard, everyone in this class will earn an A. • Everyone in this class studied hard. • John and his sister Sally both want to go home from school, but they only have one bike. This means that one of them will get to ride the bike home, while the other will have to walk. • John rode his bike home. • Tommy can run faster than Jenny. Jenny can run faster than Mark. Mark can run faster than Beth. Who can run faster, Tommy or Beth?

13. What other big figures are there in development? • Vygotsky and his theories of cognitive development • Kohlberg and his theories of moral development • Erikson’s theories of identity development

14. Reviewing Piaget’s Theory of Development • Children go through different, set stages of development as they progress toward adulthood. • These stages are distinct, age specific, and cannot be sped up through adult help.

15. Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) • Researched the ideas of cognitive development that were described by Jean Piaget • Agreed with the idea that a developmental process in cognitive skills does take place • Argued against Piaget’s idea that this cognitive development is set, and cannot be accelerated

16. Vygotsky’s Theories of Development • Cognitive development occurs through gradual and continual growth • Instead of being in different developmental stages, we progress throughdifferent “zones of proximal development” • Scaffolding – the process of teaching a child slightly above their current level of cognitive development in order to help that child learn cognitive concepts quicker

17. Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) • Worked under the tutelage of Piaget • Chose to examine the concept of moral based development • Argued that, similar to cognitive development, children also go through stages of moral development throughout their lives • Contended that children progress through these stages in a set order, but that people did not necessarily advance through all of these stages in their life

18. Example Test: The Story Of Heinz • In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid 2000 for the radium and charged $20,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $ 10,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug-for his wife. Should the husband have done that? Why, or why not?

20. Age Differences in Moral Development

21. Concerns about Kohlberg’s Theories of Moral Development • Cultural influence on progression • Moral shift might merely represent a shift of focus by the individual • Pre-Conventional – self • Conventional – others/roles • Post-Conventional – combination • Gender differences in moral orientation? • Carol Gilligan • Difference between responses and actual behavior

22. Erik Erikson (1902-1994) • Born in Germany. Abandoned by his biological father, and adopted by his Jewish step-father. • Was an outcast in both the Jewish community (for his Nordic appearance), and at school (for being Jewish). • As a result of this teasing, he became interested in the development of a sense of self identity that children go through.

23. Erikson’s Research • Worked under Sigmund Freud, and Sigmund’s daughter, Anna Freud • Examined how self identity impacts the social development of the individual throughout the life-span • Believed that cultures influenced the different dilemmas and developmental phases that children experience • Concluded that children seem to progress a series of 8 phases of development

25. That’s it for today… • In the next class, we move onto our next topic, behaviorism. • Come ready to learn… hopefully you’ll get the joke by the end of the next class.