Piaget's theory of cognitive development

Overview

Schemas, assimilation, accommodation and equilibrium, the sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete and formal operational stages, egocentrism and conservation, and the theory's strengths and weaknesses.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does Piaget's theory of cognitive development claim?

   Model answer

   Piaget claimed that children's thinking develops through four stages in a fixed order. Children actively build their own understanding of the world.

2. 2

   Define the term schema.

   Model answer

   A schema is a mental framework of knowledge about an object, person or action. Schemas are built up through experience.

3. 3

   What is assimilation?

   Model answer

   Assimilation is fitting new information into an existing schema without changing the schema.

4. 4

   A toddler with a schema for dogs points at a cat and says dog. Which process is the toddler showing?

   Model answer

   The toddler is showing assimilation. The cat has been fitted into the existing dog schema.

5. 5

   What is accommodation?

   Model answer

   Accommodation is changing an existing schema, or forming a new one, when new information does not fit.

6. 6

   A child who calls every four-legged animal a dog learns that cats are a different kind of animal. Which process is this?

   Model answer

   The child is showing accommodation. A new schema for cats has been formed.

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