Piaget's Theory (AQA GCSE Psychology)

• Piaget’s theory of cognitive development (1920s-1980s) is based on the idea that children’s thinking and reasoning are qualitatively different to that of an adult
• Piaget claimed that a child’s thinking progresses according to their age i.e. it is a maturational theory
• Piaget believed that:
  • Children continuously explore their environment
  • Children are ‘little scientists’ performing experiments in their exploration
  • Children discover their world physically and then make sense of it on their own (known as ‘discovery learning’)
• Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is an example of constructivism:
  • children learn via action and reflection
  • they then build on these learning blocks to construct schemas
  • a child’s schemas help them to understand their world

• A schema is a mental representation of the world, of other people as well as the self, of events, situations, ideas etc.
• A baby’s first schema, according to Piaget, is the body schema i.e. this is me/this is not me
• As the child gets older their schemas:
  • become more complex and sophisticated
  • they begin with schemas of concrete objects (e.g. ‘cat’, ‘house’)
  • as the child matures their schemas incorporate abstract concepts (e.g. ‘freedom’, ‘loneliness’)

• Assimilation is the process by which schemas are compiled:
  • A young child assimilates a ‘bird’ schema
    • The child knows that birds can fly, they eat worms, they visit the back garden
    • A state of equilibrium exists as the child’s ‘bird’ schema is balanced - the information makes sense and helps the child to understand their world
• Disequilibrium occurs when a child encounters some new information which does not fit in with an existing schema:
  • The child sees a penguin for the first time
  • The child is told that the penguin is a bird
  • The child’s ‘bird’ schema becomes unbalanced i.e. ‘How can this creature be a bird, it does not fly?’
  • The child must accommodate this new information into their ‘bird’ schema to restore equilibrium
  • The child’s ‘bird’ schema now includes the details that some birds can’t fly, some birds eat fish, some birds live in Antarctica In time the child may develop a separate and distinct ‘penguin’ schema as they learn more about the world

Evaluation of Piaget’s theory

Strengths

• Piaget’s theory has been supported by many research studies e.g. Samuel & Bryant (1984); McGarrigle & Donaldson (1974)
• The concept of discovery learning is now (and has been for some time) used widely in educational settings hence the theory has good validity

Weaknesses

• Piaget originally developed his theory by observing his own children at home which lacks both reliability and validity (a tiny sample plus the issue of his own bias)
• It is very difficult to measure schema thus it is difficult to know at what age schemas develop