Transcript Slide 1
James thinks you can’t see him now. Today’s session You are learning about... • • You are learning to... Piaget’s preoperational • stage (pre-conceptual period) Tests of egocentric thinking Compare and criticise ways of investigating infant cognition Piaget’s Stage Theory of Cognitive Development Stage Sensorimotor stage Preoperational stage Characteristics Typical Age Substages 1-3 Ability to deal with situations is 0-8 months limited to: i) Having sensations and producing actions; ii) The ‘here and now’ Substages 4-6 Intentional actions emerge; trial and error behaviour; object concept – object permanence develops; simple pretend play; language acquisition 8-24 months Preconceptual period Symbolic thought develops; egocentrism; animism; centration 2-4 years Intuitive period Judgements based on appearance 4-7 years not logical thought; less egocentric; unable to conserve Concrete operational stage Conservation; seriation; transitivity; class inclusion 7-11 years Formal operational stage Abstract concepts; hypothetical thinking; flexibility in thinking 12+ years Pre-operational stage • Children form internal mental representations and think by manipulating them • They lack operations – abstract rules that underpin adult logical thinking • As a result their thinking tends to be inconsistent and irrational from an adult’s perspective Pre-operational stage • Limitations on a pre-operational child’s thinking include: – Egocentrism – Animism – Centration • Children continue to develop their internal representations of the world through adaptation and accommodation of new experiences Egocentrism According to Piaget... • Young children do not understand that others have a different view of the world from theirs • They assume that anyone else can see what they can see • This egocentrism does not disappear fully until the child is 7 or 8 years old. Three tests of egocentrism • Three mountains task (Piaget & Inhelder, 1956) • Turntable task (Borke, 1975) • Boy and policemen task (Hughes, 1975) Three tests of egocentrism • You need to know: – What is the procedure for the test? – What do the results suggest about egocentrism? • Ask yourselves: – Is this a fair test of egocentrism? – Are there features that make it easy/hard? Compare the tests • Make sure everyone understands all three, then ask yourselves: – What are the similarities and differences? – Which is the fairest test of egocentrism and why? – What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? – What implications do the results have for Piaget’s theory? Three mountains task • Involves unfamiliar materials and situation • Makes heavy demands on working memory • Requires the child to respond in a difficult way Turntable task • Children have a chance to practise • Uses familiar characters, materials & situation • Makes it easy for the child to respond Boy and policemen task • Children have a chance to practise • Only requires the child to consider what can be seen, not how it will look • The task has ‘human sense’ – the motives and intentions of the characters are clear (Donaldson, 1978) Tests of egocentrism • Piaget’s methods make it difficult for younger children to respond correctly – consequently he underestimates their abilities • Children may not fully overcome egocentrism until 7yrs but they start to do so much earlier Homework • Write an evaluation of Piaget and Inhelder’s (1956) ‘three mountains’ test of egocentrism. In your evaluation include: – Reference to competence and performance – Alternative ways of testing egocentrism – Implications for Piaget’s theory