Cognitive Development

11 Pages 2830 Words

ssimilation refers to the tendency to perceive and understand the world in accordance with existing frameworks. Accommodation refers to the tendency to alter existing ideas or modes of thought on the basis of new experience. For example, a child will recognise that a dog has four legs, but as they encounter different animals, they will begin to realise that not all four legged animals are dogs but accommodate their original Scheme to categorizing certain animals.
Piaget then incorporated a third process into the equation; one that explained how assimilation and accommodation ensured cognitive development would take place, a process known as equilibration. Flanagan (1997) contended that when information is assimilated which does not fit with an existing scheme, a state of dis-equilibrium prevails until accommodation takes place, reinstating equilibrium. Piaget argued that a person’s intelligence is based on the degree to which they can adapt to the environment and maintain equilibrium (Piaget, 1950).
It is on the foundations of this idea that Piaget developed four stages at which equilibration or re-organisation of thought occur (See appendix two). Piaget challenged that children move through each of these sequential stages that are loosely related to age. According to Bee and Boyd (2004) Piaget believed that brain maturation was the main reason why children progressed through the stages at different pace.
The first stage in Piaget’s theory is the Sensory-Motor period from birth until two years of age. This primarily involves the child discovering the world around them (Donaldson, 1987). Piaget argued that at this stage the child cannot differentiate between themselves and their environment. He also stated that children under eight months have no concept of object permanence (if they cannot see an object it fails to exist). Contrary to this, studies carried out by Renee Baillargeon (1994) found that infants as young as two mon...