PSYC 2020 Lecture 39: PSYC 2020 Lecture 39 Notes
PSYC 2020 Lecture 39 Notes
Introduction
The Contextual Perspective
• Piaget also believed that at a few critical points in development, children realize their
theories have basic flaws.
• When this happens, they revise their theories radically.
• These changes are so fundamental that the revised theory is, in many respects, a brand-
new theory.
• Piaget claimed that radical revisions occur three times in development: once at about
age 2, a second time at about age 7, and a third time just before adolescence.
• These radical changes mean that children go through four distinct stages in cognitive
development.
• Each stage represents a fundamental change in how children understand and organize
their environment, and each stage is characterized by more sophisticated types of
reasoning.
• For example, the sensorimotor stage begins at birth and lasts until about age
• As the ae iplies, sesoriotor thikig is losel liked to the ifat’s sesor ad
motor skills.
• This stage and the three later stages are shown
• Aordig to Piaget, hildre’s thikig eoes ore sophistiated as the deelop,
reflecting the more sophisticated theories that children create.
• Returig to our opeig seario, Piaget ould hae little to sa aout Will’s good
nature.
• As for his academic success, Piaget would explain that all children naturally want to
understand their worlds
• Will is simply unusually skilled in this regard.
• We ill further eplore Piaget’s otriutio to our uderstadig of ogitie
development, as well as more modern theories.
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