The next step was to add a third glass, which was shorter and wider than A and B, and he labeled this C. Piaget then poured the contents of glass A into glass C, and asked the child which glass then held the most liquid. The Child replied by saying there is less liquid in glass C because the level is lower. The child was impressed by the visible changes in liquid level to realize there is an underlying consistency in quantity.
According to Piaget, a child is unable to conserve because of their inability to interrelate the different dimensions of the situation. To conserve liquid quantity the child must comprehend that there are two relevant factors; the height of the liquid column and the width of the glass. They must then appreciate that an increase in the columns height is accomplished by a decrease in its width. So, the child must be able to understand both dimensions concurrently and relate the dimensions to each other. Children lack this capacity because it requires a higher order schemata that recognises initially discrete perceptual experiences into one conceptual unit.
Piaget’s conclusions show that children only gain this capacity when they start to focus on the transformations from one experience to the other, rather than an individual experiences them selves. The child will see that these transformations are effected by actions that are reversible, such as pouring the contents of one glass into another and then back again. This reversible action eventually becomes internalized, so that the child can then think about the liquid being poured back with no overt action. The result of this reversible mental operation is conservation of quantity.
Piaget’s idea of Egocentrism believes that the child identifies with the world from only the child’s own perspective. The child is unable to differentiate its own perspective with the perspective of others, and cannot differentiate subjective, or personal experiences from objective or public experiences.
Piaget believed that at about age seven, children begin to acquire a system of mental operations that allows them to manipulate mental representations with consequent success in conservation tasks and similar. But in Piaget’s view they remain in the period of concrete operations, which lacks an element of abstinence, until they are about eleven.
Piaget concluded that in the Period of Concrete Operations that the child would be able to solve conservation tasks effectively, and were logical and based on reason and logic (not perception as in pre-operational stages), that they were able to reverse simple mental operations and able to group objects into hierarchical sets or subjects. They are able to transform their own mental representations in a variety of ways. According to Piaget, a child’s intellectual abilities are still limited. They have gained skills in a variety of mental operations, but they apply these operations only to relations between concrete events. Piaget therefore concluded that children were able to think about a wide range of concrete cases, but lack skill of thinking abstractly. According to Piaget, the comprehension of these abstract ideas and skills and formal relations, require formal operations, which emerge at an age of eleven years. Once children enter the period of formal operations, their ability to reason and problem solve increases rapidly. They develop hypothetical reasoning; problem solving that transcends perception or memory to include things not known directly.
Piaget's theories have had an enormous effect on developmental psychology. But not all of his conclusions are without fault. Piaget did not always define his terms operationally. This has made it difficult for others to interpret the significance of his generalizations. A lot of his work is considered to be non-experimental as the cause-and-effect relations amongst variables are unidentifiable as his studies lack proper controls.
A lot of criticisms have been directed at his periods of cognitive development. Many attempts to verify his timetable of periods of cognitive development have failed. Children can be trained to perform Piaget's tasks without error so that a child who should be operating at a level occurring in an early period of development might correctly attempt cognitive tasks relevant to a later developmental stage. Therefore, there are not many abilities that are completely absent in one specific period and present in others. Piaget also underestimated the ability of children.
Piaget has influenced education in many ways. His theories and studies show that knowledge is acquired by active exploration. Learning is constrained by the development of biological structures. Learning is motivated by equilibrium, and that learning is constrained by individual differences in intellectual functioning. He also proved that learning is facilitated by peer collaboration. Piaget did not specifically discuss educational practice in his theories, but his theories suggest that educators should emphasise learning that is cognitively appropriate and that educators should provide opportunities of disequilibruim. He also implied that educators should encourage children to learn via self-discovery.
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development focuses on a child’s interactions with the physical world. Lev Vygotsky agreed that experience with physical objects is an important factor in cognitive development, but he disagreed that this was the whole story. He argues that the culture in which the child grows up in also plays a significant role in the development. Vygotsky stated, “ development was promoted by the interaction between the child and its social environment.”
Vygotsky argued that the child does not just learn to think about the physical world in a vacuum. He believed that what the child hears other say about the world and how they see others interact with physical aspects of the world is an important factor. He believed that cognitive development is a result of others transmitting cultural rules and norms to children. The main basis of his theory was that he viewed children as apprentices, with peers, caregivers and parents as mentors. He believed that developments is not dependent on stages, but that certain behaviors are typical of certain ages only because of the society’s social structures. He also believed that a child’s intelligence is a direct reflection on the abilities of others in their environment.
Vygotsky theory states that a child’s cognitive development in dependent on Concept Formation. He believed that for a child to develop ‘concept formations’ they must pass through four stages. The first of the four stages he called the ‘Vague Syncretic Stage.’ Characteristics of this stage stated that the child is unable to use systematic strategies, and that they have little understanding of any concepts. The child is completely dependent on its peers and the environment.
The child will then proceed to the ‘complex stage’ when they begin to use non-random strategies. These strategies are unsuccessful for finding salient features of concepts. Progression from this stage leads to stage three, ‘potential concept stage.’ Vygotsky theorized that during this stage the child would begin to use systematic strategies. However, these strategies are limited to one feature at any time.
The final stage is Vygotsky’s theory is the ‘mature concept stage.’ Once a child’s cognitive development has reached this stage the child would be using systematic strategies, simultaneously incorporating more than one feature at a time. This child is also able to successfully form concepts.
Vygotsky also believed that the child’s use of speech also influenced their cognitive development. Piaget had argues that the private speech that a child engages in is egocentric, and that children were unable to imagine the point of view of others, and that this conversation would be rattled off as if in a stream of consciousness. As the child interacts with its peers and as the child grows older and interacts with adults, this private speech is eliminated and the child then begins to engage in social speech. This is when they being to listen to others and respond accordingly. Children up to the age of seven years can often be observed talking to themselves. Piaget would interpret this as being egocentric and non-social because it is directed at the self.
Vygotsky disagreed. He argues that the child’s talk reflected the formulation of a plan that would serve as a guide to subsequent behavior. According to Vygotsky, language is the basis for cognitive development including the ability to remember and problem solve. As children become better at tasks that involve attention, memorization or planning, their private speech would then disappear and would become internalized instead. Studies have shown that children engage in more private speech if the tasks are more challenging. The children who use this speech when faced with challenging tasks are more attentive and show better improvement in cognitive performance, compared to those who are less talkative.
After about the age of seven, children stop vocalizing their thoughts and instead carry on what Vygotsky labels ‘inner speech’. Inner speech represents the internalization of the words and the mental manipulation of them as symbols for objects in the environment. As children’s socially interact with their peers, they learn new words to represent new objects. As the ‘expertise’ of the people they interact with develop, so does the child’s cognitive skills. It has been found that children become better problem solvers if they practice solving problems with their parents than if they practice problems alone. Vygotsky explained this process by referring to the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). This describes a range of skills that a child is unable to master alone but can with the assistance of adults or their peers. The greater the interaction with adults, then the more adult the child’s language becomes. The Zone of Proximal Development is the distance between a child’s current knowledge and the amount of knowledge that can be transmitted by parents or peers. Important features to Vygotsky's ZPD are that independent performance may be less than when the child is given appropriate social contact by another. Vygotsky stated that new knowledge is more effectively acquired when the child faces tasks that are moderately cognitively challenging, and that all children have different sized ZPDs. In instruction, children with greater ZPDs tend to receive more cognitive benefits.
One of the important aspects of the interaction for the child’s development is the process is when two people begin with a different understanding and by mutual discussion reach a common understanding. This has been called intersubjectivity because one member of the pair adjusts their point of view according to the behavior of the other. The other possibility is that the interaction acts as a form of “scaffolding,” where peers and adults provide good social support in the learning environment but this support can be adjusted. Mothers who provide good social support while their child learns (i.e. being a good scaffolder) produce children that generate more private speech and who are more successful than children with less social support when completing puzzles alone. Important features of scaffolding are that knowledgeable people provide appropriate context that facilitate moderate challenges. Gradually this context support declines as the child’s abilities increase.
Wood et al (1976) believed that scaffolding comprised of the many components. The first component being Recruitment. This basically involves interesting the child in the task. The next component involves reducing degrees of freedom. Wood et al stated that simplification of the task was required for the child’s benefit. Direct management was then required. This is to provide encouragement for the child, in order for them to complete the task. Marking critical feature was also a component devised by Wood et al. This was focusing the child onto the salient features of the task in order for the child to succeed. The final component is demonstration. This is to turn the child’s partial solution into a complete solution, so that the child may be able to copy.
There were many educational implications of Vygotsky’s work. From Vygotsky’s theories and studies it is possible to conclude that children learn best within appropriate social contexts with more knowledgeable mentors. Children should also be taught via scaffolding and ZPD. Teachers increase control over social context when children have less understanding and decrease control as understanding increases. Another implication of Vygotsky’s work is that effective methods include demonstration, leading questions, introduction of initial steps towards solving a task. He also proved that cooperative peer learning can be effective if the ZPD is appropriate.
Piaget argued for a purely maturational view of children’s cognitive development, that skills are developed within periods defined by cognitive characteristics as well as age. Vygotsky placed greater importance on sociocultural influences such as language and interactions with other people. Vygotsky’s work has gone beyond Piaget’s theory in explaining how cultural variables, especially language, influence cognitive development.
Both Piaget and Vygotsky saw cognitive development as a process of forming internal representations of the external world. Piaget focuses on the development of schemata, the processes of assimilation and accommodation, and abstract reasoning. Vygotsky focuses on the role of language in the development of problem solving skills, decision making and formulation plans.
Although Piaget and Vygotsky have many contrasting ideas, there are some similarities in their work. They both agreed that learning should be activity based and include appropriate materials. They also agreed that the ability to attend to appropriate perceptual features increases with development. Finally, both theories show and agreement that both external and internal mechanisms are responsible for development.
Both Piaget and Vygotsky theories and contributions have shaped the way in which the many other psychologists carry out research into child cognitive development. They have both produced research, which still influences the way children are raised in society today.
References
Fuller, R. (1995) Seven Pioneers of Psychology. London, Routledge.
Sutherland, P. (1992) Cognitive Development Today: Piaget and His Critics. London, Paul Chapman Publishing.
Smith, E. S., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Fredrickson, B. L., & Loftus, G. R. (2003). London, Thomson Wadsworth.