Jean Piaget's Cognitive Development

Summary

This transcript explores key cognitive milestones in early childhood, focusing on object permanence, volume conservation, and cause-effect reasoning. Through simple scenarios, infants and young children demonstrate their growing understanding of how the world works, such as realizing that objects continue to exist even when out of sight, and understanding that the amount of liquid in a glass remains constant regardless of shape. The examples also show how children grasp cause-and-effect relationships, like how a hammer can break a glass while a feather cannot. These developmental stages highlight the complexity of early childhood learning.

Takeaways

• 😀 Newborn babies are initially unsure about object permanence, i.e., what happens to objects when they are out of sight.
• 😀 The game of peekaboo is fun for infants as it helps them explore the concept of object permanence.
• 😀 By the end of their first year, babies begin to understand that objects continue to exist even when out of sight.
• 😀 Infants around 10 months old may still make mistakes in understanding object location, often looking where they last saw the object rather than where it was hidden.
• 😀 A child may confuse physical properties like height with quantity, as shown in the juice and glass experiment.
• 😀 The height of a glass may lead a child to believe that a taller glass contains more juice, even when the amounts are the same.
• 😀 In an experiment with coins, children may struggle to understand that rows with equal numbers of quarters can appear unequal due to their spacing.
• 😀 Children can be taught that visual perceptions, such as size or shape, don't always reflect actual quantities or amounts.
• 😀 Cause-and-effect reasoning in children is demonstrated when they predict what will happen when a glass is hit with a hammer or feather.
• 😀 Children understand that a hammer can break a glass due to its hardness, but they realize a feather will not break the glass.

Q & A

What is object permanence, and how does it relate to babies?

Object permanence is the concept that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible. In babies, it develops during their first year. Initially, infants may not understand this concept, which is why games like peekaboo are so fun, as they learn that their caregiver can disappear and reappear.

At what age do babies start to grasp the concept of object permanence?

Babies typically start to understand object permanence around 8-12 months of age, as they begin to look for objects when they are hidden.

Why does 10-month-old Simon make a classic mistake in the script?

Simon makes a classic mistake because, although he saw the toy plane being hidden under a cloth, he searches for it where he last saw it, not where it was actually hidden, which reflects his developing understanding of object permanence.

What mistake does the child make when comparing two glasses of juice?

The child assumes that the taller glass contains more juice simply because it is taller, which reflects a misunderstanding of volume and the concept of conservation.

How does the child in the script reason when asked which row of quarters has more?

When comparing the rows of quarters, the child initially believes the spread-out row has more quarters, reasoning that it looks 'bigger' because the quarters are farther apart, which is an example of thinking based on visual appearance rather than quantity.

What concept is being tested when the child is asked to compare two cups of juice of different shapes?

The concept being tested here is conservation of volume. The child correctly understands that even though one cup is taller and narrower while the other is shorter and wider, the two cups still contain the same amount of juice.

Why does the child believe a glass will break if hit with a hammer, but not with a feather?

The child understands that a hammer is a hard object and will break the glass, while a feather is soft and not strong enough to break it, showing an intuitive understanding of materials and forces.

How does the child’s reasoning change when presented with a contradictory statement about breaking glass with a feather?

In the contradictory scenario, the child’s reasoning is influenced by the rule they were given earlier that hitting a glass with a feather would break it. Despite their prior experience, the child follows the rule and concludes that the glass broke, which shows the influence of learned rules over direct experience.

What can we learn from the child's ability to identify the same amount of juice in different-shaped glasses?

We learn that the child has begun to grasp the concept of conservation — understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance, which is an important cognitive milestone in early childhood development.

Why might the child initially think that the glass with the taller shape contains more juice, even if the amount is the same?

The child might be influenced by visual cues such as height, associating taller containers with more contents. This reflects the child's developing perception but still limited understanding of volume and conservation.