COGNITIVE

DEVELOPMENT THEORY
AND SOCIAL LEARNING
THEORY
Prepared by:
Jacobe Arw Edniyl Garcia
Princes Roselle Morales
Krish Ann Villoria
Cognitive Development
Theory by Jean Piaget
 Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
• Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was one of the 20th century’s most influential researchers in
the area of developmental psychology.
• He was originally trained in the areas of biology and philosophy and considered
himself a “Genetic Epistemologist”.
• Piaget wanted to know how children learned through their development in the
study of knowledge.
• He administered Binet’s IQ test in Paris and observed that children’s answers were
qualitatively different.
• Piaget’s theory is based on the idea that the developing child builds cognitive
structures.
• He believes that the child’s cognitive structure increases with the development.
• Piaget’s Theory of infant development were based on his observations of his own
three children.
 What is Cognition?
• The term cognition is derived from the latin
word “cognoscere” which means “to know”
or “to recognise” or “to conceptualise”.
• Cognition is “the mental action or process of
acquiring knowledge and understanding
through thought, experience, and the
senses.”
What is Cognitive
Development?
• Cognitive Development is the emergence of the
ability to think and understand. The acquisition of
the ability to think, reason and problem solve. It is
the process by which people’s thinking changes
across the life span.
• Piaget studied Cognitive Development by observing
children in particular, to examine how their thought
processes changed with age. It is the growing
apprehension and adaptation to the physical and
social environment.
KEY CONCEPTS OF
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
SCHEMA
Schema is an internal representation of the world. It helps an
individual understand the world they inhabit. They are
cognitive structures that represent a certain aspect of the
world, and can be seen as categories which have certain pre-
conceived ideas in them.
For example, my schema for Christmas includes: Christmas
trees, presents, giving, money, green, red, gold, winter,
Santa Claus etc. Someone else may have an entirely different
schema, such as Jesus, birth, Church, holiday, Christianity
etc.
ASSIMILATION
It is using an existing schema to deal with a new
object or situation. Here, the learner fits the new
idea into what he already knows. In Assimilation,
the schema is not changed, it is only modified.
Example: A 2 year old child sees a man who is bald
on top of his head and has long frizzy hair on the
sides. To his father’s horror, the toddler shouts
“Clown, clown”.
ACCOMODATION
This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does
not work and needs to be changed to deal with a new object
or situation. In Accommodation, the schema is altered; a
new schema may be developed. Example: In the “clown”
incident, the boy’s father explained to his son that the man
was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a
clown’s, he wasn’t wearing a funny costume and wasn’t
doing silly things to make people laugh.
With this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his
schema of “clown” and make this idea fit better to a
standard concept of “clown”.
EQUILIBRATION
Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress
at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds. Equilibrium
occurs when a child’s schemas can deal with most new
information through assimilation. As a child progresses
through the stages of cognitive development, it is important
to maintain a balance between applying previous knowledge
( assimilation) and changing behavior to account for new
knowledge (accommodation). Equilibrium helps explain how
children are able to move from one stage of thought to the
next.
FOUR STAGES OF
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE
0-2yrs old. INFANCY

Infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating

sensory experiences (seeing, hearing) with motor actions
(reaching, touching).
Develop Object Permanence (memory) – Realize that objects
exist even if they are out of sight.
Infants progress from reflexive, instinctual actions at birth to the
beginning of problem solving (intellectual) and symbolic abilities
(language) toward the end of this stage.
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE
0-2yrs old. INFANCY

Infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating

sensory experiences (seeing, hearing) with motor actions
(reaching, touching).
Develop Object Permanence (memory) – Realize that objects
exist even if they are out of sight.
Infants progress from reflexive, instinctual actions at birth to the
beginning of problem solving (intellectual) and symbolic abilities
(language) toward the end of this stage.
PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE
2yrs-7yrs old Toddler and Early Childhood

This stage begins when the child starts to use symbols and
language. This is a period of developing language and concepts.
So, the child is capable of more complex mental representations
(i.e, words and images) He is still unable to use ‘operations’, i.e,
logical mental rules, such as rules of arithmetic.

This stage is further divided into 2 sub-stages:

 PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE
2yrs-7yrs old Toddler and Early Childhood

• Preconceptual stage (2-4 yrs): Increased use of verbal

representation but speech is egocentric. The child uses
symbols to stand for actions; a toy doll stands for a real baby
or the child role plays mummy or daddy.
• Intuitive stage (4-7 yrs): Speech becomes more social, less
egocentric. Here the child base their knowledge on what they
feel or sense to be true, yet they cannot explain the
underlying principles behind what they feel or sense..
 PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE
2yrs-7yrs old Toddler and Early Childhood

The following are the key features of this stage:

Egocentrism: The child’s thoughts and communications are
typically egocentric (i.e, about themselves or their own point of
view). Eg.: “if I can’t see you, you also can’t see me”. It is the
inability to see the world from anyone else’s eyes. It is well
explained by Piaget as Three Mountain Task.

Animism: Treating inanimate objects as living ones. Eg.: children

dressing and feeding their dolls as if they are alive.
 PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE
2yrs-7yrs old Toddler and Early Childhood

Concentration: The process of concentrating on one limited

aspect of a stimulus and ignoring other aspects. It is noticed in
Conservation. Conservation on the other hand is the knowledge
that quantity is unrelated to the arrangement and physical
appearance of objects. Children at this stage are unaware of
conseravtion.
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
7-12 yrs old –Childhood and Early Adolescence

The concrete operational stage is characterized by the

appropriate use of logic. Important processes during this stage
are:
Seriation: The ability to sort objects in an order according to size,
shape or any other characteristic. Eg.: if given different-sized
objects, they may place them accordingly.
Transitivity: The ability to recognize logical relationships among
elements in a serial order. Eg.: if A is taller than B and B is taller
than C, then A must be taller than C..
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
7-12 yrs old –Childhood and Early Adolescence

Classification: The ability to group objects together on the basis

of common features. The child also begins to get the idea that
one set can include another. Eg.: there is a class of objects called
dogs. There is also a class called animals. But all dogs are also
animals, so the class of animals includes that of dogs.
Decentring: The ability to take multiple adpects of a situation into
account. Eg.: the child will no longer perceive an exceptionally-
wide but short cup to contain less than a normally-wide, taller
cup.
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
7-12 yrs old –Childhood and Early Adolescence

Reversibility: The child understands that numbers or objects can

be changed, then returned to their original state. Eg.: the child
will rapidly determine that if 4+4-8 then 8-4-4, the original
quantity.

Conservation: Understanding that the quantity, length or number

of items is unrelated to the arrangement or appearance of the
object or item.
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
7-12 yrs old –Childhood and Early Adolescence

Elimination of Egocentrism: The ability to view things from

another’s perspective.

The child performs operations: combining, separating,

multiplying, repeating, dividing etc
FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE
12yrs above Adolscence and Adulthood

• The thought becomes increasingly flexible and abstract, i.e,

can carry out systematic experiments.
• The ability to systematically solve a problem in a logical and
methodological way.
•
• Understands that nothing is absolute; everything is relative.
FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE
12yrs above Adolscence and Adulthood

• Develops skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning as

well as inductive reasoning and systematic planning etc.
• Understands that the rules of any game or social system are
developed by a man by mutual agreement and hence could be
changed or modified.
• The child’s way of thinking is at its most advanced, although
the knowledge it has to work with, will change.
EDUCATION IMPLICATIONS
Emphasis on discovery approach in learning. Curriculum should
provide specific educational experience based on children’s
developmental level. Arrange classroom activities so that they
assist and encourage self learning. Social interactions have a great
educational value for Piaget. Positive social actions, therefore
should be encouraged.

Instruction should be geared to the level of the child. As the level

of the child changes at each stage, the level of instruction or
exploratory activities should also change.
Simple to Complex and Project method of teaching.
Co-curricular activities have equal importance as that
of curricular experiences in the cognitive development
of children. Major Goals of education according to
Piaget are critical and creative thinking.
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

ALBERT BANDURA
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
• Also called observational learning.
• Theory that emphasizes learning through
observation of others
• We learn not only how to perform a behavior but
also what will happen to us in a specific situation if
we do perform it
Types of Observational
Learning Effects
INHIBITION – to learn not to do something that we already know
how to do because a model being observed refrains from
behaving in that way or does something different from what is
intended to be done.

DISINHIBITION – to learn to exhibit a behavior that is usually

disapproved of by most people because a model does the same
without being punished
FACILITATION – to be prompted to do something that is not
ordinarily done because of insufficient motivation

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING – to learn a new behavior pattern

by watching and imitating the performance of someone else
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
1. People can learn by observing the behavior of the
others and the outcomes of those behaviors.
2. Learning can occur without a change in behavior.
3. Cognition plays a role in learning.
4. Social learning theory can be considered a bridge
or a transition between behaviorist learning theories
and cognitive learning theories
HOW ENVIRONMENT AND
PUNISHES MODELING
People are often to reinforced for modeling the
behavior of others. Bandura suggested that the
environment also reinforces modeling.

This is in several possible ways:

1. The observer is reinforced by the model.
2. The observer reinforce by a third person.
3. The imitated behavior itself leads to reinforcing
consequences.
4. Consequences of the model’s behavior affect the
observer’s behavior vicariously.
CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL
LEARNING PERSPECTIVE OF
REINFORCEMENT AND
PUNISHMENT
1. Contemporary theory proposes that both
reinforcement and punishment have indirect effects
on learning.
2. Reinforcement and punishment influence the
extent to which an individual exhibits a behavior that
has been learned.
3. The expectation of reinforcement influences
cognitive process that promote learning.
CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL
LEARNING PERSPECTIVE OF
REINFORCEMENT AND
PUNISHMENT
1. Learning without performance
(through observation and actual imitation)
2. Cognitive processing during learning (attention)
3. Expectations (consequences)
4. Reciprocal causation (person, behavior and
environment)
5. Modeling (live models and symbolic models)
BEHAVIOR THAT CAN BE
LEARNED THROUGH
MODELING
• Many behaviors can be learned at least party,
through modeling.
• Aggression can be learned through models.
• Moral thinking and moral behavior are influence
by observation and modeling.
• Moral judgment regarding right and wrong which
can, in part, develop through modeling.
The Bobo Doll Study
“Bobo doll” studies showed observational learning
and the impact it can have on violent behavior in
children. Albert Bandura’s Bobo doll study in 1961
was a classic study that demonstrates the social
learning theory. The study showed that after viewing
adults strike and kick a Bobo doll, children would
imitate the behavior in another environment. This
was important, as it suggests that the violence could
be imitated by viewers..
Results showed 88% of the children imitated
aggressive behavior following the viewing of the tape
of adults acting aggressively toward the doll. 8
months later 40% of the same children reproduced
the violent behavior observed in the Bobo doll
experiment
The children were shown three different endings to
the video. The video first showed that the adults
were praised for their aggressive behavior. The
second group the adult was told to sit in a corner. The
third group showed the adult walk out of the room.
While controversial, Bandura maintained experiment
that his demonstrated that children are influenced by
witnessing or modeling of aggression in others.
THANK YOU!