Cognitive Development Theory

Cognitive theorists focus on people's mental processes as they investigate the ways in which children perceive and mentally represent the world, how they develop thinking, logic, and problem- solving ability (Rathus & Longmuir, 2015, p. 10). One cognitive perspective is cognitive- development theory advanced by Swiss biologist Jean Piaget (Rathus & Longmuir, 2015, p. 10). Jean Piaget obtained a job at the Binet Institute in Paris, where research on intelligence tests was being conducted (Rathus & Longmuir, 2015, p. 10). Through his studies, Piaget realized that when children answered questions incorrectly, their wrong answers still often reflected consistent- although illogical- mental processes (Rathus & Longmuir, 2015, p. 10). He regarded

11). Piaget defines scheme as a pattern of action or mental structure that is involved in acquiring or organizing knowledge (Rathus & Longmuir, 2015, p. 11). For instance, newborn babies might be said to have a sucking scheme responding to things put in their mouths as "things I can suck" vs "Things I can't suck" (Rathus & Longmuir, 2015, p. 11). Adaptation refers to the interaction between the organism and the environment. It consists of assimilation and accommodation which occur throughout life (Rathus & Longmuir, 2015, p. 11). Cognitive assimilation is the process by which someone responds to new objects or events according to the existing schemes or ways of organizing knowledge (Rathus & Longmuir, 2015, p. 11). For example, two year olds refer to horses as "doggies" as they are assimilating horses into the dog scheme (Rathus & Longmuir, 2015, p. 11). Accommodation is the process of altering the existing scheme or creating a new scheme to incorporate a new event (Rathus & Longmuir, 2015, p. 11). Equilibration is the process of restoring equilibrium between assimilation and accommodation (Rathus & Longmuir, 2015, p.