Jean Piaget: Shaping Cognitive Development Theory

Influential Theorists Cognitive theory has been largely influenced by the work of Jean Piaget. Piaget's theory of cognitive development has shaped the way people understand the behavior and learning of children. His theory produced the idea that children progress through stages of cognitive development. This idea is used to predict what a child can or cannot understand, their thought processes, as well as what behavior can be expected of them depending on their stage of development. Piaget identified four stages of cognitive development which include: the sensorimotor stage, the pre-operational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. Within these stages children gain knowledge through assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation happens when a child incorporates new information in to what they already know (schema). When the mental processes of children begin to change they form a new schema, this is called accommodation (Shepherd, 2010). Piaget’s major contribution to child psychology was the understanding that children learn through experience. Another important theorist that helped shape Cognitive theory was Alfred

This theory states that the various processes concerning behavior can be explained by first analyzing mental processes. Proponents of Cognitive theory believe that learning new behaviors is easier and new information can be stored with effective cognitive processes. On the other hand, ineffective cognitive processes results in learning and/or behavior problems. According to George Taylor (2004), Cognitive theory supports the idea that in order to shape a child's behavior, they must be taught to think before reacting and learn self-regulation skills. Taylor points out that children can overcome behavior issues by identifying and changing negative thinking and