Term Papers: Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Develop… Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Term Papers: Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Develop… Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

· believed something as a child, only to change your belief as you grew older?

· decided not to do something because others were not doing it either?

· changed your behavior to match those around you?

· changed your belief system (what you knew to be true) to match those held by your family and friends?

· avoided something, such as a new food or carnival ride, because of the facial expressions you saw on others’ faces after they tried the same thing?

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A teenager smoking because others in his or her social circle are doing so is an example of a social interaction.

In Chapter 3, you learned that cognition includes perception, attention, and memory development. This chapter introduces the complexities associated with social phenomena that affect cognition, often referred to as social cognition. Social cognition was initially introduced as a subset of social psychology that endeavored “to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others” (Allport, 1985, p. 3). Social cognition considers how individuals perceive and store information and form memories about other people and social events. It also focuses on how environmental interactions can affect behaviors, including learning. To be clear, despite its focus on the individual’s surroundings, social cognition is still the study of cognition; it is concerned with the role mental processes play in social interactions and vice versa.

As noted in the text’s Introduction, researchers are not always clearly aligned to a single psychological theory or perspective during their careers. In fact, some researchers are aligned to more than one theory or perspective. For example, Albert Bandura (1965b) and Jerome Bruner (1957) started their careers studying learning from behavioral and purely cognitive perspectives, respectively, and then in later years moved toward social cognition. Several other researchers highlighted in this chapter are considered cognitivists, but their theories align with social cognition in that they rely on the environment and other external variables.

This chapter will explore the theory of cognitive development (Jean Piaget), schema theory, social learning theory (Albert Bandura), and attribution theory. Your knowledge gained in the previous chapters will help you to evaluate and understand the new material included in this chapter. Every theory you encounter in this text is a building block, the raw materials that will help you construct a deeper understanding about learning. As you review the different aspects of the social and environmental effects on cognition, consider if and how these elements overlap with elements of other theories and frameworks you have learned about.

Elaborate and discuss these statements in a detailed form.

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4.1 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Develop…

4.1 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development