Major Aspects Of The Cognitive Development Theory

In order to understand the theory of cognitive development by Piaget in detail, it is important to know about the major aspects of the theory. The major aspects to this theory included schemas, adaptation processes that enable the transition from one stage to another and the stages of cognitive development.

In Piaget’s view, children understand the world around them and experience the differences as a result of adaptation to the world thorough two process described as assimilation and accommodation which happens throughout the person’s life as the person adapts to the environment (Piaget, 1952; Wadsworth, 2004).

Assimilation is described as the process of using and existing schema to deal with a new object or a situation while accommodation involves changing of existing schemas with the knowledge of new information to deal with a new object or situation. Through both these adaptation process, new schemas might be developed as it happens simultaneously.

Schema is the basic constructing block of intelligent behaviour which include both the mental and physical actions involved in understanding and knowing that help us to interpret and understand the world (Piaget & Cook, 1952). When a child's existing schemas are capable of explaining what it can perceive around it, it is said to be in a state of equilibrium. Equilibration helps to explain how children are able to move from one stage of the cognitive development into the next.

Piaget studied children from infancy to adolescence about how they learnt and thought. He believed that the children from all over the world undergo the same sequence of development despite their cultural differences (Piaget & Cook, 1952). The four stages of cognitive development identified by Piaget include sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage and the formal operational stage.