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Jean Piaget 's Theory Of Cognitive Development

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Jean Piaget is considered to be very influential in the field of developmental psychology. Piaget had many influences in his life which ultimately led him to create the Theory of Cognitive Development. His theory has multiple stages and components. The research done in the early 1900’s is still used today in many schools and homes. People from various cultures use his theory when it comes to child development. Although there are criticisms and alternatives to his theory, it is still largely used today around the world. Jean Piaget was born in Switzerland on August 1896. Some of Piaget’s influences that contribute to his later works includes his father. “His father, a medieval literature professor named Arthur, modeled a …show more content…

It measures, “Fluid Reasoning, Knowledge, Quantitative Reasoning, Visual-Spatial Processing, and Working Memory. Each of these factors is tested in two separate domains, verbal and nonverbal” (Stanford Binet, 2012). While Piaget was working in the test lab on cognitive intelligence he became interested in cognitive intelligence with children. As he was studying the children, he noticed differences between the way each child thought. Specifically, he noticed these changes with different age groups. “He noticed that young children 's answers were qualitatively different than older children” (Huitt & Hummel, 2003). With this observation, he came out with a conclusion that would ultimately lead him to create the Theory of Cognitive Development. Piaget concluded, “that the younger ones were not dumber (a quantitative position since as they got older and had more experiences they would get smarter) but, instead, answered the questions differently than their older peers because they thought differently” (Huitt & Hummel, 2003). Piaget noticed that children from different age groups thought differently. It did not mean that younger kids were not as smart, but that they learned in different ways.
Piaget also studied children in his own family, these studies would eventually contribute to his theory. For example, he noticed something interesting when he was watching

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