Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
The Development of Vygotsky’s Model
The relationship between learning and development is crucial for understanding the educational implications of many current theories in evolutionary psychology. Vygotsky, through his socio-cultural learning model, addressed this issue from a perspective very different from Piaget’s. He found that learning, which always occurs in specific cultural contexts, is the essential engine of development. Thus, Vygotsky conceives of humans as a social rather than biological construction, where higher functions are the result of cultural development and involve the use of mediators. Asymmetric interactions, particularly those with adults who embody culture, are paramount for child development, especially in early childhood. In these interactions, signs and different semiotic systems play a crucial role. From a genetic perspective, these systems initially serve a communicative function and later develop a symbolic function. This is precisely the key element in Vygotsky’s conception of social interaction: it acts as a trainer and builder in the developmental process. This means that certain categories of higher mental functions, such as voluntary attention, logical memory, verbal and conceptual thinking, complex emotions, and so on, could not emerge and become part of the developmental process without the contribution of social interactions. Vygotsky introduces the concept of the zone of proximal development, referring to what a child can achieve in a social context, primarily in collaboration with an adult or by interacting with more capable peers. Vygotsky defines this term as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with a more capable peer.” Vygotsky converges two processes: the interindividual, where the child learns from others and does not develop in isolation, and the intraindividual, where the child assimilates what they have learned. It is necessary to consider the cognitive mechanisms the child uses to assimilate what is transmitted, with imitation being of great interest. Vygotsky notes that children cannot imitate any behavior, but only those that fit within their zone of proximal development. This refers to functions that are not fully mature but are in the process of maturing, representing the level of competence a child can achieve with guidance and support from another person. Vygotsky integrates learning into development, considering them as two interacting processes. Moreover, there is a clear difference between what a child can achieve alone and what they can achieve in collaboration with more capable individuals. Vygotsky focuses on the child’s personal activity mediated by the context and emphasizes how the cultural line affects the natural line. He understands development as the internalization of tools provided through interaction with others, so that learning can generate evolutionary processes that are only active in such situations. Development is guided and driven by learning.
Piaget’s Clinical Method
The clinical method, rooted in the medical tradition, involves a prolonged examination of a subject in its entirety. Witmer, a disciple of Wundt, first used the term “clinical method” in psychology to refer to the individual psychological examination of a patient’s specific functions to prevent mental deficiency, especially in children. In 1926, Piaget introduced the clinical method into his research. He combined observation with flexible interrogation, asking children questions based on their previous responses and actions to uncover their reasoning process. His clinical method did not rely on a fixed questionnaire; instead, questions were asked naively based on the child’s prior responses. Examples include: which has more objects, a pile or a row; are a dog and a cat the same animal because they both have four legs, two ears, and a tail; if a pencil is inserted into a container of water, is it still straight; if a cord is cut, is it still the same length as another uncut cord; who weighs more, a tall and slender father or a short and fat mother, and so on. To discover the existence of rational logic before the appearance of language, Piaget had to modify the primarily verbal clinical method to work with babies. He verified his hypotheses through systematic variations in the manipulations of children during his observations. This method was later called the critical clinical method. Piaget’s findings based on his clinical method remain revolutionary. However, it has now been proven that his results heavily depend on observation methods. More refined techniques, less reliant on the baby’s motor skills, have lowered the age limits established by Piaget. For example, Piaget believed that deferred imitation (imitating an act observed some time ago) did not occur until 18 months, but it has now been observed in infants as young as 6 weeks old. Regarding object permanence, Piaget relied on the child’s ability to search for the object. However, it has now been verified using techniques that do not require the baby’s motor skills, such as placing objects behind a screen and examining the baby’s reaction when the screen is removed and they see that the object is missing or that there are more objects than were initially present.
Longitudinal, Cross-Sectional, and Time-Lag Methods: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Illustrative Examples
The two main strategies used to study human development are longitudinal and cross-sectional studies. Longitudinal studies investigate how people change as they age. They can study one or more developmental variables to discover relationships between them in a group of people of the same age exposed to similar cultural and historical environments, i.e., a cohort. Cross-sectional studies reveal similarities and differences between groups of different ages. People of different ages are assessed at a single point in time. Time-lag studies are based on repeated measurements of the same age cohorts, allowing for the evaluation of generational differences. Each of these designs has advantages and disadvantages. For example, longitudinal designs, while avoiding the confounding effects of cohort and showing age-related changes, have the disadvantage of being expensive and their results may not be generalizable. Cross-sectional designs, while faster, less expensive, and showing similarities and differences between different age groups without the attrition problems of longitudinal methods, have the disadvantage of not allowing for the determination of age effects, masking individual differences. Time-lag studies, while allowing for more accurate predictions, observing and studying the effects of generational and cultural change, have the disadvantage of not being able to observe evolutionary change, confounding the measurement time with the cohort, i.e., the effects of belonging to a certain generation with those of chronological age.
Purpose of Sequential Methods
Both longitudinal and cross-sectional designs have drawbacks that sequential studies attempt to address. Longitudinal designs, while avoiding the confounding effects of cohort and showing age-related changes, have the disadvantage of being expensive and their results may not be generalizable. Cross-sectional designs, while faster and less expensive, and showing similarities and differences between different age groups without the attrition problems of longitudinal methods, have the disadvantage of not allowing for the determination of age effects, masking individual differences. The sequential study is a combination of the two. It involves observing the cross-section on more than one occasion to see how the subjects in each cohort have changed. This method allows for the separation of changes related to age from cohort effects. A disadvantage is its duration, effort, and complexity in data interpretation.
The Concept of the Epistemic Subject as a Basic Study in Piaget’s Work
Jean Piaget’s theory, generally known as Genetic Epistemology, attempts to explain the course of human intellectual development from birth to adulthood. From the outset, Piaget focuses on the human brain and how the subject becomes capable of explanatory and deductive thinking (scientific). He sets out to discover and explain the most basic forms of thought and follow their ontogenetic development to the highest levels of fullness and intelligence, which for him is scientific thought. The Piagetian system defends universalism and thus the epistemic subject. The epistemic subject is the universal subject, referring to the intellectual structures that all subjects at the same developmental level have in common. The opposite of this term is the concept of the psychological subject, which is based on individual traits and cultural variations, and which Piaget does not focus on.
From Action to Operation in Piaget
For Piaget, there is a real intelligence prior to language, so language cannot be attributed as the source of logic (the core of rational thought). He attributes the origin of logic to action, which is found in both sensorimotor intelligence and conceptual intelligence. Schemes, defined as actions that can be performed on objects, can be physical (action schemes) or internalized (operation schemes). Action schemes, typical of the sensorimotor stage, arise from the child’s innate reflex patterns through the processes of assimilation and accommodation. Operative schemes arise from action schemes through internalization. The subject matter of Piaget is the epistemic subject, understood as a universal subject (not individual or psychological) that accesses knowledge. The epistemic subject is endowed with a genetic inheritance attributable to the species and a specific heritage attributable to the individual. Within the general heritage, there are two aspects: Invariant functional or invariant features are characteristic of all biological systems, regardless of the contents and levels of such systems. These functions remain throughout life, becoming more complex as the demands of the environment and the adaptations of the individual increase. At the human cognitive level, these invariants are organization and functional adaptation: Organization: Integrating objects of knowledge requires structure and organization of intellectual activity, just as digestion requires organization to process food. Adaptation: The factor that regulates exchanges between the organism and the environment, or between the epistemic subject and the objects of knowledge. Adaptation involves changes in the organization of cognitive structures throughout development when environmental requirements demand or necessitate it. Adaptation occurs through two processes: Assimilation: A concept that refers to both the biological (incorporating foreign substances into the body to ensure its survival) and the psychological (incorporating the object of knowledge into pre-existing mental models). This process allows us to recognize new objects/events in relation to existing schemes. Deforming assimilation: When the assimilation of a new object does not fit into existing schemes, there is a deformation of the new object to assimilate it into the scheme. For example, a child who has never seen a horse but has seen a dog might call a horse a dog the first time they see it due to deforming assimilation. Accommodation: When objects treated as new through deforming processes are encountered, schemes are initiated aimed at modifying or creating new schemes that allow for accurate evaluation (for example, creating a new scheme for horse or modifying the existing scheme for dog). Adequate adaptation involves a balance between accommodation and assimilation. Neither of these processes occurs in isolation, and they are inseparable from each other. Balance refers to the stability of cognitive structures reached at certain points in development. A structure is in equilibrium when it can properly assimilate objects in the environment after accommodating its features. This situation is analogous to biological homeostasis. It is not a static but a dynamic, continuous adjustment. Variable structures: These are the elements present in the mental organization at a given time. A structure is a set of actions, operations, and schemes that obey certain rules and laws. Existing structures allow for the assimilation of knowledge objects, and through accommodation, structures can be adjusted. These structural changes produced by assimilation and accommodation are achieved through action on the object of knowledge. When these actions have a precise internal organization, they are called schemes. A scheme can be physical (action scheme) or internalized (representation scheme). Action scheme: A physical act performed on different objects that share the same property (e.g., throwing objects that can be held). Objects that can be propelled with a kick: a ball of paper, a can, a small stone. Representation schemes: An internalized act of manipulating objects characterized by the same property. They do not operate in isolation. Representation schemes assume the existence of symbols that represent physical reality. The symbol must be understood as a meaning-significant pair (opening and closing the mouth / opening and closing a box). The further away from the meaning of the significant, the higher the level of symbolism. The culmination of this may be the acquisition of language. Primitive symbols are of a single character, while more elaborate ones, like language, have a social and communicative function. Example: Using a sheet of paper as a blanket.