Study GuideSociology–Socialization1. Piaget’s Model of Cognitive DevelopmentMuch of what we know today about how children think and learn comes from the work ofJeanPiaget, a Swiss psychologist. In the 1920s, Piaget carefully watched children and noticed somethingimportant:children of different ages think and understand the world in different ways.From these observations, Piaget developed a model ofcognitive development, which explains howthinking skills grow over time. He believed that children move througha series of mentaldevelopment stages, just as they move through physical growth stages. Whilechildren may movethrough these stages at different speeds, Piaget argued thateveryone goes through the samestages in the same order.1.1 How Cognitive Development HappensAccording to Piaget, cognitive development happens through two key processes:adaptationandequilibrium. These processes help children adjust to and understand their world.1.2 Adaptation: Adjusting to the WorldAdaptationrefers to how children change their thinking to deal with new experiences or situations.Piaget explained that adaptation happens throughtwo smaller processes:1. AssimilationAssimilationhappens when a child uses what they already know to understand something new.•For example, a child who has learned about fish might see a whale and call it a “fish.”•The child is using an existing idea (fish live in the ocean) to make sense of somethingunfamiliar.Preview Mode
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