The document discusses Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development. It outlines the 4 stages of cognitive development according to Piaget: sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage. It provides details about Piaget's concepts of assimilation, accommodation, schemas, disequilibrium and equilibration. The document also discusses Piaget's views on cognitive development and intellectual development and lists several references related to Piaget's work.

1. Bikash Chaurasia
Junior Resident
Div. Of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry
29/01/2020

2.  BIOGRAPHY
 INTRODUCTION
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
 INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
 STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
 SUMMARY
 CONCLUSION

3. “The goal of education is not to increase the
amount of knowledge but to create the
possibilities for a child to invent and discover,
to create men who are capable of doing new
things.”
Jean Piaget

4. NAME
Jean Piaget
OCCUPATION
Psychologist, Biologist
BIRTH DATE
August 9, 1896
DEATH DATE
September 16, 1980
EDUCATION
University of Zurich, Neuchatel Latin High School, Sorbonne, University of
Neuchatel
PLACE OF BIRTH
Neuchâtel, Switzerland
PLACE OF DEATH
Geneva, Switzerland
Piaget, J. (1976). Autobiographie. Revuee Européenne des Sciences Sociales, 14 (38-39), 1-43

6. Cognitive Development
The process of coming to know.
The acquisition of the ability to think, reason and problem solve.
According to Piaget, Observing children how their thought processes changed with age.
It is the growing apprehension and adaptation to the physical and social environment.
Inhelder, B. & Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence: New York:
Basic Books

7. Intellectual Development
Result of the interaction of hereditary and environmental factors.
As the child develops and constantly interacts with the world around him, knowledge is
invented and reinvented.
He argued that intellectual development controlled every other aspect of development -
emotional, social, and moral.
Inhelder, B. & Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence: New York: Basic
Books

8. Assimilation involves the incorporation of new events into preexisting cognitive structures.
Accommodation means existing structures change to accommodate to the new
information.
Equilibration involves the person striking a balance between himself and the
environment, between assimilation and accommodation.
This dual process, assimilation-accommodation, enables the child to form schema.
When a child experiences a new event, disequilibrium sets in until he is able to assimilate
and accommodate the new information and thus attain equilibrium.
Piaget, J. and Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York: Basic Books.

9. 1.Sensorimotor Stage(Infancy):
Intelligence is demonstrated through motor activities without the use of symbols.
Knowledge of the world is limited (but developing) because its based on physical
interactions/experiences.
Children acquire object permanence/constancy at about 7months of age(memory).
Some symbolic (language) abilities are developed at the end of this stage.
This stage is further divided to 6 substages:
Piaget, J. (1971). Science of education and the psychology of the child. New York: Viking Press

10.  The First Substage: The use of Reflexes.
 The Second Substage: The First Acquired Adaptations and the Primary
Circular Reactions.
 The Third Substage: The Secondary Circular Reactions and the Procedures
Destined to Make Interesting Sights Last.
 The Fourth Substage: The Coordination of the Secondary Schemas and
Their Application to New Situations.
 The Fifth Substage: The Tertiary Circular Reaction and the Discovery of New
Means through Active Experiments.
 The Sixth Substage: The Inventions of New Means through Mental
Combinations.
Piaget, J. (1972). The Origins of Intelligence in Children. New York: International University Press.

11. 2.Pre-operational Stage(Toddler and Early childhood):
 In this period Intelligence is demonstrated through the use of symbols, language use matures,
memory and imagination are developed.
 But thinking is done in non-logical and non-reversible manner.
 Egocentric thing predominates.
This stage is further divided in 2 substages:
1. Preconceptual stage
During this stage a stimulus begins to take on
meaning and the child can use a stimulus to
represent other objects.
2. Intuitive stage
Prelogical reasoning appears based on preconceptual appearances.
Piaget, J. (1971). Science of education and the psychology of the child. New York: Viking Press

12. 3.Concrete Operational Stage(Elementary and Early Adolescence):
In this stage(characterized by 7 types of conservation)
Number
Length
Liquid
Mass
Weight
Area
Volume
Intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of
symbols related to concrete objects.
Operational thinking develops(mental actions that are reversible).
Egocentric thought diminishes.
Piaget, J. (1971). Science of education and the psychology of the child. New York: Viking Press

13. Important processes during this stage are:
Seriation
Transitivity
Classification
Decentering
Reversibility
Elimination of Egocentrism

14. 4.Formal Operational Stage(Adolescence and Adulthood):
In this stage, Intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols
related to abstract concepts.
The ability to fully engage in multiple forms of logical thinking.
They can generate and test hypotheses, and explore concrete and abstract
ideas.
This level of thinking, however, is not achieved by all children (or adults) .
Piaget, J. (1971). Science of education and the psychology of the child. New York: Viking Press

15. Title Relevance of Piaget's cognitive principles among 4-7 years old children: A
descriptive cross-sectional study.
Aim The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of Piaget's cognitive principles among
pre-operational children.
Authors Asokan S, Surendran S, Asokan S, Nuvvula S.
Journal/Year J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent;2014.
Material and
Method
This cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 children, aged 4-7 years. Various
characteristics, specific for this age group, such as egocentrism, concept of cardinal
numbers based on centration, lack of conservation, and reversibility were assessed,
using three tangible experiments and two interview questions. A comparison of the
prevalence of each character was carried out among the children based on their age.
Result The prevalence of egocentrism based on the three mountain experiment was 65% and
the personal interview showed a prevalence of 58%. Centration was appreciated in 83%
of the study sample. The beaker experiment and the interview question revealed a lack
of conservation in 89% and 59% of the children, respectively. There was a gradual and
uniform reduction in the prevalence of the characters with an increase in age.
Conclusion All the three features assessed were observed in most of the children between 4 and 7
years of age as described by Piaget and most of his principles still appear valid today.

16. Title Prevalence of Principles of Piaget’s Theory Among 4-7-year-old Children and
their Correlation with IQ.
Aim To assess Piaget’s principles of the intuitive stage of preoperational period among 4-
7-year-old children relative to their Intelligence quotient (IQ).
Authors Marwaha S, Goswami M, Vashist B.
Journal/Year Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research; 2017 Aug.
Material and Method Various characteristics as described by Jean Piaget specific for the age group of 4-7
years along with those of the previous (preconceptual stage of preoperational period)
and successive periods (concrete operations) were analyzed using various
experiments in 300 children. These characteristics included the concepts of
perceptual and cognitive egocentrism, centration and reversibility. IQ of the children
was measured using Seguin form board test. Inferential statistics were performed
using Chi-square test and Kruskal Wallis test. The level of statistical significance
was set at 0.05.

17. Result The prevalence of perceptual and cognitive egocentrism was 10.7% and 31.7%
based on the experiments and 33% based on the interview question. Centration was
present in 96.3% of the children. About 99% children lacked the concept
of reversibility according to the clay experiment while 97.7% possessed this concept
according to the interview question. The mean IQ score of children who possessed
perceptual egocentrism, cognitive egocentrism and egocentrism in dental setting
was significantly higher than those who lacked these characteristics.
Conclusion Perceptual egocentrism had almost disappeared and prevalence of cognitive
egocentrism decreased with increase in age. Centration and lack of reversibility
were appreciated in most of the children. There was a gradual reduction in the
prevalence of these characters with increasing age. Mean IQ score of children who
possessed perceptual egocentrism, cognitive egocentrism and egocentrism in dental
setting was higher.

18. Title Evaluation of the Relevance of Piaget’s Cognitive Principles among Parented and
Orphan Children in Belagavi City, Karnataka, India: A Comparative Study.
Aim To determine and compare the relevance of Piaget’s cognitive principles among 4- to 7-
year-old parented and orphan children in Belagavi City, Karnataka, India.
Authors Badakar CM, Thakkar PJ, Hugar SM, Kukreja P, Assudani HG, Gokhale N.
Journal/Year Int J Clin Pediatr Dent; 2017.
Material and
Method
This study was conducted on 240 children between the ages of 4 to 7 years who were
equally divided into two groups of 120 parented and 120 orphan children. These were
subdivided into four groups of 30 children each. Various characteristics like
egocentrism, concept of cardinal numbers based on centration, lack of conservation,
and reversibility were assessed, using experiments and comparison of their prevalence
between two groups was carried out.
Result There is a statistically significant difference in the cognitive development among
parented and orphan children age 4 to 7 years.
Conclusion There is a significantly better cognitive development among parented children as
compared with orphan children in Belagavi city.

19.  Although Piaget theories tends to underestimate the abilities of very young
children's and infant, we continue to adopt Piaget’s understanding of infants
and young children as active, curious, and engaged learners, who construct
knowledge by generating, testing, and developing theories to explain their
world.
Wright GZ, Kupietzky A. Behavior management in dentistry for children. 2nd ed. 2014.

20.  Vygotsky (1978) argues that children’s cognitive development is highly tied to
sociocultural factors. Children do not learn in a vacuum; instead, their knowledge
is shaped by the beliefs, values and tools that surround them as they develop.
 This cultural context influences not only what they know but how they think.
 Where Piaget attributed cognitive gains to mechanisms within the child, Vygotsky
argues that many of the discoveries and knowledge that a child attains are
facilitated through exchanges with a knowledgeable “other.”
Wright GZ, Kupietzky A. Behavior management in dentistry for children. 2nd ed. 2014.

21.  A number of alternative theories of Cognitive development place primary emphasis on
mental representation.
 Piaget provided it with an important place as well, but subordinated it to mental action in
the form of operations.
 Piaget’s theory was intimately related to the gradual development of intentionality in
childhood.
 Intentions were tied to actions by way of the conscious awareness of goals and the means
to achieve them.
 Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development embraced the notion of children as active,
engaged learners who try to understand the world and experiences they encounter.

23.  Piaget, J. (1976). Autobiographie. Revuee Européenne des Sciences Sociales, 14 (38-39), 1-43
 Inhelder, B. & Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence: New York: Basic Books
 Piaget, J. and Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York: Basic Books.
 Piaget, J. (1971). Science of education and the psychology of the child. New York: Viking Press
 Piaget, J. (1972). The Origins of Intelligence in Children. New York: International University Press.
 Wright GZ, Kupietzky A. Behavior management in dentistry for children. 2nd ed. 2014.
 Asokan S, Surendran S, Asokan S, Nuvvula S. Relevance of Piaget's cognitive principles among 4-7 years old children: A
descriptive cross-sectional study . J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent 2014;32:292-6
 Marwaha S, Goswami M, Vashist B. Prevalence of Principles of Piaget’s Theory Among 4-7-year-old Children and their
Correlation with IQ. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research; 2017 Aug;11(8): ZC111-ZC115
 Badakar CM, Thakkar PJ, Hugar SM, Kukreja P, Assudani HG, Gokhale N. Evaluation of the Relevance of Piaget’s Cognitive
Principles among Parented and Orphan Children in Belagavi City, Karnataka, India: A Comparative Study. Int J Clin Pediatr
Dent 2017;10(4):346-350

24.  Examples:
1. Giving something in the hands of child to grasp like toys or keys (grasping
reflex) to distract them.
2. Gently rolling the fingers around child's mouth or oral cavity so that
rooting reflex gets activated and child gets attention to us and let us
examine the oral cavity.
3. Gently putting ones finger into child's oral cavity so that he/she starts
sucking the fingers and slowly opening the oral cavity a little wider for
examination.

25.  Examples:
1. Letting the child hold the saliva ejector so that to satisfy his/her
egocentrism.
2. Counting of numbers from 1 to 10 and ask to explain about his/her
favourite games, toys, cartoons, superheroes etc.
3. Telling the child count 1,2,3 and letting her spit whenever required.
4. Telling the child to obey doctors and letting his/her mum/dad to come and
stand near to you otherwise will send them outside.
5. Explaining the child to quickly finish doctors treatment and letting you go
home early.
6. Euphemism.

26.  Examples:
1. Tell-show-do
2. Modelling
Using air rotor to serve the purpose of cleaning/polishing the tooth.

27.  Examples:
1. Child is himself/herself conscious regarding the betterment of oral health.
2. Esthetically concerned
3. Performs well oral hygiene measures.
4. Periodic visits to dentists.