What Is the Theory of Cognitive Development?

Cognitive development theory was put forward by the famous development psychologist Jean Piaget and is widely regarded as the most authoritative theory in development psychology in the 20th century. The so-called cognitive development refers to the process of the individual's cognition of things and the way of thinking and ability to face problem situations in the activities of adapting to the environment since birth. It changes with age. Piaget's special interest in the study of cognitive development is to regard children's cognitive development as a bridge between biology and epistemology. He believes that the understanding of children's individual cognitive development can reveal the laws of the entire human cognition. , Thus constructing his entire doctrine of "general epistemology." ^[1]

The source of Piaget's cognitive development theory, Piaget believes that children's cognition is a construction process that continues to develop from low to high through mechanisms such as assimilation, adaptation and balance based on the existing diagrams.

Several Basic Concepts in Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

Piaget regards cognitive development as the development of cognitive structure, and distinguishes the stages of psychological development based on cognitive structure. He divided cognitive development into four stages.

Moral cognition refers to the individual's awareness of social behavior standards and moral norms. Piaget's research on children's moral cognition has been widely valued, and his theory of children's moral cognition development has been widely recognized. Piaget uses dual stories with moral judgments to study children aged 4-12. Based on the results, he divided the development of childhood moral cognition into the following three stages:

Pre-moral stage (0-5 years)

The pre-moral stage is the stage before the moral judgment, and the child can only directly accept the result of the behavior. At this time, children's moral cognition is not conserved, and they do not understand the constraints of rules on social behavior.

Other discipline (5-10 years old)

Other law means that the standard of moral judgment is governed by the value standard of the child. Its characteristics:

(1) Children believe that rules and regulations are formulated by authoritative figures and cannot be changed, and must be strictly observed

(2) The assessment of good or bad behavior is based only on the consequences, not the motives of the actors.

(3) Treating punishment as God's will, thinking that punishment is a means to maintain moral order in the objective world, and agree with severe punishment.

(4) Unilateral compliance with authority, there is a sense of obligation to comply with adult standards and obey adult rules.

Self-discipline moral stage (after 10 years old)

Self-discipline means that children's moral judgments are governed by their own subjective value standards, that is, external moral standards are internalized in themselves. The characteristics of this stage are:

(1) Recognize that rules are relative and can be changed. Rules are created by people's cooperation and can be modified by the majority.

(2) The basis for judging the good or bad behavior is focused on subjective motivations or intentions, not just consequences.

(3) Gradually apply the standard of justicereciprocity considers interpersonal relationships. Consider both your own interests and those of others. This is considered the core of self-discipline.

(4) Advocating mild and appropriate punishment, which is compatible with specific behaviors, must be logical and have compensation for errors. ^[4]