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RESEARCH STUDY 2
Introduction
Amongst the most significant aspects of understanding, the children development is the
study of the cognitive theory. The cognitive theory is of great significance since it provides
insight into the development of learning, morality, analytical approach and language. Thus, a
detailed knowledge of the cognitive development can allow educators and parents to
communicate with the children in a better way and to help the children in their skills
development that are suitable for the better psychological growth of the children (Bjorklund and
Ellis, 2014). All the teachers and parents undergo the quandary of finding out the appropriate
time to begin teaching the children. The theory of cognitive development by Jean Piaget states
that children undergo an era of different stages throughout which they develop the cognitive
approach. The Piagets theory groups the child development into four stages according to the
childrens age. These are the phases of child development during which interactions with the
natural world and human beings is essential for the cognitive development of the child
(Bjorklund, 1989).
Piagets Theory
The four phases of Piaget's theory are the sensorimotor phase (0-2 years), the
preoperational phase (2-7 years), the concrete operational stage (7-12 years), and the formal
operation stage (12-adulthood) (Bjorklund, 1989). The Piagets theory states that, during the pre-
operational phase, children utilize cognitive representations, for instance; gestures, words,
drawings and mental images, more willingly than only motor actions to reflect the events and
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objects. Children during the preoperational stage tend to think quickly, efficiently and flexible,
and more with the people and surroundings. The thinking of the children during this stage is
shape and size rather than underlying actuality, and the failure to understand reversibility
(Bonawitz, Denison, Griffiths, and Gopnik, 2014). According to Piaget, children during their
preoperational stages were unable to succeed in their conservation tasks, since they lacked the
some substantial characteristics of objects stay unchanged, regardless of their changes in the
external appearance. The conservation tasks by Piaget involve experiments for the conservation
of liquid, number, and solid. In Piagets opinion, children during the concrete phase are capable
of easily solving the issues encountered in the conservation test owing to their cognitive
In the conservation of liquid experiment, Piaget set two glasses in front of children and
poured water into them; he allowed the children to believe that the water was distributed in the
same proportion in the two glasses and was in fact equal. After this assessment, Piaget took one
of the glasses and poured the water into a longer much thinner glass, this time the children
assessed the water to be distributed in unequal proportion; however, it was still the same.
Through this Piaget concluded that children in the pre-operational stages have a thinking which
is perception bound and cannot analyze situations with more than one aspect as their attention
It is made clear that the children who are in the pre-operational stages cannot succeed at
these tasks, by the two studies on Piagets conversation tasks. In a recent research, it is shown
that 20 kids, aged between six and seven, concerning the concept of the area failed, were put to
Piagets task. While the non-conserving children were able to only focus on one dimension of the
problem twenty other children who were eight-year-olds were able to solve the task by applying
the additive rule. Another study focused on children, attempted to find a link between
conservation and children learning in different cultures. It was discovered that the children that
had access to schools had quite a comparable edge in abilities to their counterparts that lived in
non-school settings. It was concluded by the study that children were not able to go past the
unidimensional level when it came to their central conceptual structures. It was also stated by the
research that this unidimensional level is universal and is the standard (Siegal, 2013).
All of these findings helped the research in concluding that if a particular task is valued
by culture, then that culture should make efforts and put time into teaching that task, which will
then result in children successfully accomplishing those tasks. Piagets studies are conclusive
and prove that children are not successful in completing Piagets task; however, the research
contradicts this as he states that if enough effort and time is put into making children practice
imitate Piagets liquid conservation experiment. The following experiment will primarily test and
review the idea that 8-year-olds can accurately solve these conservation tasks while 5-year-olds
cannot. The major goal of my experiment will be to review and test Piagets belief that children
who are at a pre-operational stage cannot take into account more than one aspect of a problem as
they cannot do so hence, not being able to solve these conservation tasks.
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Method
The participants included in this experiment are two children of ages four and five, the
boy named John and the girl named Katrina, who in Piagets opinion are going through their
preoperational phase and will not be successful at the liquid task that is going to be presented to
them. Before presenting the test to John and Katrina, the experiment was prepared in line with
For the liquid measure test, two glasses were taken with same size, shape, and color. The
glasses were filled with water at the same level and were placed on the bench. Next, another
glass was taken, apart from it was thinner and longer in comparison with the two other glasses
used initially. John and Katrina were asked to observe the two similar glasses filled with water
and judge that if both the glasses contained the similar quantity of water and both the participants
answered yes." Once the answer was noted from the children, water was taken from one of the
similar glasses and poured it in the thinner and longer glass. Once the glass was changed, John
and Katrina were asked if the glasses still had the exact quantity of water and the both
participants replied that the thinner and taller glass contained more amount of water. Until this
part of the experimentation, the responses from John and Katrina had no surprises, both the
participants had fully concentrated while Piaget's tests were performed. The inspiration of getting
a gift in return of participation in the experiment may have played a crucial part in their honest
Results
By Piagets prediction, the outcomes of the experiment were replicating his research and
also the results proved Piagets theory of stages as John and Katrina were not able to perform the
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tasks. In Piagets opinion, stages or changes in child development are collective and the
outcomes of the experiment carried out with John and Katrina also prove that. However, there is
a probability that it was something regarding the method of the experiment and how it was
performed that might be the reason of the results that occurred. During the task, John and Katrina
saw the items after and before the liquid transformations, and they constantly thought that the
The placement of John and Katrina in the preoperational phase of Piagets theory shows
that they both were lacking the cognitive aptitude to make it in the liquid experiment. Neither
John nor Katrina was hurried into any decision regarding the experiment tasks and their answers
were based entirely on their cognitive capabilities. Besides, added information was provided
regarding the items included in the experiment or the transformation situation, every question
and procedure was similar in participants case and by evaluating the result, it was concluded
that both John and Katrina were similar to the beliefs of Piaget. Neither John nor Katrina asked
for any clues during the performance of the tasks, and there was no help from the experimenter.
The outcome of the experiment shows that John and Katrina are in the preoperational phase of
Discussion
In the discussion, it is apparent that the conservation tasks by Piaget were intended to
create achievement in kids ahead of the preoperational phase. John and Katrina, who participated
in the experiment, showed the exact prediction of Piaget and led the outcomes to illustrate that
the theory of Piaget could be acceptable concerning the cognitive development of the children.
However, this could be 100% accurate if the John and Katrina were positioned in a controlled
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setting throughout their lives and their social exchanges with other individuals were controlled as
well (Bjorklund and Ellis, 2014). If the methods of the experiment are customized in a way that
John and Katrina were capable of performing the task with the person experimenting, the
outcomes may have been dissimilar. John and Katrina may have been involved more in
observing the glasses of liquid after and before the transformation. This involvement act can
permit John and Katrina to effectively carry out their conservation tasks. John and Katrinas
attention, perceptive of the amount of liquid and the practically experiencing the tasks will make
them understand that even after the transformation the amount of water in the glasses did not
change.
Conclusion
The field of development of theory has undoubtedly gained many benefits through
Piagets work. His immediate discipline to affect sociology, psychology, social psychology and a
majority of other fields clearly has no influence on his relevance of work. Although some
criticize his theories, for a better understanding of the complex mechanism of human cognitive
of social psychology, for a student of social psychology, the best and most relevant area of
inquiry will be the mechanisms of psychological maturation (Bjorklund, 1989). This will provide
a new perspective through which social psychology can be looked at, not only does one need to
understand the development of knowledge, but also understand how knowledge development
interacts and effects with ones interpersonal relationships and socialization to comprehensively
understand the cognitive developmental theorys structure and its major factors.
RESEARCH STUDY 8
References
Bjorklund, D. F., & Ellis, B. J. (2014). Children, childhood, and development in evolutionary
Bonawitz, E., Denison, S., Griffiths, T. L., & Gopnik, A. (2014). Probabilistic models, learning
Press.