Cognitive development

Episode number 1 of Series “Psychology Live”.
This program looks at theories of cognitive development over time from the theories of Jean Piaget to those of Jerome Bruner and assesses their contribution to both past and present research into cognitive development and to educational practices. Although tailored to year 12 and tertiary Psychology students, the program’s information is of general interest and contains several practical exercises, real life demonstrations and self-tests. The presenters support the “ecological approach” of cognitive psychology, which values the research done in situations of everyday life, not just in laboratories. This program focuses on introducing the theories of Jean Piaget, his notion of schema, assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration as well as his theory of the stages in cognitive development. His methodology is then explored in detail along with a discussion of recent research findings which disagree with his. Jerome Bruner’s theory and modes of representing the world is then introduced, compared with Piaget’s theories, particulary in relation to the role of language in cognitive development, and included in a discussion of the future of the study of cognitive development in relation to recent research in metacognition and the theory of the mind. Study notes included.