Cognitive
and
Moral
Development
during
Childhood
and
Adolescence
PSYC 100
Dr. Andrew Bland
 Cognitive, moral, and psychosocial models
running in parallel.
 Sensitive periods (vs. critical periods) after
birth.
Brain Plasticity and the Human Spirit
Cognitive
Development:
Jean Piaget
(1896-1980)
Piaget’s Structural
Epistemology:
“An object is
not just an object”
Assimilation:
Interpreting
according to
existing
schema
Accommodation:
Adjusting the
schema to
account for new
experiences
Developmental
Task of
Sensorimotor
Stage:
Object
Permanence:
Understanding that
objects continue to exist
even when they cannot
be observed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSGWh2CWJnA
Developmental Tasks of
Pre-Operational Stage:
• Creative Play: Intuitive rather than logical reasoning
• Past and Future: “Tomorrow” means “later”
• Moving through and then out of Egocentrism:
Difficulty understanding from other’s perspective
(pre-empathy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0
“You’re silly,
Daddy!
Grammy’s not
Mama’s Mama!”
Developmental Tasks of
Concrete Operational Stage:
• Conservation: Quantity remains the same despite
adjustment of the container, shape, or apparent size.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D-ySO0p4zo
Developmental Tasks of
Concrete Operational Stage:
• Reversibility: Ability to
recognize that numbers/objects can be
changed and returned to their original
condition
Developmental
Tasks of
Concrete
Operational Stage:
• Classification:
Ability to structure objects
hierarchically
• Seriation:
Ability to rank order objects
Developmental Tasks of
Formal Operational Stage:
• Abstract Concepts
• Understand form/structure of complex problems
• Ability to formulate and systematically test hypotheses
• Ability to reason contrary to fact
Developmental Tasks of
Formal Operational Stage:
• Reciprocity
• Perspective taking
while still holding
one’s own
Another Take on
Cognitive Development:
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
Vygotsky:
• Cognitive development is mediated by
cultural context
• Zone of proximal development
and scaffolding
• Socially-constructed mental tools
• Both inform and limit the way we think
“The medium
is the message.”
- M. McLuhan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENGUYeiGtNk
English as a Second Dominant Language
Segue from Monday’s to Wednesday’s Material
Review of Piaget’s Model of
Cognitive Development
• Structural epistemology
• “Object is not just an object”
• Interaction between person and object
• Schemas
• Broadened and deepened via
assimilation and accommodation
• Repeated experience
• Unfolding of logic via four stages
• Sensori-motor 
• Pre-op 
• Con-op 
• Form-op
Review of Vygotsky’s
Model of
Cognitive Development
• Cog. dev. mediated by cultural context
• Interaction between independent learning
and assisted performance
• ZPD and scaffolding
• Children’s developing thought modeled by
mental tools (e.g., language, technology, signs)
• What is loudest and brightest
• What is repeated most in social environment
• Mental tools also limit possibilities for how one
is able to think.
Kohlberg’s Model of
Moral Development
• Development of ethical
sensitivity and decision
making involves an
unfolding process.
• Built upon Piaget.
• Three levels, two stages each.
Level 1: Pre-Conventional
• Stage 1: Obedience/Punishment
• No difference between doing the right thing and
avoiding punishment
Level 1: Pre-Conventional
• Stage 2: Self-Interest
• Interest shifts to rewards rather than avoiding punishment
• Securing best benefit for oneself.
Stage 2: Conventional
• First stage: Good Boy/Good Girl
• Gaining approval
• Second stage:
Authority and Social Order
• Maintaining social order
• Letter of the law
Stage 3:
Post-Conventional
• Rules as useful but changeable
mechanisms.
• Doing the right thing because it’s
the right thing.
• First stage: Social Contract
• Mutual benefit, reciprocity
• Legal  Ethical
• Second stage: Universal Principles
• Self-determined principles of justice
• Awareness of diversity
• Balancing individual and social concerns
Kohlberg’s Model of
Moral Development
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5czp9S4u26M
Parenting Styles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJsouFIVOZM