Cognitive Development

Theoretical Views

Since the late 2000s, three theoretical views have been the basis of most research on cognitive development: the structural–organismic, information processing or learning, and sociocultural perspectives. These approaches share two assumptions about intellectual growth. First, human beings are active learners who are intrinsically motivated to engage in and learn about the world. Second, cognitive development is constrained by individual, societal, and cultural factors.

On the individual level, developmental status, inherited capabilities, and other biologically based tendencies, such as temperament and emotion regulation, affect cognitive growth along with an individual’s learning history, interests, and forms of self-expression. Societal input comes from the family, peers, and the broader social context, including economic resources, educational opportunities, and governmental policies and legislation. Cognitive development is also contingent on the values, practices, tools, symbol systems, and institutions of the culture.

In the structural–organismic view, exemplified by the theory of Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget, cognitive development is biologically based and emerges from experience as children adapt their thinking to the world. This process undergoes qualitative or stagelike changes, with [Page 387]each stage building on prior accomplishments. The stages are the same for all species members and are, therefore, universal. Piaget proposed four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations. Although this theory has changed substantially since its origination, many of the topics Piaget introduced remain at the center of research, including object knowledge, scientific reasoning, and concepts of mental states and other natural phenomenon such as biology and physics.

The information processing or learning perspective emphasizes gradual or quantitative changes and focuses on the relationships between experience, cognitive processing, and learning over time. This approach examines how information flows through the cognitive system and the mental capacities and operations used in these efforts. The structure of the cognitive system is not assumed to change; rather, the selection, speed, and efficiency with which information is processed changes. In cognitive social learning theory, introduced by American psychologist Albert Bandura, social observation and imitation are the main ways people acquire new behaviors, with learning affected by processes such as selective attention and the perceived ability to regulate the outcome of experience or a sense of agency.

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