Jean Piaget theory is one of the most important theories of human psychology.

1. GOOD MORNING

2. Theory of Cognitive
development by Jean
Piaget
Dr. Parag S. Deshmukh
Ist MDS.

3. Contents:
 Introduction
 Classification of psychological theories
 Cognitive development
 Stages of cognitive development
 Contributions of piaget cognitive theory
 Criticism
 conclusion
 References

4. Introduction
As the saying goes
“body does what mind says, for
all behavioral act of a person
there is a force behind which is
known as mind or psyche. So it is
essential on our part to study
psychology.”

5. • Psychology –
 Study of human mind and its functions.
 Psychology is both a field of study and also
a means of improving the quality of life
~Kimble 1984
 It can be defined as „Science dealing with
human nature, function and phenomenon
of his soul in the main‟.

6.  For treating a child successfully or to manage
a child in a dental setting, we as dentists
should have thorough knowledge on
personality development of the child.
“Child Psychology”
“Is the science that deals with the study
of child‟s mind and how it functions, it
also deals with the mental power or an
interaction between the conscious and
subconscious element in a child”

7. Different Theories Of Psychology Which
Have An Application In Dentistry
 Theories on personality Development
• Psychoanalytic theory or psychosexual theory by
Sigmund Freud
• Psychosocial theory or Erikson‟s model of
Personality development
 Theory on Cognitive Development
•
Cognitive development theory by Jean Piaget

8.  Theories on Learning and development of Behavior
• Classical conditioning by Ivan Pavlov
• Operant conditioning by B.F. Skinner
• Social or Observational learning by Albert Bandura
•
Theory of Hierarchy of Needs by Abraham Maslow
 Other relevant theories
• Separation-Individuation theory by Margaret S Mahler
•
Attachment theory – John Bowlby.
•
Theory of moral development – Kohlberg L.
• Childrenese – Haim Ginott.

9. IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING
CHILD PSYCHOLOGY IN
DENTISTRY:To understand the child as he comes to dental office &
know his problem in the way he explains.
Only after understanding the child and the parent, we can
deliver treatment effectively.
To establish effective communication with child and
parents, the basic skill is required.
Child and most importantly parents should develop
confidence on our treatment and dentistry.
To teach and motivate them about importance of primary
and preventive care and the importance of oral health.
To plan out effective treatment.

10. Biography
 Switzerland, on August 9, 1896
 Arthur Piaget, was a professor of medieval literature
with an interest in local history.
 Rebecca Jackson, his mother, was intelligent and
energetic, but Jean found her a bit neurotic
 1918, Piaget received his Doctorate in Science from
the University of Neuchâtel

11.  He worked for a year at psychology labs in
Zurich and at Bleuler‟s famous psychiatric clinic
 In 1919, he taught psychology and philosophy at
the Sorbonne in Paris.
 He died in Geneva, September 16, 1980, one of
the
most
significant
twentieth century.
psychologists
of
the

12. Cognitive Development of Children
• Cognition refers to the mental processes by
which knowledge is acquired, elaborated,
stored, retrieved, and used to solve
problems
• Cognitive psychologists are also concerned
with why one individual differs from another
in many of these cognitive processes.
• Cognition includes processes like
perception, thinking, concept formation,
abstraction and problem solving.

13. Intelligence
 Basics of the processes involved in cognition
i.e. perception, thinking, abstraction etc. is
intelligence.
 Intelligence is a score derived from an
intelligence test.
 This indicates how the individual‟s mental ability
compares with that of others of the same
development age.

14. Cognition and Age
 It wasn‟t until about the middle of the last century
that researchers began to systematically study the
cognitive processes of newborns and young infants
 Newborn can recognize the sound of their mother‟s
voice
and
some
aspects
of
their
mother‟s
language.
 By six months of age they also showed some
evidence of conceptual knowledge

15. Jean Piaget’s structural-functional
approach –
a model that emphasizes the biological
functions and the environmental influences
that promote developmental changes in the
“organization” or “structure”, of intellect.
He created a broad theoretical system for the
development of cognitive abilities; in this
sense, his work was similar to that of Sigmund
Freud, but Piaget emphasized the ways that
children think and acquire knowledge.

16. Jean Piaget Research Work
 Conversation &
observation of 3
children and nephew
 Development of
thought process

17. Piaget’s Basic Ideas Of
Cognition
 Genetic Epistemology, “As the study of acquisition,
modification and abstract ideas and abilities on the
basis of an inherited or biological substrate, an
intelligent
functioning
that
makes
the
abstract
thought possible”
 Epigenesis
 Every individual is born with the capacity to adjust or
adapt to both the physical and socio-cultural
environments in which he or she must live.

18. • Piaget rejected the idea that learning was
the passive assimilation of the knowledge.
• He proposed that learning is dynamic
process comprising successive stages of
adaptation to reality.
• Piaget theory has two main strands:
a. Mechanism by which cognitive development
takes place .
b. 4 main stages through which child pass.

19. PIAGET’S VIEW OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
Equilibration
schemes
Adaptation
Organization
Equilibrium

20. Equilibration
It is a mechanism that Piaget proposed to
explain how children shift from one stage of
thought to next
Eventually, they resolve the conflict and
reach a balance or equilibrium of thought
For Piaget the motivation for change is an
internal search for equilibrium

21. Cognitive Schemes: The
structural aspects of intelligence
 Describe the models or mental structures, that we create
to represent, organize, and interpret our experience
 A Scheme is a pattern of thought or action that is similar
in some respects to what the lay person calls a strategy
or a concept.
 Three kinds of intellectual structures are:
• Behavioural (Sensorimotor) schemes
• Symbolic schemes
• Operational schemes

22. 

Behavioural schemes
A behavioural scheme is an organized pattern of
behaviour that the child uses to represent and
respond to an object or experience.
 Symbolic Schemes
 During second year, children reach a point at
which they can solve problems and truly “think”
about objects and events without having acted on
them.
 Operational Schemes
 A cognitive operation is the internal mental activity
that a person performs on his or her objects of
thought to reach a logical conclusion

23. Organization:
 It is the process by which children
combine existing schemes into new
and more complex intellectual
structures, it takes place internally
apart from direct contact with the
environment and is both biological
and psychological

24. Adaptation :
 It is the ability of the person to
adjust to the environment and to
interact with it.
 Assimilation and Accommodation.

25. Assimilation  From the beginning a child incorporates or assimilates
events within the environment into mental categories
called cognitive structures.
 A cognitive structure in this sense is a classification of
sensations and perceptions.
 For ex
 Bird:- Flying Object
 Bees:- Look Bird

26. Accommodation:
 Accommodation occurs when the child changes his or
her cognitive structure or mental category to better
represent the environment
 Intelligence develops as interplay between assimilation
and accommodation
 However, the child‟s ability to adapt is limited by the
current level of development.
 The notion that the child‟s ability to adapt is age related
is a crucial concept in Piaget‟s theory of development

27. Schemata:
 Both the processes i.e. assimilation and
accommodation are used simultaneously
alternately throughout life
 Through this continuous dual process child is
instantly building various hierarchies of related
behavior known as schemata.
 It represents dynamic process of differentiation
and organization of knowledge with the resultant
evolution of behavior and cognitive functioning
appropriate for the age of child.

28. Cognitive development
stages:

29. Cognitive development
stages:
Sensorimotor Period  Infants knowledge of world is limited to their sensory
perceptions and motor activities.
 During the first 2 years of life,
a child develops from a newborn infant
 Simple modes of thought that are the foundation of
language develop during this time,
 Communication is limited because of the child‟s
simple concepts and lack of language capabilities

30. Age
Birth – 2 months
Simple Reflex
2-4 months
Primary circular
reactions / Habits
Characteristics
Uses inborn motor and sensory reflexes (sucking,
grasping, looking) to interact and accommodate to
the external world.
Children co-ordinates sensation and new schemas.
4-8 months
Child becomes more focused on the world and
Secondary circular
begins to intentionally repeat an action in order to
reactions
trigger a response in the environment.

31. 8 months – 1 year
Coordination of
reactions
Child starts to show clearly intentional actions. Children
begins exploring the environment around them and will
often imitate the observed behaviors of the others.
understanding of objects begins. Also begins to recognize
certain objects have specific work.
1 year – 18 months
Tertiary
Period of trial and error experimentation.
circulation
reaction
18 months – 2
years
Early
representational
thought
Children begins to develop symbols to represent events or
objects in the world. Begins to move towards understanding
the world through mental operations rather than purely
through actions. child knowledge develops by:
Object permanence, causality and symbolic play.

32. Preoperational Period:
 Because children above the age of 2 begin to
use language in ways similar to adults, it appears
that their thought processes are more like those
of adults.
 During the preoperational stage, the capacity
develops to form mental symbols representing
things and events not present, and children learn
to use words to symbolize these absent objects.

33. children understand the world in the way
they sense it through five primary senses.
Concepts that can not be seen heard
smelt, tasted or felt for example time and
health.
Children use and understand language in
a literal sense.

34. Features of thought process:
Egocentrism:
A general feature of the thought process
and language during the preoperational
period is egocentrism
Defined as inability to assume another
persons point of view.
At this stage his own perspective is all that
he can manage

35. Mountain Study

36. Animism
 giving dental instrument and
equipment lifelike names and
qualities
Handpiece :- “Whistling Willie”

37. Conservation:
• Piaget found that few children shows any
understanding of conservation prior to age
of five.

38.  Dental staff should use immediate sensations rather than
abstract reasoning in discussing concepts like prevention
of dental problems with a child at this stage.
 Excellent oral hygiene is very important when an
orthodontic appliance is present
 “Brushing and flossing remove food particles, which in
turn prevents bacteria from forming acids, which cause
tooth decay”.
 “Brushing makes your teeth feel clean and smooth”, and
“tooth paste makes your mouth taste good”,

39. Period of Concrete
Operations(7 yr – 11 yr)
 An improved ability to reason emerges.
 8 year old could watch the water being poured
from one glass to another, imagine the reverse
of that process, and conclude that the amount
of water remains the same no matter what size
the container is
 The child‟s thinking is still strongly tied to
concrete situations, and the ability to reason on
an abstract level is limited.

40. By seven or 8 years, most children develop the
ability to conserve number, length, and liquid
volume. Conservation refers to the idea that a
quantity remains the same despite changes in
appearance.

42. 
Animism declines
 Children are much more like adults
 “Now wear your retainer every night and be sure to
keep it clean”,
 “This is your retainer. Put it in your mouth like this,
and take it out like that. Put it in every evening
right after dinner before you go to bed, and take it
out before breakfast every morning. Brush it like
this with an old tooth brush to keep it clean”

43. Features of concrete
operations:
Logic:
 Children now are fairly good at inductive
logic which involves going from a
specific experience to a general
principal.
 There is difficulty in using deductive logic
which involves using a general principle
to determine the outcome of a specific
event

44. Reversibility:
Here is awareness that actions can
be reverse
Eg.:
child might be able to recognize
that his or her dog is a Labrador,that
a Labrador is a dog.and that a dog
is an animal

45. Period of Formal Operations
Ability to deal with abstract concepts and abstract
reasoning develops by about age 11
Intellectually the child can and should be treated
as an adult
Successful communication, in other words, requires
a feel for the child‟s stage of intellectual
development.

46. • Aware that others think
• Experiencing tremendous biologic changes in
growth and sexual development
• They feel as though they are constantly “on
stage”, being observed and criticized by
those around them
• “Imaginary Audiences” by Elkind

47.  The imaginary audience is a powerful influence on
young adolescents
 The reaction of the imaginary audience to braces
on
the
teeth,
of
course,
is
an
important
consideration to a teenage patient
 “Others really care about my appearance and
feelings as much as I do”
 “Personal fable

48. Personal Fable
 “Because I am unique, I am not subject to
the consequences others will experience”.
 Imaginary audience and the personal fable
have useful functions in helping us develop
social awareness and allowing us to cope in
a dangerous environment

49. Clinical Application:
Dentistry
 Accept or reject T/t
 To wear or not to wear appliance
 Decalcification of the teeth from poor
oral
hygiene
 A
teenage
patient
may
protest
to
his
orthodontist that he does not want to wear a
particular appliance because others will think it
makes him “look Goofy”

50. logic
 Deductive logic becomes important
during formal operational stage.
 It requires ability to use general principle
to determine specific outcome.
 This type of thinking is helpful in science
and mathematics.

51. Abstract thought
 The ability to think about abstract
concepts emerges.
 child begin to consider possible
outcomes and consequences of
actions.
 Important in long term planning.

52. Problem solving
Ability to systematically solve a
problem in logical and methodical
way emerges.
Child is able to quickly plan an
organized approach to solving
problem.

53.  One role of an effective dental professional is to
help teenagers test the reality that actually
surrounds them.
 It is the job of the dentist to carefully evaluate
the development of the child, and to adapt his
or her language
 Adage “different strokes for different folks”

54. Evaluating Piaget’s theory
Contributions:• Psychologists owe him a long list of masterful
concepts of enduring power and
fascination, assimilation, accommodation,
object permanence, egocentrism,
conservation and others
• Psychologists also owe him the current vision
of children as active, constructive thinkers
and they have a debt to him for creating a
theory that generated a huge volume of
research on children‟s cognitive
development

55.  Piaget's focus on qualitative development
had an important impact on education.
While Piaget did not specifically apply his
theory
in
this
way,
many
educational
programs are now built upon the belief that
children should be taught at the level for
which they are developmentally prepared.

56. Criticism

57. Problems With Research
Methods
 A major source of inspiration for the theory was
Piaget's observations of his own three children
 Well-educated professionals of high
socioeconomic status.
 Because of this unrepresentative sample, it is
difficult to generalize his findings to a larger
population.

58. Problems With Formal
Operations
 Research has disputed Piaget's argument
that all children will automatically move to
the next stage of development as they
mature.
 Some data suggests that environmental
factors may play a role in the
development of formal operations.

59. Underestimates Children's
Abilities
Most researchers agree that children
possess many of the abilities at an earlier
age than Piaget suspected.
For example, children of this age have
some ability to take the perspective of
another person, meaning they are far less
egocentric than Piaget believed.

60. Q. Is Piaget‟s account of cognitive
change clear and accurate?
 Broad transformation in thinking but
exactly what the child does to
equilibrate is vague
 On a variety of tasks infants and young
children appear more competent
than adolescents and adults who
appear less competent, than Piaget
assumed.

61.  Culture and education
• Culture and education exert a stronger
influence on children‟s development
than Piaget believed.

62. conclusion
 Dentistry for children can be demanding and
frustrating; at the same time, it can be enriching,
satisfying, and memorable
 Child patient management was a concern 30
years ago as well as today
 Multidisciplinary research that results from
combining the wealth of knowledge of both
dentistry and psychology significantly helps in
modifying behavior management and child
development

63. 1.Profitt- textbook of contemporary orthodontics.
2. textbook of craniofacial growth- Shridhar premkumar.
3.Textbook Of Pedodontics
Shobha Tendon.
4. Library dissertation on theories of psychology.
(department of pedodontics, SPDC)
5.Wikipedia the free encyclopedia.

64. "Children
have
never
been good listeners to
their elders, but they
never failed to imitate
them”
~ James Baldwin
thank You
wishing you all
happy and