Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory

Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory

Researchers during the 1960s and 1970s identified shortcomings in Piaget’s theory. First, critics argue that by describing tasks with confusing abstract terms and using overly difficult tasks, Piaget underestimated children’s abilities. Researchers have found that young children can succeed on simpler forms of tasks requiring the same skills. For instance, children can successfully complete a centration task when fewer items are used (e.g., 3 buttons instead of 10). Second, Piaget’s theory predicts that thinking within a particular stage would be similar across tasks. In other words, preschool children should perform at the preoperational level in all cognitive tasks. Research has shown diversity in children’s thinking across cognitive tasks. For example, a child may use concrete operational thinking when completing some conservation tasks and preoperational thinking on others. Third, according to Piaget, efforts to teach children developmentally advanced concepts would be unsuccessful. Researchers have found that in some instances, children often learn more advanced concepts with relatively brief instruction. Researchers now believe that children may be more competent than Piaget originally thought, especially in their practical knowledge.