The other classical theories that look at cognitive development are the behaviorist approach and the psychometric approach. The behaviorist approach deal with the mechanics of learning, and how behavior changes as experiences change throughout a person's life. Psychometric approach deals with measuring a person's intelligence by using tests (Papalia et al, 2001, pg. 153). There are also newer theories that look at cognitive development. These include the information-processing approach, the cognitive neuroscience approach, and the social contextual approach. The information-processing approach looks at the processes that involve perception, learning, memory, and problem solving. The cognitive neuroscience approach looks at the specifics of how the brain works during cognition. The social contextual approach looks at how the environment affects the learning process (Papalia et al, 2001, pg. 168). All of these approaches help us see the strengths and weaknesses of Piaget's theory, and helps us to develop a better understanding of human development and in particular cognitive development in humans.

The Preoperational stage, the second stage, takes place from two years of age to about seven years of age. Children in this stage use symbols from their own experience to represent objects. Children also think that everyone in the world see the world as they do. They classify everything on a single dimension. They do not comprehend operations, or mental routines for transforming information. Children also lack conservation because they can not reverse operations. Visual impressions dominate during this stage, and children exhibit egocentrism.

By looking at these theories we can attain a comprehensive knowledge of human development. Piaget's theory is a important theory that is used by many, but by learning all of the other theories that are associated with the cognitive development we can see that even Piaget's theory has its own weaknesses. Classical and recent theories are used in order to gain more knowledge about cognitive development. All of these theories and approaches combined tech us what to expect from children as they go from beings infants to adults. The approaches also help us to discover what is occurring physically in the brain, and how certain experiences and situations may shape and alter a child's cognitive development. By studying these approaches and theories we can see what occurs in a normal environment and encourage those of lesser socioeconomic statuses to change their lifestyles in order to benefit the children's cognitive development.

The information-processing approach deals with observing the mental processes that occur. Researchers use new methods to test these processes and compare them to the classical theories that have been around for many years. A great deal of research has gone into habituation, or "a type of learning in which repeated or continuous exposure to a stimulus reduces attention to that stimulus. In other words, familiarity breeds loss of interest" (Papalia et al, 2001, pg. 168). Researchers measure the time where an infant loses interest in a stimulus, and how fast their attention recovers when another stimulus is presented (Papalia et al, 2001, pg. 169). These tests show that an infant can tell the difference between two objects, but the weakness of the test is that it does not give us information on the cognitive meaning of their response.

In the Social Contextual Approach researchers look at the environmental influences on the learning process of a child. Researchers have studied how parents and caregivers can affect a child's cognition. Guided participation, which is inspired by Vygotsky, looks at the interactions between children and adults. This can occur by playing or children helping in normal everyday events that may occur in a child's life. By taking part in such activities children are able to learn from their parents or caregivers ski

Some topics in this essay:
Singer Revenson, Operational Sensorimotor, Research Piaget, Olds Feldman, Cognitive Neuroscience, Turkish City, Contextual Approach, Concrete Operations, Formal Operations, Lausanne Sorbonne, 2001 pg, papalia et, al 2001, et al, papalia et al, et al 2001, al 2001 pg, cognitive development, piaget's theory, circular reactions, maier 1988 pg, approach looks, 1988 pg, events occur, social contextual approach,