Using the Habituation Technique to Evaluate a Piagetian Hypothesis

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Using the Habituation Technique to Evaluate a Piagetian Hypothesis The purpose of this paper is to use the habituation technique in young infants to evaluate one hypothesis derived from Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. I will compare 5-months olds in a task that involves possible and impossible outcomes. Piaget’s theory specifies the cognitive competencies of children of this age. 1a. Children in the sensorimotor stage absorb the word with their actions and their five senses: touch, taste, smell, hear and see. They begin to see that their movements have an effect on their environment.1b. Object permanence is the mindfulness that objects remain to exist even when the object is out of sight. The absence of object permanence in infants younger than 8 months is explained by their still developing brains, and their incapability to remember events. Object permanence emerges because their brains are more capable to hold memories for longer periods of time, and their memories are less fragile. 1c. Stranger anxiety is the fear that infants experience when they see an unfamiliar face. According to Piaget, stranger anxiety emerges at the age of 8 months, soon after object permanence begins to develop. They may develop this way because object permanence involves remembering and absorbing what the infant already saw. Infants become attached to their caregiver, and feel afraid when someone new comes because they have no schema for this new person. 1d. McCrink and Wynn’s theory states, infants have an inborn sense of numbers. They are born with an object-tracking system and a numerical system, which allows them to differentiate and keep track of amounts of objects. Piaget believed that after 8 months, an infant has less fragile memory; his theory differs because it involves a certain age when the infant develops this mathematical capability whereas, McCrink and Wynn
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