Biology Forums - Study Force

Briefly discuss criticisms, if any, of Piaget’s theories.

Researchers question the stage conception of Piaget’s theory because they contend that development proceeds in a continuous fashion.  Critics dispute Piaget’s notion that cognitive development is grounded in motor activities because it overlooks the importance of sensory and perceptual systems present from infancy.  Recent studies cast doubt on Piaget’s view that infants are incapable of mastering the concept of object permanence until they are one year old because the techniques used to test infant’s abilities were not sensitive enough.  An infant’s inability to demonstrate object permanent may be attributed to memory deficits rather than an inability to demonstrate object permanence.  Recent studies suggest that infants are able to demonstrate other behavioral skills such as imitating facial expressions hours after birth, which is something that Piaget did not promote because he believed infants could only imitate another’s behavior if the infant was able to view its own body parts.  Piaget’s work has been criticized for being based upon Western cultural experience with an omission of a non-Western point of view.