Cognitive Development: Piaget's Preoperational Stage

What is Piaget’s Preoperational Intelligence stage and its main achievement?

• Lasts from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age.

• Major Achievement: Semiotic (Representational) Thinking—the ability to understand that one thing can stand for another (symbolic function, seen through language and play).

Egocentrism

• Assuming others see, hear, and experience the exact same things they do.

Lack of Conservation

• Inability to understand that fundamental properties (mass, volume, amount) remain the same despite changes in appearance

Centration

• Focusing on only one characteristic while excluding all others.

Animism

• Believing inanimate objects have living, human-like qualities.

Artificialism

• Believing physical phenomena and living things are human-made.

Realism

• Believing internal mental entities (like dreams) are real in the physical world.