Chapter 12: Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

Concrete operational stage

The period of cognitive development between ages 7-12

Characterized by the active and appropriate use of logic to concrete problems

For 2 years before moving firmly into the COS, children flip back and forth between COS and POS

Ex: they can answer a question correctly but can’t articulate how

Decentering

The ability to take multiple aspects of a situation into account

Reversibility

The notion that processes transforming a stimulus can be reversed, returning it to its original form

ex: understanding that a ball of clay that has been stretched can return to a ball

Limitation of concrete operational thinking

Children are tied to physical reality and cannot understand abstract or hypothetical questions