Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development – Key Concepts

These flashcards review definitions, age ranges, and hallmark abilities of Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development, along with key terms such as schema, assimilation, and equilibration.

What is a schema according to Piaget?

A cognitive structure that individuals use to understand and organize information about their environment.

In Piagetian theory, what does assimilation involve?

Fitting new experiences into existing schemas to create meaning.

What is equilibration in cognitive development?

The process of restoring balance between assimilation and accommodation when new information creates cognitive disequilibrium.

During which age range does the sensorimotor stage occur?

Birth to approximately 2 years old.

Which major cognitive milestone is achieved in the sensorimotor stage?

Object permanence—the understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of sight.

The pre-operational stage covers roughly what age span?

About 2 to 7 years old.

What ability characterizes the symbolic function of the pre-operational child?

Representing objects and events mentally, enabling pretend play and the use of symbols.

How is egocentrism displayed in pre-operational thinking?

The child can only see situations from their own viewpoint and assumes others share it.

Define centration in Piaget’s theory.

Focusing on one salient aspect of a situation while neglecting other relevant features.

What is irreversibility in the pre-operational stage?

An inability to mentally reverse a series of steps or understand that operations can be undone.

Give an example of animism in early childhood.

Attributing human characteristics to inanimate objects, such as saying "Mr. Sun is asleep."

The concrete operational stage typically spans which ages?

About 7 or 8 to 11 years old (elementary school years).

What does decentering allow a concrete-operational child to do?

Consider multiple aspects of a situation, promoting more logical thinking about concrete objects.

Explain reversibility as it appears in the concrete operational stage.

Understanding that certain operations can be reversed, returning things to their original state.

What is conservation, and when is it mastered?

Knowing that properties like mass, volume, or number remain the same despite changes in form; mastered in the concrete operational stage.

Define seriation in cognitive development.

The ability to order items along a quantitative dimension such as length, weight, or size.

At what ages does the formal operational stage emerge?

Approximately 12 to 15 years and onward.

What is hypothetical reasoning?

Forming and testing multiple hypotheses to solve problems, even without concrete objects.

Describe analogical reasoning in the formal operational period.

Recognizing a relationship in one situation and applying it to derive a relationship in another (e.g., UK : Europe :: Philippines : Asia).

How does deductive reasoning function in formal operations?

Applying a general rule to a specific case to draw a logically certain conclusion.

Give a deductive reasoning example relevant to geography.

All countries near the North Pole have cold temperatures; Greenland is near the North Pole; therefore, Greenland has cold temperatures.

Which Piagetian stage first enables children to solve problems abstractly, without needing concrete objects?

The formal operational stage.