2.2 Stages of cognitive development

• Piaget’s theory proposes that we move through four distinct sequential stages from birth to adult hood

• stages can not be skipped and occur in the same order for developed mental capabilities

1) Sensorimotor stage (birth - 2 years)

2) Pre-operational stage (2-7years)

3) Concrete operational stage (7-12 years)

4) Formal operational stage (12+ years)

Sensorimotor stage (Birth - 2 years)

sensorimotor stage: the first stage when infants explore and learn about the world primarily through coordinating sensory experiences and motor activities

Stages:

Month 3: integrate sensory and motor information & coordinate behaviour to : grasp object, turn towards noise.

Object permanence:
in Piaget’s theory, understanding that an object still exists even if it cannot be seen, heard or touched

→ may show no interest if a person leaves a room because they believe they don’t exist any more/ why peekaboo is fun for infants

Goal-directed Behaviour
Ability to successfully complete a sequence of actions with a particular purpose in mind

Pre-operational stage (2-7)

be able to internally represent events, thinking thus becomes more complex

key accomplishments:

• Egocentrism

• Animism

• Transformation

• Centration

• Reversibility

Egocentrism

Inability to see things from another person’s perspective (physically and psychologically)

→in the pre-operational stage children shift from being egocentric to decentered thoughts

eg/ tested by using a two sided card and flip to see if the child knows what is on the other side

Animism

believes everything that exists has some kind of consciousness or awareness

eg/ hitting the table and saying sorry, seeing sap from a tree and saying the tree is sick

Transformation

understanding that something can change from one state to another

Centration

ability to focus on one quality or feature of an object at a time

eg/ able to focus on a single line out of many lines and telling which is longest

Reversibility

Follow a line of reasoning back to it’s original starting poking

eg/ boy is asked if he has a brother and he answers “ Yes his name is Jimmy”

Boy is asked “does Jimmy have a brother?” Boy says “no”

Concrete operational Stage (7-12)

thinking in this stage revolves around what they know and what they can experience through their senses

Conservation

idea that an object does not change it’s weight, volume or area if the object changes shape or appearance

Classification

Able to organise information into categories based on features that set them apart from other groups

eg/ separating coloured beads and determine which colour beads is most

Formal operational stage 12+

More complex thought processes become evident and thinking becomes increasingly sophisticated

• abstract thinking

not having to rely on being able to see or visualise things in order to understand concepts

eg/ understanding ethical principles, good vs bad

• logical thinking

able to develop strategies to solve problems, develop hypotheses and systematically test solutions

eg/ time and distance, ability tothink and behave in an idealistic way

criticism of piaget’s theories

• age ranges for each stage more widely

• he based it on his 3 own children

• technically do not have to accomplish one stage before moving onto the next