Jean Piaget's Four Stages of Cognitive Development

Piaget’s Theory

Piaget concluded that there were four different stages in the cognitive

development of children.

Sensorimotor period (Birth - 2yrs)

Preoperational Period (2yrs-7yrs)

Concrete operational stage (7yrs-11yrs)

Formal operational stage (11yrs-16yrs)

Sensorimotor period is the first of the four stages of cognitive development. Birth -2 yrs

The sensorimotor stage is divided into six sub-stages.

intelligence is demonstrated through motor activity without the use of symbols

Knowledge of the world is limited (but developing) because its based on physical interactions / experiences

Children acquire object permanence at about 7 months of age (memory)

Physical development (mobility) allows the child to begin developing new intellectual abilities

Some symbolic (language) abilities are developed by the end of this stage

Preoperational Period 2-7 yrs intelligence is

demonstrated through the use of symbols.

'Animism' -- the belief that everything that exists has some kind of consciousness. (An example of this is that children often believe that a car won't start because it is tired or sick, or they punish a piece of furniture when they run into it, because it must have been naughty to hurt them).

Preoperational continued….

Vocabulary is expanded and developed Egocentric thinking predominates 'Moral realism' is characteristic of this

stage -- this is the belief that the child's way of thinking about the difference between right and wrong is shared by everyone else around them.

memory and imagination are developed, but thinking is done in a nonlogical, nonreversible manner

Concrete operational stage 7-11 yrs

During this stage, the thought process becomes more rational, mature and 'adult like', or more 'operational‘

The child has the ability to develop logical thought about an object, if they are able to manipulate it.

intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects.

characterized by 7 types of conservation: number, length, liquid, mass, weight, area, volume

Egocentric thinking diminishes

Formal operational stage 11-16 yrs

Early in the period there is a return to egocentric thought

In this stage, individuals move beyond concrete experiences and begin to think abstractly, reason logically and draw conclusions from the information available, as well as apply all these processes.

Adolescents begin to think more as a scientist thinks, devising plans to solve problems and systematically testing solutions.

Formal operational continued….

intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts

many people do not think formally during adulthood

Only 35% of high school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal operations