Development Part 2:Piaget

Developmental Psychology:The branch of psychology that studies the patterns of growth and change that occur throughout life.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist who primarily

studied the development of children.

Unlike Erikson’s theory which focused on social development, Piaget’s theory focuses on the development of the mind and thinking ability (cognition). His

theory has four stages…

1: Sensorimotor StageAge: Birth - 2 years.

Children form understanding of the world by touching, chewing, sucking, shaking and manipulating objects. They have little or no ability to represent the environment using language or symbols. They begin to develop motor skills (the ability to finely control their movements). They begin to learn object

permanence.

Object PermanenceThe understanding that objects (and people) continue

to exist even when they are out of sight.

In the mind of this baby who

has not yet developed object permanence, the ball has literally vanished when it is no longer

visible!

2: Preoperational StageAge: 2 - 7 years.

This stage is characterized by language development and egocentric thought. Children learn ways to describe people, events, and feelings. They begin to understand symbols (for example, by pretending a chair is a boat). The ability to do

abstract and complex thinking is still lacking.

Egocentric ThoughtA way of thinking in which you view the world entirely from your own perspective, and think that other people share your perspective and thoughts. For example, three-year-olds often try to “hide” by covering their own eyes: they believe that because they can’t see, the adults can’t

see them either.

This child is excited to go to Disney World theme park!

(She assumes her parents are just as excited as she is).

Principle of ConservationConservation refers to the ability to understand that a certain quantity will remain the same despite change of

the container, shape, or apparent size. It is a logical thinking ability that begins in the pre-operational stage,

but that does not fully develop until adulthood.

Image A: The child is told that both containers have the same amount of water. Image B: The water from one

container is poured into a tall, thin container. Image C: The child believes that the skinny container holds more water.

Children in the pre-operational

stage tend to fail this “liquid”

conservation test.

Principle of ConservationConservation refers to the ability to understand that a certain quantity will remain the same despite change of

the container, shape, or apparent size. It is a logical thinking ability that begins in the pre-operational stage,

but that does not fully develop until adulthood.

At the end of the pre-operational stage (age 6-7),

children tend to be able to pass the “number” conservation test. Success on this test means that if we space out objects, children are aware that the number of

objects has not changed.

3: Concrete Operational StageAge: 7 - 12 years.

This stage is characterized by more creative problem solving and a loss of egocentrism. They still lack abstract thought and have not

fully mastered the principle of conservation.

ReversibilityThe understanding that some changes can be undone by reversing an earlier action. At age 7-12 in the concrete

observational stage, children learn this concept.

For example, a child comes to understand that

a ball of clay, once it is crushed flat, can be rolled back into the shape of a ball again (and the child

knows this without having seen the action performed

before).

Principle of Conservation

Children in the pre-operational stage (6-7 years) tend to succeed at the simplest of the conservation

tasks: the “number” test.

Children in the concrete operational stage (7-8 years) tend to master the “mass”

test.

Average age for mastery

of this task is 14 years!

4: Formal Operational StageAge: 12 years - adulthood.

This stage is characterized by logical and abstract thought.

Abstract thinking is a level of thinking about things that is

removed from the facts of the “here and now”, and from

specific examples of the things or concepts being thought

about. Instead of thinking about “this” dog, an abstract thinker

can reflect on the qualities that make up dogs in general.

Examples of very abstract concepts: freedom, love, fear, creativity, etc.

Piaget’s Stages:

Video 2