Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive DevelopmentDevelopment

Jean PiagetJean Piaget

Jean Piaget was a Swiss Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist psychologist – Born: 1896Born: 1896– Died: 1980Died: 1980– Studied children and how they learnStudied children and how they learn

Piaget’s TheoryPiaget’s Theory

Piaget developed a theory of how Piaget developed a theory of how we, as humans, develop mentally, we, as humans, develop mentally, with the ability to learnwith the ability to learn

Piaget broke his theory up into four Piaget broke his theory up into four stagesstages– SensorimotorSensorimotor– Pre-operationalPre-operational– Concrete operationalConcrete operational– Formal operationalFormal operational

Sensori-Motor Stage Sensori-Motor Stage (0-2 years)(0-2 years)

Sensory contact understanding.Sensory contact understanding. The child explores the world The child explores the world

surrounding them using it’s surrounding them using it’s sensessenses

Initially sucking/grasping Initially sucking/grasping reflex and moving onto reflex and moving onto reaching for objects out of reaching for objects out of reach.reach.

Object Object permanence………permanence………

Major development within this Major development within this stage.stage.

Initially the baby cannot Initially the baby cannot understand a object exists out understand a object exists out of sight.of sight.

As the baby reaches around 7/8 As the baby reaches around 7/8 months a child will begin to months a child will begin to understand the object/person understand the object/person still exists when out of sight.still exists when out of sight.

Pre-Operational StagePre-Operational Stage

This is the Second stage of Piaget’s This is the Second stage of Piaget’s theory that is broken up into two theory that is broken up into two levelslevels– (L1) Preoperational Phase(L1) Preoperational Phase

(2-4 years)(2-4 years) Egocentric thinking Egocentric thinking The “I’m always right syndrome”The “I’m always right syndrome”

– (L2) Intuitive Phase (L2) Intuitive Phase (4-7 years)(4-7 years) Egocentric thinking Egocentric thinking fades; still errors in logical thoughtfades; still errors in logical thought

Concrete OperationalConcrete Operational

Occurs between the ages of 7-Occurs between the ages of 7-1111– Characterized by appropriate use Characterized by appropriate use

of logicof logic– Ability to perform multiple Ability to perform multiple

classification tasksclassification tasks– Order objects in logical sequencesOrder objects in logical sequences– Comprehend the principle of Comprehend the principle of

conservationconservation

– Some reversibility possible Some reversibility possible 3+4=7 and 7-4=33+4=7 and 7-4=3

Formal OperationalFormal Operational

Ages: 11+Ages: 11+ Final stage of Piaget’s theoryFinal stage of Piaget’s theory

– Linked to ability of abstract thoughtLinked to ability of abstract thought– Ability to reason logically Ability to reason logically – Ability to use information to draw Ability to use information to draw

appropriate conclusionsappropriate conclusions

– Puberty occurs during this stagePuberty occurs during this stage– Ability to understand terms such Ability to understand terms such

as: love, shades of gray, and as: love, shades of gray, and valuesvalues

Quick ReviewQuick Review