stages of cognitive development - j. piaget

PIAGETIAN THEORY OF LEARNINGCognitive Development Theory of Jean PiagetCoverage: Stages of Cognitive Development

Reported by: MELVIN R. JACINTO

PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

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Piaget’s cognitive stages refer to four (4) different stages – sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations – each of which

is more advanced than the preceding stage because it involves new

reasoning and thinking abilities (Plotnik & Kouyoumdjian, 2012).

Although Piaget believed that all people go through the same four

cognitive stages, he acknowledged that they may go through the stages at

different rates. Piaget’s hypothesis that cognitive development occurs in

stages and that each stages involves different kinds of thinking was one of

his unique contributions to developmental psychology.


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Although intellectual growth is continuous, Piaget found that certain

mental abilities tend to appear at certain stages of development. Piaget

and his colleagues found that although mental abilities earlier and some

later than other children. Although the actual age at which an ability

appears may vary from one child to child or from culture to culture, the

order in which mental abilities appears does not vary because mental

development is always an extension of what has already preceded. Thus,

although children of same age may have different mental abilities, the

order with which the abilities emerge is constant (Hergenhahn & Olson,

2005).


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At each stage, the child will acquire more complex motor skills and

cognitive abilities. Although different behaviors characterize different

stages, the transition between stages is gradual, and a child moves

between stages so subtly that he may not be aware of new perspectives

gained. However, at each stage there are definite accompanying

developmental changes in the areas of play, language, morality, space,

time, and number (Singer & Revenson, 1997).

I. SENSORIMOTOR STAGE

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From birth (0) to age two (2).

This stage characterized by the absence of language.

Because the children have no words for things,

objects cease to exist when children are not dealing

directly with them. Interactions with the

environment are strictly sensorimotor and deal only

with the here and now (Hergenhahn & Olson,

2005).

During this stage, infants interact with and learn

about their environments by relating their sensory

experiences (such as hearing and seeing) to their

motor actions (mouthing and grasping).


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During this stage senses, reflexes, and motor

abilities develop rapidly. Intelligence is first

displayed when reflex movements become more

refined, such as when an infant will reach for a

preferred toy, and will suck on a nipple and not a

pacifier when hungry. Understanding of the world

involves only perceptions and objects with which the

infant has directly experienced.

Children at this stage is egocentric. Everything is

seen with themselves as a frame of reference, and

their psychological world is the only one that exists

(Hergenhahn & Olson, 2005).


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Toward the end of this stage, children develop the

concept of object permanence. In other words, they

come to realize that objects go on existing even

when they are not experiencing them.


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Six Substages of Sensorimotor stage:

1. Simple reflexes (Birth - 1 Month Old)

Characterized by reflexes such as rooting and

sucking

2. Primary circular reactions (1-4 Months Old)

Infants learn to coordination sensations. A primary

circular reaction is when the infant tries to

reproduce an event that happened by accident (ex:

sucking thumb)


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3. Secondary circular reactions ( 4-8 Months Old)

Children become aware of things beyond their own

body and become more object oriented. (ex:

accidentally shaking a rattle and continuing to do

so for the sake of satisfaction)

4. Coordination of secondary circular reactions (8-12

Months Old) Children start to show intentionality

(ex: using a stick to reach something)


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5. Tertiary circular reactions (12-18 Months Old)

They start to explore new possibilities of objects

6. Internalization of schemes (18-24 Months Old) A

shift to symbolic thinking

II. PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

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From about two (2) to seven (7) years old.

During this stage, children learn to use symbols, such as words or mental images, to solve simple problems and to think or talk about things that are not present (Plotnik & Kouyoumdjian, 2012).

The child in the preoperational stage is not yet able to think logically. With the acquisition of language, the child is able to represent the world through mental images and symbols, but in this stage, these symbols depend on his own perception and his intuition.


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The preoperational child is completely egocentric. Although he is beginning to take greater interest in objects and people around him, he sees them from only one point of view: his own.

This stage may be the age of curiosity; preschoolers are always questioning and investigating new things. Since they know the world only from their limited experience, they make up explanations when they don’t have one. It is during the preoperational stage that children’s’ thought differs the most from adult thoughts


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Two Subdivisions of Preoperational Thinking Stage:

A. Preconceptual Thinking (2-4 y/o)

Children begin rudimentary concept formation. They begin to classify things in certain classes because of their similarity, but they make a number of mistakes because of their concepts; thus, all men are “Daddy”, all women are “Mommy”, and all toys they see are “mine.”


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A. Preconceptual Thinking (2-4 y/o)

Rather than being either inductive or deductive, their logic is transductive.

Transductive reasoning is a faulty type of logic that involves making inferences from one specific to another. It can lead to correct or accurate conclusions, but it is not guaranteed to do so.

Ex: Cows are big animals with four legs. That animal is big and has four legs; therefore, it is a cow.


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B. Intuitive Thinking (4-7 y/o)

The child solves problems intuitively instead of in accordance with some logical rule. The most striking characteristic of the child’s thinking during this stage is his or her failure to develop conservation.

Conservation is defined as the ability to realize that number, length, substance, or area remains constant even though they may be presents to the child in a number of different ways.


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For Piaget, conservation is an ability that occurs as a result of the child’s cumulative experiences with the environment, and it is not an ability that can be taught until the child has had these preliminary experiences. As with all stage theories, teachability is a central issue.

Do various capabilities come about because of certain experiences (e.g., learning), or do they unfold as a function of maturation along some genetically determined path?

For Piaget it was both. Maturation provides the necessary sensory apparatus and brain structures, but it takes experience to develop the ability (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2005).

III. CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE

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From about seven (7) to eleven (11) years old.

During this stage, children can perform a number of logical mental operations on concrete objects (ones that are physically present).

The stage of concrete operations begins when the child is able to perform mental operations. Piaget defines a mental operation as an interiorized action, an action performed in the mind. Mental operations permit the child to think about physical actions that he or she previously performed.


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The preoperational child could count from one to ten, but the actual understanding that one stands for one object only appears in the stage of concrete operations. Can deal adequately with classes, with seriation (i.e., they can arrange things from smallest to largest and vice versa), and with number concepts.

The primary characteristic of concrete operational thought is its reversibility. The child can mentally reverse the direction of his or her thought.


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A child knows that something that he can add, he can also subtract. He or she can trace her route to school and then follow it back home, or picture where she has left a toy without a haphazard exploration of the entire house.

A child at this stage is able to do simple mathematical operations. Operations are labeled “concrete” because they apply only to those objects that are physically present.

Children learn to conserve such quantities as number, substance (mass), area, weight, and volume; though they may not achieve all concepts at the same time.


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Conservation is the major acquisition of the concrete operational stage. Piaget defines conservation as the ability to see that objects or quantities remain the same despite a change in their physical appearance.

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IV. FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE

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From about twelve (12) years old through adulthood.

During this stage, adolescents and adult develop the ability to think about and solve abstract problems in a logical manner.

The child in the concrete operational stage deals with the present, the here and now; the child who can use formal operational thought can think about the future, the abstract, the hypothetical.


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Piaget’s final stage coincides with the beginning of adolescence, and marks the start of abstract thought and deductive reasoning. Thought is more flexible, rational, and systematic. The individual can now conceive all the possible ways they can solve a problem, and can approach a problem from several points of view.

The adolescent can think about thoughts and “operate on operations, not just concrete objects. He or she can think about such abstract concepts as space and time.


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The adolescent develops an inner value system and a sense of moral judgment. He or she now has the necessary “mental tools” for living his life.

OPTIMAL CONDITIONS FOR LEARNING

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It should be clear that if something cannot be at least partially assimilated into an organism’s cognitive structure, it cannot act as a biological stimulus. It is in this sense that the cognitive structures create the physical environment. As the cognitive structures become more elaborate, the physical environment becomes better articulated. Likewise, if something is so far from an organism’s cognitive structure that it cannot be accommodated, no learning will take place.

For optimal learning to take place, information must be presented that can be assimilated into the present cognitive structure but at the same time be different enough to necessitate a change in that structure.


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If the information cannot be assimilated, it simply cannot be understood. If it is completely understood, however, no learning is necessary. In fact, in Piaget’s theory, assimilation and understanding mean about the same thing. This is what Dollard and Miller meant by their term learning dilemma. Which points out that all learning depends on failure (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2005).

According to Piaget, failure of previous knowledge to allow for assimilation of an experience causes accommodation, or new learning. Experiences should be moderately challenging in order to stimulate cognitive growth. Again, no such growth will occur if only assimilation occurs.


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Often Piaget is thought as a nativist who believed intellectual development occurs as the result of biological maturation, but this is not entirely true. Piaget believed that maturation provides only the framework for intellectual development, but in addition to this framework, both physical and social experiences are indispensable for mental development.


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Ginsburg and Opper (1979) summarize the ways in which Piaget felt heredity influenced cognitive development:

a. Inherited physical structures [e.g., nervous system] set broad limits on intellectual functioning.

b. Inherited behavioral reactions [e.g., reflexes] have an influence during the first few days of human life but afterward are extensively modified as the infant interacts with his environment.

c. The maturation of physical structures may have psychological correlates [e.g., when the brain matures to the point where language development is possible]. And as we seen, equilibration, or tendency to seek harmony between one’s self and the physical environment, is also inherited.

stages of cognitive development - j. piaget

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