Piaget's theory

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1. His Theory Piaget's theory of cognitive development is an extensive

theory about nature and development of human intelli-
gence.

2. He believed that one's childhood plays a vital and active

role in their development. His idea is mainly known as
stage development theory.

3. The theory deals with the nature of knowledge itself and

how humans acquire, construct and use it. According to
Piaget, children progress through a series of 4 key stages
of cognitive development.

4. Each stage is marked by shifts in how kids understand the

world and Piaget noticed that children actively explore and
try to make sense of the environment around them.

5. Developmental These stages include the following:

Stages Sensorimotor- 0 to 2 years
Pre-Operational- 2 to 7 years
Concrete- 7 to 12 years
Formal Operational- 12+

6. Sensorimotor Infants construct their understanding of coordinating sen-

sory experience (list some senses) with motor abilities.

7. E.g. When an infant first encounters a rattle, their instinct is to

grasp it- the noise it makes encourages the infant to shake
everything to attempt getting a noise.

8. Key Characteris- Object Permanence

tics Goal Directed Behaviour

9. Object Perma- The understanding that objects still exists even if they can
nence not be seen or touched.

Before this develops 'out of sight' really means 'out of

mind'. Infants from 5-8 months will begin to start for an
object that is partially covered.

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Progression towards understanding is usually achieved by
18 months.

10. Demonstrating the first signs of object permanence is

holding mental images and search for the lost object.

11. Goal Directed Be- Behavior that is carried out with a particular purpose in
haviour mind and is developed towards the end of the stage-
working out various way to obtain things they want

12. Pre-Operational The thinking of the pre-operational child is more sophisti-

cated than those in previous stage.
It is characterized by the ability to make mental repre-
sentations of experiences and symbols to solve simple
problems. (Symbolic Thought)

13. E.g. Talking about things that are not physically present and
assuming imaginary roles different from their normal roles.

14. Key Character- Egocentrisim

isits Animism
Contraction
Transformation/Conservation
Reversibility

15. Egocentrism Inability or difficultly in seeing things from another person's

perspective. They can only see things from their perspec-
tive and a gradual shift from egocentric thoughts occurs
towards the end of this stage.

16. Animism The belief that everything that exists has some kind of con-
sciousness or awareness. Often linked to egocentrism-
belief that everything and anyone is like themselves

17. Contraction Can only focus on one quality or feature of an object at a

time

18. Transformation/ Understanding that something can change from one state
Conservation (form or structure) to another- occurs in the latter part of
this stage. Can identify the initial stage and final stage
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of the process but unable to explain what happens in
between

19. Reversibility The ability to follow a line of reasoning back to its original
starting point and during this stage, children are unable to
reason in this way.

20. Concrete Opera- During this stage, children begin thinking more globally
tional and outside of the self but still deficient in abstract thinking.
Can perform a number of mental operations on 'concert'
objects and actual events. Beginnings of logical thinking
towards end of the stage

21. Key Characteris- Conservation

tics Hierarchical Classification
Decentraction
Reversibility

22. Conservation Understands that an object does not change its weight,
mass, volume, or area despite changes to object's shape
and appearance.

23. Hierarchical The ability to organise information (Things or events) into

Classification categories based on common features that sets them
apart from other classes or groups (categories).

24. Decentraction When children can consider several aspects of a situation

at the same time. Involves a decline in egocentric thinking

25. Reversibility When a child is able to trace a concept back to its original
roots and is mastered in this stage.

26. Formal Opera- Complex thought processes became evident and think-
tional ing becomes increasingly sophisticated. Think about and
solve abstract problems in a logical manner and according
to Piaget, this is the final stage of cognitive development
and adult thinking is an extension of the abilities that were
acquired in earlier stages

27.
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Key Characteris- Abstract Thinking
tics Logical Thinking

28. Abstract Think- A way of thinking that does not rely on being able to see
ing or visualise things in order to understand concepts

29. Logical Thinking Ability to develop strategies to solve problems, identify a

range of possible solutions, develop hypotheses and test
solutions

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