Piaget Theory: Stage 1 - Sensorimotor Period = birth - 2yrs

Piaget Theory: Stage 1 - Sensorimotor Period = birth - 2yrs

1. Phase 1: birth - 1 month = reflexes

   • sucking (1st one), grasping
   • adapt and modify movements in response to objects [shape, size, texture]

2. Phase 2: 1-4 months = primary circular reactions

   • co-ordinating behaviours
   • starting to integrate reflexes
   • when random movements lead to unexpected but pleasant outcome, which they then start to reproduce

3. Phase 3: 4-8 months = secondary circular reaction

   • working out reactions to behaviour
     • cause and effect - realising direct consequences
   • learning connections between casual action and their effects on the environment
   • at the end of this stage able to retrieve partially hidden objects

4. Phase 4: 8-12 months = coordination of secondary schemas

   • acquire more advancement in effect, goal directed behaviour
   • show first genuine intentional behaviour
   • understanding object permanence = 9 months
     • don't full understand as make the A not B error
       • not yet able to separate concept of an object going missing and the actions used to find it

5. Phase 5: 12-18 months = tertiary circular reactions

   • play with objects in different ways, interact with the world in a flexible way
   • object permanence - no longer make A not B error
   • actively experimenting with different actions to examine its effect on the physical and social environment

6. Phase 6: 18 months - 2 years = representational thought

   • experimenting - "what will happen if I do this?"
   • prediction and planning not trial and error
   • ability to create mental representations - independent of perceptual or motor experience
   • first signs of "deferred imitation: - repetition of another's behaviour some time after it has been observed