Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget

1. Sensorimotor Stage (Stage 1) birth-2

   • This stage is when the child's thinking is limited to now. They think that just because they can't see something, it either does not exist or it stops existing.
   • Object permanence is when young babies do not realize that things exist beyond what they can see. Ex: peekaboo

2. Preoperational stage (Stage 2) Age 2-7

   • Centration is when a child cannot focus on more than one aspect of a situation at a time.
   • In this stage, the child learns to think symbolically, gains memories, and learns how to use and comprehend language in more depth.
     • The child , however, still does not have the basic mental operations of an adult.
       • The child still cannot comprehend changes made to the appearance of objects. Ex: comparison of water in a tall, narrow glass to water in a short, wide glass.
   • Egocentrism- The inability to take someone else's point of view.

3. Concrete Operational (Stage 3) Ages 7-11

   • Reversibility is the idea that things can be changed and then changed back. Ex: counting forward and backward
   • In this stage, the child starts to lose their egocentrism, and as long as they can see the object, they start to use the mental operations of adult logic
     • With the water in the different sized glasses, a child in this stage can tell that both of the glasses have the same amount of water.
       • Law of conservation is where something stays the same even though the appearance changes.

4. Formal Operations (Stage 4) Ages 11-

   • In this stage, the adolescent develops formal thought where they can think logically about the future.
     • This is the final stage of Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

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