Jack Weisbecker
9/14/12
PSY 151
Dr. Heffner
Development Activity: Analyzing children’s games from a developmental perspective
According to Piaget, children have an inaccurate internal view of the world. As they grow,
and through the processes of assimilation and accommodation, children are able to better
understand, interpret, and interact with the world around them. By the time most adolescents
have reached the age of seven they are considered, as stated by Piaget, experiencing the
“concrete operational period” of neurocognitive development. At such a stage in development, a
child can think and interpret with a much wider breadth of understanding. They are no longer
hindered by the lack of ability to comprehend the concepts of centration, reversibility, and
conservation. Similarly, since their worldview is markedly less egocentric, a child between seven
and eleven can think and act in terms of others. That is, they have the mental capability to adjust
their thinking to take into account the actions and thoughts of others. Such skills are necessary
when playing a game such as Battleship where logical thinking and the ability to visualize
unseen objects is of the utmost importance when it comes to winning.
Hasbro, the manufacturer of Battleship recommends children age seven and older play
their game. This falls directly in line with Piaget’s concrete operations period of cognitive
development which ranges from age seven to eleven. During this Piagetian stage, children gain
the ability to verbalize, visualize, and mentally manipulate objects. Thus, they can mentally
picture, to an extent, their opponent’s board and correspondingly react with their own moves
based on logic. They are also better able to understand the concept of reversibility in that “they
can mentally consider the effects of both doing and undoing an action” (Nairne 110). It is
necessary in Battleship to be able to react accordingly to an opponent and take into account the
effects of one’s moves. This elementary yet budding understanding of logic and strategy would
be an asset in their participation in Battleship. Furthermore, the fact that by this stage a child is
less likely to have an egocentric worldview, they may be better at adapting to their opponent’s
moves. By thinking further outside of their self, children can consider their opponent’s strategy,
as well. Overall, playing Battleship at the most basic of levels requires an understanding that
develops in Piaget’s concrete operational period.
Battleship would not be appropriate for children in the sensorimotor period and the preoperations period due to the fact that the game inherently requires the basic ability to think
abstractly and strategically to a degree. Since children younger than seven years old typically
lack the capacity to imagine and interact mentally with objects they cannot directly see,
Battleship would be exceptionally difficult at such a young age due to the fact that opponents’
ship positions are screened. Being able to comprehend one’s own actions in conjunction with
their opponent’s necessitates the participants are, at the very least, undergoing Piaget’s concrete
operational stage.