Cognitive Development
Theory
PIAGET’S 4 BASIC
STAGES
I. Sensory-Motor Period
 Birth to 2-years
 Infants know the world through their movements & sensations
 Interact with the world using Reflexes, then simple Voluntary
Behaviors – Reaching & Touching – All the while forming
schemata (think index cards in your brain) on how the world works.

Think about Infants – how do they ‘explore’ their world?


How did you explore when you were under the age of 2?
They realize their actions can cause things to happen in the world
I. Sensory-Motor continued…

Object Permanence

Out of sight, but not out of mind


Representational Thought

Ability to picture something in the child’s own mind


Imagine “a binky // dog // car”
Mental schemas


Blanket & Ball Study – 1963 – He hid a toy under a blanket while the child
was watching & then waited until the child searched for the toy – Children
achieve this phase at 8-months.
Understand by thinking (book learning), as opposed to doing (show
me how to do it)
Egocentrism

Assume that others see the same viewpoint of what they see.
• Three Mountains – 1956 – Child sits at a table with three mountains.
They are
all different, with snow on top of one, a hut on another and a red cross on the third.
They are allowed to move around and view the models. A doll was also placed on the
table. Then the child was shown pictures of the mountains from the doll’s viewpoint –
If the child picked the picture that indicated the doll’s view – then they were not
Egocentric – Occurs at the age of 7.
II. Pre-Operational Period
2-7 years
 Thinking is more symbolic & language-based
 Child’s understanding is limited
 Tend to be very Egocentric – see things from their
point of view … they struggle to see things from
someone else’s viewpoint
 Still a concrete thinker
Conservation Experiment:
 Children
think only in 1-dimension
 Take
a look at the Graduated Cylinder; then the Beaker
 It has a Height, a Width and a Depth, but children
tend to focus only on 1 aspect, usually the ‘biggest’.
 The beaker also has these dimensions, though they
are different.
• Children “Notice” Differences more so than adults
Lack of Reversibility:
 In the experiment they will watch you pour the water
from the cylinder to the beaker and be awed
 BUT Children who a moment ago watched the
experiment, don’t believe that you can reverse it and
pour the water from the beaker back into the
cylinder.
1-Dimensional Thinking:
1-dimensional thinking:
III. Concrete-Operational Period
 Ages 7 through 11-years
 They can apply logic to physical objects
 Children can think about things that are
Real and Observable, or mentally
imaginable “Alien”
 Cannot deal with abstractions, they lack the
use of systematic deduction and an
organized plan of attack.
 They figure things out by Trial and Error

Think about a Maze
Mouse Gets the Cheese:
IV. Formal Operational Period
 11 years old and up
 Truly abstract thinking – Begin to
manipulate ideas in their head –

Mathematical calculations, think creatively, imagine outcomes
 Pendulum
 What
does it depend upon?
Height?
 Weight?
 Length?

Frequency
 Teens begin to think about Moral, Philosophical,
Ethical, Social & Political issues that require
theoretical and abstract reasoning.
 Ability to systematically plan for the future and
reason about hypothetical situations emerge at this
age.

NOT ALL CHILDREN GET TO THIS STAGE