Piaget’s Theory
Assimilation
Fitting new objects, events, etc. into
an existing schema
Accommodation
Modifying a schema or creating a
new schema to fit new events,
objects, etc.
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Develpment
Sensory-Motor Stage (Birth-2 years)
Preoperational (2-7 years)
Concrete Operations (7-11 years)
Formal Operations (11 years and older)
Created by Dr. Joanne Hsu
Piaget’s Stages
Sensorimotor
Understand the
world through
senses and motor
actions
Develop object
permanence
Sensory-Motor Stage
(Birth-2 years)
ƒ Begin cognitive development by responding
primarily by reflex.
ƒ Learn about the world through their senses
and motor activities.
ƒ During period, develop a sense of selfrecognition. i.e., the ability to name
themselves in a mirror.
ƒ Develop object permanence, the realization
that objects continue to exist even though
they are not presently sensed.
Created by Dr. Joanne Hsu
Piaget’s Stages
Preoperational
Understand
intuitive relations
Thinking is
egocentric,
dominated by
perception
Preoperational Stage
(2 to 7 years)
Use symbols to represent the external
world, i.e., language. the use of words to
stand for objects.
Characterized by animistic thinking. i.e.,
the belief that inanimate objects,
especially those that move or appear to
move, are alive, are conscious, have
feelings, etc.
Characterized by egocentric thinking.
i.e., viewing situations only from their
own perspective—cannot distinguish
between themselves and the outside
world—cannot put themselves in
someone else’s place.
Created by Dr. Joanne Hsu
Preoperational Stage
(2 to 7 years)
Characterized by irreversibility, i.e., the
inability to mentally retrace their steps in
order to reach a conclusion.
Characterized by centration, i.e., focus on only
one attribute, or dimension, at a time.
Showing difficulty in understanding the
principle of conservation, the principle that
attributes such as mass, weight, volume, etc.
remain unchanged regardless of irrelevant
changes in the external appearance of an
object that have no effect on that attribute.
Created by Dr. Joanne Hsu
Piaget’s Conservation Tasks
Created by Dr. Joanne Hsu
Piaget’s Stages
Concrete Operations
Can do logical
operations
Understand
reversibility
Can do conservation &
classification tasks
Concrete Operations
(7-11 years)
Can view things from perspectives other than
their own—thus can infer what another person
knows or may be thinking.
During period, achieve reversibility, the ability
to understand that actions that affect objects,
if reversed in sequence, will return the objects
to their original state.
During period, achieve decentration. the ability
to comprehend more than one aspect of a
problem at a time.
Created by Dr. Joanne Hsu
Concrete Operations
(7-11 years)
During period, achieves conservation.
the principle that attributes such as
mass, weight, volume, etc. remain
unchanged regardless of irrelevant
changes in the external appearance of an
object that have no effect on that
attribute.
Logical, but concrete in their thinking,
i.e., can think only in terms of concrete
things they can handle or imagine—can
classify on several dimensions and
understand mathematical concepts,
provided they are applied to concrete
objects or events.
Created by Dr. Joanne Hsu
Piaget’s Stages
Formal Operations
Can do abstract &
hypothetical
reasoning
Can reason contrary
to experience
Found only in people's
areas of expertise
Formal Operations
(11 years and older)
Can formulate hypotheses, accepting
and rejecting them be testing them
against available facts.
Can manipulate, understand, and reason
in abstract terms.
Can reflect on their own feelings,
attitudes, and actions—can think about
what others think about them.
Can think and reason essentially as an
adult.
Created by Dr. Joanne Hsu
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Develpment
Sensory-Motor Stage (Birth-2 years)
Preoperational (2-7 years)
Concrete Operations (7-11 years)
Formal Operations (11 years and older)
Created by Dr. Joanne Hsu