Stage 2 of
Development
Infancy & Childhood Development
Cognitive (Mental)
Development
• Jean Piaget’s Stage Model
• Sensorimotor stage – (birth – 2 years)
• sensorimotor = sensation (collecting info. from environment)
+ motor (movement)
• goal = to master senses and gain ability to move
• object permanence – understanding that an object always
exists even when out of sight
• child has to work to understand that a toy under a blanket still
exists
• games like peek-a-boo and where is it help to teach object
permanence
• infants must learn to control their senses and understand the
physical world
• separation anxiety – child dislikes being separated from parent
Writing Prompt
•What is the connection between
object permanence and
separation anxiety?
Cognitive (Mental)
Development
• Jean Piaget’s Stage Model cont’d
• Preoperational stage – (2-7 years)
• child refines skills from stage one
• object permanence fully understood
• goal = acquire language and communication skills
• work on proper speech, writing, and math skills
• developing concepts of reversibility and conservation
• reversibility – relationship between objects can go two
ways
• a girl with an older brother can identify that he is her
brother, but struggles to name who his sister is
Cognitive (Mental)
Development
• Jean Piaget’s Stage Model cont’d
• preoperational stage – (2-7 years) cont’d
• developing concepts of reversibility and conservation cont’d
• conservation – some properties of an object can change, but the
nature of the object remains the same
•
•
four quarters is better than one dollar because 4 is better than 1
despite watching you pour the soda from a can, a child would say
that there is more soda in a cup, if the cup is taller the can, than
was originally in the can
• egocentric – can only see the world from their point-of-view
• me, myself, I, mine, etc
• “I was playing with that!”
• lack logic skills and have limited reasoning skills
• can’t have a rational conversation with a child
Moral Development
• Lawrence Kohlberg’s Model
• Preconventional level – (6 years & under)
• outside figure(s) establishes standards of right
and wrong
• parents, teachers, TV!!
• “My mom lets me do that.” So it must be OK.
• child reacts to reward/punishment system
(conditioning)
• telling the truth gets you rewarded, and lying gets
you punished
• truth = good, lying = bad
Writing Prompts
•How does Piaget’s cognitive
development relate to Kohlberg’s
moral development?
•If children are in capable of
determining whether something is
right or wrong, is it fair to punish
them?