Jean Piaget
Developmental Psychology
Central Assumptions:
 Inborn strategies
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◦ Born with strategies for interaction
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Changes in strategies
◦ Interaction with environment leads
to changes
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Voluntary exploration
◦ Beginning: reflexes
◦ Later: explore, examine, experiment
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Sequences and Stages
◦ Development happens in specific
order
Piaget
Developmental Psychology – Key Terms
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Adaptation: basic process of all human activity
Schemas: mental representations of what we know and
expect about world
action, strategy, or skill
Assimilation: process of taking in new information about
objects (use existing schemas that fit those schemas)
We have adapted based on experience
Accommodation: process of modifying/adjusting
schemas (try familiar schemas on objects that do not fit)
Assimilation doesn’t work for this
Equilibration: balancing assimilation and accommodation
Change schemas so everything “fits”
Piaget’s Stages of Development
Four stages
◦Sensorimotor
◦Pre-operational
◦Concrete Operational
◦Formal Operational
Sensorimotor Stage
Ages birth to two
 Most behaviors overt and visible
◦ Looking, touching, grasping, sucking
 Primary circular reaction
◦ Don’t distinguish between self and other objects
◦ Getting thumb in mouth
 Secondary circular reaction
◦ Can distinguish between body and outside objects
◦ Object Permanence
 Coordination of secondary schemes
◦ Combining actions to get what we want
◦ Moving something to get a toy
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Sensorimotor Stage
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Ages birth to two
Tertiary second reactions
◦ Experimenting; new ways
to manipulate objects
Beginning of thought
◦ Internal representation
◦ Use images/words for
objects
Stage begins mostly with
assimilation then
accommodation
“DOGGY”
Pre-operational Stage
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Ages two to six
Ego-centric
◦ Don’t yet understand other perspectives
◦ Focus: become de-centered
Three developments:
Conservation (1)
◦ As shape or size changes, amount does not
◦ Piaget's conservation experiments:Volume, Number,
Matter and Length
Pre-operational Stage
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Ages two to six
Three developments:
Classification (2)
◦ Ability to classify objects based on certain properties
Pre-operational Stage – assimilation
“DOGGY”
“DOGGY”
“DOGGY”
“DOGGY”
“DOGGY”
Pre-operational Stage – accommodation
“KITTY”
“COW”
“DOGGY”
“HORSEY”
“CAMEL”
Pre-operational Stage
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Ages two to six
Three developments:
Transductive Reasoning (3)
◦ One thing causes another (sometimes backward)
◦ Very rigid
 Good or bad
 Black or white
◦ Can’t examine thoughts, conclusions, or strategies
Example: snow = Christmas
Concrete Operational Stage
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Ages six to twelve
New set of skills (concrete operations)
◦ More abstract/general
◦ Understand “rules” – add, subtract, etc.
◦ Reversibility
 Can return to original form
 Example: clay ball; can shift “mental gears”
Develops over time
◦ Conservation of numbers = approx. age 5
◦ Conservation of weight = approx. age 8
◦ Conservation of volume = approx. age 11
Classification – class inclusion
◦ 20 questions
Operational Stage – class inclusion
“Bulldog”
“Chihuahua”
“German
Shepherd”
“Labrador”
“Poodle”
Concrete Operational Stage
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Ages six to twelve
Inductive logic
◦ Ability to go from own experience to general principle
◦ Example: adding makes more and subtracting makes less
◦ Reasoning
Formal Operational Stage
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Ages twelve and up
Ability to classify and sort abstract ideas (not just
concrete)
Actual to Possible
◦ A situation not yet experienced
◦ Cannot see or manipulate directly
◦ What are the possibilities?
◦ Ability to understand logical relationships in head
◦ Formal Operational
Formal Operational Stage
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Ages twelve and up
Systematic problem solving
◦ Ability to test possible solutions in head
◦ What would be some examples?
Logic – deductive reasoning
◦ Go from general principle to anticipated experience
◦ Does everyone reach this stage?
◦ NO!
◦ Why?
Formal Operational Stage
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Ages twelve and up
Why doesn’t everyone achieve Formal Operations
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Measurement difficult (many variables)
Might for familiar areas but not unfamiliar ones
Everyday tasks don’t require it
Other cognitive issues?
Criticisms of Piaget
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Individual differences
Children develop at different rates. Are ages appropriate?
Lack of consistency:
◦ Horizontal consistency
 Skills translate across tasks (not always)
 Example: Writing a letter and writing at school
◦ Vertical consistency
 Tasks build on one another
 Understanding addition & understanding multiplication
Reflection
 Looking
at Piaget’s stages and the
criticisms of them, what do you
think about Piaget’s theories? Do
you agree or disagree with them?
Why?