PIAGETS STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Psychologist Jean Piaget stated that there were four different stages in the cognitive
development of children. A childs cognitive development is about a child constructing a
mental model of the world. The four stages are sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage,
concrete operational stage and formal operational stage. Every child goes through the stages
in the same order and no stage can be missed out although some individuals may never attain
the later stages. There are individual differences in the rate at which children progress
through stages. However Piaget did not claim that a certain stage was reached at a particular
age even though descriptions of the stages often include an indication of the age at which the
average child would reach each stage (McLeod, 2015).

Sensorimotor Stage (Birth-2 yrs)

During this stage, infants and toddlers experience the world and acquire knowledge through
sensory experiences and manipulating objects. At this point in development, a child's
intelligence consists of their basic motor and sensory explorations of the world. As children
interact with their environments utilizing skills and abilities they were born with, they go
through an astonishing amount of cognitive growth in a relatively short period of time. Piaget
believed that developing object permanence or object constancy, the understanding that
objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, was an important element at this
point of development (Piaget, 1983). For example, imaging a game of peek-a-boo, a very
young infant will believe that the other person or object has actually vanished and will be
shocked or startled when the object reappears. By learning that objects are separate and
distinct entities and that they have an existence of their own outside of individual perception,
children are then able to begin to attach names and words to objects.
The sensorimotor stage can be divided into six separate sub-stages that are characterized by
the development of a new skill (Piaget, 1983).
a. Reflexes (0-1 month)
During this substage, the child understands the environment purely through inborn reflexes
such as sucking and looking.
b. Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months)

This substage involves coordinating sensation and newschemas. For example, a child may
suck his or her thumb by accident and then later intentionally repeat the action. These actions
are repeated because the infant finds them pleasurable.
c. Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months)
During this substage, the child becomes more focused on the world and begins to
intentionally repeat an action in order to trigger a response in the environment.
For example, a child will purposefully pick up a toy in order to put it in his or her mouth.
d. Coordination of Reactions (8-12 months)
During this substage, the child starts to show clearly intentional actions. The child may also
combine schemas in order to achieve a desired effect. Children begin exploring the
environment around them and will often imitate the observed behavior of others. The
understanding of objects also begins during this time and children begin to recognize certain
objects as having specific qualities. For example, a child might realize that a rattle will make
a sound when shaken.
e.Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months)
Children begin a period of trial-and-error experimentation during the fifth substage. For
example, a child may try out different sounds or actions as a way of getting attention from a
caregiver.
f. Early Representational Thought (18-24 months)
Children begin to develop symbols to represent events or objects in the world in the final
sensorimotor substage. During this time, children begin to move towards understanding the
world through mental operations rather than purely through actions.

Figure 1: Sensorimotor Stage that the child like to suck his hand
Preoperational Stage (2 yrs-7yrs)
Language development is one of the hallmarks of preoperational stage. Kids at this stage
learn through pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view of other
people, which is termed egocentrism. One of the famous techniques to show egocentrism is
by using a three dimensional display of a mountain scene.Children are asked to choose a
picture that showed the scene they had observed. Later, children will be asked to select a
picture showing what other people would have observed when looking at the mountain from
a different viewpoint. Invariably, children almost always choose the scene showing their own
view of the mountain scene because they are unable to take on another persons perspective.
They also often struggle with understanding the ideal of constancy. For example, a researcher
might take a lump of clay, divide it into two equal pieces, and then give a child the choice
between two pieces of clay to play with. One piece of clay is rolled into a compact ball while
the other is smashed into a flat pancake shape. Since the flat shape looks larger, the
preoperational child will likely choose that piece even though the two pieces are exactly the
same size. Role playing also becomes important during the preoperational stage. Children
often play the roles of "mommy", "daddy", "doctor", and many other characters.
The preoperational stage is divided into 2 substages which is preconceptual thinking and
intuitive thinking. (Piaget,1977)
a. Preconceptual thinking (2yrs-4 yrs)

This substage is characterized by the childs inability to understand all the

properties of classes. The child has acquired the ability to represent
objects mentally and to identify them based on their membership in
classes, however this child now reacts to all similar objects as if they were
identical. This understanding is incomplete because they cannot yet
distinguish between apparent identical members of the same class.
b. Intuitive thinking (4yrs-7 yrs)
By this age, children have formed a more complete understanding of
concepts and have mostly stopped transductive reasoning. Their thinking
has become more logical, although it is structured more about perception
than logic.

Figure 2: Egocentrism

Concrete Operational Stage (7yrs-11yrs)

Kids at this point of development begin to think more logically, but their thinking can also be
very rigid. They tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts. At this point,
children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people might think
and feel. Kids in the concrete operational stage also begin to understand that their thoughts
are unique to them and that not everyone else necessarily shares their thoughts, feelings, and
opinions. Piaget determined that children in the concrete operational stage were fairly good at
the use of inductive logic (inductive reasoning). Inductive logic involves going from a

specific experience to a general principle. An example of inductive logic would be noticing

that every time you are around a cat, you have itchy eyes, a runny nose, and a swollen throat.
You might then reason from that experience that you are allergic to cats.On the other hand,
children at this age have difficulty using deductive logic, which involves using a general
principle to determine the outcome of a specific event.For example, a child might learn that
A=B, and B=C, but might still struggle to understand that A=C(Piaget, 1983). Classification
is another achievement of this period. This means that children acquire the skills they lead to
the ability to describe things by terms of classes, numbers, and series. Seriating occurs when
a child can order objects in a series because they have acquired knowledge of them through
experience. Figure 3 is an example of seriating. A child has arranged his or herdolls by height
which is a form of seriation.
Furth, H. G., &Wachs, H. (1975).

Figure 3: Seriation

Formal Operational Stage (11yrs-16yrs)

The final stage of Piaget's theory involves an increase in logic, the ability to use deductive
reasoning and an understanding of abstract ideas. The emerging abstract thought and
hypothetical reasoning mark this phase of development.Deductive logic requires the ability to
use a general principle to determine a particular outcome. Science and mathematics often
require this type of thinking about hypothetical situations and concepts. In earlier stages,
children used trial-and-error to solve problems. During the formal operational stage, the
ability to systematically solve a problem in a logical and methodical way emerges. Children

at the formal operational stage of cognitive development are often capable of seeing multiple
potential solutions to problems and think more scientifically about the world around
them.The other important characteristic of this stage is that it is 'propositional' in nature.
Children can focus on verbal assertions and evaluate their logical validity without making
reference to real-world circumstances. In contrast, concrete operational children can evaluate
the logic of statements by considering them against concrete evidence only.
One quote from theories of human development: The formal operational thinker has the
ability to consider many different solutions to a problem before acting. This greatly increases
efficiency, because the individual can avoid potentially unsuccessful attempts at solving a
problem. The formal operational person considers past experiences, present demands, and
future consequences in attempting to maximize the success of his or her adaption to the
world.(Salkind, 2004)

Figure 4: Deep thoughts by the teenager

McLeod, S. A. (2015). Jean Piaget. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

Piaget, J. (1983). Piaget's theory. In P. Mussen (ed). Handbook of Child Psychology. 4th
edition. Vol. 1. New York: Wiley.
Piaget, J. (1977). Gruber, H.E.; Voneche, J.J. eds. The essential Piaget. New York: Basic
Books
Furth, H. G., &Wachs, H. (1975). Thinking goes to school: Piaget's theory in practice.
Oxford University Press, USA.
Salkind, N. J. (1985). Theories of human development.