Name: Macahig, Jeline Mae S.

Course/yr: BSN 1-C

GESELL’S THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT

The Theory

Gesell’s theory is known as a maturational-developmental theory. It is the foundation of nearly every other theory of human
development after Gesell. Early in the 20th century, Dr. Gesell observed and documented patterns in the way children
develop, showing that all children go through similar and predictable sequences, though each child moves through these
sequences at his or her own rate or pace.

This process is comprised of both internal and external factors. The intrinsic factors include genetics, temperament,
personality, learning styles, as well as physical and mental growth. Simultaneously, development is also influenced by
factors such as environment, family background, parenting styles, cultural influences, health conditions, and early
experiences with peers and adults. Gesell was the first theorist to systematically study the stages of development, and the
first researcher to demonstrate that a child’s developmental age (or stage of development) may be different from his or her
chronological age.

The Cyclical Spiral

Gesell emphasized that growth always progresses in a pattern through predictable stages or sequences. Sequential
development begins within the embryo and continues after birth. While an individual progresses through these stages at his
or her own pace, the sequence remains the same. According to Gesell, growth can be thought of as a cyclical spiral. Each
cycle of the spiral encompassing the time it takes to move through six stages, or half-year increments. Notice that the time
to complete a cycle of the six stages is quite rapid in early life and slows down with age. Gesell’s cycles of development are
divided into six well-defined stages which are repeated throughout life. One cycle includes the following stages: Smooth,
Break-Up, Sorting Out, Inwardizing, Expansion, and Neurotic “Fitting Together”. See figure below of the cycles of
development.

Gesell’s research established normative trends for four areas of growth and development, namely:

(1) Motor, v b
f (2) Adaptive (Cognitive), b
b(3) Language, and n
v(4) Personal-Social behavior.

Originally published as the Gesell Developmental Schedules in 1925, these developmental schedules, most recently
updated in 2010, continue to serve and guide pediatricians and psychologist throughout the world today.
 ERIK ERIKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL

1. Trust vs. Mistrust ( 0 - 1 Year)

Virtue: Hope
The infant’s basic needs are required to be satisfied by his primary caregivers, preferably his parents. When the baby is crying
because he is hungry, his mother must satisfy his hunger through giving breast milk and feeding him. If the infant is able to
consistently rely on his mother for sustenance and support, he would develop a sense of trust, he knows that he can hope for a
dependable someone to satisfy his needs. However, when his mother does not positively respond to the baby’s need, the infant
would have a sense of mistrust, that is, he feels that everyone is unreliable.

2. Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt (2-4 Years)

Virtue: Will
When the child reaches the age of 2 to 4, he begins to explore his environment. When the parents are supportive and encourages
him to do so but still protects him from danger, the child feels a sense of autonomy. However, when parents or caregivers are
restricting the child from learning things, like not letting the child dress himself when he says he can do it, the child may feel
shameful and doubtful of trying new things.

3. Initiative vs. Guilt (4 to 6 Years)

Virtue: Purpose
When the child reaches this age, he may feel that he wants to accomplish activities on his own for a certain purpose. Caregivers
must promote a sense of initiative in them such as letting them be the leader of a group of children. On the other hand, he may
feel guilty about his needs and wants if the parent would not allow him to do things independently.

4. Industry vs. Inferiority (7 to 12 Years)

Virtue: Competence
At this age, children are more eager to learn more things, and want to master skills like reading and writing, to the extent that they
compete with other children. When parents and teachers are able to encourage children through praising them for their
accomplishments, they feel that they are productive, and they show industry through being patient and diligent. However, if they
are punished for exerting efforts, they may feel inferior and their self-esteem becomes low.

5. Identity vs. Role Confusion (13 to 19 Years)

Virtue: Fidelity
Becoming an adolescent involves feeling a mixture of emotions. At this age, the person wants to know who he really is through the
roles he plays in the society. When he fails to accomplish this identity crisis, he would have role confusion which would affect his
adult life.

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (20 to 40 Years)

Virtue: Love
At this age, an individual may feel loved and wanted when he encounters someone with whom he can share the rest of his life.
When his friends settle for good to form their own families and the person is left without anyone to accompany him, he may feel
isolated and withdrawn.

7. Generativity vs. Stagnation (45 to 65 Years)

Virtue: Care
At this age, the person wishes to produce something of real value for the benefit of the younger generation. When, he fails to do
so, he may feel that he is unproductive.

8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair (65 Years Onwards)

Virtue: Wisdom
Towards the end of one’s life, the person would look back at his past years. When he feels that he had lived a satisfying life, he
would have a sense of ego integrity. However, he may feel that he’s in despair if he was unproductive or was not able to
accomplish his life goals.
 SIGMUND FREUD’S PSYCHOANALYTIC MODEL OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Sigmund Freud:
Freud developed the psychoanalytic theory of personality development, which argued that personality is formed through conflicts
among three fundamental structures of the human mind: the id, ego, and superego.

According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, personality develops through a series of stages, each characterized by a certain
internal psychological conflict.

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions among three
component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego. This theory, known as Freud’s structural theory of personality, places
great emphasis on the role of unconscious psychological conflicts in shaping behavior and personality. Dynamic interactions
among these fundamental parts of the mind are thought to progress through five distinct psychosexual stages of development.
Over the last century, however, Freud’s ideas have since been met with criticism, in part because of his singular focus on
sexuality as the main driver of human personality development.

Freud’s Structure of the Human Mind

According to Freud, our personality develops from the interactions among what he proposed as the three fundamental structures
of the human mind: the id, ego, and superego. Conflicts among these three structures, and our efforts to find balance among what
each of them “desires,” determines how we behave and approach the world. What balance we strike in any given situation
determines how we will resolve the conflict between two overarching behavioral tendencies: our biological aggressive and
pleasure-seeking drives vs. our socialized internal control over those drives.

The Id
The id, the most primitive of the three structures, is concerned with instant gratification of basic physical needs and urges. It
operates entirely unconsciously (outside of conscious thought). For example, if your id walked past a stranger eating ice cream, it
would most likely take the ice cream for itself. It doesn’t know, or care, that it is rude to take something belonging to someone
else; it would care only that you wanted the ice cream.

The Superego
The superego is concerned with social rules and morals—similar to what many people call their ” conscience ” or their “moral
compass.” It develops as a child learns what their culture considers right and wrong. If your superego walked past the same
stranger, it would not take their ice cream because it would know that that would be rude. However, if both your id and your
superego were involved, and your id was strong enough to override your superego’s concern, you would still take the ice cream,
but afterward you would most likely feel guilt and shame over your actions.

The Ego
In contrast to the instinctual id and the moral superego, the ego is the rational, pragmatic part of our personality. It is less primitive
than the id and is partly conscious and partly unconscious. It’s what Freud considered to be the “self,” and its job is to balance the
demands of the id and superego in the practical context of reality. So, if you walked past the stranger with ice cream one more
time, your ego would mediate the conflict between your id (“I want that ice cream right now”) and superego (“It’s wrong to take
someone else’s ice cream”) and decide to go buy your own ice cream. While this may mean you have to wait 10 more minutes,
which would frustrate your id, your ego decides to make that sacrifice as part of the compromise– satisfying your desire for ice
cream while also avoiding an unpleasant social situation and potential feelings of shame.

Freud believed that the id, ego, and superego are in constant conflict and that adult personality and behavior are rooted in the
results of these internal struggles throughout childhood. He believed that a person who has a strong ego has a healthy
personality and that imbalances in this system can lead to neurosis (what we now think of as anxiety and depression) and
unhealthy behaviors.
Conflict within the mind: According to Freud, the job of the The id, ego, and superego: According to Freud’s structural model,
the personality is divided into the id, ego, and superego. On this diagram, the smaller portion above the water signifies the
ego is to balance the aggressive/pleasure-seeking drives of conscious mind, while the much larger portion below the water
the id with the moral control of the superego. illustrates the unconscious mind.

JEAN PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Piaget's theory of cognitive development is a comprehensive theory about the nature and development of human intelligence.
It was first created by the Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980). The theory deals with the nature of
knowledge itself and how humans gradually come to acquire, construct, and use it. Piaget's theory is mainly known as
a developmental stage theory.
To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes resulting from biological maturation and
environmental experience. He believed that children construct an understanding of the world around them, experience
discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover in their environment, then adjust their ideas
accordingly. Moreover, Piaget claimed that cognitive development is at the center of the human organism, and language is
contingent on knowledge and understanding acquired through cognitive development. [3] Piaget's earlier work received the greatest
attention.
Child-centered classrooms and "open education" are direct applications of Piaget's views. Despite its huge success, Piaget's
theory has some limitations that Piaget recognized himself: for example, the theory supports sharp stages rather than continuous
development (horizontal and vertical décalage).

Nature of intelligence: operative and figurative

Piaget noted that reality is a dynamic system of continuous change. Reality is defined in reference to the two conditions that
define dynamic systems. Specifically, he argued that reality involves transformations and states. Transformations refer to all
manners of changes that a thing or person can undergo. States refer to the conditions or the appearances in which things or
persons can be found between transformations. For example, there might be changes in shape or form (for instance, liquids are
reshaped as they are transferred from one vessel to another, and similarly humans change in their characteristics as they grow
older), in size (a toddler does not walk and run without falling, but after 7 yrs of age, the child's sensory motor anatomy is well
developed and now acquires skill faster), or in placement or location in space and time (e.g., various objects or persons might be
found at one place at one time and at a different place at another time). Thus, Piaget argued, if human intelligence is to be
adaptive, it must have functions to represent both the transformational and the static aspects of reality. He proposed that operative
intelligence is responsible for the representation and manipulation of the dynamic or transformational aspects of reality, and that
figurative intelligence is responsible for the representation of the static aspects of reality.
Operative intelligence is the active aspect of intelligence. It involves all actions, overt or covert, undertaken in order to follow,
recover, or anticipate the transformations of the objects or persons of interest. Figurative intelligence is the more or less static
aspect of intelligence, involving all means of representation used to retain in mind the states (i.e., successive forms, shapes, or
locations) that intervene between transformations. That is, it involves perception, imitation, mental imagery, drawing, and
language. Therefore, the figurative aspects of intelligence derive their meaning from the operative aspects of intelligence, because
states cannot exist independently of the transformations that interconnect them. Piaget stated that the figurative or the
representational aspects of intelligence are subservient to its operative and dynamic aspects, and therefore, that understanding
essentially derives from the operative aspect of intelligence.
At any time, operative intelligence frames how the world is understood and it changes if understanding is not successful. Piaget
stated that this process of understanding and change involves two basic functions: assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilation and Accommodation
Through his study of the field of education, Piaget focused on two processes, which he named assimilation and accommodation.
To Piaget, assimilation meant integrating external elements into structures of lives or environments, or those we could have
through experience. Assimilation is how humans perceive and adapt to new information. It is the process of fitting new
information into pre-existing cognitive schemas. Assimilation in which new experiences are reinterpreted to fit into, or assimilate
with, old ideas. It occurs when humans are faced with new or unfamiliar information and refer to previously learned information in
order to make sense of it. In contrast, accommodation is the process of taking new information in one's environment and altering
pre-existing schemas in order to fit in the new information. This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work,
and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation. Accommodation is imperative because it is how people will
continue to interpret new concepts, schemas, frameworks, and more. Piaget believed that the human brain has been programmed
through evolution to bring equilibrium, which is what he believed ultimately influences structures by the internal and external
processes through assimilation and accommodation.
Piaget's understanding was that assimilation and accommodation cannot exist without the other. They are two sides of a coin. To
assimilate an object into an existing mental schema, one first needs to take into account or accommodate to the particularities of
this object to a certain extent. For instance, to recognize (assimilate) an apple as an apple, one must first focus (accommodate) on
the contour of this object. To do this, one needs to roughly recognize the size of the object. Development increases the balance,
or equilibration, between these two functions. When in balance with each other, assimilation and accommodation generate mental
schemas of the operative intelligence. When one function dominates over the other, they generate representations which belong
to figurative intelligence.
Sensorimotor stage
Cognitive development is Jean Piaget's theory. Through a series of stages, Piaget proposed four stages of cognitive development:
the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational period. The sensorimotor stage is the first of the
four stages in cognitive development which "extends from birth to the acquisition of language". In this stage, infants progressively
construct knowledge and understanding of the world by coordinating experiences (such as vision and hearing) with physical
interactions with objects (such as grasping, sucking, and stepping). Infants gain knowledge of the world from the physical actions
they perform within it. They progress from reflexive, instinctual action at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought toward the end
of the stage.
Children learn that they are separate from the environment. They can think about aspects of the environment, even though these
may be outside the reach of the child's senses. In this stage, according to Piaget, the development of object permanence is one of
the most important accomplishments. Object permanence is a child's understanding that objects continue to exist even though
he or she cannot see or hear them.[23] Peek-a-boo is a good test for that. By the end of the sensorimotor period, children develop
a permanent sense of self and object.
Piaget divided the sensorimotor stage into six sub-stages".

Sub-Stage Age Description

"Coordination of sensation and action through reflexive behaviors". Three primary reflexes
are described by Piaget: sucking of objects in the mouth, following moving or interesting
Birth-
1 Simple reflexes objects with the eyes, and closing of the hand when an object makes contact with the palm
6 weeks
(palmar grasp). Over the first six weeks of life, these reflexes begin to become voluntary
actions. For example, the palmar reflex becomes intentional grasping.

"Coordination of sensation and two types of schema: habits (reflex) and primary circular
2 First habits and reactions (reproduction of an event that initially occurred by chance). The main focus is still
6 weeks-
primary circular on the infant's body". As an example of this type of reaction, an infant might repeat the
4 months
reactions phase motion of passing their hand before their face. Also at this phase, passive reactions, caused
by classical or operant conditioning, can begin.

Development of habits. "Infants become more object-oriented, moving beyond self-

preoccupation; repeat actions that bring interesting or pleasurable results". This stage is
associated primarily with the development of coordination between vision and prehension.
Three new abilities occur at this stage: intentional grasping for a desired object, secondary
3 Secondary circular 4– circular reactions, and differentiations between ends and means. At this stage, infants will
reactions phase 8 months intentionally grasp the air in the direction of a desired object, often to the amusement of
friends and family. Secondary circular reactions, or the repetition of an action involving an
external object begin; for example, moving a switch to turn on a light repeatedly. The
differentiation between means and ends also occurs. This is perhaps one of the most
important stages of a child's growth as it signifies the dawn of logic.

"Coordination of vision and touch—hand-eye coordination; coordination of schemas

4 Coordination of and intentionality". This stage is associated primarily with the development of logic and the
8–
secondary circular coordination between means and ends. This is an extremely important stage of
12 months
reactions stages development, holding what Piaget calls the "first proper intelligence". Also, this stage marks
the beginning of goal orientation, the deliberate planning of steps to meet an objective.

5 Tertiary circular "Infants become intrigued by the many properties of objects and by the many things they can
12–
reactions, novelty, make happen to objects; they experiment with new behavior". This stage is associated
18 months
and curiosity primarily with the discovery of new means to meet goals. Piaget describes the child at this
juncture as the "young scientist," conducting pseudo-experiments to discover new methods
 of meeting challenges.

"Infants develop the ability to use primitive symbols and form enduring mental
6 Internalization of 18–
representations".[24] This stage is associated primarily with the beginnings of insight, or
schemas 24 months
true creativity. This marks the passage into the preoperational stage.

Pre-operational stage
By observing sequences of play, Piaget was able to demonstrate that, towards the end of the second year, a qualitatively new
kind of psychological functioning occurs, known as the Pre-operational Stage and his is the second stage. It starts when the child
begins to learn to speak at age two and lasts up until the age of seven. During the Pre-operational Stage of cognitive
development, Piaget noted that children do not yet understand concrete logic and cannot mentally manipulate
information. Children's increase in playing and pretending takes place in this stage. However, the child still has trouble seeing
things from different points of view. The children's play is mainly categorized by symbolic play and manipulating symbols. Such
play is demonstrated by the idea of checkers being snacks, pieces of paper being plates, and a box being a table. Their
observations of symbols exemplifies the idea of play with the absence of the actual objects involved.
The pre-operational stage is sparse and logically inadequate in regard to mental operations. The child is able to form stable
concepts as well as magical beliefs. The child, however, is still not able to perform operations, which are tasks that the child can
do mentally, rather than physically. Thinking in this stage is still egocentric, meaning the child has difficulty seeing the viewpoint of
others. The Pre-operational Stage is split into two substages: the symbolic function substage, and the intuitive thought substage.
The symbolic function substage is when children are able to understand, represent, remember, and picture objects in their mind
without having the object in front of them. The intuitive thought substage is when children tend to propose the questions of "why?"
and "how come?" This stage is when children want to understand everything.

Symbolic function substage

At about two to four years of age, children cannot yet manipulate and transform information in a logical way. However, they now
can think in images and symbols. Other examples of mental abilities are language and pretend play. Symbolic play is when
children develop imaginary friends or role-play with friends. Children's play becomes more social and they assign roles to each
other. Some examples of symbolic play include playing house, or having a tea party. Interestingly, the type of symbolic play in
which children engage is connected with their level of creativity and ability to connect with others. Additionally, the quality of their
symbolic play can have consequences on their later development. For example, young children whose symbolic play is of a
violent nature tend to exhibit less prosocial behavior and are more likely to display antisocial tendencies in later years.
In this stage, there are still limitations, such as egocentrism and precausal thinking.

Cf Egocentrism

Egocentrism occurs when a child is unable to distinguish between their own perspective and that of
another person. Children tend to stick to their own viewpoint, rather than consider the view of others.
Indeed, they are not even aware that such a concept as "different viewpoints" exists. Egocentrism
can be seen in an experiment performed by Piaget and Swiss developmental psychologist Bärbel
Inhelder, known as the three mountain problem. In this experiment, three views of a mountain are
shown to the child, who is asked what a traveling doll would see at the various angles. The child will
consistently describe what they can see from the position from which they are seated, regardless of
the angle from which they are asked to take the doll's perspective. Egocentrism would also cause a
child to believe, "I like Sesame Street, so Daddy must like Sesame Street, too."
Similar to preoperational children's egocentric thinking is their structuring of a cause and effect relationships. Piaget coined the
term "precausal thinking" to describe the way in which preoperational children use their own existing ideas or views, like in
egocentrism, to explain cause-and-effect relationships. Three main concepts of causality as displayed by children in the
preoperational stage include: animism, artificialism and transductive reasoning.
Animism is the belief that inanimate objects are capable of actions and have lifelike qualities. An example could be a child
believing that the sidewalk was mad and made them fall down, or that the stars twinkle in the sky because they are happy.
Artificialism refers to the belief that environmental characteristics can be attributed to human actions or interventions. For
example, a child might say that it is windy outside because someone is blowing very hard, or the clouds are white because
someone painted them that color. Finally, precausal thinking is categorized by transductive reasoning. Transductive reasoning is
when a child fails to understand the true relationships between cause and effect. [27][33] Unlike deductive or inductive
reasoning (general to specific, or specific to general), transductive reasoning refers to when a child reasons from specific to
specific, drawing a relationship between two separate events that are otherwise unrelated. For example, if a child hears the dog
bark and then a balloon popped, the child would conclude that because the dog barked, the balloon popped.

Intuitive thought substage

At between about the ages of 4 and 7, children tend to become very curious and ask many questions, beginning the use of
primitive reasoning. There is an emergence in the interest of reasoning and wanting to know why things are the way they are.
Piaget called it the "intuitive substage" because children realize they have a vast amount of knowledge, but they are unaware of
how they acquired it. Centration, conservation, irreversibility, class inclusion, and transitive inference are all characteristics of
preoperative thought.
Centration is the act of focusing all attention on one characteristic or dimension of a situation, whilst disregarding all others.
Conservation is the awareness that altering a substance's appearance does not change its basic properties. Children at this stage
are unaware of conservation and exhibit centration. Both centration and conservation can be more easily understood once
familiarized with Piaget's most famous experimental task.
In this task, a child is presented with two identical beakers containing the same amount of liquid. The child usually notes that the
beakers do contain the same amount of liquid. When one of the beakers is poured into a taller and thinner container, children who
are younger than seven or eight years old typically say that the two beakers no longer contain the same amount of liquid, and that
the taller container holds the larger quantity (centration), without taking into consideration the fact that both beakers were
previously noted to contain the same amount of liquid. Due to superficial changes, the child was unable to comprehend that the
properties of the substances continued to remain the same (conservation).
Irreversibility is a concept developed in this stage which is closely related to the ideas of centration and conservation. Irreversibility
refers to when children are unable to mentally reverse a sequence of events. In the same beaker situation, the child does not
realize that, if the sequence of events was reversed and the water from the tall beaker was poured back into its original beaker,
then the same amount of water would exist. Another example of children's reliance on visual representations is their
misunderstanding of "less than" or "more than". When two rows containing equal amounts of blocks are placed in front of a child,
one row spread farther apart than the other, the child will think that the row spread farther contains more blocks.
Class inclusion refers to a kind of conceptual thinking that children in the preoperational stage cannot yet grasp. Children's
inability to focus on two aspects of a situation at once inhibits them from understanding the principle that one category or class
can contain several different subcategories or classes. For example, a four-year-old girl may be shown a picture of eight dogs and
three cats. The girl knows what cats and dogs are, and she is aware that they are both animals. However, when asked, "Are there
more dogs or animals?" she is likely to answer "more dogs". This is due to her difficulty focusing on the two subclasses and the
larger class all at the same time. She may have been able to view the dogs as dogs or animals, but struggled when trying to
classify them as both, simultaneously. Similar to this is concept relating to intuitive thought, known as "transitive inference".
Transitive inference is using previous knowledge to determine the missing piece, using basic logic. Children in the preoperational
stage lack this logic. An example of transitive inference would be when a child is presented with the information "A" is greater than
"B" and "B" is greater than "C". This child may have difficulty here understanding that "A" is also greater than "C".

Concrete operational stage

The concrete operational stage is the third stage of Piaget's theory of cognitive development. This stage, which follows the
preoperational stage, occurs between the ages of 7 and 11 (preadolescence) years, and is characterized by the appropriate use
of logic. During this stage, a child's thought processes become more mature and "adult like". They start solving problems in a
more logical fashion. Abstract, hypothetical thinking is not yet developed in the child, and children can only solve problems that
apply to concrete events or objects. At this stage, the children undergo a transition where the child learns rules such
as conservation. Piaget determined that children are able to incorporate Inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning involves drawing
inferences from observations in order to make a generalization. In contrast, children struggle with deductive reasoning, which
involves using a generalized principle in order to try to predict the outcome of an event. Children in this stage commonly
experience difficulties with figuring out logic in their heads. For example, a child will understand that "A is more than B" and "B is
more than C". However, when asked "is A more than C?", the child might not be able to logically figure the question out in his or
her head.
Two other important processes in the concrete operational stage are logic and the elimination of egocentrism.
Egocentrism is the inability to consider or understand a perspective other than one's own. It is the phase where the thought and
morality of the child is completely self focused. During this stage, the child acquires the ability to view things from another
individual's perspective, even if they think that perspective is incorrect. For instance, show a child a comic in which Jane puts a
doll under a box, leaves the room, and then Melissa moves the doll to a drawer, and Jane comes back. A child in the concrete
operations stage will say that Jane will still think it's under the box even though the child knows it is in the drawer. (See also False-
belief task.)
Children in this stage can, however, only solve problems that apply to actual (concrete) objects or events, and not abstract
concepts or hypothetical tasks. Understanding and knowing how to use full common sense has not yet been completely adapted.
Piaget determined that children in the concrete operational stage were able to incorporate inductive logic. On the other hand,
children at this age have difficulty using deductive logic, which involves using a general principle to predict the outcome of a
specific event. This includes mental reversibility. An example of this is being able to reverse the order of relationships between
mental categories. For example, a child might be able to recognize that his or her dog is a Labrador, that a Labrador is a dog, and
that a dog is an animal, and draw conclusions from the information available, as well as apply all these processes to hypothetical
situations.
The abstract quality of the adolescent's thought at the formal operational level is evident in the adolescent's verbal problem
solving ability. The logical quality of the adolescent's thought is when children are more likely to solve problems in a trial-and-error
fashion. Adolescents begin to think more as a scientist thinks, devising plans to solve problems and systematically test
opinions.[ They use hypothetical-deductive reasoning, which means that they develop hypotheses or best guesses, and
systematically deduce, or conclude, which is the best path to follow in solving the problem. During this stage the adolescent is
able to understand love, logical proofs and values. During this stage the young person begins to entertain possibilities for the
future and is fascinated with what they can be.
Adolescents also are changing cognitively by the way that they think about social matters. Adolescent egocentrism governs the
way that adolescents think about social matters, and is the heightened self-consciousness in them as they are, which is reflected
in their sense of personal uniqueness and invincibility. Adolescent egocentrism can be dissected into two types of social
thinking, imaginary audience that involves attention-getting behavior, and personal fable, which involves an adolescent's sense of
personal uniqueness and invincibility. These two types of social thinking begin to affect a child's egocentrism in the concrete
stage. However, it carries over to the formal operational stage when they are then faced with abstract thought and fully logical
thinking.

Testing for concrete operations

Piagetian tests are well known and practiced to test for concrete operations. The most prevalent tests are those for conservation.
There are some important aspects that the experimenter must take into account when performing experiments with these children.
One example of an experiment for testing conservation is the water level task. An experimenter will have two glasses that are the
same size, fill them to the same level with liquid, which the child will acknowledge is the same. Then, the experimenter will pour
the liquid from one of the small glasses into a tall, thin glass. The experimenter will then ask the child if the taller glass has more
liquid, less liquid, or the same amount of liquid. The child will then give his answer. The experimenter will ask the child why he
gave his answer, or why he thinks that is.

 Justification: After the child has answered the question being posed, the experimenter must ask why the child gave that
answer. This is important because the answers they give can help the experimenter to assess the child's developmental age.
 Number of times asking: Some argue that if a child is asked if the amount of liquid in the first set of glasses is equal then, after
pouring the water into the taller glass, the experimenter asks again about the amount of liquid, the children will start to doubt
their original answer. They may start to think that the original levels were not equal, which will influence their second answer.
 Word choice: The phrasing that the experimenter uses may affect how the child answers. If, in the liquid and glass example,
the experimenter asks, "Which of these glasses has more liquid?", the child may think that his thoughts of them being the
same is wrong because the adult is saying that one must have more. Alternatively, if the experimenter asks, "Are these
equal?", then the child is more likely to say that they are, because the experimenter is implying that they are.

Formal operational stage

The final stage is known as the formal operational stage (adolescence and into adulthood, roughly ages 11 to approximately 15–
20): Intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. This form of thought includes
"assumptions that have no necessary relation to reality." At this point, the person is capable of hypothetical and deductive
reasoning. During this time, people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts.

Piaget stated that "hypothetico-deductive reasoning" becomes important during the formal operational stage. This type of thinking
involves hypothetical "what-if" situations that are not always rooted in reality, i.e. counterfactual thinking. It is often required in
science and mathematics.

 Abstract thought emerges during the formal operational stage. Children tend to think very concretely and specifically in earlier
stages, and begin to consider possible outcomes and consequences of actions.
 Metacognition, the capacity for "thinking about thinking" that allows adolescents and adults to reason about their thought
processes and monitor them.
 Problem-solving is demonstrated when children use trial-and-error to solve problems. The ability to systematically solve a
problem in a logical and methodical way emerges.
While children in primary school years mostly used inductive reasoning, drawing general conclusions from personal experiences
and specific facts, adolescents become capable of deductive reasoning, in which they draw specific conclusions from abstract
concepts using logic. This capability results from their capacity to think hypothetically.
"However, research has shown that not all persons in all cultures reach formal operations, and most people do not use formal
operations in all aspects of their lives".

Experiments
Piaget and his colleagues conducted several experiments to assess formal operational thought.
In one of the experiments, Piaget evaluated the cognitive capabilities of children of different ages through the use of a scale and
varying weights. The task was to balance the scale by hooking weights on the ends of the scale. To successfully complete the
task, the children must use formal operational thought to realize that the distance of the weights from the center and the heaviness
of the weights both affected the balance. A heavier weight has to be placed closer to the center of the scale, and a lighter weight
has to be placed farther from the center, so that the two weights balance each other. While 3- to 5- year olds could not at all
comprehend the concept of balancing, children by the age of 7 could balance the scale by placing the same weights on both ends,
but they failed to realize the importance of the location. By age 10, children could think about location but failed to use logic and
instead used trial-and-error. Finally, by age 13 and 14, in early adolescence, some children more clearly understood the
relationship between weight and distance and could successfully implement their hypothesis.

The stages and causation

Piaget sees children's conception of causation as a march from "primitive" conceptions of cause to those of a more scientific,
rigorous, and mechanical nature. These primitive concepts are characterized as supernatural, with a decidedly non-natural or non-
mechanical tone. Piaget has as his most basic assumption that babies are phenomenists. That is, their knowledge "consists of
assimilating things to schemas" from their own action such that they appear, from the child's point of view, "to have qualities
which, in fact, stem from the organism". Consequently, these "subjective conceptions," so prevalent during Piaget's first stage of
development, are dashed upon discovering deeper empirical truths.
Piaget gives the example of a child believing that the moon and stars follow him on a night walk. Upon learning that such is the
case for his friends, he must separate his self from the object, resulting in a theory that the moon is immobile, or moves
independently of other agents.
The second stage, from around three to eight years of age, is characterized by a mix of this type of magical, animistic, or "non-
natural" conceptions of causation and mechanical or "naturalistic" causation. This conjunction of natural and non-natural causal
explanations supposedly stems from experience itself, though Piaget does not make much of an attempt to describe the nature of
the differences in conception. In his interviews with children, he asked questions specifically about natural phenomena, such as:
"What makes clouds move?", "What makes the stars move?", "Why do rivers flow?" The nature of all the answers given, Piaget
says, are such that these objects must perform their actions to "fulfill their obligations towards men". He calls this "moral
explanation".
 LAWRENCE KOHLBERG’S THEORY ON MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Level 1. Preconventional Morality

The earliest stage of moral development, obedience, and punishment is especially common in young children, but
adults are also capable of expressing this type of reasoning. At this stage, Kohlberg says, children see rules as fixed
and absolute. Obeying the rules is important because it is a means to avoid punishment.

At the individualism and exchange stage of moral development, children account for individual points of view and
judge actions based on how they serve individual needs. In the Heinz dilemma, children argued that the best course of
action was the choice that best-served Heinz’s needs. Reciprocityis possible at this point in moral development, but
only if it serves one's own interests.

Level 2. Conventional Morality

Often referred to as the "good boy-good girl" orientation, the interpersonal relationships stage of moral development is
focused on living up to social expectations and roles. There is an emphasis on conformity, being "nice," and
consideration of how choices influence relationships.

This stage is focused on maintaining social order. At this stage of moral development, people begin to consider
society as a whole when making judgments. The focus is on maintaining law and order by following the rules, doing
one’s duty and respecting authority.

Level 3. Postconventional Morality

The ideas of a social contract and individual rights cause people in the next stage to begin to account for the differing
values, opinions, and beliefs of other people. Rules of law are important for maintaining a society, but members of the
society should agree upon these standards.

Kohlberg’s final level of moral reasoning is based on universal ethical principles and abstract reasoning. At this stage,
people follow these internalized principles of justice, even if they conflict with laws and rules.