Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

“The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done- men who are creative, inventive and discoverers.”

- Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget (1896-1980), Swiss psychologist, best known for his pioneering work on the development of intelligence in children. His studies have had a major impact on the fields of psychology and education.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive

DevelopmentStage 1.

Sensory-motor Stage

Stage 3. Concrete- Operational

Stage

Stage 2. Pre-Operational

Stage

Stage 4.Formal Operational

Stage

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The first stage corresponds from birth to infancy or at the age of 2 years old.

Object permanence. This is the ability of the child to know that an object still exists even when out of sight.

Stage 1. Sensory-motor Stage

From Birth to 6 weeks.

Three primary reflexes described by Piaget:

sucking of objects in the mouth, following the moving and interesting objects with the eyes and closing of the hand when an object makes contact with the palm (palmar grasp).

Sub-stage 1.Simple Reflexes

This covers from 6 weeks – 4 months

Primary reaction because the action is focused on the infant’s body. Circular reaction because it is a repetition of an action that initially occurred by chance.

Ex. Infants might repeat the motion of passing their hand before their face.

Sub-stage 2. First reflexes and primary circular reactions phase

This comprises from 4-8 months

There are three new abilities occur at this stage:

Infants will intentionally grasp the air in the direction of desired object.

Secondary circular reactions or repetition of an action involving an external object.

(Ex. Switching the flashlight on and off repeatedly.) and;

The differentiation between means and ends.

Sub-stage 3. Secondary circular reactions phase

This includes 8-12 months

This stage is associated primarily with the development of logic and the coordination between means and ends.

Piaget calls this as “first proper intelligence.”

Also this stage marks the beginning of goal orientation, the deliberate planning of steps to meet an objective/goal.

Sub-stage 4. Coordination of reactions stage secondary circular

This covers 12-18 months

This stage is associated primarily with the discovery of new means to meet goals.

Piaget describes the child at this point in time as the “young scientist” because they

are discoverers of new methods of meeting challenges.

Sub-stage 5. Tertiary circular reactions, novelty and curiosity

Ex. When a baby seems to enjoy dropping the spoon over and over again in many different ways, a proof of the creation of novel of variations in events.

Baby then discovers a pattern that “objects fall down – not up.”

Sub-stage 5. Tertiary circular reactions, novelty and curiosity

This covers 18-24 months

Infants develop the ability to use primitive symbols and form mental representations.

This stage is associated primarily with the true creativity. This marks the passage into the pre-operational stage.

Sub-stage 6. Internalization of Schemes (invention of new means through mental coordination)

The preoperational stage covers from about two to seven years old or the preschool years.

This stage is highlighted by the following: *Symbolic Function *Irreversibility *Egocentrism *Animism *Centration *Transductive

Reasoning

Stage 2. Pre-Operational Stage

This covers the ages approximately between 8-11 years old or the elementary school years.

The concrete operational stage is marked by the following:

*Decentering *Conservation *Reversibility *Seriation

Stage 3. Concrete-Operational Stage

This stage covers ages between 12 and 15 years old where thinking becomes more logical.

This stage is characterized by the following: *Hypothetical Reasoning *Deductive Reasoning *Analogical Reasoning

Stage 4. Formal Operational Stage

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