PI A G E T ’ S

E S O F C O G N IT IV E N
STA G
DEVE L O P M EN T
JEAN WILLIAM FRITZ PIAGET
(1896-1980) : History
 BORN: August 9, 1896, Switzerland
 DIED: September 16, 1980 ( Age 84 )
 PARENTS: Eldest son of Arthur Piaget and
 Rebecca
EDUCATION: Received Ph.D. from
University of Neuchatel in 1918.
 WIFE: Married to Valentine Chatenay
in 1923
 CHILDREN: 3 children namely
Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent
whose intellectual development from
infancy to language was studied by
Piaget.
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. Piaget "
was intrigued by the fact that children
of different ages made different kinds
of mistakes while solving problems"
STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
1. Sensorimotor
2.Pre-operational
Stage
3.Concrete
Stage Operational
4.Formal
Stage Operational
Stage
 Sensorimotor

2
Stage
First years of life
 Sensorimotor
uses to defineStage
is the first of the four stages Piaget
cognitive development.
Piaget designated the first two years
of an infants life as the sensorimotor
stage. During this period, infants are
busy discovering relationships
between their bodies and the
environment
Sensorimotor
Stage S
 S
The sensorimotor stage can be divided into six
separate sub-stages that are characterized by
the development of a new skill:
 6 substages
1. Substage 1 (0 - 1 month)

S
Reflex Schemas-
2. Substage 2 (1 - 4 months)
Primary Circular Reactions
3. Substage 3 (4 - 8 months)
Secondary Circular Reactions
4. Substage 4 (8 - 12 months)
Coordinated Secondary Circular Reactions
5. Substage 5 (12 - 18 months)
Tertiary Circular Reactions
6. Substage 6 (18 - 24 months)
Beginnings of Symbolic Representation
 Substage 1
Birth One Month
Old
Neonate/Newbor I
ns
Reflexive
movements
-sucking
-grasping
-orienting
 Substage 2
1 4 Months Old
Sensorimotor
-Become refined
I
schemes
-Accommodation
occurs

-Greater
Hearing noise and orienting
range of
towards it. actions
 Seeing object and
touching it.
 Substage 2
-Exploratory
Primary Circular I
-Develop new sche
Actions
-Sucking thumb
-Habitual Utterances
-Being in a jumper
(flexing legs)
Substag 4 8 Months Old
eReactions
3
Secondary Circular
 Repetition I
 Develop “Dropping and
throwing” scheme
 Hitting hanging toy or mobile
and seeing that it moves when
hit.
**ACTIONS ARE NOT
INTENTIONAL**
Cooing = Mom
**SEPARATE smiles
FROM
WORLD**
 Substag
8 12 e
Months
4 Old
I
 Intentional Behavior
 Goal oriented Behavior
 Coordinating Schemes
 Substag
e
OBJECT PERMANENCE 4
-Active searching for the hidden I
object
- Still have not fully grasped the
concept yet

A not B error
 Substag
12 18 Months Old
e 5
Tertiary Circular I
Reactions
 Experimenting
 Searching
 Imitation (larger
repertoire of actions
 Substage
18 24 Months
6
 MentalOld I
represantations
 Solved advanced
object permanence
problems
 Invisible Displacement
Pre-operational
stage
2- 7 years old
PRE- OPERATIONAL STAGE
 Covers from about 2-7
years old, roughly
corresponding in the
preschool years
 The child can now make
mental representations
and is able to pretend, the
child is now ever closer to
the use of symbols
PRE- OPERATIONAL STAGE
Children now begin to use WORDS
and PICTURES to represent objects
Children start to think about
themselves more and therefore
become EGOCENTRIC. They rarely
understand that things can look
different from other people’s point
of view
SYMBOLIC
FUNCTION
 is the ability to represent
OBJECTS and EVENTS
 a SYMBOL is a thing that
represents something else (a
drawing, a written word, or a
spoken word comes to be
understood as representing a
real object)
cENTRATION
-refers to the tendency of the
child to only focus on one aspect
of a thing or event and exclude
other aspects
TRANSDUCTIVE REASONING
-neither inductive nor deductive
 EGOCENTRISM
-this is the tendency of the child
to only see his point of view and
to assume that everyone also has
his same point of view
IRREVERSIBILITY
-inability to reverse their
thinking
 ANIMISM
-tendency of children to
attribute human like traits or
characteristics to inanimate
objects
 CONCRETE
OPERATIONAL STAGE
7-11 years old
This period spans the time of
middle childhood—it begins
around age 7 and continues
until approximately age 11—
and is characterized by the
development of logical
thought. 
Children gain the abilities of
conservation (number, area,
volume, orientation),
reversibility, seriation,
transitivity and class inclusion
However, although children can
solve problems in a logical
fashion, they are typically not
 Major characteristics and
developmental changes
 During this stage, children begin to
thinking logically about concrete events
 They begin to understand the concept of
conservation; that the amount of liquid in a
short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall,
skinny glass, for example
 Their thinking becomes more logical and
organized, but still very concrete
 Children begin using inductive logic, or
reasoning from specific information to a
 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.
 FORMAL
OPERATIONAL
STAGE
11 - UP YEARS OLD
 FORMAL OPERATIONAL
STAGE
-on this stage they gain the ability to
think an abstract manner by manipulate
ideas
-Piaget believed that people of all ages
developed intellectually
-He believed that once a person reaches the
formal operational stage its more about
building upon knowledge, no changing how
its acquired or understand
-at this stage the adolescent or young
adult begins to think abstractly and
reason about hypothetical problems
 -abstract thought emerges

-teens begin to think more about moral,

philosophical, ethical, social, political
issues that require theoretical, and
abstract reasoning.
-begin to use deductive logic
or reasoning from a general
principle to specific
information.
 -on this stage she/he can do
mathematical calculation, think
creatively, use abstract reasoning
and imagine the outcome of
particular actions.
 THANK YOU
AND
GOD BLESS!
Group 2