Activity Slide 2.

6 Characteristics of Preoperational Thought

Characteristics of Preoperational Thought

1. Language
2. Preoperational egocentrism
3. Confusion between physical and
psychological events
4. Lack of conservation
5. Centration
6. Inability to reason about transformations
7. Irreversibility
8. Single classification
9. Transductive reasoning

Jeanne Ellis Ormrod

Educational Psychology, 8th ed.

Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Activity Slide 2.7 Thinking About Transformations

Arrange the pictures to show successive snapshots

of a falling pencil.

Jeanne Ellis Ormrod

Educational Psychology, 8th ed.

Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Activity Slide 2.8 Characteristics of Concrete Operational Thought

Characteristics of
Concrete Operational Thought
1. Differentiation of ones own perspective
from the perspectives of others
2. Conservation
3. Decentration
4. Reasoning about transformations
5. Reversibility
6. Multiple classification
7. Deductive reasoning
8. Inability to deal with abstract, hypothetical,
and contrary-to-fact ideas

Jeanne Ellis Ormrod

Educational Psychology, 8th ed.

Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Activity Slide 2.9 Characteristics of Formal Operational Thought

Characteristics of
Formal Operational Thought
1. Ability to deal with abstract, hypothetical,
and contrary-to-fact ideas
2. Formulation and testing of hypotheses
3. Separation and control of variables
4. Proportional thought
5. Combinatorial thought
6. Construction of alternatives to reality

Jeanne Ellis Ormrod

Educational Psychology, 8th ed.

Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Activity Slide 2.10 Combinatorial Thought

An Example of Combinatorial Thought

Four friendsAnn, Billy, Carla, and Davideach may or
may not decide to go to the school dance. They wonder if
they will see one another at the dance. Which one or more of
the four friends might we see at the dance? How many
possibilities are there?
All four friends may go.

Ann, Carla, and David may go.

Ann and Billy may go.

Jeanne Ellis Ormrod

Educational Psychology, 8th ed.

Carla may go alone.

Billy and David may go.

Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.