Piaget’s Stages

of Cognitive Development

Group 2
 n t r o d u c t i o n
I
The Theory of Cognitive Development by Jean Piaget, suggests that
children's intelligence undergoes changes as they grow. Cognitive
development in children is not only related to acquiring knowledge, children
need to build or develop a mental model of their surrounding world.
 WHO IS JEAN PIAGET?
-He was born in 1896 in Neuchâtel , Switzerl and.
-By the time he was 11, Piaget had al ready started his career as a
researcher by writing a short paper on an al bino sparrow.
-University of Neuchâtel in 1918.
-While his early career consisted of work in the natural sci ences,
during the 1920s he began to move toward work as a psych ol og i st .

-At the age of 30, he published his first book “G enetic Epistemology ”
which received critical acclaim. This l ed him to become one of t h e
leading psychologists of his generation.
-His research interests included child development , logic,
mathematics, linguistics, social sciences and education.
-His major works include "Logic", "Reasoning and Judgment " and
" Constructionism ".
-He was one of the first peopl e to study chil dren's devel opment and h e
developed the theory that chil dren devel op through stages .
BASIC COGNITIVE CONCEPTS

SCHEMA ASSIMILATION
-It refers to the cognitive structures by
This is the process of fitting a new experience
which individuals intellectually adapt to and
into an existing or previously created
organize their environment.
cognitive structure or schema.
-It is an individual’s way to understand or
create meaning about a thing or experience.
BASIC COGNITIVE CONCEPTS

ACCOMODATION EQUILIBRATION
-This is the process of creating a new
Piaget believed that people have the natural
schema.
need to understand how the world works and
to find order, structure, and predictability in
their life.
-Equilibration is achieving proper balance
between assimilation and accommodation.
BASIC COGNITIVE CONCEPTS

-When our experiences do not match our

schemata (plural of schema) or cognitive
structures, we experience cognitive
disequilibrium.
-This means there is a perceived and what is
understood. We discrepancy between what is
then exert effort through assimilation and
accommodation to establish equilibrium
once more.
 S t a g e 1
S E N S O R I M O T O R S T A G E (B IRT H - 2 YRS )
-This is the stage when a child who is initially reflexive in grasping,
sucking and reaching becomes more organized in his movement and
activity.
-The term sensori-motor focuses on the prominence of the senses
and muscle movement through which the infant comes to learm
about himself and the world.
 S t a g e 1
S E N S O R I M O T O R S T A G E (B IRT H - IN FA N CY)

Object permanence
This is the ability of the child to know that an object still exists even
when out of sight. This abil- ity is attained in the sensory motor stage.
 S t a g e 2
P R E - O P E R A T I O N A L S T A G E ( 2 - 7 YRS )
Intelligence at this stage is intuitive in nature. At this stage, 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 (2 - 7 YRS)

SYMBOLIC FUNCTION EGOCENTRISM

This is the ability to represent objects and This is the tendency of the child to see his
events. A symbol is a thing that represents point of view and to assume that everyone
something else. also has his same point of view.
PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE (2 - 7 YRS)

CENTRATION IRREVERSIBILTY
This refers to the tendency of the child to
Pre-operational children still have the inability
only focus on one aspect of a thing or event
to reverse their thinking. They can understand
and exciude other aspects.
that 2 + 3 is 5, but cannot understand that 5-3
is 2.
PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE (2 - 7 YRS)
ANIMISM
This is the tendency of children to attribute
human like traits or characteristics to
inanimate objects. When at night, the child is
asked, where the sun is, she will reply, "Mr.
Sun is asleep."
TRANSDUCTIVE
REASONING
This refers to the pre-operational child's type
of reasoning that is neither inductive nor
deductive. Reasoning appears to be from
particular to particular i.e.. if A causes B, then B
causes A.
 S t a g e 3
C O N C R E T E O P E R A T I O N A L S T A G E ( 8 - 1 1 YRS )
This stage is character- ized by the ability of the child to think
logically but only in terms of concrete objects. This covers
approximately the ages between 8-11 years or the elementary school
years.
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (8 - 11 YRS)

DECENTERING REVERSIBILTY
During the stage of concrete operations, the
This refers to the ability of the child to
child can now follow that certain operations can
perceive the different features of objects
be done in reverse. For example, they can already
and situations. No longer is the child focused
comprehend the commutative property of
or limited to one aspect r dimension. This
addition, and that subtraction is the reverse of
allows the child to be more logical when
addition. They can also understand that a ball of
dealing with concrete objects and situations.
clay shaped into a dinosaur can again be rolled
back into a ball of clay.
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (8 - 11 YRS)

CONSERVATION SERIATION
This is the ability to know that certain properties This refers to the ability to order or arrange things in
of objects like number, mass, volume, or area do a series based on one dimension such as weight,
not change even if there is a change in volume or size.
appearance. Because of the development of the
child's ability of decentering and also reversibility,
the concrete operational child can now judge
rightly that the amount of water in a taller but
narrower container is still the same as when the
water was in the shorter but wider glass.
 S T A G E 4
F O R MA L O P E R A T I O N A L S T A G E ( 1 2 UP )
In the final stage of formal operations covering ages between 12 and
15 years, thinking becomes more logical. They can now solve abstract
problems and can hypothesize.
FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (12 UP)
HYPOTHETICAL REASONING
This is the ability to come up with different
hypothesis about a problem and to gather
and weigh data in order to make a final
decision or judgment. This can be done in the
absence of concrete objects. The individuals
can now deal with "What if" questions.
ANALOGICAL REASONING
This is the ability to perceive the relationship in
one instance and then use that relationship to
narrow down possible answers in another similar
situation or problem. The individual in the formal
operations stag can make an analogy.
FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (12 UP)

DEDUCTIVE REASONING
This is the ability to think logically by
applying a general rule to a particular
instance or situation.
 T H A N K Y O U

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