Jean Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Very briefly describe Piaget’s stages of cognitive development and

explain what he meant by saying that young children are egocentric.

Use experimental evidence to consider this claim.

Cognitive development is what psychologists talk about when discussing

a child’s intellectual growth. Jean Piaget (1896 to 1980), a Swiss

psychologist developed a theory of cognitive development, which is

still much discussed and critiqued today. Providing a firm building

block to all work done in the study of child development and the

concept that young children are egocentric. Piaget’s stages are

divided into four main steps of cognitive development. Stage one

begins at birth and is completed at approximately two years; this is

called the period of sensorimotor intelligence. Second stage builds on

from the first at the age of about two years, the preoperational

period lasts for five years of the child’s life. From that the child

moves into the Concrete Operations stage, a stage which lasts to the

age of eleven. Finally a child will reach the fourth stage the period

of Formal operations aged eleven plus.

Piagets first stage of intellectual growth, the Sensimotor period can

be split into another six parts, each part can be tested by use of

simple experiments with babies. Object Permanence is understanding

that something any object is there weither or not the person can see

it. For example when we put an object such as a cup down on a table

and turn our back to it, it is rational to state that the cup will

still be exactly where it was left. Piaget’s theory stated that

babies within the Sensimotor pe...

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...e of formal operations the person is now able

to think hypothetically

In conclusion Piagets theory of cognitive development is backed up

with the experimental evidence given from experiments run with infants

and children. From birth to the stage of concrete operations the child

is termed egocentric. What Piaget meant by calling young children

egocentrics was that they are not selfish but have not yet attained

the ability to see things from another perspective.

Bibilography

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ed.). New York: W.W.Norton & Co.

Ginsburg,H.P.,Opper,S.(1988) Piagets Theory of intellectual

development,(3rd ed.). London:Prentice Hall International (UK).

Glover, J.A.,et.al.(1949).Educational psychology Principles and

Applications. Boston: Little Brown and Company.