Piagets Theories

Accoring to Piaget there are four stages of Cognitive Development. The first stage is Sensorimotor, which is birth to 2 years old. The second is Preoperational, which is 2 to 7 years old. The third is Concrete Operational, which is 7 to 12 years old. The last one is Formal Operational, which is 12 years old to adulthood. Throughout this paper I will discuss these stages and give examples from my own life.

The first stage is sensorimotor. This occurs from birth to age 2. This is where the infant uses only their senses and motor abilities to adapt to the world surrounding them. In the beginning, they only have the involuntary reflexes to interact with objects and people. For example, I remember when my nephew was born and I went to his house when he was only 2 weeks old and he was able to grab a hold of my finger and start sucking on it. This shows the simple reflex of grasping and sucking which occurs from birth to 2 months. As this stage progresses the infant’s senses and motor skills grow stronger and stronger. Therefore in the end of stage the child develops object permanance. Object permanence is the knowledge that an object exsists even when it is not in sight. For example, I would play with my nephew by hiding his stuffed animals under a blanket and see if he would look underneath it. When he was about 4 months old he wouldn’t react but when he was about a year and a half he would. This shows object permanance.

The second stage is Preoperational, this occurs from age 2 to 7 years old. At this time the infant develops concepts and language. When the child develops concepts and language they don’t only have to rely on senses and motor skills they can now depend on asking questions and explore the world in depth. But they can only think about acutal physical objects, they can’t handle theoretical reasoning. The child doesn’t understand the concept of conservation. They only tend to focus on one aspect of the object which is called centration. For example, I was babysitting my neighbors daughter, Meghan, and I was making us lunch. I made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but when I cut them I cut one in half and the other into fours. When I asked her which one she wanted of course she picked the one cut into fours. She was 5 years old and this shows the 2nd stage clearly.

The third stage is Concrete