John Piaget

Jean Piaget

Throughout history, many people have made amazing contributions to the school of

psychology.One of these was Jean Piaget and his theories on the cognitive development stages.

Jean Piaget was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Here he studied at the university and received a doctorate in biology at the age of 22. Following his schooling he became increasingly

interested in psychology and began much research and studying of the subject. From this

research Piaget created a broad theoretical system for the development of cognitive abilities.

His work, in this way, was much like that of Sigmund Freud, but Piaget emphasized the ways

that children think and acquire knowledge.

Piaget referred to his theory as genetic epistemology. This is defined as the study of the

acquisition, modification, and growth of abstract ideas and the abilities as on the basis of an

inherited or biological substrate, an intelligent functioning that makes the growth of abstract

thought possible.(Ginsburg 5) Piaget derived his theories from directly observing children and

by questioning them about their thinking. He was less interested in whether the children

answered correctly than how they arrived at their answers. Piaget viewed intelligence as an

extension of biological adaptation that has a logical structure. One of the central points of his

theories was that of epigenesis. This is that growth and development occur in a series of stages,

each of which is built on the successful mastery of the previous stage.(Furth 33)

Piaget described four major stages leading to the capacity for adult thought. Each stage is a

prerequisite for the following stage, but the rate at which different children move through

different stages varies with their heredity and environment. Piaget’s four stages are the

sensorimotor stage, the stage of preoperational thought, the stage of concrete operations and

the stage of formal operations.

The first stage that Piaget felt all children go through was the sensorimotor stage. This stage

occurs between birth and two years of age. This is the stage when Infants begin to learn through

sensory observation, and they gain control of their motor functions through activity, exploration

and manipulation of the environment. (Furth 29) From birth, biology and experience work

together to produce learned behavior. As infants become more mobile, one action is built upon

another action, forming new and more complex actions. Infants’ spatial, visual, and tactile

worlds expand during this period in which children actively interact with their environment and

use previously learned behaviors.

The critical achievement of this period is the development of object permanence. This is the

indication that a child has the ability to understand that objects have an existence independent of

the child’s involvement with them. Infants learn to differentiate themselves from the world and

are able to maintain a mental image of an object, even when it is not present and visible.

(Rotman 40)

At about 18 months, infants begin to develop mental symbols and to use words. This process is

called symbolization. Infants are able to create a visual or mental image of an object to stand for

or signify the real object. The attainment of object permanence marks the transition from the

sensorimotor stage to the preoperational stage.

During the stage of peoperational thought, children use language and symbols more