A2: Piaget - Sensorimotor Stage

Question 1

How do infants know the world in this stage?

Answer 1

• via immediate senses
• sight, taste, touch, sound (sensory) and the actions (motor) it performs

Question 2

What is the result of using immediate senses?

Answer 2

• infants invent ways to problem solve by opening, closing and moving objects between places

Question 3

What did Piaget believe about babies in this stage?

Answer 3

• that they have no way of remembering or thinking about the world until they are 18 months old

Question 4

How do we know that the sensorimotor stage is true?

Answer 4

• infants lack the understanding of object permanence
  for example:
• at 8 months olds, children search for objects but tend to search places they’ve seen the object hidden before
• at 5 months old, an object that was visually hidden is not searched for

Question 5

What is object permanence?

Answer 5

• the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen
• for example, playing peakaboo is entertaining