Cognitive development

Question 1

Jean Piaget

Answer 1

suggested that children around the world proceed through a series of four stages in a fixed
order:

1. Sensorimotor Stage
2. Preoperational Stage
3. Concrete operational
4. Formal operational

Question 2

Cognitive development

Answer 2

is the process by which a child’s understanding of the world changes as a function of age and experience.

Question 3

Sensorimotor Stage

Answer 3

(Birth to 2 Years)

Children’s understanding of
the world is based primarily on touching, sucking, chewing, shaking, and manipulating objects.

Infants have no awareness of objects or people that are not immediately present at a given moment, lacking what Piaget calls object permanence: the awareness that objects (and people) continue to exist even if they are out of sight).

Question 4

object permanence

Answer 4

the awareness that objects (and people) continue to exist even if they are out of sight).

Object permanence is critical development during the sensorimotor stage.

Question 5

Preoperational Stage

Answer 5

(2 to 7 Years)

The most important development at this stage is the
use of language.

Children develop internal representational systems
that allow them to describe people, events, and feelings.

Question 6

egocentric thought

Answer 6

The preoperational child uses egocentric thought

a way of thinking in which the child views the world
entirely from his or her own perspective.

Question 7

Preoperational children think

Answer 7

that everyone shares
their own perspective and knowledge.

Question 8

Preoperational children are unable to understand

Answer 8

the principle of conservation, which is the knowledge
that quantity is unrelated to the arrangement and physical appearance of objects.

Question 9

Children who have not mastered the principle of conservation

Answer 9

assume that the volume of a liquid increases when it is poured from a short, wide container to a tall, thin one.

Question 10

Concrete Operational Stage

Answer 10

(7 to 12 Years)

The beginning of this stage is
marked by mastery of the principle of conservation.

However, there are still some aspects of conservation (such as conservation of weight
and volume) that are not fully understood for several years

During the concrete operational stage, children develop the ability to think in a more logical manner, and they begin to overcome some of the egocentrism characteristic of the
preoperational period.

Question 11

Formal Operational Stage

Answer 11

(12 Years to Adulthood)

This stage produces a new kind of thinking, which is abstract, formal, and
logical.

Thinking is no longer tied to events that are observed in the environment but
makes use of logical techniques to resolve problems.

Moreover, it appears that many individuals never reach this stage at all (most studies show that only 40 to 60% of college students and adults fully reach it, with some estimates running as low as 25% in the general population).