Piaget's Cognitive Stages

Question 1

Schemas

Answer 1

A pattern of thought/behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them.

1) Assimilation - take new information to fit our existing schemas
2) Accommodation - change our schemas to fit new infomation

Question 2

1) Sensorimotor Stage (birth-2 yrs)

Answer 2

Experiencing the world through the senses

1) Object Permanence
- Things and people continue to exist even if we can’t see them

2) Stranger Anxiety
- An understanding of who is trusted and unfamiliar

Question 3

2) Preoperational (2-6 yrs)

Answer 3

Representing things with words/images

1) Pretend play
- Use of the child’s imagination to take on new roles, identities, and give life to inanimate objects

2) Egocentrism
- inability to see from other POVs

Question 4

3) Concrete Operational (6-11 yrs)

Answer 4

Thinking logically about concrete events

1) Conservation
- Things = same size and volume even if the shape changes

2) Mathematical transformation
- Child begins to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc.

Question 5

4) Formal Operation (12-adulthood yrs)

Answer 5

Thinking about hypothetical events and abstract concepts

1) Abstract logic
- thinking beyond concrete facts (i.e.: skepticism, existentialism, the future, etc.)

2) Mature moral reasoning
- Thinking beyond the set rules and expectations