Piaget's Four Stages of Development

Question 1

Brief description of how Piaget became interested in children’s development

Answer 1

Piaget always had an interest in how children’s minds worked, he observed his nephew and daughter which inspired his curiosity of the child mind. When translating intelligence tests from French to English, Piaget began to question children’s wrong answers and why they were incorrect

Question 2

Piaget’s book

Answer 2

‘La Naissance de l’intelligence chez l’enfant’, published in 1936

Question 3

What is Piaget’s theory?

Answer 3

Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development

Question 4

What did Piaget believe regarding children’s minds?

Answer 4

Jean Piaget argued that children’s minds are not miniature versions of adults, but developing organisms that are adapting to their environment and always learning. Piaget believed children did this through use of schemata.

Question 5

What are schemata (schema)?

Answer 5

Schemata is a basic unit of intelligence that is always organising old information and new, it tries to develop information and adapts it for future experiences, helping people to understand the world.

Question 6

Do infants have schemata?

Answer 6

Yes. It is believed that infants are born with a basic schemata that change and adapt with age. For example, sucking.

Question 7

What is Assimilation?

Answer 7

Person interprets new ideas or experiences to fit existing schemes.

Assimilation occurs when we modify or change new information to fit into our schemas (what we already know). It keeps the new information or experience and adds to what already exists in our minds.

Question 8

What is accommodation?

Answer 8

Person changes existing schemes to fit new ideas or experiences..

Accommodation is when we restructure or modify what we already know so that new information can fit in better.

Question 9

What causes cognitive disequilibrium?

Answer 9

New experiences causes cognitive disequilibrium and a child must accommodate to gain equilibrium back.

Question 10

What causes Equilibrium?

Answer 10

When successful assimilating information the child gains equilibrium.

Question 11

Order of Schematic learning

Answer 11

Assimilation

Equilibrium

New environments

Disequilibrium

Accommodation

Question 12

What are Piaget’s Four Stages of Development in order and ages

Answer 12

There are four main stages of cognitive development in a child:
Sensorimotor (birth to 2 years old)
Preoperational (2 years old to 7 years old)
Concrete operational (7 years old to 11 years old)
Formal operational (11 years onward through adulthood).

Question 13

What are the six substages/levels of the sensorimotor stage

Answer 13

Reflexes (0-1 month)
(Sensation) Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months)
(Cause and Reaction) Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months)
(Intent and effect object permanence) Coordination of Reactions (8-12 months)
(Trial and Error) Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months)
(Symbolism of understanding) Early Representational Thought (18-24 months)

Question 14

What is the Reflexes (0-1 months) stage?

Answer 14

The child understands the environment purely through inborn reflexes such as sucking and looking. For example, if you brush a baby’s mouth or cheek with your finger it will suck reflexively.

Question 15

What is the Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months) stage?

Answer 15

This substage involves coordinating sensation and new schemas. For example, a child may suck his or her thumb by accident and then later intentionally repeat the action. These actions are repeated because the infant finds them pleasurable.

Question 16

What is Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months) the stage?

Answer 16

This substage involves coordinating sensation and new schemas. For example, a child may suck his or her thumb by accident and then later intentionally repeat the action. These actions are repeated because the infant finds them pleasurable.

Question 17

What is the Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months) stage?

Answer 17

During this substage, the child becomes more focused on the world and begins to intentionally repeat an action in order to trigger a response in the environment. For example, a child will purposefully pick up a toy in order to put it in his or her mouth.

Question 18

What is the Coordination of Reactions (8-12 months) stage?

Answer 18

During this substage, the child starts to show clearly intentional actions. The child may also combine schemas in order to achieve a desired effect. Children begin exploring the environment around them and will often imitate the observed behavior of others. The understanding of objects also begins during this time and children begin to recognize certain objects as having specific qualities. For example, a child might realize that a rattle will make a sound when shaken.

Question 19

What is the Tertiary Circular Reactions stage?

Answer 19

Children begin a period of trial-and-error experimentation during the fifth substage. For example, a child may try out different sounds or actions as a way of getting attention from a caregiver.

Question 20

What is the Early Representational Thought stage?

Answer 20

Children begin to develop symbols to represent events or objects in the world in the final sensorimotor substage. During this time, children begin to move towards understanding the world through mental operations rather than purely through actions.

Question 21

Refuting title and researchers for object permanence

Answer 21

RENCE BAILLARGEON
ELIZABETH S. SPELKE
STANLEY WASSERMAN
Object permanence in five-month-old infants*

Question 22

Bower’s 19… experiment that resembles Renee’s

Answer 22

1967

Question 23

What is the refuting evidence of Object Permanence in the sensorimotor stage

Answer 23

‘Object permanence in five-month-old infants’

RENEE BAILLARGEON

Question 24

Explain the ‘Object permanence in five-month-old infants’ refuting evidence. How does it refute, when was it taken place, why is it relevant and important?

Answer 24

Baillargeon conducted an experiment that resembled Bower’s 1967 experiment, the researchers used two events. A possible event and a impossible event. She wanted to test if infants at 5 months showed an understanding of the solidity principle, thereby having gained object permanence. The method used a box on a wooden screen, in the possible event the screen would raise then return like a drawbridge, in the impossible event the screen would appear to move through the box. Her results showcased that infants as young as five months showed visible confusion and thus an understanding of object permanence. This experiment then leads to the question of how accurate Piaget’s substages of sensorimotor are, he argued that children at five months did not yet show object permanence but this experiment showcases that they can. This is relevant to the sensorimotor stage because it shows that Piaget’s experiment could be flawed as it isn’t stimulating enough and children could lose interest, the repetition of putting the toy under the same blanket the A and B error also suggests infants are led to believe that one blanket will have the toy even if they know otherwise.

Question 25

What is the supporting evidence for Object Permanence?

Answer 25

Blanket and Ball study 1954
Piaget wanted to understand when object permanence begins in an infant. He conducted an experiment in which he’d hide a ball under a blanket and see if a child would look for it. The experiment also noted the A not B error in which the infant is presented with two blankets, toy hidden placed under blanket repetitively then switched which led to infant reaching for the wrong blanket. The results found that infants under 8 months would not look for the ball and act as though the toy had completely disappeared, infants under 8 months lack the mental imager to understand that the toy still exists. This is vital evidence that showcases Piaget’s basis of when an infant gains object permanence in the sensorimotor stage, and aligns with the ages in the substages of the sensorimotor stage. Showcases that infants under 8 months lack perception awareness in the A not B error.

Question 26

Brief description of concrete operational stage?

Answer 26

The concrete operational stage is the third stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. This period lasts around seven to eleven years of age, and is characterized by the development of organized and rational thinking.

Question 27

Concrete Operational stage subcategories

Answer 27

Children gain the abilities of conservation (number, area, volume, orientation), reversibility, seriation, transitivity and class inclusion. However, although children can solve problems in a logical fashion, they are typically not able to think abstractly or hypothetically.

Question 28

Refuting against Concrete Operational

Answer 28

Rose and Blank argued that when a child gives the wrong answer to a question, we repeat the question in order to hint that their first answer was wrong. This is what Piaget did by asking children the same question twice in the conservation experiments, before and after the transformation. When Rose and Blank replicated this but asked the question only once, after the liquid had been poured, they found many more six-year-olds gave the correct answer. This shows children can conserve at a younger age than Piaget claimed. This refutes the idea that younger children cannot understand conservation.

Question 29

Year of Rose and Blank

Answer 29

1974

Question 30

Sensorimotor year

Answer 30

1952

Question 31

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development Year

Answer 31

1958 - 1969

Question 32

Who was Lawrence Kohlberg

Answer 32

Lawrence Kohlberg was a psychologist who developed one of the best known moral development theories of today, he built his theory on the basis of Piaget’s Moral Development theory.

Question 33

What theory did Kohlberg build his own on?

Answer 33

Piaget only had two stages that Kohlberg based his theory on, Heteronomous Morality (5-9 year) and Autonomous Morality (9-10 years)

Question 34

What three levels are in Kohlberg’s Theory and how many substages are in them?

Answer 34

There are three main levels with two substages per each level. Preconventional Morality, Postconventional Morality and Conventional Morality

Question 35

Two Substages of the Preconventional Level?

Answer 35

Obedience and Punishment, and Individualism and Exchange

Question 36

What is Obedience and Punishment?

Answer 36

The Obedience and Punishment stage is the first stage in childhood moral development, it is the stage most young children use though some adults can use this too. Rules in this stage are absolute to whoever is in the stage, and they follow them to avoid punishment.

Question 37

What is Individualism and Exchange?

Answer 37

The Individualism and Exchange stage is when children learn individual points of view and judge based on individual needs.

Question 38

What is the Conventional Level of Moral Development?

Answer 38

The Conventional level is the stage in which adolescents and adults learn to accept social rules, roles and conformity to social norms. It is the level of morality where we accept authority.

Question 39

Two Substages of the Conventional Level

Answer 39

Developing Good Interpersonal Relationships

Maintaining Social Order

Question 40

What is the stage Developing Good Interpersonal Relationships?

Answer 40

Developing Good Interpersonal Relationships stage is the stage whereby we learn to conform to social roles and norms (good girl, good boy orientation), being nice and consideration how how choices influence relationships.

Question 41

What is the Maintaining Social Order Stage?

Answer 41

Maintaining Social Order is the stage whereby people aim to maintain social order and consider how judgements impact society as a whole, maintaining law and order is important and doing ones duty.

Question 42

What is the Postconventional Level of Morality?

Answer 42

The Postconventional Morality Level is the part in which people begin to understand complex and abstract ideas of morality.

Question 43

What is the Postconventional Substages?

Answer 43

Social Contract and Individual Rights

Universal Principles

Question 44

What is the Social Contract and Individual Right stage?

Answer 44

Social Contract and Individual Rights is the stage whereby people will accept differing opinions, beliefs and values. Rules of Law and society are important but they should be agreed upon by all these standards.

Question 45

What is the Universal Principle stage?

Answer 45

At this stage people develop moral reasoning based on universal ethical ideas, people will follow their own sense of justice even if it conflicts with rule and laws.

Question 46

Supporting Research for Kohlberg?

Answer 46

Longitudinal Study 1957

Question 47

What is the longitudinal study?

Answer 47

Kohlberg’s longitudinal study was to emphasise how children’s morality develop, how the six stages formed a sequence, and one could not be missed. His intentions with the longitudinal study was to gain more evidence for his theory. Kohlberg observed and studied 58 boys between 10, 13 and 16 from Chicago. The aim was to observe their moral development into their adulthood. The boys would take part in a 45 minute interview. As they aged Kohlberg focused on two boys Tommy and Richard, and found that they had in fact moved through the stages of development like Kohlberg had wanted. This is important as it supports Kohlberg’s theory, without this there would be no basis to the theory.

Question 48

What was Gilligans refuting evidence?

Answer 48

Gilligan argued that Kohlberg’s was in favour of young white males, women would only reach stage 3 whereas men would reach stage 4. It adheres more to men’s morality than women’s and focuses too much of justice morality and does not consider caring morality. Gilligan’s study focused on asking women morality questions during interviews, questions about abortions for example to get a perspective of women’s morality. This is relevant as it provides evidence that Kohlberg’s theory is too focused on men, and ignores women’s morality.

Question 49

What year did Gilligan conduct her study?

Answer 49

1982

Question 50

Substages of the Preoperational Stage

Answer 50

Symbolic function (ages 2-4)

Intuitive thought (ages 4-7)

Question 51

Formal Operational Stages

Answer 51

Hypothetico Deductive Reasoning

Abstract Thought