PIAGET'S stage theory Flashcards
What are the 5 main domains of development
physical cognitive psychological emotional linguistic
Sensori- Motor stage- 6 stages
This is birth to 2 years.
reflective birth
sensori motor stage- stage 1 reflective birth stage
BIRTH- 1 MONTH
infants use their innate reflexes to understand the world. These include sucking and grasping. For example a child will innately suck or latch onto a nipple. These help to develop their sensorimotor intelligence
Sensori motor stage- stage 2 primary circular reactions
1- 4 MONTHS
original reflexes become sensorimotor schemes
accommodation occurs- greater range of actions
begins to coordinate their senses and motor behaviors
So an infant will discover (accidentally) a new behaviors/experience based off their motor activity and will then repeat this- e.g. thumb sucking this is a primary circular reaction- we call it primary as it focuses on the body of the infant.
Some limited anticipation occurs e.g a baby will stop crying if hungry when they see their mother as they think she will feed them
Sensori motor stage- stage 3 secondary circular reactions
4-10 MONTHS
Infants become more aware of the external world and their behaviors shift to reach and grasp for objects (so they become secondary) - we say these reactions are still circular as they still repeat it.
They start to understand that their actions have reactions for example hitting a toy makes that thing move- these actions are still not intentional!
Infants are learning that they are separate to the rest of the world
Sensori motor stage- stage 4 coordination and secondary schemes
10-12 MONTHS
Begin to engage in goal directed behaviors- deliberately combine schemes to achieve goals.
Infants in this stage will be able to solve object permanence tasks so they would lift the cover and grasp the object (still make the A not B error)
Sensori motor stage - stage 5 tertiary circular reactions
12-18 MONTHS
Can walk and searches for originality in the world-
they develop an understanding of action and reaction for example pushing a owl of the table will make it crash on the floor- the child will experiment with these new ideas e.g. push the bowl off the table in a different direction.
HERE THEY SOLVE THE A NOT B ERROR
They are imitating so have a larger amount of actions
These actions may have pleasing results so the child will repeat the action to receive the pleasant response again.
Sensori motor stage- stage 6 beginning of thought
18-24 MONTHS
Children begin to form mental representations- this is shown as they can display deferred imitation which is copying someones behaviors some time after it has been observed.
As they can endure mental representations they no longer have to go through trial and error as they can experiment in their mind.
Also shown as at this age they can start to make pretend play
Problems with Piaget’s sensori motor stage
evidence that deferred imitation and object permanence occurs much earlier.
Problems with sensori motor stage evidence - Ballargeon- 1987
Tested object permanence-
Tested on 5 months old (contradicting PIAGET)
used a violation of expectancy procedure- the child will look at the object until it is no longer new to them- There was a drawbridge that moved through 180 degrees. An object was then placed in the way. the possible event the drawbridge stopped at the event to which is could be passed through the block (object) and ini the impossible event it appeared to pass through showing the box ‘disappeared’. The findings showed that the child looked significantly longer at the impossible event as they were surprised meaning they must have had expectations of where the object was to be so had known the object existed behind the drawbridge
Problems with sensori motor stage evidence- Meltzoff and Moore 1994
tested Deferred imitation
6 week old infants
they were shown 2 gestures; an open mouth and tongue out
the day after they were shown a blank face and the infants repeated the behaviors from the previous day
object permanence throughout the sensori-motor stage
At 4 months- no attempt to find the hidden object
At 4-9 months- visually search for the object
At 9 months- search and retrieve
