Piaget's stages of intellectual development Flashcards
what are the stages of intellectual development in order
- sensorimotor stage (approximately 0-2 years)
- pre-operational stage
- stage of concrete to operations
- stage of frontal operations
when does the sensorimotor stage occur
approximately 0-2 years
what is the sensorimotor stage
according to Piaget, a baby focus is on physical sensations and developing some basic physical co-ordination
Children learn by trial and error that they can deliberately move their body in particular ways, and eventually that they can move other objects
The baby also develops an understanding during the first 2 years that other people are separate objects and acquire some basic language
what happens 8 months into the sensorimotor stage
object permanence
what is object permanence
understanding that objects still exist when they are out of sight
how did Piaget observe object permanence and what was his findings
Piaget observed babies looking at objects as they were removed from sight throughout the first year
He noted that before wight months, children immediately switched their attention away from the object once it was out of sight
around 8 months they would continue to look for it. This led Piaget to believe that it was at this age that children understood that objects continue to exist when removed from view
what stages does the pre-operational stage occur
approximately around 2-7 years
what happens to a child t 2 years
the toddler is mobile and can use language but still lacks reasoning ability
This means that they display some characteristic error in reasoning
what occurs in the pre-operational stage
conservation
egocentrism
what is conservation
conservation is the basic mathematical understanding that quantity remains constant even when the appearance of an object changes
how did Piaget demonstrate conservation
He placed two identical rows of counters side by side
Even young children correctly reasoned that each row of counters had the same number
When two containers are placed side by side with the contents at the same height, most children spotted that they contain the same volume.
However, if the liquid is poured into a taller thinner vessel, younger children typically believed there is more liquid in the taller vessel
what were the findings from his conservation study
- when the counters in one of the rows were pushed together, pre - operational children struggled to conserve and usually said there were fewer counters
what is egocentrism
egocentrism is to see the world only from one-s own point of view
Piaget and Inhelder conducted a “three mountain task” to test egocentrism
what is the “three mountain task”
children were shown three moutains, each with a different feature:
-a cross
-a house
-snow
A doll was placed at the side of the model so that it faced the scene from a different angle to the child
The child was asked what the doll would “see” from a range of pictures
what were the findings of the “three mountain task”
Pre-operational children tended to find this difficult and often chose the picture that matched the scene from their own point of view
what is class inclusion
the idea that objects fall into categories
most early pre-operational stage children begin to understand the classification so they cal classify retrievers as dogs
how was class inclusion studied
Piaget and Inhelder (1964) showed 7-8 years old children 5 dogs and 2 cats and asked:
“Are there more dogs or animals”
the children tended to respond more dogs
what are the findings of the class inclusion
younger children can’t simultaneously see a dog as a member of the dog class and the animal class
Therefore, children under the age of 7 struggle with the more advanced skill of class inclusion, the idea that classifications have subsets
when does the concrete operations stage happen
7-11 years
what can children do when they reach the concrete operation stage
most children:
- conserve
- perform better tasks of egocentrism and class inclusion
they have better reasoning abilities
what can children not do in the concrete operation
although children have better reasoning abilities - operations
These are strictly concrete operations meaning they can be only applied to physical objects in the child’s presence
They still struggle to reason about abstract ideas and to imagine objects or situations they cannot see
Those more advanced abilities appear in the final stage of formal operations
when does the formal operations stage occur
11+
what occurs in the formal operational stage
Piaget believed that from about 11 years of age, children became capable of formal reasoning
This means that children become able to focus on the form of an argument and not be distracted by its content
how can we test formal operations
formal reasoning can be tested by means of syllogisms e.g.
“all yellow cats have two heads. I have a yellow cat called Charlie. How many heads does Chalie have?”
