✓ Piaget's Stages of Intellectual Development Flashcards
How many Stages are there?
4 Stages
What is the First stage called?
Sensorimotor Stage
What Age is the First stage?
0-2 years
What are the Characteristics of the First stage?
- children learn by trial & error and through their senses
- during 0-2 they acquire basic language skills
What Age do children develop Object Permanence?
at 8 months they develop object permanence
What is Object Permanence?
the understanding that objects still exist when they are out of sight
What is the Second stage called?
Preoperational Stage
What Age is the Second stage?
2-7 years
What are the Characteristics of the Second stage?
- children can use language but still lack reasoning
- lack of conservation skills
- lack of class inclusion skills
- thinking is egocentric
What is Conservation?
the ability to realise that quantity remains the same even when the appearance of an object or group of object changes
e.g. volume of liquid stays the same in different size beakers
& number of counters stays the same when spread out/close together
How was Conservation tested?
Liquid Conservation Task:
- same vol. of water
- one poured into tall, thin beaker
- children said more liquid in taller beaker
+
counters task
… vs. .____.____.
What is Egocentrism?
the child’s tendency to only be able to see the world from their own point of view
- this applies to both physical objects & arguments in which a child can only appreciate their own perspective
How was Egocentrism tested?
3 Mountains Task:
- ppts saw 1 side & then swapped w doll
- asked to describe what doll can see
- unable to ‘see’ from the doll’s perspective (described what they now saw)
What is Class Inclusion?
an advanced classification skill in which we recognise that classes of objects have subsets and are themselves subsets of larger classes
How was Class Inclusion tested?
Dogs & Cats Task:
- shown pic of 3 dogs & 1 cat
- asked more dogs or animals?
- children would say dogs
What is the Third stage called?
Concrete Operational Stage
What Age is the Third stage?
7-11 years
What are the Characteristics of the Third stage?
- egocentric thinking decreases
- they develop conservation & class inclusion skills
- they have logical thinking but this is only based on concrete objects (things that they can see)
- not yet developed abstract thinking
What is the Fourth stage called?
Formal Operational Stage
What Age is the Fourth stage?
12 years +
What are the Characteristics of the Fourth stage?
- develop formal reasoning
- can understand abstract ideas
- can consider hypothetical situations without concrete objects in front of them
What is Formal Reasoning?
when children can focus on the form of an argument & not be distracted by its content
e.g. with syllogisms
‘all yellow cats have 2 heads. Charlie is a yellow cat. how many heads does Charlie have?’
P found that younger children would be distracted & say that 2-headed cats don’t exist
What are the 2 studies that have Contradictory Evidence?
Naughty Teddy
- McGarrigle & Donaldson
Police Dolls
- Hughes
What was the Naughty Teddy study?
- replicated counter conservation task
- naughty teddy moved counters (not researcher)
What were the Results of Naughty Teddy?
62% of 4-6 year olds said correct answer
(could conserve)
= contradicts P’s Conservation research
What was the Police Dolls study?
- replicated 3 mountain task
- 2 police dolls & 1 boy doll
- child had to put boy doll where couldn’t be seen
What were the Results of Police Dolls?
90% of 3.5 year olds could take perspective & put in correct place
= contradicts P’s Egocentrism research
