Piaget: Stages of Intellectual Development Flashcards
What does developing in stages show?
It shows that all children develop at the same rate so there are innate processes in development.
What is the order of the stages?
Sensorimotor (0-2 years)
Pre-operational (2-7 years)
Concrete Operational (7-11 years)
Formal Operational (11+)
Describe the Sensorimotor Stage.
Occurs between 0-2 years.
The focus is on physical sensations and developing basic body co-ordination.
Around 8 months the child understands ‘object permenance’ shown through the ball and blanket study.
Describe the ‘Ball and Blanket study’.
A child sees a ball being placed under a blanket. According to Piaget, if they are 8 months or older they will continue searching for the ball when it is out of sight as they understand ‘object permeance’.
Describe the Pre-operational Stage.
Approximately 2-7 years.
They understand 3 concepts: Conservation (quantity remains consistant despite appearance changing- liquid conservation task); Egocentrism (seeing the world from one’s own perspective only- 3 mountain task); Class Inclusion (objects fall into categories).
Describe the Stage of Concrete Operations.
Approximately 7-11 years.
Understand egocentrism and class inclusion and do better on tasks.
Still struggle with abstract ideas.
Describe the Stage of Formal Operations.
Approximately 11+ years.
Capable of formal reasoning (Smith et al).
Describe Smith et al’s study into formal reasoning.
‘All yellow cats have 2 heads. I have a yellow cat called Charlie. How many heads does he have?” Younger children get distracted by the content but around 11+ they could reason formally.
What’s one problem with Piaget’s stages being so prescriptive?
They under/over estimate children’s abilities. Modern studies have shown that pre-operationalised children are capable of understanding class inclusion and conservationism with the correct adult help.
What is an issue with Piaget’s work into conservationism.
It’s been suggested that the children partaking the ‘liquid conservationism’ thought they were meant to believe the amount of liquid had changed- why else would the experimenter change to appearance to ask if it was the same?
McGarrigle and Donaldson replicated the task with counters and found that 62% of 4-6 year olds could conserve if the wording didn’t put them off.
