Piagets Thoery Of Stages Of Intellectual Development Flashcards
What are Piaget’s 4 stages and the ages they occur in
Sensorimotor Stage - birth to 2 years
Pre Operational Stage - 2 to 7 years
Concrete Operational Stage - 7 to 11 years
Formal Operational Stage - 12 years plus
Stage 1 - Sensorimotor Stage
Thinking is based on sensations and motor movements rather than words. Children learn through trial and error and understand the world through their basic senses (mouths)
Core ability - object permanence - a child’s ability to know that objects continue to exist even though they can no longer be seen. They start to understand this at age 8 months
Sensorimotor Stage Key Study 1 - HIDDEN UNDER BLANKET
Piaget hid a toy under a blanket while the child was watching. He observed whether the child continued to search for the hidden toy. If the child searched for it, it was evidence they had object permanence
Results - infants younger than 8 months old immediately switched their attention from the object. They only began to search for the hidden toy at 8 months old
Sensorimotor Stage Key Study 2 - A NOT B
Piaget hid a toy under cover A with. 9 month old infants. After repeated successfull attempts at retrieving the toy, Piaget then hid the toy under cover B
Results - Infants still searched under cover A even though they watched the toy be hidden under cover B. Therefore 9 month old infants do not fully understand object permanence. By 2 years they can do A tasks but not B successfully
Stage 2 - Pre Operational Stage
Symbolism - allows children to think about objects, people or events that are physically present. In this stage children struggle with conservation - the ability to understand that if nothing has been added or taken away then the amount is the same despite a change of appearance. They are also egocentric - the inability to see or understand something from a viewpoint other than their own. They cannot understand the relationship between categories and subjects ( class inclusion)
Pre operational stage Key Study - VOLUME CONSERVATION
A child is given two identical glasses filled with the same amounts of liquid. The child is then asked if they have the same amount in and they will say yes. Then one is poured into a thinner and taller glass and they are asked the question again
Results - before 7 years they made errors and said that there were different amounts of liquid
After 7 years they were able to answer the conservation task questions correctly
Pre operational stage Key Study 2 - CONSERVATION QUANTITY
First.y two bits of clay are rolled into a ball and are equal in size. The child is asked if they are the same and they say yes. Then one ball is stretched into a longer shape and the researcher asks the child if they have the same or different amount.
Before 7 years the child says they are different amounts
After 7 years the child says they are the same
Pre operational Stage Key Study 3 - EGOCENTRISM MOUNTAINS
Piaget showed children a model of 3 mountains of different sizes and with different features eg a road, a house, a tree. The child was positioned in front of the model and a doll (different perspective) was sat in different positions around the mountain and the child was asked what the doll could see
Before 7 years - describe the mountain from their perspective not the dolls
After 7 years - describe the mountain from the dolls perspective as they can decentre
Pre operational stage Key Study - CLASS INCLUSION
Children are asked to classify objects into more than one category eg shown 5 dogs and 2 cats and are asked are there more dogs or animals
Before 7 years - stated more dogs as they can’t classify objects into sub categories
After 7 years - can classify objects into sub categories so stated more animals than dogs
Stage 3 - Concrete Operational Stage
Children are now better at stage 2 problems.
They have rigid thinking and struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts. They need concrete objects.
Concrete operational stage Study - FEATHER AND HAMMER
Children below and above ages 11 were told 2 hypothetical rules
Rule 1 - if you hit a glass with a hammer the glass will break
Rule 2 - if you hit a glass with a feather the glass will break
Below 11 they agreed with rule 1 but not rule 2
Above 11 agreed with rule 1 and 2
Stage 4 - Formal Operational Stage
Children can think abstractly, hypothetically, and systematically. They can use logical reasoning and won’t become distracted by concrete content. They become capable of seeing multiple potential solutions to problems. Piaget did not think everyone would get to this stage
