Piaget's stages of intellectual development

• 4 stages

  • Piaget explained cognitive development as a set of stages
  • each stage is characterised by a different level of reasoning
  • exact ages vary but all children go through the same sequence of stages
  • sensorimotor, pre-operational (pre-conceptual and intuitive), concrete operations, formal operations
• sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)

  • a baby's focus is on physical sensations and basic co-ordination between what they see and body movement
  • babies also develop object permanence = understanding that objects still exist when they are out of sight
  • before 8 mo = babies immediately switch their attention away from an object once it is out of sight
  • after 8 mo = babies continue to look for the object, suggests that babies understand that objects continue to exist when removed from view
  • Piaget use the blanket and ball study to test this theory
  • baby searched for the ball = object permanence
• pre-operational stage (2-7 years)

  • within the pre-operational stage =pre-conceptual stage (2-4 years) AND intuitive stage (4-7 years)
  • babies have a lack of reasoning abilities, including = conservation, egocentrism, class inclusion
  • symbolic thoughts, imitation, make-believe play
• conservation (pre-op stage)

  • definition = the understanding that changing the appearance of an object does not change its mass or quantity or volume
  • was tested by = pouring water from a wider glasses into a tall, thin one, THEN asking the children if the two glasses held the same amount of liquid
  • children in the pre-operational stage said no (because they looked different)
  • they were not able to understand that quantity remains constant even when the appearance of objects changes
• egocentrism (pre-op stage)

  • definition = the child can only see things from their own perspective and can’t understand the perspective of other people
  • was tested using = the 3 mountains task, each mountain had a different feature (a cross, a house or snow)
  • a doll was placed on top of one of the mountains and the children were asked to select pictures of what the doll could see
  • pre-operational children tended to find it difficult to select a picture that showed a view other than their own (the dolls)
• class inclusion (pre-op stage)

  • definition = the understanding that things can be sub-sets of other things (the ability to classify objects into two or more categories simultaneously)
  • was tested using = showed a picture of 5 dogs and 2 cats to children and asked them 'Are there more dogs or animals?'
  • pre-operational children tended to claim that there were more dogs
  • they cannot simultaneously understand that a dog is a member of the dog class and the animal class
• concrete operations stage (7-11 years)

  • operations = the use of schema to perform mental actions (eg logical reasoning)
  • children have mastered conservation and are improving on egocentrism and class inclusion
  • HOWEVER = they are only able to reason or operate on physical objects in their presence (concrete operations) not abstractly
• formal operations stage (11+ years)

  • abstract reasoning develops = being able to think beyond the here and now. children can now focus on the form of an argument and not be distracted by its content
  • children in this stage are able to reason abstractly and hypothetically
  • example: (they can process syllogisms)
  • 'All yellow cats have 2 heads. I have a yellow cat called Charlie. How many heads does Charlie have?'
  • answer is 2 but younger children are distracted by the fact that cats don't have 2 heads (specific (concrete) facts)
  • ALSO = more interest/understanding of religion and philosophy
• limitation = Piaget's conservation research was flawed

  • Piaget's method may have led children to believe that something must have changed - or why would the researcher change the appearance of and then ask them if it was the same?
  • => confusion instead of lack of understanding
  • McGarrigle and Donaldson = used a 'naught teddy' who accidentally rearranged the counters
  • 72% of children under 7 correctly said the number remained the same
  • means that children aged 4-6 could conserve, as long as they were not put off by the way they were questioned
• limitation = class inclusion ability is questioned

  • Siegler and Svetina = carried out class inclusion tests and found that when 5-year-olds received feedback that pointed out subsets, they did develop an understanding of class inclusion
  • this was contrary to Piaget's belief that class inclusion was not possible until a child had reached the necessary intellectual development of 7 years of age
  • => Piaget underestimated the cognitive abilities of young children
• limitation = the assertions about egocentrism are not supported

  • Hughes = found that even at 3 1/2 years a child could position a boy doll in a model building with 2 intersecting walls so that the doll could not be seen by a policeman doll (the policeman doll study)
  • the 3 1/2 year olds could do this 90% of the time
  • 4 year olds could do this 90% of the time when there were 2 police officers to hide from
  • suggests that the manner of Piaget's studies and tasks led him to underestimate children's intellectual abilities
• counterpoint to lack of support for Piaget's assertions

  • in all of Piaget's studies, the criticisms relate to the age at which the particular ability appears
  • the sequence of the stages is not challenged and Hughe's evidence (on egocentrism) shows that there is progression
  • => the core principles of Piaget's stages remain unchallenged BUT the methods he used meant the timing of his stages was wrong
• extra evaluation = domain general and domain specific

  • Piaget believed that cognitive development is a single process (domain-general)
  • different abilities develop in tandem = which is the basis for teaching children in age groups
  • HOWEVER = the existence of learning difficulties (such as autism) in which some abilities develop much faster than others
  • suggest cognitive develop is domain-specific
  • => it appears that development is best seen as domain-specific which may have implications for education
• limitation = culturally bias

  • Piaget used educated, middle-classed families in his studies
  • those from working class/poorer families may develop differently
• Limitation = researcher bias

  • Piaget put forward a theory and then carried out research to prove his theory
• strength = RWA

  • Guides development of age appropriate educational syllabus