What are Piaget’s 4 stages of development?
The Piaget’s stages of development they are four:
Sensory motor stage (0 to 2 years)
Pre operational stage (from two to seven years old)
Concrete operations stage (from seven to eleven years old)
Formal operations stage (from eleven years onwards)
These phases, also known as Piaget’s stages or stages, were the product of the research of the Swiss psychologist and researcher. Jean Piagetwho proposed a theory about cognitive development in humans that prevails to this day.
For Piaget, the development of intelligence begins in childhood and has four stages with defined ages and characteristics.
Sensory motor stage (birth to two years)
It is the phase in which the child begins to interact with the outside world, becoming interested in the stimuli it provides.
Among other notable characteristics of this stage of development, the following stand out:
Innate ability to distinguish speech of other types of sounds
Communication through crying during the first year of life.
Pronunciation of first words and short sentences from 12 months.
Interest in recreational activities that generate sensory reactions (tickling, bright colors, songs or sounds, etc.)
Repetition of activitiesas a way to better understand what is happening in the outside world (repeatedly throwing a toy, pulling on a blanket, etc.).
See also Learning.
Pre-operational stage (from two to seven years old)
This stage of cognitive development, characterized by the boy or girl’s entry into the formal educational system, involves the development of logic and the use of categories to classify objects and reality.
Some events typical of this phase are:
First social interactions outside the family context.
Vocabulary expansion (due to social interaction and school learning).
Development of empathy and the ability to interpret roles, separating them from reality.
Egocentric thinking (focused on your needs).
The child is very curious to understand the worldso he usually asks the “why” of things.
Concrete operations (from seven to eleven years old)
In this phase of development, children begin to learn and put into practice simple mathematical operations that stimulate their logical thinking (2+2=4). Other advances can also be seen, such as:
Ability to be empathetic (can understand how other people feel).
Thought development logical at an early stage.
Abstract thinking is not developedwhich prevents them from understanding complex topics.
See also Childhood.
Formal operations (from eleven years onwards)
The last stage of cognitive development runs from pre-adolescence to adulthood. In this phase it is possible to notice progress in several aspects:
Development of a greater capacity to generate abstract conclusions from logical thinking.
Understanding the existence of different ways of thinking to yours, especially during the early years of adolescence.
From this stage of development, children begin to formulate hypotheses for themselves.even about aspects of reality that they are still unaware of.
See also Stages of human development.
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
In the 19th century, the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget proposed a theory that had a great impact on behavioral sciences. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development states that human intelligence has phases with defined characteristics.. And that the development of these cognitive abilities begins from the moment of birth.
For Piaget, each stage of development helps to structure the next, making the child acquire more and more abilities and skills, expanding his or her cognitive capacity in different aspects: sensory experience, language, logical thinking, social interaction, etc.
However, although Piaget’s theory of cognitive development describes certain types of progress according to age, it is not a rigid approach, since each child has their own process. Therefore, just because a child does not reach a milestone at a specific age does not mean that he will not achieve it later.
The factors that influence cognitive development are multiple, and range from the infant’s thinking scheme, his interaction with the environment and external stimuli, etc. Therefore, there are multiple reasons why a child could fall behind with respect to the evolution of her cognitive abilities.
See also: