Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory

Jean Piaget
Swiss cognitive theorist Jean Piaget received his education in zoology, and his theory has a
distinct biological flavour. According to Piaget, human infants do not start out as cognitive
beings. Instead, out of their perceptual and motor activities, they build and refine
psychological structures—organised ways of making sense of experience that permit them to
adapt more effectively to the environment. Children develop these structures actively, using
current structures to select and interpret experiences, and modifying those structures to take
into account more subtle aspects of reality. Because Piaget viewed children as discovering, or
constructing, virtually all knowledge about their world through their own activity, his theory
is described as a constructivist approach to cognitive development.
● Cognition comes from the Latin word "cognoscere," which means "to know," "to
recognize," or "to understand." It refers to the mental process of gaining knowledge
and understanding through thinking, experience, and the senses.
● This includes all the mental actions like thinking, learning, and remembering.
● Children's thinking patterns are different from adults'.

Basic Characteristics of Piaget’s Stages

Piaget believed that children grow through four stages of cognitive development:
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. These stages
explain how a child’s learning and exploration gradually change into more complex, logical
thinking as they reach adolescence.

The stages have three key features:

- General theory of development: All parts of thinking (memory, language,
problem-solving) develop together and follow a similar path.
- Example: When a baby starts to recognize familiar faces (sensorimotor stage), their ability
to understand words and language also grows at the same time. This shows how different
aspects of thinking develop together.

- Invariant sequence: The stages always happen in the same order for every child, and none
of the stages can be skipped.
- Example: A child cannot learn abstract thinking (formal operational stage) without first
learning basic problem-solving skills, like figuring out which toy is larger (concrete
operational stage). They must go through each stage in order.

- Universal: These stages happen to all children, no matter where they live.
- Example: Children in different countries and cultures still show similar patterns of
learning, like learning how to count (concrete operational stage) before they can solve more
complex maths problems, like algebra (formal operational stage). This shows Piaget’s stages
apply universally (Piaget, Inhelder, & Szeminska, 1948/1960).

Piaget thought that these stages are linked to how the brain develops but recognized that a
child’s environment and genetics can affect how fast they move through the stages (Piaget,
1926/1928). For example, a child exposed to more learning opportunities might progress
more quickly through the stages.

Piaget’s Ideas About Cognitive Change

Piaget's cognitive development theory explains how children learn and adapt through
schemes, which are mental frameworks that help them make sense of their experiences.
These schemes evolve from simple actions, like a baby dropping objects, to more complex
mental strategies.

- Schemes: Mental structures or patterns for organising information. Example: A baby's

"dropping scheme" involves repeatedly dropping objects to understand their behaviour.
- Adaptation: The process of building and adjusting schemes through interaction with the
environment. It has two parts:
 - Assimilation: Using existing schemes to understand new experiences. Example: A
child sees a camel and calls it a "horse" because it fits their understanding of animals with
four legs.
- Accommodation: Adjusting or creating new schemes when new information
doesn't fit. Example: After noticing that camels are different from horses, the child revises the
scheme and calls it a "lumpy horse."
- Equilibration: The balance between assimilation and accommodation. When children
encounter something new (disequilibrium), they adjust their thinking until they return to a
stable understanding (equilibrium). Example: A child feels confused (disequilibrium) when
encountering a new animal but achieves equilibrium after updating their schemes.
- Organisation: The internal process of connecting and reorganising schemes to form a more
integrated cognitive system. Example: A child eventually links their "dropping" scheme with
"throwing" and "distance," creating a broader understanding of object movement.

These processes help children build increasingly complex and flexible ways of understanding
the world.

How piaget developed this theory

At the Binet Institute in the 1920s, Piaget observed that children's incorrect answers on
intelligence tests revealed they think in fundamentally different ways than adults. He believed
that children actively build their knowledge through experience, rather than passively
receiving information. Piaget emphasised that understanding how children reason requires
seeing the world from their perspective, as their thinking is unique and not just a lesser
version of adult logic.

PIAGET'S APPROACH
• Primary method was to ask children to solve problems and to question them about the
reasoning behind their solutions
• Discovered that children think in radically different ways than adults
• Proposed that development occurs as a series of 'stages' differing in how the world is
understood

SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (BIRTH-2)

In this stage, a child gains knowledge through direct sensory experiences and physical
actions, perceiving and manipulating objects without yet reasoning. As language develops,
symbols become internalized, and the child acquires object permanence—the understanding
that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible.

1. Reflexes: Newborns explore the world using reflexes like sucking and grasping, which
become more intentional over time.
2. Primary Circular Reactions: Infants (1-4 months) engage in repeated actions involving
their own body, such as vocalizations, discovering new behaviors by chance.
3. Secondary Circular Reactions: Infants (4-8 months) begin interacting with objects
deliberately, repeating actions to make things happen, like banging objects together.
4. Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions: Infants (8-12 months) combine actions
to achieve goals, using planning and coordination, like crawling to retrieve a toy.
5. Tertiary Circular Reactions: Toddlers (12-18 months) experiment with their environment
through trial and error, testing outcomes, much like little scientists.
6. Beginning of Representational Thought: The sensorimotor stage ends as toddlers (18-24
months) develop symbolic thought, solving problems mentally and engaging in pretend play,
marking the shift to preoperational thinking.

Object Permanence
Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are not
visible. Piaget proposed that infants lack this awareness, as seen in his studies where he
showed a toy to infants and then hid it under a blanket. Infants who developed object
permanence reached for the toy, indicating they knew it still existed, while others appeared
confused. Typically, this understanding is acquired by around 8 months of age.

Once toddlers grasp object permanence, they engage in games like hide-and-seek and
recognize that people will return after leaving. They also start pointing to pictures and
searching in the right places for hidden objects.

Around this time, children also exhibit stranger anxiety, a fear of unfamiliar individuals. They
might cry or cling to caregivers when encountering strangers, as they cannot fit the stranger
into their existing understanding of the world, leading to anxiety and fear responses.

According to Piaget, around the time children develop object permanence, they also start
showing stranger anxiety—a fear of unfamiliar people (Crain, 2005). Babies may express
this by crying, turning away from strangers, clinging to caregivers, or reaching out for
familiar people like their parents. Stranger anxiety occurs when the child cannot fit the
stranger into an existing schema, making it difficult to predict the encounter, which leads to
fear.

CRITIQUE
1. Misconception of Slow Development: Piaget believed that children's understanding of
objects develops slowly through experience. However, many psychologists now disagree.
2. Early Object Understanding: Research shows that infants grasp concepts about objects
before hands-on experience:
- Baillargeon (1987; Baillargeon et al., 2011): Infants demonstrate object permanence at
younger ages than Piaget suggested.
- Diamond (1985): Infants show knowledge of object permanence at 6 months if waiting for
2 seconds and at 7 months if waiting for 4 seconds.

3. Understanding Object Properties: Studies reveal that 3-month-olds understand object

properties. For instance, they looked longer when a truck rolled through a hollow box,
suggesting they know solid objects cannot pass through each other (Baillargeon, 1987).
4. Challenge to Piaget: These findings indicate that young children have a better
understanding of objects than Piaget acknowledged.
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE (2-7 YEARS)
Piaget’s preoperational stage, which occurs from ages 2 to 7, is when children start using
symbols to represent words, images, and ideas. This is why they engage in pretend play, like
pretending their arms are aeroplane wings or a stick is a sword. During this stage, children
also begin to use language but are not yet able to understand adult logic or think through
problems mentally. The term "preoperational" refers to their lack of ability to logically
manipulate information. Instead, their thinking is based on their own experiences rather than
general knowledge.

The preoperational period is divided into two stages: The symbolic function substage occurs
between 2 and 4 years of age and is characterised by the child being able to mentally
represent an object that is not present and a dependence on perception in problem solving.

The intuitive thought substage, lasting from 4 to 7 years, is marked by greater dependence
on intuitive thinking rather than just perception (Thomas, 1979). This implies that children
think automatically without using evidence. At this stage, children ask many questions as
they attempt to understand the world around them using immature reasoning.

Emergence of symbolic thought - ability to use words, images, and symbols to represent the
world. Example: a child pretends a cardboard box is a car, using their imagination to
represent the real object.

Egocentrism
Egocentrism in early childhood refers to a child's inability to understand perspectives other
than their own. Young children believe that others see, think, and feel the same way they do.
They cannot infer someone else’s viewpoint and instead apply their own perspective to
different situations. For example, when 3-year-old Kenny chooses a birthday gift for his
sister, he picks an Iron Man action figure, assuming she will like it because he does.

Piaget's famous experiment on egocentrism involved showing children a 3D mountain model

and asking them to describe what a doll, viewing the mountain from a different angle, would
see. Children typically described their own view rather than the doll's, reflecting egocentrism.
By around age 7, children become less egocentric. However, even younger children show
some awareness of others' perspectives by adjusting their language when speaking to
different people, like using simpler words with younger children and more complex language
with adults.

Centration: They focus on one aspect of an object or situation, ignoring others. For example,
they may think two smaller pieces of pie are more than one larger piece because they focus
only on the number of pieces.

Irreversibility: They cannot mentally reverse actions. If liquid is poured from a short, wide
glass into a tall, thin one, they believe the tall glass holds more, as they can't imagine
reversing the process.

3. Conservation: They fail to understand that changes in appearance (shape, arrangement)

don't affect properties like volume or mass. For example, they may think a rolled-out piece of
clay has more mass than the original ball.

For eg

The classic Piagetian experiment associated with conservation involves liquid (Crain, 2005).
As seen in Figure 4.10, the child is shown two glasses (as shown in a) which are filled to the
same level and asked if they have the same amount. Usually the child agrees they have the
same amount. The experimenter then pours the liquid in one glass to a taller and thinner glass
(as shown in b). The child is again asked if the two glasses have the same amount of liquid.
The preoperational child will typically say the taller glass now has more liquid because it is
taller (as shown in c). The child has centrated on the height of the glass and fails to conserve.
CRITIQUE
Several psychologists argue that Piaget underestimated the abilities of preoperational
children, just as he did with the sensorimotor stage. For example, children’s specific
experiences can impact when they understand concepts like conservation. In Mexican
pottery-making villages, children know that changing the shape of clay doesn’t change its
amount much earlier than children without such experiences (Price-Williams, Gordon, &
Ramirez, 1969). Crain (2005) also pointed out that preoperational children can think logically
in maths and science tasks and are less egocentric than Piaget suggested. Research on Theory
of Mind shows that children overcome egocentrism by ages 4 or 5, earlier than Piaget
proposed.

CONCRETE OPERATIONAL (7-12)

In the concrete operations stage (ages 7–12), children develop the ability to understand
conservation and reversible thinking. They stop focusing on just one feature of an object and
can consider all its important aspects. At this age, they begin to think more logically about
beliefs like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, asking questions and coming to their own
rational conclusions about these childhood fantasies. They are in school, learning various
subjects like science and maths, and often feel they know more than their parents.

In the concrete operational stage*children think logically about concrete information but
struggle with abstract concepts. For example, while they can determine that stick A is longer
than stick C based on direct comparisons, they find it difficult to answer hypothetical
questions about heights until around age 11 or 12. They learn logical tasks gradually,
mastering concepts like conservation of number before liquid and mass. This step-by-step
approach indicates that they solve problems individually rather than applying general logical
principles across different situations (Fischer & Bidell, 1991).

FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE(12 to Adulthood)

According to Piaget, around age 11, young people enter the formal operational stage, where
they develop the ability for abstract, systematic, and scientific thinking. Unlike concrete
operational children, who can only think about real objects and events, adolescents in this
stage can think about concepts and create new logical rules through internal reflection.

Hypothetico-Deductive Reasoning: At this stage, young people can use

hypothetico-deductive reasoning. When faced with a problem, they start with a hypothesis or
prediction about what might affect the outcome. From there, they deduce logical and testable
conclusions, systematically isolating and combining variables to see which predictions hold
true in the real world. This problem-solving process starts with possibilities and moves
toward reality. In contrast, concrete operational children begin with the actual situation and
the most obvious predictions. If their initial predictions aren't confirmed, they often struggle
to think of other alternatives and may not solve the problem.

CRITIQUE
The formal operational stage has been critiqued for several reasons. First, it is seen as
culturally biased, failing to account for the impact of cultural and educational contexts on
cognitive development. Additionally, Piaget's assertion that individuals typically reach this
stage around age 11 is not universally applicable, as some may develop formal operational
thinking later or not at all. Furthermore, while individuals may demonstrate abstract
reasoning, this ability is often inconsistent across different domains. The theory also neglects
the influence of social interactions and emotional factors on cognitive growth. Lastly,
methodological concerns arise from Piaget's reliance on small, unrepresentative samples,
which raises questions about the validity and generalizability of his findings.

Critique of Piaget’s theory

Here are some criticisms of Piaget’s theory in simpler terms, with examples:
1. Timing of Object Permanence: Piaget suggested that understanding object permanence
develops around seven months. However, later research indicates it begins as early as four
months. For example, infants as young as four months look for hidden objects.
2. Neglect of Sociocultural Factors: Piaget did not consider how social and cultural
influences affect cognitive development. For instance, children from different cultures may
learn differently based on their experiences.
3. Ignoring Training Effects: Piaget emphasized biological maturation but later studies
showed that children in the preoperational stage can be trained to think beyond their
immediate experiences and become less egocentric. For example, with guidance, a child can
learn to see things from another person's perspective.
4. Issues with Stages: Piaget believed development happens in distinct stages. However,
research suggests development is more continuous. Many children, up to 14 years old, still
think concretely rather than abstractly.
5. Cognition in Gifted Individuals: Piaget’s theory does not account for the cognitive
development of exceptionally talented children, who may think at higher levels earlier than
his stages suggest.
6. Limited End Point of Development: Piaget's formal operational stage focuses mainly on
problem-solving. However, researchers like Airline (1986) argue there may be a stage beyond
formal operations, where individuals can create new problems and solutions, showing more
advanced cognitive abilities.

Vygotsky Sociocultural Theory