Jean Piaget, a renowned Swiss psychologist was the man responsible for developing the “Theory of Cognitive Development”. Furthermore, this theory is based on four stages which came to be known as “Piaget’s Stages”. Now the pertinent question to be asked is what exactly are these four stages? The in depth explanation of the four stages are as follows
- Sensorimotor stage (from birth to age 2):
According Piaget this is a stage in which a child first experiences the world with the help of “movement and five senses”. This is also a stage where the child is observed to be egocentric to the extreme i.e. understanding of the world only from their point of view and not from others. This stage is then further subdivided as follows
a. Simple Reflexes: (from birth to one month old):
During this stage the infant begin to use reflex action such as rooting and suckling.
b. First habits and primary circular reactions (from one month to four months old):
This is the next step in the cognitive development wherein the infant learns to coordinate sensation and two types of schema i.e. habit and primary circular reactions. An infant reproducing a reflex action such as sucking thumb is a prime example of primary circular action.
c. Secondary circular reactions (four to eight months old):
This is a stage when the infant slowly develops an awareness of his surroundings and as a result becomes more object-oriented.
d. Coordination of secondary circular reactions (eight months to twelve months):
This is stage during which the infant understands how to coordinate its body movements to achieve a task. For example use of stick to reach something. This is also a stage where they understand that the object continue to exist even if it cannot be seen.
e. Tertiary circular actions (twelve months to eighteen months):
During this stage the infant begins to play with more objects. This is also a stage wherein due to curiosity the infant begins to experiment in order get different results.
- Preoperational Stage (age 2 to age 7):
This is a stage during which the child begins to learn to speak. It is also a stage where the child cannot as yet comprehend concrete logic and cannot mentally manipulate information. The child during this stage continues to struggle to see things from others point of view. This stage is then further subdivided into
a. Symbolic Function Substage (age 2 to age 4):
This is a stage during which the child begins to use certain symbols to represent the world he sees around him. For example when a child draws a picture of his/her family it usually is represented using certain symbols rather than approximate sketches. The unique feature of this stage is that the child knows that the sketch is inaccurate yet he/she does not mind it.
b. Intuitive Thought Substage ( age 4 to age 7):
During this stage the child begins to use his primitive reasoning and begins to ask many questions. Piaget himself called this stage “intuitive substage” because according to him it is during this period that children realize that they possess vast amount of knowledge but are blissfully unaware as to how they acquired it.
- Concrete Operational Stage: (Age 7 to Age 11):
This is a stage where the child is grown up and can think logically but is still not fully able to manipulate physically. The child is also more self aware about logic and conversation during this stage.
- Formal Operational Stage: (Age 11 to Age 16):
This is a final stage of Piaget’s theory in which the child has developed an abstract thought process and is easily able to think logically. Additionally, during this stage the child is also more skilful and is able to tackle problem solving easily often in multiple steps.
