RUNNING HEAD: PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY
Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
Jacob Stevenson
Ivy Tech Community College
Stevenson 1
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY
Stevenson 2
Abstract
Jean Piaget developed a theory that explains the cognitive development of children as
they grow. This theory has been tested by many other theories. Piaget has dedicated a
number of years on studying children and how they grow to develop this theory. Piaget
has broken the cognitive developmental stages of children down into four stages. He
believes that students have schemes that change with age.
Keywords: Cognitive Development, Piaget, Theory
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY
Stevenson 3
Jean Piaget is a Swiss theorist who developed a theory of cognitive development that
explains how children grow and develop as they progress in life. His theories are
interesting, and have taken a number of years and revisions to perfect. The theory that
he has come up with has been modified and revised by other theorists, but there are a
number of theories that are based on Piaget’s model. According to Berk, “Swiss theorist
Jean Piaget inspired a vision of children as busy, motivated explorers whose thinking
develops as they act directly on the environment” (p. 204). Piaget’s theory is based on
the belief that children have schemes, “Specific psychological structures-organized
ways of making sense of experience” Berk (p. 204), and they make adaptations to those
schemes as they grow. These adaptations are altered through assimilation and
accommodation. Ormrod defines assimilation as, “Process of dealing with an object or
event in a way that is consistent with an existing scheme” (p. G1). Accommodation is
defined as, “Process of dealing with a new object or event by either modifying an
existing scheme or forming a new one” Ormrod (p. G1). Piaget also believes that
organization, or rearranging schemes and linking schemes outside of the direct contact
environment, played a role in the cognitive development in children. With these
schemes in mind Piaget developed the theory that has four stages. Piaget’s cognitive
development has four stages that are the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete
operations, and the formal operations stage.
The first of the four stages in Piaget’s theory is the sensorimotor stage. According to
Ormrod this stage is when, “Schemes are based largely on behaviors and perceptions.
Especially in the early part of this stage, children cannot think about things that are not
immediately in front of them, and so they focus on what they are doing and seeing at
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY
Stevenson 4
the moment” (Table 2.1). This stage begins at birth. There are a number of different
skills and abilities that are developed at this stage. This is a very important stage for the
child as a number of new schemes are built. According to Ormrod, children begin to
gain symbolic thought. This is the representation of physical objects and events as
mental entities. Object permanence is also gained in this stage. This is when the child
realizes that objects continue to exist even when they are removed from view. During
this time children also do trial and error experimentation with physical objects. Berk
breaks this stage down even further. She says that there are six sub stages to the
sensorimotor stage. These are the reflexive schemes, primary circular reactions,
secondary circular reactions, coordination of secondary circular reactions, tertiary
circular reactions, and the mental representation sub stages. Piaget’s next stage in
cognitive development starts at the age of two years old.
The second stage in Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory is the preoperational
stage. Ormrod defines this stage as, “…children can think about objects and events
beyond their immediate view, but do not yet reason in logical adult like ways” (p. 30). In
this stage children’s symbolic thinking is growing at a very fast pace. This is the reason
children can think and discuss things that are not in their immediate scheme. During this
stage of development children develop their language, their pretend play is more
extensive, and they have more intuitive thought according to Ormrod. It is in this stage
the growth for students is very important. If a student is not progressing at a normal rate
he or she runs a risk of being delayed in their development. This is could be due to a
type of disorder or disability. Hardman (p. 4) defines disorder and disability as a
disturbance in normal functioning, be it mental, physical, or psychological. Disabilities
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY
Stevenson 5
are physical disorders that do not allow for children to progress as the norm. As long as
the child is not delayed then he or she will move on to Piaget’s third stage in his
cognitive development theory.
The third stage of Piaget’s theory is the concrete operations stage. This stage begins
around the age of six or seven years old. This is when students begin to gain adult like
logic according to Ormrod. This logic is limited to reasoning about concrete, or real life,
situations. It is in this stage that children can distinguish between one’s own and others’
perspectives. Students also begin to classify objects as belongings to two or more
categories. Children also develop the idea of conservation. In this time frame children
really begin to think logically. This is when students use the schemes that they already
know and they build on them. They understand that other children have different beliefs
from their own, and they want to know why others think they way that they do. This
stage leads right into Piaget’s final stage.
Piaget’s final stage to his cognitive development theory is the formal operations stage.
This stage appears around the age of eleven or twelve years old. This is when students
start to use logical reasoning. Children now apply logical reasoning processes to ideas
as well as to concrete objects and situations according to Ormrod. The abilities that are
acquired in this stage are logical reasoning about different ideas, proportional
reasoning, formulation of multiple hypotheses, separation and control of variables, and
idealism. It is during this time that children begin to grow into young adults, logically
thinking that is. This stage is where children have a deeper understanding of their
scheme and others’ schemes.
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY
Stevenson 6
Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory has four stages that are the sensorimotor,
preoperational, concrete operation, formal operation stages. These stages are all based
off of the students scheme and their thought processes. Schemes are, “Specific
psychological structures-organized ways of making sense of experience” Berk (p. 204).
As students grow, their scheme is altered and it grows as they do. Students begin to
have more logical thought processes and a better understanding of others. Piaget
believes that people are ever growing, and that their schemes are changing every day.
This is not just through school, but through life experiences.
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY
Stevenson 7
References
Berk, L. (2012). Infants, children, and adolescents (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson /Allyn &
Bacon.
Hardman, M., Drew, C., & Egan, M. (2013). Human Exceptionality. Wadsworth Pub.
Ormrod, J. (n.d.). Educational psychology: Developing learners (Eighth ed.).