In the category of Human Growth and Development on the National Counselor Examination (NCE), the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE), or another counseling exam, you’ll probably come across something related to Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development in children.
In this video, you’ll be introduced to Piaget’s Theory of Development. We’ll talk about the stages of development, what is theorized to occur at each stage, and various terms associated with Piaget’s theory. Of course, we will also go over some of the criticisms of the theory.
Sensorimotor Stage
Piaget believed this stage started at birth and would continue until around two years old. A key component of this stage is related to reflexes and senses. Based on the senses, the child then reflexively knows how to respond. For example, when a bottle is placed at their lips, they know to latch on and begin to suck.
During the sensorimotor stage, generally beginning around nine months or so, the child will also begin to develop a sense of object permanence, according to Piaget. Object permanence is knowing that something continues to exist even when it is not in our direct line of sight. Before object permanence develops, children’s view of the world, in a way, could be described as out of sight out of mind. In other words, if the toy they are looking at is moved out of their sight, they don’t realize that it still exists.
Children are also learning about causality and space during the sensorimotor stage. As these are developing, they are beginning to understand that they can cause things to happen in their environment. They’re also developing a sense of space and that things can move around within the environment.
Through the sensorimotor stage, they will also begin to develop a sense of time, and that things can happen within a specific order.
Preoperational Stage
The second stage is then the preoperational stage. This stage happens from around two years old until around the age of seven. Keep in mind that Piaget used the word operations to refer to thoughts and cognitions, and the cognitive skills that one can have.
During this stage, Piaget felt that a child does not see or understand things from another person’s perspective yet. The term used for this is that they are egocentric—they only understand the world from their point of view. Piaget felt that centration also occurs at this stage. Centration is when one part of something is focused on and the rest is not noticed. In other words, they zone in on one thing they’re interested in, and everything else fades away from their awareness and is seemingly ignored.
During the preoperational stage, the child will also begin to develop schemas. Piaget used schema, or schemata, to describe the way that a child mentally constructs their world. This is how they organize their thoughts and what they know. From his view, this was something that allowed children to engage in symbolism. For example, using a bottle to represent a spaceship when playing.
Concrete Operations Stage
Next is the third stage, which is concrete operations. This stage occurs from around seven years old until about 11 or 12. At this point, Piaget says that children begin to be able to mentally manipulate objects, or be able to do mental tasks that allow them to better understand various things. A primary example of this is conservation. The principle of conservation is that when something like a liquid is poured from one container to another, the weight, mass, and volume of the liquid stay the same—even if it looks different when in a different container.
We also see children’s ability to mentally manipulate information with the concept of reversibility. In other words, they can understand how something was done and can mentally undo it or reverse it.
Formal Operations Stage
Finally, formal operations is the fourth stage. Piaget believed that this stage occurs from around 11 or 12 years old until about 15 years old. However, he believed that most people don’t make it to this stage. In fact, some research shows that only about 25% of college students will use thinking indicative of formal operations.
During the formal operations stage, we begin to see ways of thinking and understanding that are more abstract and hypothetical. The person will begin to use more deductive reasoning, and they can also understand metaphors and will use more experimentation.
As with every theory, there are criticisms that exist around Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Here’s we’ll introduce four of the main criticisms that the theory receives.
Criticism 1: Relied on observations of his own children
One of the primary criticisms of his theory is that it is based largely on his own observations of his own children. He did not rely on studies or more formal observations of other children, but based his view largely on what he saw from his own children. Not only does this leave us with a very small group of children that these theories are based on, but they could also easily be biased since he is observing his own children.
Criticism 2: Reality is not as precise
A second criticism is that many experts do not feel that stages will occur as neatly and precisely as Piaget states. Furthermore, they note that each person is an individual and can have their own path of development. Piaget did not leave a ton of room for variability in his theory, and experts now feel that this isn’t the best because each person is so different and it’s expected that people won’t develop in the linear way Piaget felt they would. An example of this is that we now see that it is not uncommon for children to show signs of object permanence sooner than Piaget said they would.
Criticism 3: Based on Western culture
Third is the criticism that Piaget’s theory was based on Western culture. Not only that, but it largely ignores how many factors might influence or affect development. In other words, not only does is it based on Western culture, but the theory does not account for how culture (in any form), environment, or education, as examples, could affect a person’s development.
Criticism 4: Ignores of factors
Finally, Piaget’s theory receives criticism for ignoring the effects of emotion, social, and factors that can influence or affect development. We now see that development can be influenced by many things, and Piaget’s theory does not capture this well.
Born in 1896 in Switzerland, Jean Piaget was actually trained as a biologist and worked specifically in zoology. His interest in children’s development seems to have been spurred on, at least in part, from work that he did with Alfred Binet. If this name sounds familiar, Alfred Binet worked on intelligence testing, and you may hear his name associated with intelligence assessments.
Piaget developed his theory of cognitive development in children based largely on his observations of his own children. From his theory, we can see aspects of his beliefs coming through. Specifically, he was considered a structuralist. Broadly, structuralists believe that how a person thinks or makes sense of the world will shift with each stage that they are in. Keep this in mind as we discuss the stages of cognitive development because we will see that Piaget theorized that there are distinct changes that occur. His theory was also based on epigenesis, which means that one stage must be successfully completed before the next can begin
Piaget was also considered to be a universal constructivist. This means that he felt that the stages are universal—that all people must go through these same stages.
