1. Cognitive Development in Infancy and Childhood: Piaget’s Cognitive Stages

2. Do Kids think differently than adults?
Question to ponder
Do Kids think differently than adults?
Do freshmen think differently than Seniors?

3. Children think differently than adults
Cognition
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering
Children think differently than adults

4. Jean Piaget (pee-ah-ZHAY)
Developmental psychologist who introduced a stage theory of cognitive development

5. Stage 1- Sensorimotor Stage
From birth to about age two
Child gathers information about the world through senses and motor functions
Child learns object permanence

6. “Out of sight, out of mind”
Object Permanence
The awareness that things continue to exist even when they cannot be sensed
“Out of sight, out of mind”

7. Object Permanence

8. Stage 2- Preoperational Stage
From about age 2 to age 6 or 7
Children can understand language but not logic
Fantasy Play

9. Preoperational
Symbolic functioning – is that a child uses to represent something that is not physically present like the use of mental symbols, words, or pictures

10. Preoperational - Egocentrism
The child’s inability to take another person’s point of view
Includes a child’s ability to understand that symbols can represent other objects

11. Stage 3- Concrete Operational Stage
From about age 7 to 11
Child learns to think logically and understands conservation
Present oriented

12. Concrete operational
Decentering – this is where a child considers all aspects of a problem to solve it
Elimination of egocentrism – kids can begin to see the others point of view

13. Conservation
An understanding that certain properties remain constant despite changes in their form
The properties can include mass, volume, and numbers.

14. Conservation

15. Conservation

16. Conservation

17. Types of Conservation Tasks

18. Stage 4- Formal Operational Stage
Child can think logically and in the abstract
About age 12 on up
Can solve hypothetical problems (What if…. problems)

19. Assessing Piaget’s Theory
Piaget underestimated the child’s ability at various ages. Children can comprehend, but may not be able to report the information
Piaget’s theory doesn’t take into account culture and social differences.