1. Discontinuous (qualitative) change Invariant sequence
Stages involve
Discontinuous (qualitative) change
Invariant sequence
Stages are never skipped

2. Sensorimotor Stage (birth-2 years)
Newborns have reflexes (motor behavior) and basic perceptual abilities
Refine these innate responses (accommodation) during the first month of life

3. Gradually become capable of repeating satisfying behaviors that initially occurred by chance

4. First learn to repeat actions involving their own body
Ex: thumb sucking
Then learn to repeat actions involving objects
Ex: shaking rattle

5. Object Permanence: Understanding that objects continue to exist when they cannot be perceived directly
Infants have some understanding of object permanence at around 8 months

6. A-not-B error: Tendency to reach where objects have been found before, rather than where they were last hidden
Infants make this error until about 12 months of age

7. From 12 months on, infants increasingly engage in active exploration of objects and their functions

8. At end of sensorimotor stage, mental representations develop
Deferred Imitation: Imitation of a behavior after a period of delay
Implies mental representation (memory)

9. Egocentrism: Tendency to focus on one’s own viewpoint and ignore others’ perspectives
Ex: 3 Mountains Task

11. Centration: Tendency to focus on one feature of an object or event to the neglect of other important features

12. Conservation: Understanding that certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same even when their outward appearance changes

13. Preoperational children fail conservation tasks because of
Centration
A tendency to focus on static states rather than transformations

14. Concrete Operations (7-11) Understand conservation tasks
Can focus on multiple features of an object or event
Can consider transformations, not just static states

15. Limitations of Concrete Operations
Children’s logical thinking is limited to concrete information that can be perceived directly
Can’t reason about abstract or hypothetical ideas

16. Formal Operations (11 on)
Ability to think abstractly or hypothetically
“What if ?”

17. Can consider all possible outcomes of a situation (scientific reasoning)
Ex: pendulum problem

19. Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory:
Underestimated role of social environment in cognitive development
Ex: Certain experiences (like formal schooling) may promote conservation and other abilities

20. Doesn’t explain HOW cognitive development occurs
Better description than explanation of children’s cognitive development

21. The stage model describes children’s thinking as being more consistent than it really is
Ex: Children can solve some conservation problems sooner than others

22. Infants and young children are more cognitively advanced than Piaget claimed
Ex: deferred imitation (and thus mental representation) is present earlier than Piaget thought