Piaget Cognitive Development: A Quick Guide
Piaget Cognitive Development. From infancy through childhood, parents
Cognitive Skills To Piaget Cognitive Development
To understand Piaget cognitive development, one must first be aware of cognitive skills. Cognitive skills are skills pertaining to cognition—the way we acquire knowledge about the environment and the world that surrounds us. Processing information is possible because of the various cognitive skills that allow us to interpret perceptions of the five senses: what we hear, see, touch, taste, and smell. Cognitive skills consist of the following:
- Sustained attention
- Selective attention
- Divided attention
- Long-term memory
- Working memory
- Logic and reasoning
- Auditory processing
- Visual processing
- Processing speed
These skills are involved in all daily tasks such as answering the phone, responding to a friend’s message, or even watching television.
What is Piaget Cognitive Development?
Cognitive development is the neurological and psychological development of the various functions of thinking. It entails applying cognitive skills to consciously interpret one’s surrounding environment. As a person matures, so does their ability to engage in higher thinking processes like problem-solving, emotional regulation, learning, and remembering. The term describes the brain’s development as it pertains to cognition.
According to Piaget cognitive development, there are set age-appropriate milestones spanning from infancy into adulthood. Reaching these milestones on time indicates optimal development. The concept first originated in the early 1900s when IQ tests were proposed as an accurate measurement of intelligence.
Areas of Piaget Cognitive Development
Cognitive development includes basic components of thinking. For optimal cognitive development, it is best to focus on the areas of information processing, intelligence, reasoning, memory, and language.
- Information Processing—As the brain works in a sequence, it receives input through the senses, processes that information, and then receives output.
- Intelligence—The mental capacity to learn, reason, plan, solve problem and comprehend complex ideas.
- Reasoning—Applying and establishing facts, beliefs, and information.
- Memory— Part of the brain that stores and retrieve information as needed.
- Language—The process in which children understand and communicate language.
Piaget Cognitive Development: 4 Stages
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist who constructed the most widely accepted theory of cognitive development known as Piaget Cognitive Development. While there are numerous theories, Piaget Cognitive Development provides an accurate depiction of the evolution of a child’s thinking processes. His theory was inspired by observing his children. He assumed that children’s intellect develops through accommodation, which is the process of taking in and altering information from their environment, and assimilation, which is how humans relate new information to previously existing information. It is concerned with all children and focuses on the progression of development instead of learning miscellaneous behaviors. A series of four stages mark the progression of cognitive development beginning in infancy and throughout childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood.
Sensorimotor Stage – Birth to 2 Years
The sensorimotor stage of cognitive development starts at the time of birth and ends as a toddler. Cognitive growth happens rapidly as the infant familiarizes itself with their reality. Cognitive abilities remain limited, but the child learns to separate their bodies from the environment through their senses and reflexes. In the sensorimotor stage, they respond to the sudden influx of new stimuli: noises, movements, people, and emotions.
The sensorimotor stage is divided into six substages:
- Reflexes:
Birth to One Month—A child’s intelligence is rooted in action. The child acquires
knowledge in the reflex stage by adapting to their environment. This includes
all natural “instinct” behaviors upon birth. - Primary
Circular Reactions: One to Four Months—Reflex actions, like sucking a
thumb, are intentionally repeated after the child realizes they are
pleasurable. Primary circular reactions refer only to reactions within the
body. - Secondary
Circular Reactions: Four to Eight Months—Actions that are not reflex based
originate in the child’s behavior. The child’s action results in a preferred
event in the environment, rather than their body, and they seek to recreate the
event by engaging in the behaviors that precipitated the event. - Coordination
of Secondary Circular Reactions: Eight to Twelve Months—Cause and effect
relationships are correlated with the child’s behaviors in the previous stages.
They intentionally interact with the environment to fulfill their needs. - Tertiary Circular Reactions: Twelve to Eighteen
Months—Minor change to cognition comes about as the child purposefully
alters their actions to solve problems. Tertiary circular reactions have a
trial-and-error foundation. - Mental
Combinations: Eighteen to Twenty-four Months—Mental combinations concludes the
period in which children understand their environment solely through actions.
They associate symbols and language with their environment and form basic
sentences.
Pre-operational Stage – 2 to 7 years
The pre-operational stage starts as a toddler at age two and continues until seven years of age. This stage is characterized by the child’s eventual expansion towards logic, but they still are unable to think logically or separate ideas because the egocentric mindset which surfaces in this stage limits their intellectual abilities. Children in the preoperational stage think in a manner that is primarily concerned with self. Their thoughts, perceptions, and ideas are indistinguishable from those of other people. They only see the world through their own point of view and cannot consider differing perspectives. Ecocentrism is the reason why young children experience conflict with their peers. While language is central to the pre-operational stage, the children do not use language to communicate with others and resolve conflict, but to make their thinking known.
The pre-operational stage is divided into two substages.
- Symbolic
Function— Children possess the ability to think about an object that is not
in their immediate view. They attach symbols to their toys and caregivers in
which they have associated with comfort.
Attempts at art and expression through play are manifestations of
symbolic function.
- Intuitive Thought—Thinking changes from
symbolic to intuitive with the use of primitive reasoning. Intuitive thought refers
to the vast knowledge children learn yet struggle to apply. They become curious
about the world, asking many questions.
Concrete Operational Stage – 7 to 11 years
The concrete operational stage is the turning point in a child’s cognitive development. It begins at roughly seven years of age and is defined by the development of organized and rational thinking. Children begin to understand rules and use operations to logically solve problems. As children mature in the concrete operatorial stage, they apply logic exclusively to physical objects. They cannot turn their thinking towards hypothetical situations, only their concrete experiences.
The cognitive development during the concrete operational stage is cornerstone to the education of school-age children. They refine their cognitive abilities to remember information, and then to organize that information logically. Selective attention keeps them focused on a single task, despite distractions. Egocentrism that was previously prominent is eliminated in the concrete operational stage. Children start to see multiple viewpoints.
Although there are no substages, other processes (known as operations) in the concrete operational stage are:
- Decentering—Considering all aspects of a problem in order to solve it.
- Seriation—Sorting objects according to its characteristics (i.e. color, size, shape, etc.).
- Transitivity—Recognizing logical relationships between objects in serial order.
- Classification—The ability to identify objects by their size, appearance, or characteristics.
- Conservation—The length or quantity of an object does not dictate the appearance and arrangement.
Formal Operational Stage – 12 and Up
The formal operational stage is the last stage in Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. It begins in adolescence around the onset of puberty and lasts into adulthood. These young teenagers in the formal operational stage undergo rapid transformations in their cognitive development. This stage introduces the potential for abstract thought. They think about objects and situations hypothetically, which entails making inferences about situations that are “possibilities.” The former trial-and-error thought process is abandoned for problem-solving through deductive reasoning. They test solutions based on hypotheses.
How To Promote Piaget Cognitive Development
Each child develops at his or her own pace. However, they are not entirely on their own in their progress. Interactions with adults who serve as role models and other children facilitate cognitive development. Despite the child’s stage, incorporating these key activities into a daily routine are conducive to cognitive development.
“Play” with the 5 Senses
Sensory play is any hands-on learning activity that stimulates the five senses—seeing, hearing, touching, or smelling. This form of play of the five senses strengthens the neuron pathways in the brain. A neuron is a specialized brain cell that sends chemical messages to the nerves throughout the nervous system. Sensory play refines the efficiency of the pathways. As a result, the brain responds to the environment and can successfully complete more complex skills.
Exploring the environment through sensory play can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Playdough, building blocks, simple puzzles or board games, singing and reading aloud are some examples.
Establish Routine
The technical definition of routine represents the steps taken to complete the tasks scheduled throughout the day. Waking up and eating breakfast before going to class, and later returning home to finish homework and watch television constitutes as routine. Everyday routines differ depending on the activity. Routines are crucial to cognitive development because it teaches children how to observe transition cues, predict, and become flexible when routines deviate from the norm.
Open-ended Questions and Statements
Typical questions and statements are closed-ended—requiring only a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer or a one-word response, whereas open-ended questions require in-depth answers. Thought out responses encourage children to partake in conversation. Children must think creatively, broadening the use of language and the cognitive skills.
Open-ended questions and statements begin with:
- “Why do you think…?”
- “What if…?”
- “Tell me about…”
Visual Aids
Visual aids such as illustrations, charts, and three-dimensional models improve cognitive development help the child understand the information presented. Visual learning allows the brain to more easily recall details, as they are concrete.
The type of visual aid provided should be catered to the developmental stage. Drawings and illustrations are best for toddlerhood and early childhood, while three-dimensional models in middle childhood. The visual aids increase in complexity throughout adolescence.
Communication
Language is an integral part of cognitive development. Consistently communicating language skills to children fosters their cognitive development. Speak to children ages five and up in complete sentences with challenging vocabulary words. Ensure to explain the context of the words to demonstrate proper use.
