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Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory

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Who was Piaget?

Jean Piaget was born in 1896 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and died in 1980 in Geneva, Switzerland.
At age 11, he wrote a paper on an albino sparrow, which was published and was the start of his famous career.

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Who was Piaget? (cont.)

After graduating high school, he attended the University of Zurich, where he became interested in psychoanalysis.
He married in 1923 and had three children, Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent.
Piaget studied his children’s intellectual development from infancy.

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Theory of Cognitive Development

While studying his children, Piaget developed theories concerning how children learn.
His theory of Cognitive Development consists of four stages of intellectual development.

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Stage 1—Cognitive Development Theory

Sensorimotor Stage

Birth to age 2

During this stage, the child begins to develop:

Reflexes
Habits
Hand-eye coordination
Object Permanence (knowing something exists, even though it can’t be seen)
Experimentation and creativity. Piaget referred to the children in this stage as “little scientists.”
Trial and error experiments

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Sensorimotor Stage

Sensorimotor Stage.

YouTube - Piaget - Stage 1 - Sensorimotor, Object Permenence

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Stage 2—Cognitive Development Theory

Preoperational Stage

Age 2-7

During this stage, the child begins to develop:

Ability to represent objects with images and words
Language skills
Imagination

Children learn through imitation and play during this

stage. They begin to use reasoning, however it is

mainly intuitive, instead of logical.

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Preoperational Stage

Preoperational Stage.

YouTube - Piaget - Stage 2 - Preoperational - Lack of Conservation

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Stage 3—Cognitive Development Theory

Concrete Operational Stage

Age 7-12

During this stage, the child begins to develop:

The fundamentals of logic

Ability to sort objects
Ability to classify objects
Understanding of conservation (physical quantities do not change based on the arrangement and/or appearance of the object)

Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of others.

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Concrete Operational Stage

Concrete Operational Stage.

YouTube - Piaget - Stage 3 - Concrete - Reversibility

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Stage 4—Cognitive Development Theory

Formal Operational Stage

Age 12 and up

During this stage, the child begins to develop:

Ability to hypothesize, test and reevaluate hypotheses
Children begin thinking in a formal systematic way
Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that require theoretical and abstract reasoning.

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Formal Operational Stage

Formal Operational Stage.

YouTube - Piaget - Stage 4 - Formal - Deductive Reasoning

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Piaget argued that the Formal Operational stage (abstract logic) was the pinnacle of cognitive development, reached in adolescence.

The Critique: Many adults never actually reach this stage in all areas of their lives.
Post-Formal Thought: Many modern theorists propose a fifth stage called Post-Formal Thought, where adults learn to handle ambiguity, contradiction, and the realization that the "logical" answer isn't always the "right" one in emotional or social contexts.
Vygotsky disagreed with Piaget’s theory and looked at development through a different lens.

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Feature	Piaget (Cognitive Constructivism)	Vygotsky (Social Constructivism)
The Driver	Biology and Maturation.	Culture and Social Interaction.
Language	Thought comes before language.	Language shapes thought (Inner Speech).
Key Concept	Schemas: Building blocks of knowledge.	ZPD: Zone of Proximal Development.
Role of Adult	Provide a rich environment to explore.	Provide Scaffolding (guidance/hints).
Progression	Discrete, universal stages.	Continuous, culturally specific growth.

This is seen as the "battle of ideas." Piaget saw the child as an independent scientist, while Vygotsky saw them as a social apprentice.