Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsHistoryStagesSensorimotor StagePreoperational StageConcrete Operational StageFormal Operational Stage
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
History
Stages
Sensorimotor Stage
Preoperational Stage
Concrete Operational Stage
Formal Operational Stage
The late Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget was a major figure in the study of cognitive development theory in children. He believed that it occurs in four stages—sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
This article discusses Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, including important concepts and principles.
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History of Cognitive Development
During the 1920s, the psychologist Jean Piaget was given the task of translating English intelligence tests into French. During this process, he observed that children think differently than adults do and have a different view of the world. He began to study children from birth through the teenage years—observing children who were too young to talk, and interviewing older children while he also observed their development.
Piaget published his theory of cognitive development in 1936. This theory is based on the idea that a child’s intelligence changes throughout childhood and cognitive skills—including memory, attention, thinking, problem-solving, logical reasoning, reading, listening, and more—are learned as a child grows and interacts with their environment.
Stages of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s theory suggests that cognitive development occurs in four stages as a child ages. These stages are always completed in order, but last longer for some children than others. Each stage builds on the skills learned in the previous stage.
The four stages of cognitive development include:
The sensorimotor stage begins at birth and lasts until 18 to 24 months of age. During the sensorimotor stage, children are physically exploring their environment and absorbing information through their senses of smell, sight, touch, taste, and sound.
Language skills also begin to develop during the sensorimotor stage.
Activities to Try During the Sensorimotor StageAppropriate activities to do during the sensorimotor stage include:Playing peek-a-booReading booksProviding toys with a variety of texturesSinging songsPlaying with musical instrumentsRolling a ball back and forth
Activities to Try During the Sensorimotor Stage
Appropriate activities to do during the sensorimotor stage include:Playing peek-a-booReading booksProviding toys with a variety of texturesSinging songsPlaying with musical instrumentsRolling a ball back and forth
Appropriate activities to do during the sensorimotor stage include:
The preoperational stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development occurs between ages 2 and 7 years. Early on in this stage, children learn the skill of symbolic representation. This means that an object or word can stand for something else. For example, a child might play “house” with a cardboard box.
At this stage, children assume that other people see the world and experience emotions the same way they do, and their main focus is on themselves. This is calledegocentrism.
Centrism is another characteristic of the preoperational stage.This means that a child is only able to focus on one aspect of a problem or situation. For example, a child might become upset that a friend has more pieces of candy than they do, even if their pieces are bigger.
During this stage, children will often play next to each other—called parallel play—but not with each other. They also believe that inanimate objects, such as toys, have human lives and feelings.
Activities to Try During the Preoperational StageAppropriate activities to do during the preoperational stage include:Playing “house” or “school"Building a fortColoringPaintingPlaying with Play-DohBuilding with blocksPlaying charades
Activities to Try During the Preoperational Stage
Appropriate activities to do during the preoperational stage include:Playing “house” or “school"Building a fortColoringPaintingPlaying with Play-DohBuilding with blocksPlaying charades
Appropriate activities to do during the preoperational stage include:
The concrete operational stage occurs between the ages of 7 and 11 years. During this stage, a child develops the ability to think logically and problem-solve but can only apply these skills to objects they can physically see—things that are “concrete.”
Six main concrete operations develop in this stage. These include:
Activities to Try During the Concrete Operational StageAppropriate activities to do during the concrete operational stage include:Using measuring cups (for example, demonstrate how one cup of water fills two half-cups)Solving simple logic problemsPracticing basic mathDoing crossword puzzlesPlaying board games
Activities to Try During the Concrete Operational Stage
Appropriate activities to do during the concrete operational stage include:Using measuring cups (for example, demonstrate how one cup of water fills two half-cups)Solving simple logic problemsPracticing basic mathDoing crossword puzzlesPlaying board games
Appropriate activities to do during the concrete operational stage include:
The last stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development occurs during the teenage years into adulthood. During this stage, a person learns abstract thinking and hypothetical problem-solving skills.
Deductive reasoning—or the ability to make a conclusion based on information gained from a person’s environment—is also learned in this stage. This means, for example, that a person can identify the differences between dogs of various breeds, instead of putting them all in a general category of “dogs.”
Activities to Try During the Formal Operational StageAppropriate activities to do during the formal operational stage include:Playing board gamesLearning to cookSolving crossword and logic puzzlesExploring hobbiesPlaying a musical instrumentReading books
Activities to Try During the Formal Operational Stage
Appropriate activities to do during the formal operational stage include:Playing board gamesLearning to cookSolving crossword and logic puzzlesExploring hobbiesPlaying a musical instrumentReading books
Appropriate activities to do during the formal operational stage include:
Summary
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is based on the belief that a child gains thinking skills in four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. These stages roughly correspond to specific ages, from birth to adulthood. Children progress through these stages at different paces, but according to Piaget, they are always completed in order.
5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Library of Medicine.Cognitive testing. MedlinePlus.Oklahoma State University.Cognitive development: The theory of Jean Piaget.SUNY Cortland.Sensorimotor stage.Marwaha S, Goswami M, Vashist B.Prevalence of principles of Piaget’s theory among 4-7-year-old children and their correlation with IQ. J Clin Diagn Res. 2017;11(8):ZC111-ZC115. doi:10.7860%2FJCDR%2F2017%2F28435.10513Börnert-Ringleb M, Wilbert J.The association of strategy use and concrete-operational thinking in primary school. Front Educ. 2018;0. doi:10.3389/feduc.2018.00038
5 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Library of Medicine.Cognitive testing. MedlinePlus.Oklahoma State University.Cognitive development: The theory of Jean Piaget.SUNY Cortland.Sensorimotor stage.Marwaha S, Goswami M, Vashist B.Prevalence of principles of Piaget’s theory among 4-7-year-old children and their correlation with IQ. J Clin Diagn Res. 2017;11(8):ZC111-ZC115. doi:10.7860%2FJCDR%2F2017%2F28435.10513Börnert-Ringleb M, Wilbert J.The association of strategy use and concrete-operational thinking in primary school. Front Educ. 2018;0. doi:10.3389/feduc.2018.00038
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
National Library of Medicine.Cognitive testing. MedlinePlus.Oklahoma State University.Cognitive development: The theory of Jean Piaget.SUNY Cortland.Sensorimotor stage.Marwaha S, Goswami M, Vashist B.Prevalence of principles of Piaget’s theory among 4-7-year-old children and their correlation with IQ. J Clin Diagn Res. 2017;11(8):ZC111-ZC115. doi:10.7860%2FJCDR%2F2017%2F28435.10513Börnert-Ringleb M, Wilbert J.The association of strategy use and concrete-operational thinking in primary school. Front Educ. 2018;0. doi:10.3389/feduc.2018.00038
National Library of Medicine.Cognitive testing. MedlinePlus.
Oklahoma State University.Cognitive development: The theory of Jean Piaget.
SUNY Cortland.Sensorimotor stage.
Marwaha S, Goswami M, Vashist B.Prevalence of principles of Piaget’s theory among 4-7-year-old children and their correlation with IQ. J Clin Diagn Res. 2017;11(8):ZC111-ZC115. doi:10.7860%2FJCDR%2F2017%2F28435.10513
Börnert-Ringleb M, Wilbert J.The association of strategy use and concrete-operational thinking in primary school. Front Educ. 2018;0. doi:10.3389/feduc.2018.00038
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