1. Jean Piaget's Four Stages of Cognitive Development

2. Piaget’s Theory
Piaget concluded that there were four different stages in the cognitive development of children.
Sensorimotor period (Birth - 2yrs)
Preoperational Period (2yrs-7yrs)
Concrete operational stage (7yrs-11yrs)
Formal operational stage (11yrs-16yrs)

3. Sensorimotor period is the first of the four stages of cognitive development. Birth -2 yrs
The sensorimotor stage is divided into six sub-stages.
intelligence is demonstrated through motor activity without the use of symbols
Knowledge of the world is limited (but developing) because its based on physical interactions / experiences
Children acquire object permanence at about 7 months of age (memory)
Physical development (mobility) allows the child to begin
developing new intellectual abilities
Some symbolic (language) abilities are
developed by the end of this stage

4. Preoperational Period 2-7 yrs
intelligence is demonstrated through the use of symbols.
'Animism' -- the belief that everything that exists has some kind of consciousness. (An example of this is that children often believe that a car won't start because it is tired or sick, or they punish a piece of furniture when they run into it, because it must have been naughty to hurt them).

5. Preoperational continued….
Vocabulary is expanded and developed
Egocentric thinking predominates
'Moral realism' is characteristic of this stage -- this is the belief that the child's way of thinking about the difference between right and wrong is shared by everyone else around them.
memory and imagination are developed, but thinking is done in a nonlogical, nonreversible manner

6. Concrete operational stage 7-11 yrs
During this stage, the thought process becomes more rational, mature and 'adult like', or more 'operational‘
The child has the ability to develop logical thought about an object, if they are able to manipulate it.
intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects.
characterized by 7 types of conservation: number, length, liquid, mass, weight, area, volume
Egocentric thinking diminishes

7. Formal operational stage 11-16 yrs
Early in the period there is a return to egocentric thought
In this stage, individuals move beyond concrete experiences and begin to think abstractly, reason logically and draw conclusions from the information available, as well as apply all these processes.
Adolescents begin to think more as a scientist thinks, devising plans to solve problems and systematically testing solutions.

8. Formal operational continued….
intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts
many people do not think formally during adulthood
Only 35% of high school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal operations