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 stagessensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
This article discusses Piagets stages of cognitive development, including important concepts and principles.
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Piaget published his theory of cognitive development in 1936.
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.
Without this skill, the child thinks that the toy has simply disappeared.
Language skills also begin to develop during the sensorimotor stage.
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.
During this stage, children will often play next to each othercalled parallel playbut not with each other.
They also believe that inanimate objects, such as toys, have human lives and feelings.
Six main concrete operations develop in this stage.
During this stage, a person learns abstract thinking and hypothetical problem-solving skills.
These stages roughly correspond to specific ages, from birth to adulthood.
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