Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development in Infancy and Early Childhood

Piaget’s theory provides an explanation of how a child’s logic and reasoning develop over time.

Key principles

Piaget suggested that we understand the world around us by using schemas. A schema is a pattern of learning, linking perceptions, ideas and actions to make sense of the world. Piaget described it simply as the “way we see the world”. When a child’s experience matches what they understand they are in a state of equilibrium. If they come across a new situation or task that they do not understand, Piaget called this disequilibrium. This occurs when a child is unable to use existing schema to understand new information to make sense of objects and concepts. To enable understanding, Piaget suggested that new information is added to a current schema (assimilation) or the schema is a changed, or a new one is developed to improve understanding of the task (accommodation).

Piaget believed that children pass through stages of development in a sequence which is universal and not predetermined by gender or culture. This theory shows how thought and reason change from birth to adolescence. Piaget stated that children may go through this at different paces.

Stages of Intellectual Development:

Sensorimotor stage (0 - 2 years)

This is the first stage of Piaget’s theory. He suggested that children learn by using their senses and through actions.

Infants learn through using their reflexes and, according to Piaget, these are important for the development of schemas.

Children learn that objects still exist even when out of sight (object permanence) from around 7-8 months of age.

If a parent hides a toy and a child looks for it, this indicates that the child has object permanence.

Pre-operational stage (2 - 7 years

During the pre-operational stage, the child is unable to use logic to problem solve. Children are unable to see situations from the perspective of others. Piaget referred to this as egocentrism. Although children are unable to see situations from the perspective of others, this is not the same as selfishness. The egocentric child assumes that the other person thinks and experiences situations in the same way that they do.

Concrete operational stage (7 - 11 years)

During the concrete operational stage, the child has learned to think logically if the concepts are familiar to them. Children can start to problem solve and often learn new logic through discovery learning.

During this stage children also learn to conserve quantities.

Conservation refers to the ability to think logically to determine that a particular quantity will remain the same, even if there is a change in shape or size.

Formal operations (11+ years)

This is the final stage of Piaget’s theory. Children can now think abstractly, and can problem solve and reason using hypothetical thought.