Piaget's Four Stages

Developmental psychology can be best summarized by the theories of the three scientists

Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg. I decided to conduct personal interviews and relate my findings to these

three theories. Piaget's theory explained the four stages of cognitive development. Erikson divided

psychosocial development into eight stages, describing how the people and the environment affects

how we gain our personality. Kohlberg's theory of moral development was to understand the reasoning

to why we make the decisions we do. Below are how my finding relate to these various developmental

psychological theories.

Piaget's four stages of cognitive development start with the sensorimotor stage. This stage is

from birth to around two years of
age when the infant creates their first understanding of the world

around them by taste and touch. At two years of age to six or seven years, the child transitions into the

pre-operational stage. In this stage the child's thinking is still egocentric. Even though this age group

has stable concepts and mental reasoning, they lack the logic for mental operations and can only think

in their point-of-view. Then the concrete operational stage begins at about seven years old and lasts

until the child is, approximate, eleven years old. During this stage, the child can understand and form

simple mathematical operations. Egocentrism will be eliminated and they will no longer be able to see

life from one perspective (their own point of view). Not only in mathematical operations, the child can

perceive multiple aspects when solving a problem. At this stage, they begin to form a sense of

responsibility for their pets and/or personal belongings.

Formal operational, Piaget's final stage, begins around age twelve and continues through

adulthood. Formal operational phase is when the chid develops into an adult and is capable of abstract

thought and moral reasoning influences decision making. The trial-and-error method begins here, along

with the start of considering future outcomes and consequences from decisions.

Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development begin with birth to the first year of

life. During this time an infant is completely helpless and relies off their caretaker for everything. For

this first year it is crucial for the caretaker of the infant to form a relationship for socialization

development. The second stage extends from the first year of the child to age three, when there is a

conflict between doubt or shame and autonomy. The genital, or third stage lasts from age four to age

five. The conflict here is between imitative and a feeling of guilt. The fourth stage, the latency stage,

lasts from six to eleven years old.
This is when a child learns to reason, create, and earn. The conflict is

between industry and inferiority. These first four stages are more dependent on others and the

individual is easily influenced by their environment.

The last four stages of Erikson's developmental theory occurs when the individual

begins to search for their mature self and a sense of direction. The fifth stage begins with adolescence,

that lasts from age twelve to age eighteen. Here, the conflict is between identity and role confusion. The

adolescent transitions into the young adulthood stage, lasting from age eighteen to twenty-five. This is

a time when developing a sense of identity and career success. This is when the individual is on the

path to maturity and independence. Adulthood lasts approximately from thirty-five, to fifty five years

old. During this phase the adult starts to pass on their knowledge to another. The conflict is between

generality or self absorption. The final stage of development is maturity. This stage lasts until death,

when the individual struggles to look back on life with a sense of satisfaction and evaluate our
life.

Kohlberg's theory of moral development provides us with a clearer understanding of

why we make choices. This theory was divided into three stages of moral reasoning. The most basic

stage, is pre-convention. During this stage the idea that we make our decisions due to fear of

punishment or desire for reward occurs. A child is most likely to made decisions with this stage, due to

a fear or obedience to authority. Next, conventional morality is less of a fear to an authority figure,

more the individual wanting to do the right thing. This is society conforming us to play nice to maintain

social order. Post-conventional may be the opposite of conventional. Post-conventional does not mean

we do something wrong to beat conformity, but an individual will follow what they believe to be good

even if it conflicts with the laws or mores of society.

According to Piaget's second stage, the pre-operational stage, the child's thoughts and

actions are egocentric and lack logic for mental operations. The child I interviewed had a self-centered

outlook on life, lacking realistic goals and achievements. At this time in the child's life, they are also at

Erikson's latency stage, when they learn to reason, create, and earn, thus explaining why one of this

child's biggest accomplishments was mixing two sodas to create one. In conclusion, Piaget's and

Erikson's theories can accurately predict a child's thoughts and behaviors.

Teenagers are more complicated, for they have moved past the latency stage into the

adolescence stage. Identity development and role confusion are the larger conflicts. Also at this point,

they transition into the formal operational stage, when they can think abstractly and make their own

decisions. When asked if she had gained or lost self-confidence over the years, the girl I interviewed,

Ashley, responded: “So I lost it throughout middle school, but gradually started gaining it through high

school.” This is due to Ashley struggling and beginning to find her identity. She had already goals that

she wanted to achieve and was able to predict what she wanted to do in five years. As a teenager,

Ashley can make decisions for other reasons than fear of punishment or desire. A step away from

adulthood, at adolescence Ashely is almost able to act and think like an adult.

Adulthood is similar to adolescence in a way. Due to the fact that both adolescences and

adults are able to make decisions using any of the previously mentioned moral reasoning strategies and

both are in the formal operational stage. Whereas, adulthood continues to branch away from

adolescence is only evident using Erikson's developmental stages. The young adult I interviewed,

Dustin, is on the fence of two stages: young adulthood and adulthood. By now, Dustin should have a

sense of self and independence. “Back then I had no ambition, I just wanted to lay video games. I

mean I still want to play video games, but I also want money and to be successful,” said Dustin when I

asked him how different he was from when he started high school. Over the years his desires and goals

changed as he matured with his career. Yet, at forty-seven with four kids and a career, the woman I

interviewed had no problems understanding her identity ulike a teenager or young adult might have.

Her conflicts are generality, feeling worthless or without purpose in life. According to Erikson, at this

stage middle-aged adults have the desire to pass on their knowledge and skills to the next generation.

When asked what she wanted to achieve in the next five years, she responded: “I want to

get all four my kids financially independent and start saving money for retirement.” She also shared her

hopes about her children getting married and having kids: “I'll be able to play with them but not have to

worry about all the responsibilities.” Towards the end of our lives when we reach elderly adulthood,

various experiences can be fulfilling or disappointing. The final stage of Erikson's theory, maturation,

when the individual struggles to look back on what they have done with a sense of satisfaction. When I

asked my grandma what she wanted to achieve in the next five years, there was a pause in her voice

and I could tell the answer she blurted out was not genuine. Perhaps my grandma had been through so

much, she no longer wanted to challenger herself with more life hurdles.

“I think kids had more fun and didn't worry about material things,” she said after I asked

how things were different now compared to when she was a teenager. My grandma looked back on her

past fondly, and offered me advice how I should act in the future. She had more advice and knowledge

to pass on than plans ahead of her.

Over the course of the implementing these theories into my personal interviews, I have

learned that the development of the brain works in stages, and the three scientific studies could

accurately predict the behaviors of the various age groups I questioned. In conclusion, the studies were

very effective in explaining how our behaviors and development increase over time, and in which order

they do.