Piaget's Stages
According to Piaget, children actively seek out information and adapt it to the knowledge and conceptions of the world that they already have. Piaget thinks that his stages represent broad ways of thinking. Piaget described four distinct periods of cognitive development (sensorimotor intelligence, preoperational thought, concrete operations, and formal operations). The sensorimotor intelligence period begins at birth and ends at about 24 months. Piaget called it sensorimotor intelligence because infants learn through senses and motor skills. This two year long period is broken down into six stages.
Children create their own understanding of reality from their own experience. Children organize their knowledge into complex cognitive structures
called schema. In the newborn, the schema consists of innate reflexes and reaction patterns such as looking, sucking, grasping, hitting, or kicking. The first stage is the stage of reflex acts. The neonate responds to external stimulation with innate reflex actions. For example, if you brush a baby’s mouth or cheek with your finger it will suck reflexively. As reflexes adjust, the baby enters stage two. The second stage is the stage of the primary circular reactions. A circular reaction is when the baby chances upon a new experience and tries to repeat it. The baby will repeat pleasurable actions on its own body. For example, babies will wiggle their fingers, kick their legs, and suck their thumbs. Children are unable to make the accommodations necessary to assimilate the hand to the sucking theme. After repeated failures, babies establish sucking and hand movements and master the art of thumb sucking.
The third stage is the stage of secondary circular reactions. Secondary circular reactions occur when the baby discovers and repeats pleasurable actions that involve objects as well as actions involving their own bodies. For example, an infant moves her legs and the dolls fall over her bed. She stares at the dolls and then moves her legs again, watching the dolls move again. During this stage, the infant performs a single action to get a result. Piaget sometimes referred to secondary circular reactions as “making interesting sights last”. Piaget states that infants enjoy having their own power and the ability to make an experience happen over and over again.
The fourth stage is the stage of the coordination of secondary schemes. In this stage, the infant’s actions become more differentiated. They learn to coordinate two separate schemes to get a result. This new accomplishment is most visible when infants deal with obstacles. For example, an infant will not just shake the rattle but will reach out and knock to one side an object that stands in the way of it getting hold of the rattle.
The fifth stage is the stage of tertiary circular reactions. During this stage, infants experiment with different actions to observe the different outcomes. These differ from secondary circular reactions in that they are intended adaptations to specific situations. Infants explore different objects by taking it apart and trying to put it back together. For example, an infant stacks cups and then puts back the cups back, one inside the other. It is worth stopping to notice that infants are learning entirely on their own without any adult teaching.
The sixth stage is the stage of the beginnings of thought. At this stage, children are capable of deferred imitation, the imitation of models hours or days after observing them. This is the transitional to the preoperational stage of cognitive development. Babies can form mental representations of objects. This means that they have developed the ability to visualize things that are not physically present. This is the crucial to the acquisition of object permanence, the most fundamental achievement of the whole sensorimotor stage of development.
Piaget did not believe that stages are bound into the genetic code, but constructed by children themselves. He did not believe children’s thinking is shaped by adult teachings or other environmental influences. At the beginning of life, children have no sense of objects existing apart from their vision and actions. At the end of the sensorimotor stage, objects are permanent and separate.
Children create their own understanding of reality from their own experience. Children organize their knowledge into complex cognitive structures
called schema. In the newborn, the schema consists of innate reflexes and reaction patterns such as looking, sucking, grasping, hitting, or kicking. The first stage is the stage of reflex acts. The neonate responds to external stimulation with innate reflex actions. For example, if you brush a baby’s mouth or cheek with your finger it will suck reflexively. As reflexes adjust, the baby enters stage two. The second stage is the stage of the primary circular reactions. A circular reaction is when the baby chances upon a new experience and tries to repeat it. The baby will repeat pleasurable actions on its own body. For example, babies will wiggle their fingers, kick their legs, and suck their thumbs. Children are unable to make the accommodations necessary to assimilate the hand to the sucking theme. After repeated failures, babies establish sucking and hand movements and master the art of thumb sucking.
The third stage is the stage of secondary circular reactions. Secondary circular reactions occur when the baby discovers and repeats pleasurable actions that involve objects as well as actions involving their own bodies. For example, an infant moves her legs and the dolls fall over her bed. She stares at the dolls and then moves her legs again, watching the dolls move again. During this stage, the infant performs a single action to get a result. Piaget sometimes referred to secondary circular reactions as “making interesting sights last”. Piaget states that infants enjoy having their own power and the ability to make an experience happen over and over again.
The fourth stage is the stage of the coordination of secondary schemes. In this stage, the infant’s actions become more differentiated. They learn to coordinate two separate schemes to get a result. This new accomplishment is most visible when infants deal with obstacles. For example, an infant will not just shake the rattle but will reach out and knock to one side an object that stands in the way of it getting hold of the rattle.
The fifth stage is the stage of tertiary circular reactions. During this stage, infants experiment with different actions to observe the different outcomes. These differ from secondary circular reactions in that they are intended adaptations to specific situations. Infants explore different objects by taking it apart and trying to put it back together. For example, an infant stacks cups and then puts back the cups back, one inside the other. It is worth stopping to notice that infants are learning entirely on their own without any adult teaching.
The sixth stage is the stage of the beginnings of thought. At this stage, children are capable of deferred imitation, the imitation of models hours or days after observing them. This is the transitional to the preoperational stage of cognitive development. Babies can form mental representations of objects. This means that they have developed the ability to visualize things that are not physically present. This is the crucial to the acquisition of object permanence, the most fundamental achievement of the whole sensorimotor stage of development.
Piaget did not believe that stages are bound into the genetic code, but constructed by children themselves. He did not believe children’s thinking is shaped by adult teachings or other environmental influences. At the beginning of life, children have no sense of objects existing apart from their vision and actions. At the end of the sensorimotor stage, objects are permanent and separate.