What Is Jean Piaget's Theory Of Cognitive Development

According to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, children go through several stages of thinking before reaching an adult mental state. He proposed that from the time children are born until they reach about two years of age, that child is in the sensorimotor stage, where cognition is only focused on immediate stimuli. From the ago of two to seven years old, children then advance to the preoperational stage, where they are be able to think beyond immediate physical experiences, but are unable to see the world from the perspective of others. The next stage is called the concrete operational stage, and would usually last until children turn about eleven years old. During this stage, children are able to perform mental operations, but only in non abstract situations. After adolescence, children enter the fourth and final stage: the formal operations stage. In this stage children are finally able to reason hypothetical ideas. In this essay, I will explore specific examples of thinking patterns between a three year old, who would be in the preoperational stage, and a nine year old, who would be in the concrete operations stage.

One major difference between the three year old and the nine year old, would be that the three year old's thinking would be hindered by
His theory would put the three year old in the preoperational stage, and the nine year old in the concrete operational stage. Although recent studies have found that cognitive development is more gradual than it is stagelike, Piaget's theory would likely hold true in the aspect that the three year old's thinking would not be as advanced as the nine year old. The older child, having more experience with the world, would have more knowledge and would, therefore, have a better understanding of more complex thought