Correct Answer - Option 4 : None of the above
Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, has made a systematic study of cognitive development in his theory that is categorized into four stages.
- He observed his children and their process of making sense of the world around them and developed a model of how the mind processes new information encountered.
According to Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory:
- Cognitive development takes place at different rates at different stages of development.
- Cognition develops through the interaction between the child and the environment.
- Piaget’s theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge but also on understanding the nature of the child’s intelligence.
Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development:
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Stages of Development
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Characteristics
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Sensorimotor
(birth to 2 yr)
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- Experiences the world through senses and actions (looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, and grasping)
- Cognitive development begins with the baby's use of senses and movements
- Develops object permanence
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Pre-Operational
(2-7 yr)
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- Learns to use language to represent objects by images and words
- Classifies objects by a single feature.
- Thinking is ego-centric; has difficulty taking in the point of view of others.
- Develops symbolic thought
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Concrete-Operational
(7-11 yr)
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- Thinking logically about concrete events, performing concrete arithmetic operations
- Achieves conservation of number (age-6), mass (age-7), and weight (age-9)
- Develops operational thought
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Formal Operational
(11 yr and above)
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- Potential for more mature moral reasoning
- Becomes concerned with hypothetical, future, and ideological problems
- Develops abstract concepts
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Hence, we conclude that in Piaget's theory of development the fourth stage is called Formal Operation Period.
