Piaget

Psychology is filled with many different theories, one being Jean Piaget's theory on cognitive development. Piaget's theory of development is divided into four different stages; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete, and formal operations. Jenna and I conducted an experiment in which we questioned two children, testing which Piaget stage they were in, and using our knowledge in psychology to place them in the correct stage in development. The first stage is the sensorimotor stage which occurs during early childhood between birth and approximately age two. During the sensorimotor stage, an infant's knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory perceptions and motor activities. Behaviors are limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli. Children utilize skills and abilities they were born with (such as looking, sucking, grasping, and listening) to learn more about the environment. Unfortunately, Jenna and I were unable to find a child within these ages. Piaget calls this the sensorimotor stage because the early manifestations of intelligence appear from sensory perceptions and motor activities. However, if we were able to experiment on an infant we would play “peek-a-boo” and if the child showed signs of being extremely intrigued with it, we could easily say he or she was in the sensorimotor stage. We can determine this because the child is amazed because he or she isn't aware that when you cover something it is still there. The infant believes it is gone forever and when you reveal it again, he or she is overly joyed. This is why little babies love playing “peek-a-boo.” When the baby is able to understand that objects don't just disappear, he or she has reached the preoperational stage. The preoperational stage is the second stage in Piaget's theory which is a period between the ages of 2 and 6. During this stage children don't understand concrete logic and they cannot mentally manipulate information. Also they are egocentric and are