For Jean Piaget (1896-1980), development had 4 stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations and formal operations. He believed that, as children move from one evolutionary state to another, they experience important changes and also go through moments of stability. Furthermore, at each stage a different type of thinking occurs (Myers, 2006).
Today we are going to define the first stage of cognitive development according to Piaget.
Sensorimotor stage
It covers from birth to 2 years.
In this stage, understanding the world happens through our motor and sensory interactions with objects. When the baby is very small she does not have the sense of object permanence (that is, the awareness that objects continue to exist even though we cannot see them). For example, in one of his tests, Piaget showed a baby a striking toy and then covered it to see if the baby would look for it. However, babies younger than 6 months did not (Myers, 2006).
Based on the observation of his own children, Piaget divided this stage into 6 substages:
If you value articles like this, consider supporting us by becoming a Pro subscriber. Subscribers enjoy access to members-only articles, materials, and webinars.
I. Reflexes (0-1 month): Built-in reflexes (e.g. sucking) are practiced until they work perfectly. These reflexes are modified as a result of experience (Bee, 1985; Gross, 2005).
II. Primary circular reactions (1-4 months): The infant will try to repeat interesting things using his or her body (for example, putting his or her finger in his or her mouth). There are more systematic visual and tactile explorations. However, they still do not seem to distinguish between their bodies and objects or events outside. Reflexes extend to new objects and infants are able to coordinate simple schemes such as grasping and looking (Bee, 1985; Gross, 2005).
III. Secondary circular reactions (4-10 months): Tries to make interesting things happen again (for example, will try to hit the crib movable to see how it moves). She also begins to coordinate information from the senses and develops the concept of an object. He gains a superficial understanding that his actions can have external results. A partially hidden object can be found (Bee, 1985; Gross, 2005).
IV. Coordination of secondary schemes (10-12 months): the infant will combine actions with the goal of obtaining something he wants (e.g. throwing a pillow to reach a toy). The use of familiar strategies in combination and in novel situations can be observed. He represents objects in his mind and begins to demonstrate symbolic behavior and memory. He can find a completely hidden object (Bee, 1985; Gross, 2005).
V. Tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months): Children begin to experiment, that is, they try new ways of playing or manipulating objects. Their motor skills have improved, making further exploration possible. They use different schemes to achieve their objectives. An object hidden in one of many layers can be found (Bee, 1985; Gross, 2005).
SAW. Principle of thought (18-24 months): there seem to be internal representations since the child uses images, words or actions to represent objects. They may think about the problem before solving it and thoughts begin to dominate actions (Bee, 1985; Gross, 2005).
Many of Piaget’s observations were made before we had more modern, careful and precise research methods, which is why researchers after Piaget believe that he underestimated the abilities of children. He believed that children who are in the sensorimotor stage can recognize objects, crawl toward them, and manipulate them, but that they are incapable of having abstract concepts or ideas and thinking about their experiences (Myers, 2006).
However, research suggests that infants as young as 5 months can represent number per se, and that their range of numbers is not limited to the object domain (). Other studies indicate that when an adult demonstrates a new way of performing a task to a group of 14-month-old infants, they will use this new way only if they consider it to be the most rational alternative. According to the authors, this suggests that goal-directed imitation in pre-verbal infants is a selective and interpretive process and not mere imitation ().
Sources:
Bee, H. (1985), The developing child 4th edition. Harper & Row publishers: New York
Gergely, G., Bekkering, H., & Király, I. (2002),
Gross, R. (2005), Psychology, the science of mind and behavior 5th edition. Hodder Arnold Publication
Myers, D. (2006), Psychology 7th edition. Panamericana Medical Editorial:Madrid
Wynn, K. (2002),