Piaget proposed four stages of cognitive development: 1) Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years) where infants learn through senses and actions. 2) Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years) where children use symbols and engage in pretend play but think egocentrically. 3) Concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years) where logical thought emerges but is limited to concrete experiences. 4) Formal operational stage (11 years onward) where abstract reasoning develops and hypothetical deductive thought can occur. Piaget argued that children's cognitive structures become more advanced and complex through the processes of assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium as they progress through these four fixed stages of development

1. Hina Jalal (PhD Scholar) @AksEAina
Piaget’s
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
By Hina Jalal
(PhD Scholar)

2. Hina Jalal (PhD Scholar) @AksEAina
Piaget (1970) suggested that children throughout the world proceed through a series of four stages in a fixed
order. Piaget four distinct cognitive development stages.
Three Basic Components To Piaget's Cognitive Theory:
1. Schemas (building blocks of knowledge).
2. Adaptation processes that enable the transition from one stage to another (equilibrium, assimilation,
and accommodation).
3. Stages of Cognitive Development:
I. Sensori motor stage (Birth to 2 years)
II. Pre operational stage (2 to 7 years)
III. Concrete operational stage (7 to 12 years)
IV. Formal Operational stage (12 years to adulthood)
Piaget's theory of cognitive development

3. Hina Jalal (PhD Scholar) @AksEAina
Piaget argued that children's thinking and the ways through which they make sense of their experiences (schemes)
change with age. The infancy period is marked by sensorimotor action patterns during which a child acts on the
objects around him/her to form schemes.
Soon, he/she begins to form mental images which help to transform thinking and experiences into meaningful,
manageable and memorable patterns. This transformation in thinking is supported by two critical processes
including adaptation and organization.
Adaptation involves the process of developing schemes by directly working upon the environment through
assimilation or accommodation. However, if the balance between these two is disturbed, it causes a cognitive
conflict or disequilibrium within the minds of children. It is important to resolve the conflict through either
assimilation or accommodation to bring the mind back to the equilibrium state. These resulted in developing more
effective schemes that help the child to advance his/her thinking.

4. Hina Jalal (PhD Scholar) @AksEAina
Stage 1.
SENSORI MOTOR STAGE (BIRTH TO 2 YEARS)
According to Piaget the sensorimotor stages is from birth to two years during which a child has little competence in
representing the environment using images, language or other symbols. In the first two years infants learn about their world
primarily through their senses and actions. Instead of thinking about what is going on around them infants discover by
sensing (sensory) and doing (motor). The major accomplishments of the period are the following:
a. Coordination of reflexes: During the first 4 months the uncoordinated reflexes which are present at birth are coordinated
into simple schemes
b. Object causality: Infants gradually learn that there is a relationship between their actions and the external world
(Objected causality). They discover that they can manipulate objects and produce effects.
c. Object permanence: For infants below eight-month-old what is out of sight is purely out of mind. Gradually by the age
of 8 moths the infant develops the concept of object permanence an understanding that objects continue to exist even when
they are not immediately in view.
d. Imitation: Infants may try to imitate the actions or facial expression of an older person.

5. Hina Jalal (PhD Scholar) @AksEAina
Stage 2.
PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE (2 TO 7 YEARS)
This age which is characterised by language development. During this stage the child acquires the ability to form mental
images of objects and events and thus begins to think symbolically. The other features are as follows:
Representational thought: The child develops the ability to form mental symbols to represent objects or events are not
present. The symbolic function of cognitive development can be seen in differed imitation and symbolic play.
(i) Differed imitation: The child shows the ability to imitate action performed earlier by adults.
(ii) Symbolic play: The child demonstrates make believe play in which he uses signs and symbols in place of real objects.
(iii) Transductive reasoning: The mode of reasoning of the child at this stage is transductive in nature that is he reasons
from the particular to the.
(iv) Ego centrism: the child at pre conceptual phase cannot think beyond his own view. He tends to assume that others see
the world just as he himself sees it.
(v) Animistic Thinking Pre operational children display animistic thinking children attribute human feelings and motives to
non-living objects. Thus, a three-year-old might state that thunder occurs because the clouds are angry, and Mother Nature
brings rain.

6. Hina Jalal (PhD Scholar) @AksEAina
Stage 3.
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (7 TO 12 YEARS)
The age 7 to 12 years is characterized by logical thinking loss of egocentrism. The child's thought process is limited to real
events observed or the actual objects operated by him. The important features of this stage are:
a. Inductive deductive reasoning: The child begins to think in terms of a set of interrelated principles rather than single
bits of knowledge. He can now make use of inductive and deductive approaches in terms in terms of reasoning and arriving
at conclusion
b. Flexibility in thinking: The child sheds his egocentrism and he can take viewpoints of others.
c. Understanding the principle of conservation: The child develops the ability to conserve both in terms of quantity and
number of objects. He can now very well think that the change is appearance of an object does not alter either its quality or
its number.
d. Classification and serialisation: the child develops the ability to classify objects. He develops the understanding of
rational terms and the ability of serialization.
e. Reversibility of thought: At this stage the child learns to carry a thought backward and forward in time.

7. Hina Jalal (PhD Scholar) @AksEAina
Stage 4.
FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (12 YEARS TO ADULTHOOD)
According to Piaget the formal operational period is from age 12 to adulthood which is characterized by abstract thinking. At
this stage the child thought process becomes quite systematic and reasonably well integrated. The following are the
important features of this period.
a. Abstract thinking; The child develops abstract thinking He uses symbolism in the process of thought and learns to deal
with abstraction by logical thinking.
b. Hypothetical reasoning: systematic assumption of possible solutions (hypothesis) is derived by the child for the problem.
Then the child tests these hypotheses to see which one the correct solution for the problem is.
c. Problems solving: The individual follows the systematic approach in solving the problems. He formulates multiple
hypotheses and several alternative solutions
d. Transfer of knowledge: The individual can transfer his learnt knowledge from one situation to another.

8. Hina Jalal (PhD Scholar) @AksEAina
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