Piaget's theory of cognitive development outlines 4 stages of development: sensorimotor (birth-2 years), preoperational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-11 years), and formal operational (12 years and up). The stages are characterized by the development of object permanence, representational thought, logical reasoning, and abstract thought. Children with cognitive disabilities may not progress through all the stages. Down syndrome is provided as an example of a cognitive disability where individuals often do not complete all stages of Piaget's theory.

1. JEAN PIAGET’S THEORY OF
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
By: Kayla Lane, Kelly McGrail,
Cara Sisler, and Michael Herther

2. PIAGET’S BEGINNINGS
CHILD
PRODIGY

3. Piaget was 10 years old when he published his first
article on an albino sparrow
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 152)

4. BINET LABORATORY
 Age 21: Piaget earns his PhD and heads off the
work at the Binet laboratory with Theophile Simon
and Alfred Binet
 There he learned many of the key ideas in his
revolutionary theory of cognitive development
BINET PIAGET
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 152)

5. THEORY OF
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
4 Stages

6. STAGE 1: SENSORIMOTOR THOUGH (BIRTH-2
YEARS)
Babies are stuck in the HERE AND NOW world
they “know the world only in terms of their own sensory
input (what they see, smell, taste, touch, and hear) and
their physical or motor actions on it (e.g. sucking,
reaching, grasping)
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 157)

7. Babies lack REPRESENTATIONAL THOUGHT or
ability to think through the use of symbols
CAN YOU THINK
WITHOUT
WORDS??
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 158)

8. NO! of course not!
That’s why Piaget says babies cannot think!
 Evidence of representational thought emerges from
the use of language and
ObJeCt PeRmAnEnCe
 “the fact that objects, events, or even people
continue to exist when they are not in the infants
direct line of sensory or motor action” (Littlefield Cook
& Cook, 2005/2009, p. 159)
The understanding of object permanence marks the
change into…

9. PREOPERATIONAL
THOUGHT
Stage 2 (2-7 years)

10. PREOPERATIONAL THOUGHT IS
CHARACTERIZED BY:
 Intuitive Though – logic bases only on experiences
 Symbols in
 Egocentrism
 lack of conservation

11. SYMBOLS IN PLAY
 Symbolic play: use one object to
stand for another
Can you hear me
now?
 Fantasy play: pretend to
UP, UP, AND
be something, or pretend AWAY
activities that are impossible
 Make-believe play: use toys
as props
Rock a-by Baby (Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 162)

12. EGOCENTRICSM:
“child’s inability to take in others
perspective”
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 163)

13. THREE MOUNTAIN TEST
Little Timmy sees the big
mountain and Davie the Doll
“sees” the smaller mountain
Timmy’s egocentrism prevents him from seeing
Davie’s perspective… Timmy would draw the
big mountain

14. CONSERVATION

15. ACCORDING TO THIS GUY:
Operations = reversible mental
actions…
 Thus, the preoperational
Stage is marked by children’s
lack of conservation - “concept that certain basic
properties of an object (e.g. volume, mass, and
weight) remain the same even if its physical
appearance changes”
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 164)

16. FAMOUS CONSERVATION TEST
Equal
Amounts
of H2O
The FIRST step in the experiment is to show the child 2 cups with
equal amount of water

17. STEP 2
Pour one cup into a tall, skinny cup and the other into
a short, fat cup

18. STEP 3
a child would conclude
that the tall skinny class had more water because the
level of water was higher.
THE UNDERSTANDING OF
CONSERVATION PRINCIPLES SENDS
THAT PRECIOUS LITTLE CHILD RIGHT
INTO THE WORLD OF…

19. CONCRETE
OPERATIONAL
THOUGHT
Stage 3
(7-11 years)

20. Logic is “still tied closely to concrete materials,
contexts, and situations”
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 166)
 Characterized by:
 ytilibisreveR
 Logical abilities: class inclusion

21. REVERSIBILITY
Relates to the CONSERVATION EXPERIMENT
children in the concrete operational stage understand
that if you reverse the action (pour the water back
into the same size cups), then the water amount
REMAINS THE SAME
ITS LIKE MAGIC… but not really.
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 165)

22. LOGICAL ABILITIES: CLASS INCLUSION
ARE THERE MORE DOGS
OR ANIMALS?

23. Through understanding class inclusion, children in the
concrete operational stage know that dogs belong
to the larger CATEGORY of animals
So they would answer:
ANIMALS
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 166)

24. FORMAL
OPERATIONAL
THOUGHT
Stage 4 (age 12 and up)
• 5 important higher-level cognitive
abilities

25. 1. HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVE REASONING
 “ability to plan systematic tests to explore multiple
variables”… HUH?
IT MEANS SCIENTIFIC
REASONING!!!
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 167)

26. 2. ABSTRACT THOUGHT
“Thought about things that are not real or tangible”
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 167)

27. 3. SEPARATING REALITY FROM POSSIBILITY
“direction of thinking about reality and possibility
reverses: … reality is thought of as only one of
many possible outcomes”
How things could be
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 167)

28. 4. COMBINATIONAL LOGIC
Thinking about multiple aspects and combining
them logically to solve problems

29. 5. REFLECTIVE THINKING
Thinking about your own thinking

30. WHAT IF A CHILD DOES NOT DEVELOP AS
PIAGET EXPLAINED?
IN MOST CASES, CHILDREN WITH
COGNITIVE DISABILITIES DO NOT
SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE ALL
OF PIAGET’S STAGES OF
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

31. COGNITIVE
DISABILITIES

32. DOWN SYNDROME (TRISOMY 21)
IS A COMMON EXAMPLE OF A COGNITIVE DISABILITY

33. COMMON
ASPECTS
OF DOWN
SYNDROME

34. (National Down Syndrome, 2011).

35. (National Down Syndrome, 2011).

36. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON
PIAGET
Berk, L.E.(2007). Development through the
lifespan: Fourth Edition. Illinios: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Hall, C. E. Nordby, V.J. (1974). A guide to
pyschologists and their concepts. San
Fransico: Freeman and Company.
Malott, R.W. Whaley,D.L.(1976). Pyschology. New
York: Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc.
Wadsworth, B.J.(1996). Piaget’s theory of cognitive
and affective development: Fifth Ed. New York:
Logman Publishers, U.S.A.

37. REFERENCES
Littlefield Cook, J., & Cook, G. (2009). Cognitive
development: Piagetian and sociocultural
views. in Child development principles and
perspectives (2nd ed., pp. 151-183). Boston :
Pearson Education, Inc. (Original work
published 2005)
National down syndrome society - mental health
issues and down syndrome. (2011).
Retrieved November 30, 2011, from
National Down Syndrome Society website: