Jean Piaget

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Stages

The four development stages are described in Piaget's theory as:

1. Sensorimotor stage: from birth to age two. The children experience the world through
movement and their five senses. During the sensorimotor stage children are extremely
egocentric, meaning they cannot perceive the world from others' viewpoints. The
sensorimotor stage is divided into six substages:[21]

I. Simple reflexes;
From birth to one month old. At this time infants use reflexes such as rooting and
sucking.
II. First habits and primary circular reactions;
From one month to four months old. During this time infants learn to coordinate
sensation and two types of schema (habit and circular reactions). A primary circular
reaction is when the infant tries to reproduce an event that happened by accident (ex.:
sucking thumb).
III. Secondary circular reactions;
From four to eight months old. At this time they become aware of things beyond their
own body; they are more object-oriented. At this time they might accidentally shake a
rattle and continue to do it for sake of satisfaction.
IV. Coordination of secondary circular reactions;
From eight months to twelve months old. During this stage they can do things
intentionally. They can now combine and recombine schemata and try to reach a goal
(ex.: use a stick to reach something). They also understand object permanence during
this stage. That is, they understand that objects continue to exist even when they can't
see them.
V. Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity;
From twelve months old to eighteen months old. During this stage infants explore
new possibilities of objects; they try different things to get different results.
VI. Internalization of schemata.

Some followers of Piaget's studies of infancy, such as Kenneth Kaye[22] argue that his
contribution was as an observer of countless phenomena not previously described, but that he
didn't offer explanation of the processes in real time that cause those developments, beyond
analogizing them to broad concepts about biological adaptation generally. Kaye's
"apprenticeship theory" of cognitive and social development refuted Piaget's assumption that
mind developed endogenously in infants until the capacity for symbolic reasoning allowed
them to learn language.

2. Preoperational stage: from ages two years to seven (magical thinking predominates; motor
skills are acquired). Egocentrism begins strongly and then weakens. Children cannot
conserve or use logical thinking.
3. Concrete operational stage: from ages seven to eleven (children begin to think logically
but are very concrete in their thinking). Children can now conserve and think logically but
only with practical aids. They are no longer egocentric.

4. Formal operational stage: from age eleven to sixteen and onwards (development of
abstract reasoning). Children develop abstract thought and can easily conserve and think
logically in their mind.