Preoperational Stage
Language use is one of the most important developments in this stage. In this stage, a child is in a position to use internal representational systems to describe individuals, his or her feelings, and the surroundings ( Lourenço, 2016). Additionally, symbolic play evolves making him or her participating in pretend play using present items to represent another thing. According to the theory, the child is filled with egocentric thoughts, which makes him or her believe that everyone perceives the world around him or her the same way he or she does. He or she cannot understand that there are more approaches to perceiving the world and making interpretations to information ( Lourenço, 2016). For instance, when such children are playing hide and seek, they may close their eyes and assume that no one is seeing them, even if they are in an open place.
Concrete Operations Stage
In this stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, a child starts to think in a logical manner regarding concrete matters. Therefore, the child’s thought patterns become more mature ( Beard, 2013). However, abstract reasoning is still underdeveloped and they only solve issues that relate to concrete events. Moreover, they begin to learn the concept of conservation. They incorporate inductive reasoning, which involves making inferences from observations that they have made to come up with generalizations. On the contrary, they are not good in deductive reasoning, which encompasses applying a generalized principle in the quest to predict the results of an event. Such children find it hard to figure out logic ( Beard, 2013). For instance, they may be aware that two is greater than one and three is more than two, but if asked whether three is more than one, they may not be in a position to logically figure out the difference in their minds.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
This stage clearly describes the adolescents. Their logical thoughts make them deal with problems in a trial and error style. Additionally, they start thinking like scientists, coming up with approaches that are meant to solve problems and to investigate opinions ( Piaget, 2013). Such children apply hypothetical-deductive reasoning; that is, they come up with best guesses, and systematically come up with conclusions. They are in a position to understand love, values, and logical proof. The children start to embrace future possibilities and they become impressed with what they may be. As such, they change in their cognitive thinking in regard to social matters ( Piaget, 2013). Egocentrism controls the manner in which they reason about social issues, and their increased self-conscious is reflected in their sense of invincibility and uniqueness.
Formal Operations Stage
This is the last stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. In this stage, children display intelligence via the logical application of symbols associated with abstract concepts. Similarly, at this stage, people are able to reason in a hypothetical and deductive way ( Piaget, 2013). Therefore, they are in a position to think about concepts that are abstract in nature. Moreover, they start finding multiple solutions to issues and their thinking regarding their surroundings becomes more scientific. The hallmark of this stage is the ability to think about abstract situations and ideas. Individuals are also in a position to plan for the future when they reach this stage of development. Piaget’ theory of cognitive development in children is an invaluable asset, more so in the field of child development. Most importantly, the theory guides the manner in which curricular is developed to assist the learning of children ( Piaget, 2013). Moreover, it helps in the creation of strategies that are used in the teaching of children.
References
Beard, R. M. (2013). An outline of Piaget's developmental psychology . Sebastopol, CA: Routledge.
Lourenço, O. M. (2016). Developmental stages, Piagetian stages in particular: A critical review. New Ideas in Psychology , 40 , 123-137.
Piaget, J. (2013). Sociological studies . Sebastopol, CA: Routledge.
