Piaget's stages of cognitive development

Question 1

Described by Piaget as the basic building block or unit of intelligent behaviour

Answer 1

Schema

Question 2

The process described by Piaget of fitting schemas into environmental information

Answer 2

Adaptation

Question 3

As described by Piaget, where new information is incorporated into an existing schema without restructuring the schema

Answer 3

Assimilation

Question 4

As described by Piaget, where new information is added to an existing schema which requires the schema to be restructured

Answer 4

Accommodation

Question 5

As described by Piaget, this occurs when all information properly fits into existing schemas either through assimilation or accommodation

Answer 5

Equilibrium

Question 6

First stage of Piaget’s cognitive development

Answer 6

Sensorimotor

Question 7

Second stage of Piaget’s cognitive development

Answer 7

Preoperational

Question 8

Third stage of Piaget’s cognitive development

Answer 8

Concrete operational

Question 9

Fourth stage of Piaget’s cognitive development

Answer 9

Formal operational

Question 10

Average age at first stage of Piaget’s cognitive development

Answer 10

0-2 years

Question 11

Average age at second stage of Piaget’s cognitive development

Answer 11

2-7 years

Question 12

Average age at third stage of Piaget’s cognitive development

Answer 12

7-11 years

Question 13

Average age at fourth stage of Piaget’s cognitive development

Answer 13

11 years to adolescence

Question 14

Characteristics of the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development at birth to 2 months

Answer 14

Inborn reflexes used to interact with the external world e.g. suckling, grasping

Question 15

Characteristics of the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development at 2-5 months

Answer 15

Primary circular reactions
Coordinated activity of own body e.g. sucking thumb
Subjective reality - does not seek stimuli outwith field of view

Question 16

Definition of a circular reaction

Answer 16

A behaviour that produces an event that leads to repetition of the behaviour

Question 17

A circular reaction which involves only the infant’s own body

Answer 17

Primary circular reaction

Question 18

A circular reaction that involves the infant’s body but also external objects e.g. shaking a rattle

Answer 18

Secondary circular reaction

Question 19

Circular reaction that experiments with the different effects the same behaviour can have e.g. rolling a ball and then rolling a block

Answer 19

Tertiary circular reaction

Question 20

Characteristics of the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development at 5-9 months

Answer 20

Secondary circular reactions

Beginning to act purposefully to change the environment

Question 21

Characteristics of the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development at 9-12 months

Answer 21

Plays peek-a-boo
Beginning to grasp object permanence
Beginning to understand that objects apart from themselves exist

Question 22

Characteristics of the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development at 12-18 months

Answer 22

Tertiary circular reactions

Seeking out new behaviours

Question 23

Characteristics of the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development at 18-24 months

Answer 23

Symbolic thought
Representational play e.g. uses a cup and pretends it is a hat
Signs of reasoning e.g. uses one toy to reach another
Achieves object permanence

Question 24

Type of magical thinking children display at the preoperational stage of cognitive development where events that occur together are thought to cause one another

Answer 24

Phenomenalistic causality

Question 25

The ability that emerges during the preoperational stage of cognitive development where children are able to represent something with some kind of signifier

Answer 25

Semiotic function

Question 26

Characteristic during the preoperational phase of cognitive development where objects are referred to by their function rather than by their appearance

Answer 26

Functional attribution

Question 27

Characteristic during the preoperational phase of cognitive development where children treat inanimate objects as living things

Answer 27

Animism

Question 28

Characteristic during the preoperational phase of cognitive development where children reasons on a case by case basis ignoring well-established facts they don't yet know e.g. thinking pizza is always triangular because they have only seen triangular slices

Answer 28

Transductive reasoning

Question 29

Faulty thinking displayed by children at the preoperational stage of cognitive development where they think two things are the same because they share a characteristic e.g. butterflies and birds are the same thing because they both have wings

Answer 29

Von Domarus Law

Question 30

Characteristic during the preoperational phase of cognitive development where children are unable to categorise or sort objects based on an aspect of their appearance

Answer 30

Lack of seriation

Question 31

Characteristic during the preoperational phase of cognitive development where children are unable to perceive that a quantity of something is unchanged if it is presented in a different way e.g. not understanding that 500ml of water in a tall thin glass is the same volume in a short thick glass

Answer 31

Lack of conservation

Question 32

Characteristic during the preoperational phase of cognitive development where children are only able to see the world from a single point of view

Answer 32

Egocentrism

Question 33

Characteristic during the preoperational phase of cognitive development where children link objects and events on the basis of features in common e.g. linking that a red ball and a red cube are similar in some way

Answer 33

Syncretic thought

Question 34

Order at which children develop conservation of different properties during the concrete operation stage of cognitive development

Answer 34

``` Liquid Length Count Weight Volume ```

Question 35

Ability gained at the concrete operational stage of cognitive development where children are able to recognise that things can change and then change back without loss of the original material e.g. water changing to ice and back again

Answer 35

Reversibility

Question 36

The ability gained at the concrete operational stage of cognitive development where children are able to combine known statements to reach a logical conclusion e.g. all ocean water is salty, the water at the beach is salty, therefore the water at the beach must be ocean water

Answer 36

Syllogistic reasoning

Question 37

Ability gained at the concrete operational stage of cognitive development where children are able to see things from multiple points of view - replaces egocentricity

Answer 37

Operational thought

Question 38

Characteristics of children at the formal operational stage of cognitive development

Answer 38

Ability to think logically and abstractly Ability to test hypotheses against reality Ability to grasp the concept of probabilities

Question 39

Task used in Piaget's sensorimotor stage to investigate a child's ability to understand object permanence

Answer 39

Hiding objects

Question 40

Task used in Piaget's pre-operational stage used to illustrate ego-centricity

Answer 40

Mountain task

Question 41

Task used in Piaget's formal operational stage used to illustrate the ability to consider multiple variables in making a hypothesis

Answer 41

Pendulum task