piagets stages of intellectual development

Question 1

sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)

Answer 1

-focus on physical sensations
-develop basic use of language

Question 2

object permanence

Answer 2

-ability to know that an object still exists even if we cannot see it (8 months)

Question 3

pre-operational stage (2-7 years)

Answer 3

-language becomes sophisticated
-justification isn’t logical (faulty reasoning)
-egocentrism, class inclusion, conservation

Question 4

egocentrism

Answer 4

-view the world from only their perspective

Question 5

class inclusion

Answer 5

-a group of objects can form a class but this same group can be a subset of an even larger group

Question 6

conservation

Answer 6

-quantity of an object remains the same even when its appearance changes

Question 7

concrete operational stage (7-11 years)

Answer 7

-they can understand other perspectives
-they cannot reason abstractly

Question 8

formal operational stage (11+ years)

Answer 8

-capable of scientific thinking
-reason about abstract and hypothetical ideas
-can understand algebra etc

Question 9

weakness - ethnocentric - culture bias

Answer 9

-assumes universality (etic)
-only used samples of western-cultured children

Question 10

weakness - flawed methodology

Answer 10

-McGarrigle & Donaldson’s naughty teddy study
-60% of 6 year olds compared to Piagets 16%
-no manipulation by adults
-Piaget underestimated children’s cognitive ability

Question 11

weakness - conflicting evidence

Answer 11

-Hughes had 4 year-olds position a doll where 2 policemen couldn’t see 90% of the time
-pre-conventional children can perspective take when they fully understand the task
-original methods may have confused the kids