http://socyberty.com/psychology/four-stages-of-cognitive-development/
socyberty.com
by tiffanyaliano in Psychology
In the following article I will describe Jean Piaget’s theory of the four stages of cognitive development for children. I will also cover how children move through these stages, followed by some brief examples pertaining to environmental factors and so forth. In addition I will express my opinion of the gender factor of a person’s development.
Cognitive development is the process of how a person throughout their entire life obtains knowledge, retains information, and uses it to trouble shoot their everyday life situations. When referring to the earlier years of a person’s development, psychologist often refer back to Jean Piaget discussion of the four stages of cognitive development for children; which are the Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational and the Formal Operational Stages.
The Sensorimotor Stage covers the time a child is born until they are two years of age, and is characterized as the first part of human life that takes in the world around them. This includes the child observing their environment with their senses, touch, taste, feel, smell and what they hear. At this stage an infant makes relationships and connections through their five senses, with their physical actions as well as their natural instincts. For example a baby when hungry will normally instinctively know to suck their mother’s breast or nipple of a bottle for sustenance.
When a child becomes two years old they enter a stage known as the Preoperational Stage; which last until they are seven years old. During this stage the child starts to absorb images, sounds and words, which acts as symbols. From this point they begin to understand cause and effect as well as how one thing relates to another. With this line of thinking they are able to expand on how much information they are taking in and the connections that follow that information; where they are able to recall an experience. For example a three year old is jumping in the bath tub, falls into the water and bangs his head on the way down. His mother franticly grabs her baby out of the water and cuddles him. The child may sometimes relate the pain, fear, paired with his mother’s reaction to remove him from the water, as the water or tub is to be feared.
The Concrete Operational Stage follows the Preoperational Stage and last between the ages of seven through eleven. During this stage the child can rationalize and reason using logic gathered from their earlier experience, and events. At this stage the child is able to group objects and or people in to their separate categories based on their gathered knowledge thus far. For example a little girl is watching a scary movie
with her older brother, where one of the antagonists had distinct characteristics. Later, that week the little girl is with her mother in the grocery store, the cashier her mom chooses to check her groceries out with has features that resemble the character in the horror film the girl might ask her mom to go to another line or plainly express signs of fear towards the clerk.
The final stage last from age eleven throughout their adult life, this stage is known as the Formal Operational Stage. Throughout this stage formed by the other earlier three is the end result of how the child or person, now perceives the world around them; where they have formed their own ideas, way of reasoning, and perception to view the world around them. Although, in the earliest part of this stage a child’s reasoning and logic can sometimes tend to be riddled with heavy emotions and hormonal changing factors that occur during the late stage of puberty. (Santrock, 2004, p. 88)
Even though most children will follow the stages mentioned above, does gender make a difference?. Throughout life since the beginning of time both genders in every culture held and have different social roles reflective on what at the time is socially acceptable in their immediate environment. For example in early American history when the Puritan culture populated the thirteen colonies, women were expected to serve men for the most part, any that showed otherwise were shunned from the community and church or prosecuted as a witch. That fear alone of being ridiculed, shaming their family, or worse their fear of god can often make one choosey upon what information they wish to retain due to self preservation. (Cody, 1988) But that example is more of the interaction of gender roles in society. Physically is there a difference in a male or female’s brain that makes their cognitive development different? As of now studies to prove the answer to the above question are still taking place, and are constantly being explored. Some findings were that men brains are average out to be 10% larger than females, but taking body mass, type , and weight into consideration, most men are built larger than the majority of woman studied. One theory is that men use their left hemisphere at a higher percentage than woman, where woman use their right hemisphere more. (Guner, 2005)
In conclusion, human beings start cognitive development the day that they are born, throughout their life. The first three stages are the most important and essential to the development of a human being, as the three stages of the human brain is developing at a rapid pace compared to the last stage. Although there are different social roles of what is expected of a man or woman, society is always changing and the actual physical differences of the male and female brain, has not shown any extraordinary conclusions, besides from what areas of the brain show the most activity. Both infant men and women seem to have the same advantages and disadvantages as far as physical make up and development.
References
1. Cody, D. (1988). Puritanism in New England. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from Www.victorianweb.org/ Web site
: http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/puritan2.html
2. development, c. (n.d.). The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from Dictionary.com website: Web site: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cognitive development
3. Guner, J. (2005, January 28). General intelligence equal between sexes. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from The Daily Bruin. UCLA Web site: http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2005/jan/28/general-intelligence-equal-bet/
4. Santrock, J. W. (2004). 3. Human Development. In Psychology, Essentials (Second ed., p. 88). Dallas, Tx: Stephen Rutter. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from http://www.mhhe.com
