JEAN PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY
INTRODUCTION
• Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist and epistemologist born on August 9, 1896, in Neuchâtel,
Switzerland.
• He is best known for his theory of cognitive development, which explains how children learn and
grow mentally.
• Piaget believed that children actively build their understanding of the world by interacting with
their environment.
• He started his career in biology and later became interested in how children develop knowledge.
• He closely observed children, including his own, to study how their thinking changes with age.
• He died on September 16, 1980, but his work continues to guide research and education around
the world.
WHAT IS COGNITION
• The word cognition comes from the Latin word “cognoscere”, which means “to know”, “to
recognize”, or “to understand”.
• Cognition means the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and understanding.
• These processes include thinking, remembering, problem-solving, and decision-making.
• Cognition helps people understand their surroundings and interact meaningfully with others.
WHAT IS COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
• Cognitive development means the process by which children develop their thinking and
understanding abilities over time.
• It involves learning to think, reason, understand language, solve problems, and remember
information.
• Cognitive development is how children learn to make sense of their physical and social world.
• Piaget believed that children go through different stages of thinking, each more advanced than the
one before.
• This development happens through both natural growth (maturation) and learning from
experiences.
KEY CONCEPTS OF PIAGET’S THEORY
Schema
• A schema is a mental structure or category that helps organize and understand information.
• It is like a mental folder where we keep related knowledge and experiences.
• Schemas grow and change as a person learns more from their surroundings.
For example, a child may have a schema for “dog” as a four-legged furry animal. Later, the child
adds new kinds of dogs, like small or big dogs, into the same schema.
Assimilation
• Assimilation means using an existing schema to understand something new.
• The child does not change the schema, but instead fits the new information into what they already
know.
For example, a child who has only seen dogs might call a cat a “dog” because it also has four legs
and fur.
• The child is using the dog schema to try to understand a new animal.
Accommodation
• Accommodation means changing an existing schema or making a new one when the old schema
does not fit.
• This happens when the child realizes that the new experience is too different from what they
already know.
For example, when the child sees that a cat meows and behaves differently from a dog, they make a
new schema for “cat”.
Equilibration
• Equilibration is the process of balancing assimilation and accommodation to create better
understanding.
• When the child faces something new that does not make sense, it causes confusion called
disequilibrium.
• To solve this, the child either adjusts their old knowledge or creates new knowledge to restore
balance.
• This back-and-forth process helps children grow and move to more advanced stages of thinking.
For example, when a child learns that a penguin is a bird but cannot fly, they have to change their
idea of what “bird” means. This process of adjusting their thinking helps them learn in a deeper
way.
STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years)
Object Permanence
• The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible. Infants initially
think if something is out of sight, it no longer exists, but gradually learn that the object is still
present even if hidden.
Goal-Directed Behavior
• The child begins to perform actions intentionally to achieve a specific result. For example, pulling
a blanket to get a toy placed on it.
Deferred Imitation
• The ability to remember and copy the behavior of others even after a delay. For example, a child
sees someone brushing hair and imitates the same action hours later.
Causality
• Infants begin to learn that their actions can cause outcomes. For example, shaking a rattle makes
noise, so they repeat the action for that result.
Mental Representation
• The child starts forming internal images or ideas of objects and actions. This marks the beginning
of symbolic thinking.
During the sensorimotor stage, the child learns about the world mainly through sensory experiences
and physical interaction. They use sight, touch, taste, and motor activities like grasping, crawling, or
walking. The major achievement is the understanding of object permanence, which is a sign of the
child’s emerging ability to form mental representations. This stage marks the beginning of cognitive
development.
Example – A 10-month-old baby drops a toy behind the couch. Earlier they would ignore it, but
now they crawl around to find it, showing they know it still exists.
Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years)
Symbolic Thought
• The ability to use symbols like words, images, or objects to represent things not physically
present. For example, a child can use a stick to represent a sword during play.
Egocentrism
• The child sees the world only from their own perspective and has difficulty understanding other
people’s viewpoints.
Animism
• The belief that non-living things have feelings and intentions. For example, a child may say “the
moon is following me” or think a doll is sad when left alone.
Artificialism
• The belief that natural phenomena are created by humans or supernatural beings. For example,
thinking that clouds are made by people or someone made the sun rise.
Centration
• Focusing on only one aspect of a situation and ignoring others. For example, judging a tall, thin
glass as having more juice than a short, wide one, even if the volume is the same.
Irreversibility
• The child does not understand that actions can be reversed. For example, if you flatten a ball of
clay, the child cannot mentally reverse it back to its original shape.
During the preoperational stage, children develop the ability to use language and engage in
imaginative play. Their thinking is still very intuitive and lacks logical reasoning. They understand
the world mainly through symbols and perception rather than logic. Their reasoning is influenced
by appearances and their own feelings, not objective analysis.
Example – A 4-year-old girl believes that her teddy bear feels lonely when left at home and talks to
it during play, showing animism and symbolic thinking.
Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years)
Conservation
• The understanding that quantity remains the same even when its shape or appearance changes.
For example, knowing that water poured into a tall thin glass is the same amount as in a short
wide one.
Classification
• The ability to group objects based on common features or hierarchies. For example, recognizing
that a dog is an animal but also a mammal and can belong to a group of pets.
Seriation
• The ability to arrange objects in a logical sequence based on features like size, number, or weight.
For example, lining up sticks from shortest to longest.
Decentration
• The ability to focus on multiple aspects of a problem at once. For example, understanding that a
coin is both round and silver.
Reversibility
• Understanding that actions can be reversed mentally. For example, knowing that if you fold a
paper and then unfold it, it is still the same paper.
Concrete Logic
• Thinking becomes more logical and organized, but only about concrete, tangible things they can
see or manipulate. Abstract thinking is still limited.
In the concrete operational stage, children begin to develop logical thought, but only about concrete
and real situations. They overcome egocentrism and centration and understand concepts like
conservation and reversibility. Their cognitive abilities now allow them to solve practical problems
and categorize or organize information more efficiently.
Example – A 9-year-old correctly answers that both a fat short glass and a tall thin glass hold the
same amount of water, showing understanding of conservation and logical reasoning.
Formal Operational Stage (11 years and above)
Abstract Thinking
• The ability to think about concepts that are not physically present or tangible. For example,
considering justice, freedom, or love.
Hypothetico-Deductive Reasoning
• The ability to form hypotheses and test them logically. For example, if a student thinks, “If I study
for 2 hours every day, I will score better,” they will test this theory and analyze results.
Metacognition
• Thinking about one’s own thinking. For example, a teenager evaluates how they learn best, plans
their study schedule, and reflects on what strategies work.
Idealism
• Adolescents start imagining ideal scenarios and compare them with reality. They may feel
disappointment when things don’t meet their ideals.
Propositional Thought
• The ability to evaluate logic without needing to refer to real-world examples. For example,
understanding that “All birds can fly; penguins are birds; therefore, penguins can fly” is logically
invalid, even if it sounds right.
In the formal operational stage, adolescents are capable of more sophisticated, abstract, and
strategic thinking. They begin to understand hypothetical situations, engage in future planning,
moral reasoning, and systematic problem-solving. This stage allows for reflective thought, critical
reasoning, and a deeper self-awareness.
Example – A 14-year-old debates ethical dilemmas like animal rights and climate change, showing
the ability to handle abstract and moral concepts.
