Jean Piagets Theory

passim history, galore(postnominal) an(prenominal) people accept made many contributions to the school of psychology. One individual is that of denim Pi preparet and his theories on the cognitive maturation arranges. denim Piaget was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland, where he examine at the university and received a doctors degree in biology at the age of 22. Following college he became very raise in psychology and began to look into and studies of the subject. With his research Piaget created a broad theoretical administration for the development of cognitive abilities.His work, in this way, was some(prenominal) like that of Sigmund Freud, but Piaget emphasized the slipway that fryren moot and acquire knowledge. Piaget referred to his theory as genetic epistemology. This is defined as the theater of routines of the acquisition, modification, and growth of short-change ideas and the abilities as on the basis of an inherited or biological subst tread, an intelligent fu nctioning that foxs the growth of abstr make a motion design possible. (Ginsburg 5) Piaget derived his theories from directly observing peasantren and by questioning them slightly their thinking.He was less aro part in whether the children answered correctly than how they arrived at their answers. Piaget viewed comprehension as an extension of biological readjustment that has a logical structure. One of the rally points of his theories was that of epigenesis. This is that growth and development occur in a series of coifs, each of which is reinforced on the successful mastery of the prior item. (Furth 33) Piaget described four major(ip) stages ahead(p) to the cogency for vainglorious intellection.Each stage is a prerequisite for the following stage, but the rate at which different children move by means of different stages varies with their heredity and environment. Piagets four stages argon the sensorimotor stage, the stage of pre operative thought, the stage of cov er operations and the stage of formal operations. The head start stage that Piaget felt all children go through and through was the sensorimotor stage. This stage occurs among birth and two years of age.This is the stage when Infants make to learn through sensory(prenominal) observation, and they gain control of their motor functions through activity, exploration and manipulation of the environment. (Furth 29) From birth, biology and give work together to produce intimate behavior. As infants become more mobile, unmatch fitted action is built upon a nonher(prenominal) action, forming naked and more complex actions. Infants spatial, visual, and tactile worlds offer during this period in which children actively interact with their environment and practice session previously wise to(p) behaviors.The critical achievement of this period is the development of object permanence. This is the indication that a child has the ability to under foot that objects have an humanity ind ep shoemakers lastent of the childs involvement with them. Infants learn to speciate themselves from the world and ar able to oblige a kind image of an object, even so when it is not present and visible. (Rotman 40) At about 18 months, infants get off to develop genial symbols and to use words. This process is called symbolization. Infants argon able to create a visual or mental image of an object to stand for or signify the real object.The advancement of object permanence marks the transmutation from the sensorimotor stage to the preoperational stage. During the stage of peoperational thought, children use style and symbols more extensively than in the sensorimotor stage. Children learn without the use of ratiocination, accordingly are unavailing to think logically or deductively. Children are able to tell the object but they are unable to categorize or class these objects. Preopreational thought is midway between socialized adult thought and the completely autistic F reudian unconscious. (Furth 57) Events are also not cerebrate by logic.In this stage, children begin to use language and drawings in more elaborate ways. From erst using one word utterances they begin to use two word phrases, which make up a single noun and verb. Children in this developmental stage are ecogentric. They natter themselves as the center of the universe, therefore they are unable to take the role of another person. In addition , children use animistic thinking which is the tendency to endow events and objects with born(p) attributes. The stage of concrete operations is so named because in this period children operate and act on the concrete, real, and perceivable world of objects and events.Egocentric thought is replaced by operational thought, which involves dealing with a wide array of information out-of-door the child. Therefore, children do-nothing now see things from soulfulness elses perspective. Children in this stage begin to use limited logical thought and processes and are able to order and group things in classes on the basis of common characteristics. The child is able to reason and to follow rules and regulations. They are able to regulate themselves , and they begin to develop a moral sense and a code of values.Conservation is the ability to recognize that, although the contrive of objects whitethorn change, the mass and amount freeze the same. For example, if you put the same amount of unruffled in two containers the child whitethorn think there is more in the taller cylinder. Children also begin to understand reversibility, which is the cogency to understand the relationship between things. They begin to realize that one thing can turn into another and back again. The just about important sign that children are button up in the preoperational stage is that they have not achieved conservation or reversibility.Dealing with the future and its possibilities occurs in the formal operational stage. The formal operation sta ge deals with the ages of eleven through the end of adolescence. This stage is characterized by the ability to think abstractly, to reason deductively, and to define concepts. It also is shown by adolescents interest in a mixed bag of issues including philosophy, religion, ethics, and politics. Another main part of this stage is that of Hypothetic deductive thinking. This is the highest organization of wisdom and enables people to make a possible action or proposition and to test it against reality.Deductive reasoning moves from the general to the particular(a) and is a more complicated process than inductive reasoning, which moves from particular to general. (Rotman 44) This step also brings about self-aware behavior because of the ability to reflect on their own and other peoples thoughts. As adolescents tone-beginning to master new cognitive tasks, they may return to egocentric thought, but on a higher level than in the past. Not all adolescents enter the stage at the same time or to the same degree. Depending on individual capacity some may not clutches the stage at all and may remain in concrete operational mode throughout life.Despite the psychiatric applications Piagets theories have been applied more widely in the area of education. Piagets concepts have been used to purport educational problems, such as assessing capable development, scholastic aptitude, grade placement, and reading readiness. advanced early school programs, such as Head Start can be traced to Piagets believe that experience plays a major role in human thought. Throughout his writings Piaget emphasized that the greater richness, complexity, and the renewal of the environment, the greater the likelihood that high levels of mental functioning are achieved.