Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget was a developmental psychologist who pioneered a popular theory that focuses on children's stages of mental development, detailed in his book The Origins of Intelligence in Children, published in 1936.

Responsible for developing an entirely new field of study, Piaget's work is now often considered a cornerstone of child psychology. As a result, professional therapists and childcare workers can now better understand the various stages of cognitive development throughout childhood.

A brief overview of Jean Piaget

Born in 1896 in Switzerland, Jean Piaget started writing short scientific papers when he was just a boy. Piaget's work on mollusks had become quite popular by the time he was a teen. Readers of his work considered him an expert.

Maintaining an interest in animals and natural sciences, Piaget studied zoology after high school and received his PhD from the University of Neuchâtel in 1918. The same year, he began studying psychology. Moving away from mollusks and other creatures, Piaget developed an interest in psychoanalysis.

While working with Theodore Simon, he began evaluating the results of one of Simon's tests on intellectual development. Simon's experiments measured a child's intelligence by comparing the errors made by a child with his age. That study helped Piaget develop an interest in genetic epistemology, or how a child learns.

Jian Piaget's research on childhood development

In addition to other research, Piaget also took the opportunity to study his own three young children and monitor their cognitive development through the course of their childhoods. The things he learned from his own children would later become the basis for his theories on human development.

According to Jean Piaget, the intellectual development of a child is not fixed. The Swiss psychologist argued that a child’s intelligence is a process that results from biological maturation and a child's interaction with their environment. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development focuses on child development from birth to adolescence and emphasizes language, memory, reasoning, and morals.

Jean Piaget and developmental psychology

Piaget was one of the first psychologists to conduct comprehensive research on cognitive development, and he would later go on to establish the International Center for Genetic Epistemology in 1955 while working at the University of Geneva. (Genetic epistemology refers to the study of how knowledge develops in human beings.) Amongst his contributions were a series of children’s cognitive development tests performed to measure various cognitive abilities. After completing a series of tests focused on a child's understanding of justice, time, and numbers, he concluded that one should not equate factual knowledge—such as the ability to more easily retain new information—to intelligence.

During his career in child development at the International Center for Genetic Epistemology, Jean Piaget developed four stages of mental development to show how children progress. The four stages include:

• The sensorimotor stage 
• The pre-operational stage
• The concrete operational stage
• The formal operations stage

Jean Piaget's theories of psychology relied on schemas – cognitive frameworks through which one understands the world.

The four stages of cognitive development

Jean Piaget psychology details each of the four cognitive development stages that most children pass through.

The sensorimotor stage

Children begin in the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development, which takes place between birth and two years of age. The main change at this stage is object permanence. Children learn this through trial and error as well as other experiences. Piaget divided the sensorimotor into six substages, including: 

• Simple reflexes 
• Primary circular reactions
• Secondary circular reactions
• Coordination of reactions 
• Tertiary circular reactions 
• Early symbolic thought

Preoperational stage

According to Jean Piaget, the preoperational stage may last from two to seven years of age. Playing and imagination are said to be essential during the preoperational stage.

Jean Piaget’s theory also suggests that children also start to develop memory during this stage. During the preoperational stage, children may be egocentric, meaning they can only think from their own point of view. Still, they can attach meanings to objects, ideas, and people using language.

Concrete operational stage

From seven to eleven years of age, children are said to be in the concrete operational stage. According to Jean Piaget's psychology theories on human development, this stage is the starting point for essential milestones since children begin to experience logical thought. 

Children are no longer egocentric when they reach the concrete operational stage of their development, and they may have a more complex comprehension of the world around them. For example, they may better understand the concept of conservation and that the volume remains the same if equal amounts of liquid are placed in both round and rectangular containers.

Formal operational

The formal operational stage is the final stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. It starts at around eleven years of age and extends through the high school years into young adulthood. The main milestone of this stage is the ability to use abstract thinking when faced with problems. Instead of relying solely on their experiences, children may devise other possible ways of solving issues.

Schemas: The building blocks of knowledge

Jean Piaget believed schemas were the building blocks of knowledge, and that each schema directs the brain's reaction to new situations.. 

As a child grows, there is an increase in the number and the complexity of the schemas. Piaget referred to this as the development of the individual's mental processes.

A child's schema is said to be in a state of equilibrium if they can describe what they perceive around them. Schemas may play a vital role in cognitive development. They are an interlinked mental representation of our surroundings that one uses to understand situations and respond accordingly.

In such a case, the schema is stored mentally in terms of the sequence of patterns applicable to the end result of buying a washing machine. This seemingly simple procedure would not be possible without a schema.

The adaptation process

Equilibration is potentially the driving force of development and developmental psychology. According to Piaget's assimilation psychology, the course of cognitive development is not steady, but it progresses in leaps and bounds. The moment a child's schema can handle new information, the state of equilibrium may be achieved.

The impact of cognitive theory on developmental psychology

To date, Jean Piaget may be one of the most influential people in developmental psychology. His work continues to be an area of interest in the fields of sociology, education, and psychology. Unlike other researchers who have often viewed children as just smaller versions of adults, Piaget may have helped show that children function uniquely from how they function as adults, and that each child goes through several definable developmental stages.

Jean Piaget may have had a significant impact and influence on the works of other famous psychologists, such as Robert Sternberg. His work was a major influencing factor in child psychology research, and even critics of his theory were able to build upon his work and further the fields of clinical and experimental psychology. 

In other words, one may argue that Piaget's cognitive theory is critical in psychology not only because it is widely accepted in scientific society, but also because he may have laid the stepping stones for current developments in cognitive psychology.

Although Piaget did not relate his work to education, many educational researchers have since demonstrated how his theory can be applied to learning and teaching. Numerous educational policies and practices have been based on Piaget’s work in cognitive development and developmental psychology.

The Jean Piaget Society was established in 1970 to help further research into human knowledge and its development. Comprised of scholars, teachers, and researchers, the Jean Piaget Society is a nonprofit educational organization that applies Piaget’s theory to the understanding of cognitive development in relation to education.

Counseling to learn about cognitive psychology

Jean Piaget’s ideas and the psychological theories he crafted may have changed how people view children. Instead of perceiving them as miniature adults, many experts now agree that children go through different developmental stages, and their way of thinking differs from that of adults. His work is often used in the early years of education and child psychology.

Parents may also benefit from learning about child development, especially those whose children have developmental delays or mental health conditions. If you have questions about child development or the implications of theories such as Piaget's, it may be beneficial to speak to a licensed professional. They can help you understand where your child is at in their intellectual development so you can best support them.