Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory

  Egocentrism and the Early Years

As my title expresses I will be talking about Piaget and his development theory, and egocentrism in the early years. Cognitive development refers to the changes that occur in a child’s cognitive abilities, and processes. Piaget believes children’s logical thinking, change with age, and begin as action based or sensorimotor based and later move to a mental or operational level. Further, Piaget believes that a child’s cognitive performance is linked with the four stages of his cognitive development theory.

The first stage of cognitive development is called the Sensorimotor Stage. This stage is from birth to anywhere from 18 months, to two years. In this stage the infant has the ability to organize and coordinate sensations, and perceptions with physical movement, and actions that involve all of their senses. The second stage is the Preoperational Stage which is between the ages of 18 months through six or seven years of age and, is a transitional period were stable concepts are formed, and mental reasoning emerges and egocentrism begins and ends. The third stage is called Concrete Operational stage. This is between the ages of seven through twelve years of age. During this stage abstract thinking occurs, as well as logic and problem solving. The last stage is called Formal Operations, and is the last stage a child goes through as they reach adulthood. At this stage a child is anywhere between the ages of twelve to fifteen. At this stage abstract and hypothetical thinking has been established, and they look upon the world in a more logical way, and they can now consider the long ago and far away concept. Piaget also believes that children can adapt their thinking to include new ideas in which he refers to as assimilation. Assimilation is when you incorporate new information to what you already know. “Piaget suggested that assimilation takes place in three phases. First, children are satisfied with their mode of thought and therefore are in a state of equilibrium. Then, they become aware of the shortcomings in their existing thinking and are dissatisfied. Last, they adopt a more sophisticated mode of thought that eliminates the shortcomings of the old one".

Teaches that teach in the preschool and Kindergarten year’s find that visual signals are the most important to a child’s learning, because a child’s speech is still in its early stages. In the early years, children also begin to learn new ideas like, rational thought, and the understanding of the point of view of others. The concept of not understanding another’s point of view is called egocentrism, and it is why young children are unable to take into account the perspective of someone else. In the Preoperational stage children believe that everyone sees what they see, hears what they hear, and knows what they know. So, if a child covers their eyes and says, "You can't see me!" Egocentrism lies in the belief that because the child cannot see anyone else, that others cannot see them either. This egocentrism leads children to project their own thoughts, and wishes onto others. Piaget believes that children under the age of six, cannot see the world from the viewpoint of others, and he set to prove his point with an experiment. When he asked some children under the age of six to draw a picture from a doll’s point of view, they almost always drew it from there own. Not until they were older, could they understand that the doll had a different perspective then their own, and only then could they draw it from the doll’s perspective. It is then that children begin to eliminate egocentrism, and begin to develop things like empathy, sharing, and helping others. Overall, I think that not every child reaches the formal operation stage between the ages that Piaget believes, and there is also a debate on whether children, go through the four stages of cognitive development in the way that Piaget proposed. However, whether Piaget is right or not, I think that his theory of cognitive development has had a tremendous influence on the way that we teach children, and view a child’s development.