Question

Jean Piaget’s theory based on in cognitive stage during infancy is called sensorimotor stage which he breaks down in six different substages. The first substage is simple reflexes which happens during the first month of life. The example or textbook gives us is the sucking reflex. This reflex causes an infant to suck on anything placed on his or her lips (Feldman, 2015, p. 114-115). Or the infant may start to change the way he/she sucks on the nipple during this reflex stage. The second stage is known as first habits and primary circular reactions which occurs from 1 to 4months. “During this stage infant begin to coordinate what were separate actions into single, integrated activities.” (Feldman, 2015, p.115). An example during this stage is when an infant begins to grab onto an object and starts to suck on it. Or an infant may stare at something else while touching the object. The third stage is secondary circular reactions which happens 4 to 8 months of life. The child begins to act upon the outside world. The example given of this stage is when an infant picks up a rattle in her crib and shakes it in different ways to see how the sound changes is demonstrating her ability to modify her cognitive scheme about shaking rattles. (Feldman, 2015, p.114). The fourth stage is known as coordination of secondary circular reactions which happens during 8 to 12 months of life. During this stage the infant beings to use more calculated approaches to producing events, coordinating several schemes to generate a single act. (Feldman, 2015, p.114). An example is an infant pushing a toy out of the way to try and reach for another toy that is halfway exposed and under it. The fifth stage is known as tertiary circular reactions which happens 12 to18 months of life. During this stage infant develop what Jean Piaget believed to be the deliberate variations of actions that bring desirable consequences. They may begin to conduct their own mini experiments just to observe the consequence. (Feldman, 2015, p.114). An infant may start dropping a toy just to see where it would land every time. And the last stage is known as beginnings of thought which happens during 18 t 2 years of life. This is where an infant begins to display mental representation or symbolic thought. (Feldman, 2015, p.114). Children can begin to plot in their heads by rolling a ball under a piece of furniture knowing exactly where the ball will emerge on the other side. Assimilation is the process in which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development and way of thinking. An example of this is when an infant tries to suck on any toy assimilating the objects if her existing sucking scheme. (Feldman, 2015, p.113). Accommodation changes in the existing ways of thinking that occur in response to encounters with new stimuli or events. An example of this is when a child sees a flying squirrel and thinks it is a bird with a tail they being to accommodate new knowledge. (Feldman, 2015, p.113). Scheme is an organized patterns of functioning that adapt and change with mental functioning. An example of this is giving a baby a cloth book and they will begin to touch, mouth it, maybe tear it or bang it on the floor.

IN 7-8 LINES, WHAT DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS PASSAGE OR HOW WOULD YOU COMMENT

Answer 1

. The Piaget stages of development is basically a blueprint describing the stages of normal intellectual development, from infancy till adulthood.

Piaget's four stages of intellectual (or cognitive) development are sensorimotor which starts from birth through ages 18-24 months. This is followed by the Preoperational stage, which starts from toddlerhood (18-24 months) and goes through early childhood (age 7). The next stage is the Concrete operational that starts from age 7 to 12 and the last is the formal operational starting from adolescence through adulthood. According to Piaget, during all these stages of development; assimilation the process of fitting the new information into the frame of the existing information occurs. Accommodation, the process of changing or fixing the existing frame to fit the new information occurs through these developmental stages and throughout life.