John Piaget
...of these was Jean Piaget and his theories on the cognitive development stages.
Jean Piaget was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Here he studied at the university and received a doctorate in biology at the age of 22. Following his schooling he became increasingly
interested in psychology and began much research and studying of the subject. From this
research Piaget created a broad theoretical system for the development of cognitive abilities.
His work, in this way, was much like that of Sigmund Freud, but Piaget emphasized the ways
that children think and acquire knowledge.
Piaget referred to his theory as genetic epistemology. This is defined as the study of the
acquisition, modification, and growth of abstract ideas and the abilities as on the basis of an
inherited or biological substrate, an intelligent functioning that makes the growth of abstract
thought possible.(Ginsburg 5) Piaget derived his theories from directly observing children and
by questioning them about their thinking. He was less interested in whether the children
answered correctly than how they arrived at their answers. Piaget viewed intelligence as an
extension of biological adaptation that has a logical structure. One of the central points of his
theories was that of epigenesis. This is that growth and development occur in a series of stages,
each of which is built on the successful mastery of the previous stage.(Furth 33)
Piaget described four major stages leading to the capacity for adult thought. Each stage is a
prerequisite for the following stage, but the rate at which different children move through
different stages varies with their heredity and environment. Piaget's four stages are the
sensorimotor stage, the stage of preoperational thought, the stage of concrete operations and
the stage of formal operations.
The first stage...
View Full Essay
