Cognitive Development

Just as there are physical milestones that we expect children to reach, there are also cognitive milestones. It is helpful to be aware of these milestones as children gain new abilities to think, problem-solve, and communicate. For example, infants shake their head “no” around 6–9 months, and they respond to verbal requests to do things like “wave bye-bye” or “blow a kiss” around 9–12 months.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget’s (1896–1980) theory of cognitive development holds that our cognitive abilities develop through specific stages, which exemplifies the discontinuity approach to development. As we progress to a new stage, there is a distinct shift in how we think and reason.

Piaget said that children develop schemata to help them understand the world.

Piaget proposed that children develop schemas (plural: schemata) to help them understand the world. A schema is a concept or mental model that we use to categorize and interpret information. By adulthood, we have created schemas for almost everything.

By the time children have reached adulthood, they have created schemas for almost everything. When children learn new information, they adjust their schema through two processes: assimilation and accommodation.

assimilation and accommodation

• Assimilation is incorporating new information into existing schemas. This occurs when new information aligns with what we already know.

  Accommodation is modifying existing schemas to fit new information that does not align with our current understanding.

This process continues as children interact with their environment.

Accommodating Schemas

Two-year-old Blake learned the schema for dogs because his family has a Labrador retriever. When Blake sees other dogs in picture books, he says, “Look mommy, dog!” He has assimilated these new dogs into his existing schema.

One day, Blake sees a sheep for the first time and says, “Look mommy, dog!” His current schema categorizes all furry, four-legged creatures as dogs. When Blake’s mom tells him the animal is a sheep, not a dog, Blake must accommodate his schema. He now understands that his schema for “dog” was too broad. He modifies his dog schema to be more specific and creates a new schema for sheep.

This process continues throughout development as children interact with their environment.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Like Freud and Erikson, Piaget thought development unfolds in a series of stages approximately associated with age ranges. He proposed a theory of cognitive development that unfolds in four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.

Table 1. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Age (years)	Stage	Description	Developmental issues
0–2	Sensorimotor	The world is experienced through senses and actions	Object permanence Stranger anxiety
2–7	Preoperational	Use words and images to represent things, but lack logical reasoning	Pretend play Egocentrism Language development
7–11	Concrete operational	Understand concrete events and analogies logically; perform arithmetical operations	Conservation Mathematical transformations
11–	Formal operational	Formal operations Utilize abstract reasoning	Abstract logic Moral reasoning