SOC 101 Lecture 16: Cognitive Development
4 Jul 2018
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Cognitive Development: Age 0–6
During Piaget's sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2), infants and toddlers learn by doing:
looking, hearing, touching, grasping, sucking. The process appears to begin with primitive
“thinking” that involves coordinating movements of the body with incoming sensory data. As
infants intentionally attempt to interact with the environment, they learn that certain actions lead
to specific consequences. This is the beginning of the infants' understanding of cause‐and‐effect
relationships.
Piaget referred to the cognitive development occurring between ages 2 and 7 as
the preoperational stage. In this stage, children increase their use of language and
other symbols, imitation of adult behaviors, and play. Young children develop a
fascination with words—both “good” and “bad.” They also play “pretend” games. Piaget
also described this stage in terms of what children cannot do. He used the
term operational to refer to reversible abilitiesthat children had not yet developed.
By reversible, Piaget meant actions that children perform in their mind, but that can
occur in either direction. Adding (3 + 3 = 6) and subtracting (6 3 = 3) are examples of −
reversible actions.
Piaget believed that egocentrism—the inability to distinguish between one's own point
of view and those of others—limits preschoolers' cognitive abilities. The capacity for
egocentricity exists at all stages of cognitive development, but becomes particularly
apparent during the preschool years. Young children eventually overcome this early
form of egocentrism when they learn that others have different views, feelings, and
desires. Then they can interpret other's motives, and use those interpretations to
communicate mutually—and therefore more effectively—with others. Preschoolers
eventually learn to adjust their vocal pitch, tone, and speed to match those of the
listener. Because mutual communication requires effort and preschoolers are still
egocentric, they may lapse into egocentric speech (non mutual) during times of ‐
frustration. That is, children may regress to earlier behavioral patterns when their
cognitive resources become stressed and overwhelmed.
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Document Summary
During piaget"s sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2), infants and toddlers learn by doing: looking, hearing, touching, grasping, sucking. Thinking that involves coordinating movements of the body with incoming sensory data. As infants intentionally attempt to interact with the environment, they learn that certain actions lead to specific consequences. This is the beginning of the infants" understanding of cause and effect relationships. Piaget referred to the cognitive development occurring between ages 2 and 7 as the preoperational stage. In this stage, children increase their use of language and other symbols, imitation of adult behaviors, and play. Young children develop a fascination with words both good and bad. they also play pretend games. Piaget also described this stage in terms of what children cannot do. He used the term operational to refer to reversible abilitiesthat children had not yet developed. By reversible, piaget meant actions that children perform in their mind, but that can occur in either direction.
