SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Oedipus Complex, John Bowlby, Eye Contact
4 Jul 2018
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Cognitive Development: Age 7–11
Piaget referred to the cognitive development occurring between ages 7 and 11 as the concrete
operations stage. While in concrete operations, children cannot think logically and abstractly.
They are limited to thinking “concretely,” or in tangible, definite, exact, and uni‐directional
terms based on real and concrete experiences rather than on logical abstractions. These children
do not use “magical thinking,” so they are not as easily misled as younger children.
Piaget noted that children's thinking changes significantly during the concrete
operations stage. They can engage in classification, which is the ability to group
according to features, and serial ordering, which is the ability to group according to
logical progression. Older children come to understand cause and effect relationships, ‐ ‐
so they become adept at mathematics and science. They also comprehend the concept
of stable identity—that “self” remains constant even when circumstances change. For
example, older children know that their father maintains a male identity regardless of
what he wears or how old he becomes.
In Piaget's view, children at the beginning of concrete operations do demonstrate
conservation. Unlike preschoolers, school age children understand that the same ‐
amount of clay molded into different shapes remains the same. Children in concrete
operations have also advanced beyond the egocentrism of preschoolers. By the school
years, children have usually learned that other people have their own views, feelings,
and desires.
Cognitive Development: Age 12–19
Most adolescents reach Piaget's stage of formal operations (ages 12 and older), in which they
develop new tools for manipulating information. Previously as children, they could only think
concretely. But now in formal operations, they can think abstractly and deductively. Adolescents
in this stage can also consider future possibilities, search for answers, deal flexibly with
problems, test hypotheses, and draw conclusions about events they have not experienced first‐
hand.
Cognitive maturity occurs as the brain matures and the social network expands, offering
more opportunities for experimenting with life. Because this worldly experience plays a
large role in attaining formal operations, not all adolescents enter this stage of cognitive
development. Studies indicate, however, that abstract and critical reasoning skills are
teachable. For example, everyday reasoning improves between the first and last years
of college, which suggests the value of education in cognitive maturation.
Social and Personality Growth: Age 0–2
During infancy and toddlerhood, children easily attach to others. They normally form their
initial primary relationship with their parents and other family members. Because infants
depend completely on their parents for food, clothing, warmth, and nurturing, Erik Erikson
noted that the primary task during this first psychosocial stage of life is to learn
to trust (rather than to mistrust) the caregivers. The child's first few years—including forming
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relationships and developing an organized sense of self—set the stage for both immediate and
later psychosocial development, including the emergence of prosocial behavior, or the
capacity to help, cooperate, and share with others. (Table contrasts Erikson's model of psycho‐
social development with Sigmund Freud's model.)
Personalityincludes those stable psychological characteristics that define each human
being as unique. Both children and adults evidence personality traits (long term ‐
characteristics, such as temperament) and states (changeable characteristics, such as
moodiness). While considerable debate continues over the etiology of personality, most
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Document Summary
Piaget referred to the cognitive development occurring between ages 7 and 11 as the concrete operations stage. While in concrete operations, children cannot think logically and abstractly. They are limited to thinking concretely, or in tangible, definite, exact, and uni directional terms based on real and concrete experiences rather than on logical abstractions. These children do not use magical thinking, so they are not as easily misled as younger children. Piaget noted that children"s thinking changes significantly during the concrete operations stage. They can engage in classification, which is the ability to group according to features, and serial ordering, which is the ability to group according to logical progression. Older children come to understand cause and effect relationships, so they become adept at mathematics and science. They also comprehend the concept of stable identity that self remains constant even when circumstances change.
