Exploring the Cognitive Theory

Davenport University

Psychosocial Health Concerns

There are many types of psychoanalytic theories. I find the cognitive theories the most interesting of the group, with Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory the most interesting theory of all. Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory is based on the premise that all development happens in stages. There are four stages to Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory, they include: the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. In these stages Piaget believed the child’s mind would evolve and it would allow them to process the new information about the world, and all the new skills, and words they have taken in. The first stage of Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory is the sensorimotor stage. This stage lasts from birth to about two years of age. In this stage infants get an understanding of the world around them by correlating sensory experiences with physical actions they perform. The second stage of Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory is the preoperational stage which ranges from about two to seven years of age. In this stage the children begin to move from just using sensory experiences with physical actions and they then represent and see the world with physical actions, images, and drawings. The third stage of Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory is the concrete operational stage which ranges from about seven to eleven years of age. In this stage the children perform operations that are more difficult, that involve objects, and the children learn to logic and reason. The last stage of Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory is the formal operational stage which is from ages eleven to fifteen, and then continues throughout adulthood. This stage the adolescent becomes more abstract and logical. They begin to compare their parents to the “ideal” parent and think of the future and what they could do with their future. They begin to form hypotheses, and test these hypotheses. Piaget also had different levels of learning involved, they were assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium. Each of these levels basically ensured that the child was keeping everything he or she learned in check, and wasn’t learning too much, and forgetting things as he or she learned. Assimilation is known to Piaget as the process of taking in new information. Accommodation is known to Piaget as changing or altering what we know to take in new information. Equilibrium is known to Piaget as keeping the balance between all of the levels of learning, assimilation, and accommodation. Of all of these stages in Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory, most have been scrutinized and seen as not investigated well. It is said that much of Piaget’s research was done on his own