Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

In this video, we take our first step into developmental psychology–that is, child psychology–by learning about Jean Piaget and his famous theory of cognitive development. We also discuss Renee Baillargeon's work and how the Violation of Expectation (VOE) paradigm that she pioneered challenged Piaget's theory.

Cognitive Development: How we acquire the ability to learn, think, communicate, and remember.

Jean Piaget: A famous Swiss psychologist who many call “the father of developmental psychology” because he developed the first major theory of cognitive development; a stage theorist who devised a domain-general account and who believed that learning was experience based.

Sensorimotor Stage: The first stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development; a stage lasting from 0 to 2 years of age in which the world is experienced through senses and actions, marked by a focus on the here and now with no thought beyond immediate physical experiences (i.e., no mental representations); children in this stage lack object permanence.

Object Permanence: The understanding the objects are permanent and continue to exist even when hidden from view.

Preoperational Stage: The second stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development; a stage lasting from 2 to 6 years of age in which children use words and images to represent things (i.e., mental representations), but lack logical reasoning; children are limited by egocentrism and are unable to perform what Piaget called operations.

Concrete Operational Stage: The third stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development; a stage lasting from 7 to 11 years of age in which children understand concrete events and analogies logically but lack abstract logic and moral reasoning abilities.

Formal Operational Stage: The fourth and final stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development; a stage that emerges in adolescence (at approximately 12 years of age) in which children can think abstractly and reason hypothetically.

[theologiankid]

I appreciate your understanding of the topic and facilitating for the public

[princessbuttonz]

Thank you for this very clear explanation! I am studying for my Social Work registration exam and we are required to understand Piaget's theory. You did a much better job of explaining his theory / critique of his theory than the study guide!

[meykav]

The Violation of Expectation study really blew my mind. Going to research that further, thank you for this video!

[yasmeenzahra]

The way you explain is amazing. You have the skills of being the most perfect teacher. Thanks

[profandersonmota]

Thank you for clear explanation. I am brazilian and i understood perfectly in other language. Good job !!

[eliasknaapinen]

This is an amazingly well structured and concise lesson. Thank you Daniel.

[iambiecave]

I think children now are way more advanced than children back then. Piaget was just studying the children back then, their minds are so much developed now at such a young age.

[vishwaprem]

Thank you for the effort into this video.
Well explained.

[franciswanja]

good job. studying for my education exams and really needed to understand this...guess what! I just did

[loganathans]

Exemplary explanation!!! Clearly, easily and effectively explained and it is easy to understand. Thank you.

[rozyjohn]

Thanks for a good n knowledgefull video

[haisolungdisuang]

This video helped me a lot to my class presentation, thanks buddy 👍🙂

[peterkhanbanypieny]

Please prepare this lessons clearly I like it
God bless

[marksheraton]

Stage development, metamorphose, the human mind can also go through stages of this . From reconditioning ones self in thinking.

[triptysagar]

Thank you for this explanation...!
This video make my exam preparation easier ☺️

[shinejeapaderanga]

how it to know what is the exact development of a person?

[Ag-bkzw]

Hi Daniel, in the sensori motor stage, if a child is focusing just on the immediate present, does that mean their memory abilities have not been developed yet? They can’t remember or recall info or think of the past?

[hellboy]

Can you please include your sources for this information :)

[hannahcarbin]

Do you owe copyright or is it YouTube ? Thanks for the video

[lalim.ibrahim]

Could I communicate with you ? I need some help in this subject