Reflection 1: Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory and Application

This assignment provides a reflection on Jean Piaget's cognitive development theory. The author discusses the four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational, referencing Cohen's work. The reflection includes personal observations of a nephew's development, illustrating Piaget's concepts such as object permanence, symbolic language use, and egocentrism. The author connects these observations to Piaget's developmental goals, demonstrating a practical understanding of the theory. The assignment concludes with an anticipation of observing further stages of cognitive development in the future. The assignment is a reflection on Piaget's theory and includes real-life examples to support the understanding of the stages of development.

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Reflection1: Piaget
Student’s name
University
Author’s note

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Cohen’s article elaborately discusses the Cognitive Development Theory propounded by
Jean Piaget. Cohen remarks that Piaget’s theory plays an important role in the study of child
development, as it helps to understand how a child develops different abilities at different stages
of his/her life. In the discussion, Cohen describes Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development.
Prior to describing the stages, he remarks that the aspect of accommodation is observed in
Piaget’s philosophy playing a foundational role. Piaget holds that accommodation occurs when
the environment influences the individual’s activities. According to Piaget, the cognitive
development occurs through four stages, namely the sensory motor stage from birth to 2 years,
then the preoperational stage, staying roughly from 2 years to 7 years, further the concrete
operational stage, lasting from 7 years to 12 years, and finally the formal operational stage
lasting beyond 12 years of age. Piaget also defines certain characteristics and development goals
for each stage, which indicates the signs of development cognitive abilities of a child. Cohen
further remarks that the specification of the age group may not be definite, although their
sequence is fixed. According to Cohen, different children develop cognitive abilities at their own
pace. However, Piaget suggest that the development goals are nevertheless achieved by a child in
an inevitable, fixed pattern.
As for the real life application of Piaget’s theory, I can definitely relate with the stages of
development as I have observed my little nephew grow up. When he was 3 months old, he was
obsessed with his bright colored pacifier, as well as with his little fingers and toes. He played
with his limbs all day long. Further, when he was 6 months old, I used to play a little game with
him. Standing in front of a mirror and pointing to his reflection, I asked who that was, and he
used to stare at it clueless manner. After a certain time, he started recognizing himself and

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giggled when he saw his own reflection. As Cohen points out, this could be compared with
Piaget’s development goal of ‘self-discovery’. Also, when he was 8 months old, when he started
laughing at my attempts of playing peekaboo with him. Prior to that, he used to get anxious when
I hid behind a certain or a door. This corroborates with Piaget’s theory of object permanence as a
development goal.
Once 3 year old, he started talking to us through signs and symbolic use of language. He
had all these different names for the objects around the house, which I could not understand
always. For example, he called cookies “kiki” and cows “moo moo”. Thus, we could say that he
was showing signs of what Piaget suggests as symbolic use of language in the preopretaional
stage. Also, he showed signs of extreme stubbornness, and refused to share his toys or favourite
food with anyone else. He even refused to listen to his mother who tried to teach him about
sharing or his sister’s emotions. This again corroborates with Piaget’s notion of egocentricism at
the preopretaional stage. As my nephew is only 5 years old now, I hope to observe him in future
and try to identify the other stages of Piaget’s cognitive development theory as well.

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Reference
Cohen, David. Piaget: Critique and reassessment. London: Croom Helm, 1983.