Piaget's theory: stages of cognitive development in children. Is your child developing with age? Theoretical and methodological foundations of the cognitive development of personality in modern psychology

In most theories of human development, the proposition about the stages that a child must go through, and then an adolescent, before reaching maturity is put forward.

Many schemes have been proposed to describe mental development. Some authors view this development as a continuous and unchanging succession of stages, each of which prepares the previous one and in turn prepares the next one. Such, in particular, is Piaget's theory. Other authors, such as Wallon, consider the stages of the child's mental evolution rather as a discontinuous sequence of reorganizations, including the suppression or addition of some functions at certain moments. Below we will describe each of these theories of human cognitive development and try to find out how they differ and how they are similar.

Stages of mental development of a child and a teenager

Periods of intellectual development (according to Piaget)

Recall that Piaget distinguishes three main stages in the intellectual development of a child: the stage of sensorimotor development (from the moment of birth to 2 years), the stage of concrete operations (from 2 to 11 or 12 years old) and the stage of formal operations (from 12 or 13 years old).

sensorimotor stage. This is the stage at which the child masters his sensory and motor abilities. He listens, looks, screams, hits, crushes, bends, throws, pushes, pulls, pours ... So, on the basis of hereditary mechanisms (reflexes and sensory processes) and the first motor skills, various actions are gradually linked to each other, which generates new means to achieve certain goals.

The sensorimotor stage includes six substages, each of which corresponds to the organization of complex movements (“schemes”, see Chapter 8).

1. inborn reflexes(1st month of life) - sucking, grasping, etc. They are caused by external stimuli and, as a result of repetition, become more and more effective.

2. motor skills(from 1 to 4 months) are formed as conditioned reflexes as a result of the interaction of the child with the environment (sucking movements at the sight of a bottle with a nipple, grasping this bottle, etc.).

3. Circular reactions(from 4 to 8 months) are formed due to the development of coordination between perceptual systems and motor circuits (grasping a rope, causing a rattle to shake, in order to make it rattle, etc.).

Rice. 10.8. At the eighth month, the child forms an idea of ​​the permanence (permanence) of the object, and he goes around the obstacle in order to get the object hidden from his eyes.

4. Coordination of means and ends(from 8 to 12 months) gives the child's actions more and more premeditation, counting on achieving the goal (moving the experimenter's hand away in order to get the doll hidden behind it, etc.).

5. Discovery of new funds(from 12 to 18 months) occurs by chance, but causes the child to form a connection between his actions and their result (pulling the carpet towards you, you can get a doll lying on it, etc.).

6. Invention of new means(from 18 to 24 months) - the first manifestation of internalized thought (such as insight) as a result of a combination of already existing schemes to find an original solution to the problem (search for a means to open a matchbox in order to pull out a candy hidden in it or put a long metal chain into it, etc.).

Stage of specific operations. At this stage, there is a gradual interiorization actions and their transformation into operations, allowing the child to compare, evaluate, classify, arrange in a row, count, measure, etc. Thus, in dealing with concrete things, the child discovers that what he has just built can be destroyed, and then recreated anew in the same or in some other form. In other words, the child learns that there is a certain type of action that reversible and can be integrated into general structures, and this allows him to operate with such categories as quantity, size, number, capacity, weight, volume, etc. The child, however, masters these structures only as a result of a long advance from the preoperational level of development to the second level of concrete operations.

1. Preoperative level(from 2 to 5 years) represents the first stage of the internalization of actions. It is characterized by the development symbolic thinking, allowing the child to imagine objects or stimuli in mental images and label them with names or symbols rather than direct actions* (see document 10.2).

* Mireille Mathieu (Mathieu, 1986) of the University of Montreal subjected young chimpanzees to tests that made it possible to describe them " cognitive development» in terms of Piaget's concept. As a result of many years of observations, the researcher showed that the cubs of "human cousins" in terms of sensorimotor development overtake human babies of 18-24 months of age by about 6 months. But if for the latter, overcoming this stage means only a kind of springboard to the stage of concrete operations, then young chimpanzees are forever "stuck" at the pre-operational level. The most a chimpanzee can do is imitate actions without having any idea about them, but he can never "pretend", while a child who has reached the level of symbolic thinking is able to do this already in the third year of life.

Rice. 10.9. At the stage of specific operations, the child acquires the ability to classify and arrange objects and images in order. This is the time of "collecting".

However, the operations that the child is trying to perform at this time are limited by the still too narrow range of thinking and his egocentric character. At this age, the child does not seem to be able to take into account the various aspects of a given situation at the same time. For example, in the plasticine sausage experiment described in document 2.11, the child is focused on its length, and such centering prevents him from making the necessary compensation ("The sausage is longer, but it is thinner"), which would allow him to talk about the same volume of sausage and ball . The egocentrism of the child, which prevents him from looking at the world from a point of view different from his own, leads him, for example, to such a train of thought: "Usually, if something is longer, then it is more."

2. The first level of concrete operations (from 5-6 to 7-8 years) is reached when the child is able to understand that two attributes of an object, such as the shape and amount of a substance, do not depend on each other (the fact that the sausage is long and thin , does not affect the amount of plasticine from which it is made). This idea of conservation Some features of an object extend already to the material from which it is made, to its length, and then, at the next level of development, also to its mass and volume. In this period of time, the child acquires the ability to both arrange objects in a row (for example, in order of decreasing size) and classify them (learns to classify blue objects as blue, birds to birds etc.).

3. At the second level of specific operations (from 8 to 11 years old), the child, in addition to the idea of ​​conservation of mass and volume*, also receives an idea of ​​time and speed, as well as measurements with the help of a standard. At the end of this period, the child, in addition, more and more deeply understands the relationship between the features of objects; this allows him to arrange objects in space, solve problems of perspective or simple physical problems, and show him the way to logical thinking, characteristic of adolescents and adults.

* Even many teenagers and adults fall into the following trap: "Which is easier to carry 10 kilometers - 10 kg of feathers or 10 kg of lead?"; they hesitate in the same way when answering the question: what will happen to the level of coffee in the cup after a piece of sugar is placed there, and after it has dissolved?

Formal Operations Stage(from 11-12 to 14-15 years). At this stage, mental operations can be performed without any specific support. As shown in chapter 8 and document 8.6, this is actually about abstract thinking, functioning with the help of hypotheses and deductions.

As Droz and Rahmy (1972) emphasize, Piaget's work is devoted almost exclusively to the study of the development of cognitive structures and leaves in the background the question of the relationship between cognition and the affective sphere. In Piaget's concept, the child appears as an isolated being, socializing after a long period of egocentrism only because of the need to share with other people "objective means for measuring things and describing the relationships between them" (Wallon, 1959). According to Wallon, on the contrary, the child is a creature doomed from birth to socialization because of its inability to do anything on its own. As one of Wallon's followers concludes (Zazzo, 1973), from the very first months of life, the child is in "close connection, in symbiosis with his mother." Further stages of development, as a result of the interaction of the child with other people, constitute a series of rearrangements, superstructures, and improvements in which motor acts, affective reactions, and speech play the main role.

* The Soviet psychologist Vygotsky (1978) also notes the important role of other people in the child's cognitive development.

Successive stages of childhood (according to Wallon)

Although Wallon does not recognize the existence of a single rhythm in the development of all children, in his opinion, however, there are periods, each of which is characterized by "its own characteristics, its own specific orientation and represents a kind of stage in the development of the child."

Rice. 10.10. French doctor and psychologist Henri Wallon (1879-1962). He did important research in the field child development, the results of which are presented in two of his main books: The Origin of Character (1934) and The Origin of Thought (1945).

1. impulsive stage(up to 6 months) - the stage of reflexes that automatically develop in response to irritation. Over time, these reflexes increasingly give way to controlled movements and new forms of behavior, for the most part related to nutrition.

2. emotional stage(from 6 to 10 months) is characterized by the accumulation of a repertoire of emotions (fear, anger, joy, disgust, etc.), allowing the child to establish close contacts with the surrounding social environment. Emotions, for example, in the form of a smile or sobs, are a real "pre-language" with which the child can increase the effectiveness of his gestures, as well as anticipate the reactions of other people.

3. sensorimotor stage(from 10 to 14 months) marks the beginning practical thinking. By reinforcing the connection between movements and the resulting perceptual effects, the child begins to increasingly respond to things with gestures directed at them. Circular forms of activity (when, for example, "the voice sharpens the ear, and the ear gives flexibility to the voice") contribute to progress in recognizing sounds, and then words.

4. projective stage(from 14 months to 3 years) is associated with the development of walking, and then speech; the child acquires the ability to explore the world around him and influence objects whose names he recognizes simultaneously with their properties. In this way, the child acquires more and more independence in relation to objects, which from now on he can push, drag, heap and classify, referring to various categories. Such independence allows the child to diversify his relationships with others and contributes to the self-affirmation of the individual.

5. Personalist stage(from 3 to 6 years) includes three periods characterized by the development of the independence of the child and the enrichment of his own "I".

Starts at the age of three opposition period. This is the time of the development of "I". The child learns to distinguish himself from others and at the same time acquires an increasing ability to distinguish objects by shape, color or size.

At the age of four, a child knows his first name, last name, age and home. This is the period narcissism, when he seeks to present himself in a favorable light. The child observes himself and monitors his actions, persevering in the fulfillment of the task set before him. At the same time, his perception of objects becomes more and more abstract, which allows him to distinguish lines, directions, positions, graphic symbols.

At the age of five, the attention that the child shows to himself and to the world around him brings him to the period imitation, during which the child learns to play a role and invents a hero for himself. However, throughout this stage, the child's thinking is marked syncretism he deciphers this or that situation by any one detail or by a set of details between which he is not able to establish causal relationships (see document 10.2).

6. training stage(from 6 to 12-14 years old) - the stage when the child turns to face the outside world. The child's thinking becomes more objective, which contributes to the deepening of his knowledge about things, their properties and applications. He gets acquainted with combinations and categories of not only objects, but also various forms activities (at school, at home, during games, etc.), in which he gradually begins to participate. The development of the child is thus accompanied by the growth of his independence.

7. On stages of puberty the attention of the teenager again focuses on his own person and the needs of his own "I". This fracture pushes the child to search for even greater independence and originality, and it also opens his eyes to the meaning of things and the laws that govern them. So the teenager develops the ability to reason and to link abstract concepts.

So, we see that the differences between the concepts of Piaget and Wallon mainly relate to the approach to the cognitive development of the child. If Piaget tries to understand how a child reaches the thinking of an adult, then Wallon focuses on the formation of behavior and personality, considering cognitive abilities only as one of the components of this process. In addition, Piaget, with his biologism so characteristic of him, tries to shed light on the general laws that govern the development of an organism in its continuous striving for balance, while Wallon insists on the complexity of the course of development, due to the constant interaction between the individual and the social environment surrounding him.

Cognitive thinking is the development of all kinds of thought processes. These include perception, memory, problem solving, concept creation. Such processes promote interconnection with the outside world. Such processes act differently at different stages of human maturation. The change is observed as the child grows.

Cognitive thinking: what is it

Cognitive thinking is emotional intellect. It depends on cognitive skills due to the individuality of the human body. Cognitive skills include:

• act;
• clarification;
• memory;
• concentration;
• concentration;
• fantasy;
• making decisions;

An individual who has mastered all the abilities at once is undoubtedly considered talented. Such an individual can immediately remember a lot useful information, can focus on what he really needs, and not waste time on trifles. He can make the right conclusions and make the right decisions.

Also, thanks to such abilities, a person can simultaneously think both creatively and logically. The individual always makes firm decisions. That is why cognitive thinking is more important than any other.

Each individual can begin to develop such abilities in himself. There are many tasks and trainings that will help improve any of the skills.

The thought process and the process of perception are an important component of human life. There are many rather unusual methods for developing your cognitive thinking:

1. Monitor your diet. The first step is to look at the foods that a person eats. It is not enough just to eat those foods that are commonly called the best. The human brain must receive a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals. Particular attention should be paid to sugar, fatty acids, antioxidants and amino acids. Most useful products for the brain are eggs, nuts, green vegetables, chocolate.
2. Mission "Elephant". You just need to stand with weakened knees. Touch your shoulder with your left ear. The ear must be brought in every possible way close to the shoulder. Stretch your hand forward and mentally draw the number eight with your index finger. Only the body should be involved in the process. Don't take your eyes off your finger. Actions to recreate several times.
3. Overcoming gravity. You need to sit comfortably in a chair and put in front of you lower limbs. Feet should touch the floor. Next, cross the legs at the ankle joint, and slightly bend the knees. On a slow exhalation, you need to bend forward a little. Extend your arms parallel in front of you. On inspiration, you must take the primary position. Repeat this exercise at least three times. After cross your legs in a different way, and repeat the session again. A sense of balance is established, and the ability to understand comes back to normal.
4. Synchronized drawing. To complete the training, you will need a huge piece of paper and two pens in each hand. You need to start drawing mirror drawings with both hands at the same time. It can be bagels, circles, squares. This exercise improves eye coordination. Improved motor skills.
5. Training "Alphabet - Eight". Take a piece of paper and start drawing the numbers eight lying on top of each other. In this case, do not take your hand off the sheet. Draw three figure eights with your left hand, right hand and simultaneously with two brushes. Then write a small letter "a" and again three eights. Then the letter "b" and again three eights. The task is to play up to the letter "d".
6. Quest "Cross Movement". This training is extremely easy. It is necessary to take a horizontal position. Bring your leg together at the knee and touch your elbow. Right knee with left elbow and vice versa. Perform all actions smoothly. Exercise has a positive effect not only on the mind. But also on the body as a whole.
7. Do sport. At large physical activity the brain of an individual improves much faster.
8. improve memory. You need to take an old photo album and spend time with your memories.
9. To solve a riddle. To activate the brain, you can solve crossword puzzles, mosaics and various logic riddles. This way you can keep your brain active.

Important! Cognitive thinking can only be developed through regular training. It will not be enough to allocate one day to perform this or that exercise. You need to constantly work on yourself, develop yourself and learn.

The term "cognitive" in conjunction with the concept of "development" has not received wide circulation in the domestic psychological literature. It is associated with the name of one of the areas of modern psychology that originated in the United States in the 60s of the twentieth century: “cognitive psychology”. Synonymous with it are the terms "cognitive" and "mental". In the educational and scientific psychological literature, the concept of cognitive development is not disclosed. As a rule, definitions are given that are devoid of any conceptual content. Thus, Henry Gleitman et al define cognitive development as “the mental growth of a person from infancy to adulthood”. In the textbook "Cognitive Psychology", published under the editorship of V.N. Druzhinin and D.V. Ushakova, cognitive development is defined as the ways of changing intellectual abilities and knowledge about the world as the child develops. At the same time, it is emphasized that cognitive psychology analyzes and describes these paths. In S. Miller's monograph Developmental Psychology: Research Methods, cognitive development is not defined at all. The well-known specialist in cognitive psychology R. Solso does not give a clear definition of the concept under consideration. He only notes that "in terms of development, the thinking of an adult is a complex result of his long growth, starting from the very moment of birth" .

We will assume that cognitive development is the development of all kinds of mental processes, such as perception, memory, concept formation, problem solving, imagination and logic, and the study of cognitive development is reduced to the study of how the above mental processes change with age.

Cognitive development is often analyzed as the development of individual cognitive processes, among which thinking is the leading one. The object of cognitive development can also be cognitive abilities. Cognitive abilities are such human properties that are a condition for the successful implementation of individual stages of the cognitive process, as a process of operating knowledge. V.N. Druzhinin developed the concept of developing such cognitive abilities as learning, creativity and intelligence. He attributed these mental abilities to the general abilities of a person.

The methodological principle developed by P.G. Shchedrovitsky, is focused on the fact that the principle of development cannot be objectified at all on any specific object (or group of objects). The object of development is development itself. He considers cognitive development as a process of changing cognitive structures and their attributive properties.

Appendices A and B give characteristics of the most influential schools in the world psychology of genetic psychology by J. Piaget and cultural-historical psychology by L.S. Vygotsky.

Piaget and other cognitive psychologists are called structuralists, because they are interested in the structure of thinking and how the intellect processes information. Key feature of the theory intellectual development Piaget was the idea of ​​the active participation of the psyche, human thinking in the process of learning. According to Piaget, children's learning occurs through their active exploration of what is in environment from what we already know, and since new experience seldom corresponds exactly to the old, we also note and work on the differences.

Although Piaget's theory has been criticized and has its limitations, it continues to have a strong influence and is constantly evolving.

The line of research by J. Piaget was continued within the framework of the school of social genetic psychology created by A.-N. Perret-Clermo and V.V. Rubtsov. The direction of their research is elucidating the role social interactions in the genesis of cognitive structures.

The Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was the first to emphasize the importance social the context in which it takes place most of cognitive development of children, as well as the importance historical development knowledge and understanding, which are the common property of the whole society.

He raised a basic question: how do we collectively extract meaning from the world around us? In an attempt to answer it in context individual development Vygotsky brought in sociology, anthropology, and history to help.

An approach that builds on the social and cultural sources of our knowledge and how that knowledge is structured, commonly referred to as social cognition. However, in comparison with Piagetian theory, social cognitive theories are usually much more clearly defined and focus on specific aspects development and behavior.

J. Piaget and L.S. Vygotsky developed an ontogenetic line of cognitive development. For them, cognitive development was a natural process. From the point of view of J. Piaget, his determinants were logical and mathematical structures, gradually unfolding in the intellect as it matures.

L.S. Vygotsky singled out cultural mediation as a determinant of cognitive development, represented primarily by signs and language. For Piaget, the external is understood as an individual action with an object. For L.S. Vygotsky, the external is culturally and historically formed, mediated by the signs of the form joint activities of people. Becoming their participant, the individual subject transforms these external collective forms of activity into internal forms.

Experts emphasized that the approaches of Vygotsky and Piaget did not contradict, but, on the contrary, complemented each other in understanding holistic cognitive development. Children (and adults) sometimes learn from others, but sometimes they learn things on their own.

Based on the ideas of the L.S. Vygotsky arose theories mental development, developed by M. Cole, P.Ya. Galperin, V.V. Davydov. Methodological approaches L.S. Vygotsky were used in the development of models of the formative experiment in scientific schools P.Ya. Galperin and V.V. Davydov.

M. Cole focused his attention on the analysis of cultural means of mental development. He developed the theory of artifacts. Under the artifact, M. Cole understands any cultural device that allows a person to achieve his pragmatic goals.

In the theory of activity A.N. Leontiev (1975), all mental processes are internalized external activity child under the guidance of an adult. In its most pointed form, this idea is developed in the theory phased formation mental actions P.Ya. Galperin (1985). Education in this concept is the only source of cognitive processes.

V.V. Davydov developed the concept of purposeful formation of this type of thinking, which in normal conditions development emerges as an exception. The author builds his concept on the idea of ​​the existence in the cultural environment of a special way of relating to reality, called theoretical. The bottom line is that as long as objects do not constitute the content of thinking in everyday life, during physical labor and in traditional education, then this way of thinking is not in demand and, therefore, it does not develop in most children and adults. Theoretical thinking can be fully developed only in the system of specially organized developmental education. Theory of V.V. Davydova considers cognitive development as the result of developmental learning, i.e. as an artificial process. Therefore, it should be attributed to the design theories of cognitive development.

Cognitive psychology's major breakthrough in cognitive developmental theory came in the 1950s with the work of Allen Newell and Herbert Simon and the advent of the first computers resembling modern ones. Newell and Simon studied the problem artificial intelligence, that is, they worked on a program for computers that could perform the functions inherent in human thinking. Their theory is known as the information approach to development.

Robert Kegan's theory is known as meaning systems theory. He believes that people continue to develop meaning systems, even after stepping into adulthood. Based on the ideas of Piaget and on the theories of cognitive development, he defines several "levels of formation of meaning systems", analogous to the stages of development. These meaning systems then shape our experience, organize our thinking and feelings, and serve as sources of our behavior. At each stage, the old becomes part of the new, just as in children a concrete understanding of the world becomes part of the input for thinking at the stage of formal operations. According to Kegan's theory, most people continue to structure and restructure their understanding of the world, even well past their thirties.

Despite the existence of theoretical disagreements, a certain unanimity has been achieved among psychologists on issues related to cognitive processes that undergo significant changes in the course of a child's development. It is about acquiring a number of qualities:

Possession of certain skills;

Flexible approach to problem solving;

High speed of information processing;

Ability to plan;

Ability to handle a significant amount of information;

Foresight and consistency in solving problems;

The ability to concentrate attention and efforts, etc. .

Goncharov V.S. identifies indicators of cognitive development as a natural process and as a result of design

Cognitive development is studied in its most diverse manifestations and essential characteristics. Cognitive theories of development originate in the philosophical concepts of cognition and are focused on solving the problems of adapting an individual to the environment. We emphasize that cognitive development acts, firstly, as a natural process that proceeds under the influence of its various sociocultural and pedagogical determinants. And, secondly, as an artificial process, reflection on the first, its design.

Stages of development of intelligence (J. Piaget)

According to Jean Piaget's theory of intellect, the human intellect goes through several main stages in its development. From birth to 2 years of age sensorimotor intelligence period; from 2 to 11 years - the period of preparation and organization of specific operations, in which sub-period of pre-operational representations(from 2 to 7 years old) and sub-period of specific operations(from 7 to 11 years); from 11 years old to about 15 lasts period of formal operations.

Period of sensorimotor intelligence (0-2 years)

From birth to two years, the organization of perceptual and motor interactions with the outside world gradually develops. This development proceeds from being limited by innate reflexes to the associated organization of sensory-motor actions in relation to the immediate environment. At this stage, only direct manipulations with things are possible, but not actions with symbols, representations in internal plan.

The period of sensorimotor intelligence is divided into six stages.

At this age, the child's capabilities are practically limited by innate reflexes.

Under the influence of experience, reflexes begin to transform and coordinate with each other. The first simple skills appear ( primary circular reactions). “For example, when a child constantly sucks his finger, no longer as a result of accidental contact with it, but due to the coordination of the hand and mouth, this can be called acquired accommodation” .

The child's actions acquire a more pronounced focus on objects and events that exist outside and independently of him. Through repetition, movements are fixed, initially random, leading to changes. external environment, interesting child (secondary circular reactions). A “motor recognition” of familiar objects appears, which is expressed in the fact that “a child, faced with objects or scenes that usually activate his secondary circular reactions, is limited to what gives only the outline of ordinary movements, but does not actually perform them.”

The ability to coordinate secondary circular reactions arises, their combination into new formations, in which one action (for example, removing an obstacle) serves as a means that makes it possible to carry out another - targeted - action, which also means the appearance of undoubtedly deliberate actions.

The child no longer only uses the actions known to him as a means of achieving goals, but is also able to seek and find new ones, varying the action already known to him and stating the difference in the result; Piaget calls this "the discovery of new means to an end through active experimentation." That is, not only new coordinations arise here known to the child actions-means and actions-ends, but also new actions-means.

Unlike the previous stage, here the child is already able to discover new actions-means not through experimentation, but through internal, mental coordination - internal experimentation.

The period of preparation and organization of specific operations (2-11 years)

Sub-period of pre-operational representations (2-7 years)

Children at this age are characterized centralization(concentration) on one, the most noticeable feature of the subject, and neglect in reasoning of its other features.

The child usually focuses on the states of things and does not pay attention to transformations(or, if he does, it is very difficult for him to understand them), which transfer her from one state to another.

Sub-period of specific operations (7-11 years)

Even at the stage of pre-operational representations, the child acquires the ability to perform certain actions with representations. But only during the period of specific operations do these actions begin to unite, coordinate with each other, forming systems of integrated actions (as opposed to associative links). Such actions are called operations. Operations are "actions internalized and organized into structures of the whole"; operation is "any act of representation which is integral part organized network of related acts. Any performed (updated) operation is an element of an integral system of possible (potential) operations in a given situation.

The child develops special cognitive structures called factions. Grouping is a form of mobile equilibrium of operations, "a system of balanced exchanges and transformations, infinitely compensating each other." One of the simplest groupings is the grouping classification, or hierarchical inclusion of classes. Thanks to this and other groupings, the child acquires the ability to perform operations with classes and establish logical relationships between classes, uniting them in hierarchies, whereas earlier his abilities were limited to transduction and the establishment of associative links.

The limitation of this stage is that operations can only be performed on concrete objects, but not on statements. Starting from the age of 7-8, “one can observe the formation of systems of logical operations on the objects themselves, their classes and relations, which do not yet concern propositions as such and are formed only about real or imaginary manipulation with these objects.” Operations logically structure the performed external actions, but they cannot yet structure verbal reasoning in a similar way.

Period of formal operations (11-15 years)

The main ability that appears at the stage of formal operations is the ability to deal with possible, with the hypothetical, and perceive external reality as special case of what might have been. The reality and the child's own beliefs no longer necessarily determine the course of reasoning. The child now looks at the problem not only from the point of view of the immediate given in it, but first of all, he asks himself the question of all possible relationships in which elements of the immediate given can be included, in which elements of the immediate given can be included.

Knowledge becomes hypothetical-deductive. The child is now able to think in hypotheses (which are essentially descriptions of various possibilities) which can be tested in order to select the one that corresponds to the actual state of affairs.

The child acquires the ability to think in sentences and establish formal relationships (inclusion, conjunction, disjunction, etc.) between them. At the stage of specific operations, such relations could be established only within the limits of one sentence, that is, between separate objects or events, which constitutes specific operations. Now logical relationships are already established between sentences, that is, between the results of specific operations. Therefore, Piaget calls these operations second-tier operations, or formal operations, while the operations within the sentence are concrete operations.

The child at this stage is also able to systematically identify all the variables that are essential for solving the problem, and systematically sort through all possible combinations these variables.

A classic experiment demonstrates the abilities that appear in a child at the stage of formal operations. The child is given a bottle of liquid and shown how adding a few drops of this liquid to a glass with another liquid unknown to the child causes it to turn yellow. After that, the child is given four flasks with different, but colorless and odorless liquids, and he is asked to reproduce the yellow color, using these four flasks at his discretion. This result is achieved by combining the liquids from flasks 1 and 3; this solution can be reached by sequentially going through all the liquids from four flasks one by one, and then all possible pair combinations of liquids. The experiment showed that such a systematic enumeration of paired combinations is available only for a child who is at the stage of formal operations. Younger children are limited to a few combinations of liquids, not exhaustive of all possible combinations.

Research on the period of formal operations after Piaget

There are also more recent studies of the stage of formal operations, supplementing and refining the results of Jean Piaget.

Elements of formal-operational thinking were found in intellectually gifted children younger age. On the contrary, some adolescents and adults do not achieve true formal-operational thinking due to limited abilities or cultural characteristics. So, in one of the studies of solving verbal problems that require logical reasoning, it was revealed linear an increase in the number of schoolchildren who solve problems in accordance with the criteria for the stage of formal operations, from the 4th to the 12th grade (from approximately 10-15% to 80%, respectively).

The transition to formal operations is not entirely abrupt and universal, but is more specific in relation to areas of knowledge in which the adolescent is particularly competent.

The age at which a child reaches the stage of formal operations depends on what social stratum he belongs to.

Even adolescents and adults with high intelligence do not always solve problems at the level of formal-operational thinking that is accessible to them. This can happen if the task seems too far from reality to the person, if the person is tired, bored, overly emotionally aroused, frustrated.

see also

Notes

Literature

• Piaget J. Selected psychological works. M., 1994.
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• Piaget J. Piaget's theory. Sec. III: Theory of stages // History of foreign psychology. 30s - 60s of the XX century. Texts / Ed. P. Ya. Galperina, A. N. Zhdan. M.: Publishing House of Moscow. un-ta, 1992. S. 232-292.
• Piaget J. Comments on L. S. Vygotsky’s critical remarks on the books “Speech and Thinking of a Child” and “Judgment and Reasoning of a Child” // Reader on general psychology. Psychology of thinking / Ed. Yu. B. Gippenreiter, V. V. Petukhova. M., 1981.
• Piaget J.(1954). The construction of reality in the child. New York: Basic Books.
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• Piaget J.(2001). Studies in Reflection Abstraction. Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
• Cole M. et al.(2005). The Development of Children. New York: Worth Publishers.

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cognitive development (from English Cognitive development) - the development of all kinds of thought processes, such as perception, memory, concept formation, problem solving, imagination and logic. The theory of cognitive development was developed by the Swiss philosopher and psychologist Jean Piaget. His epistemological theory provided many of the core concepts in the field of developmental psychology and explores the growth of intelligence, which, according to Piaget, means the ability to more accurately reflect the world and perform logical operations on images of concepts arising in interaction with the outside world. The theory considers the emergence and construction of schemas - schemas of how the world is perceived - in the "developmental stage", a time when children are learning new ways of representing information in the brain. The theory is considered "constructivist", in the sense that, unlike nativist theories (which describe cognitive development as the unfolding of innate knowledge and abilities) or empirical theories (which describe cognitive development as the gradual acquisition of knowledge through experience), it claims that we construct ourselves our cognitive abilities through own actions in the environment.

Stages of development of intelligence (J. Piaget)

According to Jean Piaget's theory of intellect, the human intellect goes through several main stages in its development. From birth to 2 years, the period of sensory-motor intelligence continues; from 2 to 11 years - the period of preparation and organization of specific operations, in which a sub-period of pre-operational submissions (from 2 to 7 years) and a sub-period of specific operations (from 7 to 11 years) are singled out; from the age of 11 to about 15 there is a period of formal operations.

Period of sensorimotor intelligence (0-2 years)

From birth to two years, the organization of perceptual and motor interactions with the outside world gradually develops. This development proceeds from being limited by innate reflexes to the associated organization of sensory-motor actions in relation to the immediate environment. At this stage, only direct manipulations with things are possible, but not actions with symbols, representations in the internal plan.
The period of sensorimotor intelligence is divided into six stages:
1. First stage (0-1 month)
At this age, the possibilities of the child are practically limited by innate reflexes.
2. Second stage (1-4 months)
Under the influence of experience, reflexes begin to transform and coordinate with each other. The first simple skills appear (primary circular reactions). “For example, when a child constantly sucks his finger, no longer as a result of accidental contact with it, but due to the coordination of the hand and mouth, this can be called acquired accommodation.”
3. Third stage (4-8 months)
The child's actions acquire a more pronounced focus on objects and events that exist outside and independently of him. Through repetition, movements are fixed, initially random, leading to changes in the external environment that are interesting to the child (secondary circular reactions). “Motor recognition” of familiar objects appears, which is expressed in the fact that “the child, having encountered objects or scenes that usually activate his secondary circular reactions, is limited to giving only a circuit of ordinary movements, but actually does not perform them.”
4. Fourth stage (8-12 months)
The ability to coordinate secondary circular reactions arises, their combination into new formations, in which one action (for example, removing an obstacle) serves as a means that makes it possible to carry out another - targeted - action, which also means the appearance of undoubtedly deliberate actions.
5. Fifth stage (12-18 months)
The child no longer only uses the actions known to him as a means of achieving goals, but is also able to seek and find new ones, varying the action already known to him and stating the difference in the result; Piaget calls this "the discovery of new means to an end through active experimentation." That is, not only new coordinations of actions-means and actions-goals known to the child arise here, but also new actions-means.
6. Sixth stage (after 18 months)
Unlike the previous stage, here the child is already able to discover new actions-means not through experimentation, but through internal, mental coordination - internal experimentation.

The period of preparation and organization of specific operations (2-11 years)

Sub-period of pre-operational representations (2-7 years)
Here, a transition is made from sensory-motor functions to internal - symbolic, i.e., to actions with representations, and not with external objects. The symbolic function is “the ability to distinguish a designation from the signified and, as a result, the ability to use the first in order to remember the second or point to it.” In infancy, although a child can perceive a sensory signal as a sign of an event that will follow him, he is not able to reproduce in the internal plan a sign of an event that is not actually perceived, which is not a specific part of this event.
The concepts called pre-concepts at this stage are figurative and concrete, they do not refer to either individual objects or classes of things, and are connected with each other through transductive reasoning.
The egocentrism of the child is expressed in the inability to look at his point of view from the outside, as one of the possible. The child is not able to make the process of his thinking the object of his thinking, to think about his thoughts. He does not seek to substantiate his reasoning or look for contradictions in them.
Children at this age are characterized by centralization (concentration) on one, the most noticeable feature of the subject, and neglect in reasoning of its other features.
The child usually focuses on the states of a thing and does not pay attention to the transformations (or, if he does, it is very difficult for him to understand them) that transfer it from one state to another.

Sub-period of specific operations (7-11 years)
Even at the stage of preoperational representations, the child acquires the ability to perform certain actions with representations. But only during the period of specific operations do these actions begin to unite, coordinate with each other, forming systems of integrated actions (as opposed to associative links). Such actions are called operations. Operations are "actions internalized and organized into structures of the whole"; an operation is "any act of representation that is an integral part of an organized network of acts correlated with each other." Any performed (updated) operation is an element of an integral system of possible (potential) operations in a given situation.
The child develops special cognitive structures called groupings. Grouping is a form of mobile equilibrium of operations, "a system of balanced exchanges and transformations, infinitely compensating each other." One of the simplest groupings is the classification grouping, or the hierarchical inclusion of classes. Thanks to this and other groupings, the child acquires the ability to perform operations with classes and establish logical relationships between classes, uniting them in hierarchies, whereas previously his abilities were limited to transduction and the establishment of associative links.
The limitation of this stage is that operations can be performed only with concrete objects, but not with statements. Starting from the age of 7-8, “one can observe the formation of systems of logical operations on the objects themselves, their classes and relations, which do not yet concern propositions as such and are formed only about real or imaginary manipulation with these objects.” Operations logically structure the performed external actions, but they cannot yet structure verbal reasoning in a similar way.

Period of formal operations (11-15 years)
The main ability that appears at the stage of formal operations is the ability to deal with the possible, with the hypothetical, and perceive external reality as a special case of what is possible, what could be. The reality and the child's own beliefs no longer necessarily determine the course of reasoning. The child now looks at the problem not only from the point of view of the immediate given in it, but first of all, he asks himself the question of all possible relationships in which elements of the immediate given can be included, in which elements of the immediate given can be included.
Cognition becomes hypothetical-deductive. The child is now able to think in hypotheses (which are essentially descriptions of various possibilities) which can be tested in order to select the one that corresponds to the actual state of affairs.
The child acquires the ability to think in sentences and establish formal relationships (inclusion, conjunction, disjunction, etc.) between them. At the stage of specific operations, such relations could be established only within the limits of one sentence, i.e., between separate objects or events, which constitutes specific operations. Now logical relations are already established between sentences, that is, between the results of specific operations. Therefore, Piaget calls these operations the operations of the second stage, or formal operations, while the operations within the sentence are concrete operations.
The child at this stage is also able to systematically identify all the variables that are relevant to the solution of the problem, and systematically go through all possible combinations of these variables.
A classic experiment demonstrates the abilities that a child develops at the stage of formal operations. The child is given a bottle of liquid and shown how adding a few drops of this liquid to a glass with another liquid unknown to the child causes it to turn yellow. After that, the child is given four flasks with different, but colorless and odorless liquids, and he is asked to reproduce the yellow color, using these four flasks at his discretion. This result is achieved by combining the liquids from flasks 1 and 3; this solution can be reached by sequentially going through all the liquids from four flasks one by one, and then all possible pair combinations of liquids. The experiment showed that such a systematic enumeration of paired combinations is available only for a child who is at the stage of formal operations. Younger children are limited to a few combinations of liquids, not exhaustive of all possible combinations.

Research on the period of formal operations after Piaget
There are also more recent studies of the stage of formal operations, supplementing and clarifying the results of Jean Piaget.
Elements of formal-operational thinking were found in intellectually gifted young children. On the contrary, some adolescents and adults do not achieve true formal-operational thinking due to disabilities or cultural characteristics. Thus, in one of the studies of solving verbal problems requiring logical reasoning, a linear increase in the number of schoolchildren solving problems in accordance with the criteria of the stage of formal operations was revealed, from the 4th to the 12th grade (approximately from 10-15% to 80% respectively).
The transition to formal operations is not entirely abrupt and universal, but is more specific in relation to areas of knowledge in which the adolescent is particularly competent.
The age at which a child reaches the stage of formal operations depends on what social stratum he belongs to.
Even adolescents and adults with high intelligence do not always solve problems at the level of formal-operational thinking that is accessible to them. This can happen if the task seems too far from reality to the person, if the person is tired, bored, overly emotionally aroused, frustrated.

Literature

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3 Flavell John H. The Genetic Psychology of Jean Piaget. M., 1967.
4 Piaget, J. (1954). «The construction of reality in the child». New York: Basic Books.
5 Inhelder B., Piaget J. The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence. New York, 1958.
Piaget, J. (1977). The Essential Piaget. ed by Howard E. Gruber and J. Jacques Voneche Gruber, New York: Basic Books.
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