Stages of Cognitive Development

preoperational (animism)

When Matthew saw his older brother's bicycle fall off of its kick stand, Matthew told his brother that the bicycle must be tired and is now taking a nap.

concrete operational (hierarchical classification)

When children can answer both if there are more chips than marbles and if there are more blue chips than red chips they have mastered which concept?

preoperational (irreversibility)

Alex, a preschooler, cannot recognize that if 8 - 5 = 3, then 3 + 5 = 8.

preoperational (lack of hierarchical classification)

A five-year-old girl argues that her kindergarten class has more boys than children.

preoperational (egocentrism)

Betsy believes grass grows out of the ground in order to cushion her if she falls when she is playing outside.

preoperational (egocentrism/irreversibility)

Bob is asked, "Do you have a brother?" He replies, "Yes, his name is Joe." Next Bob is asked, "Does Joe have a brother?" Bob answers, "No."

formal operational (hypothetical thinking)

Byron is planning to ask his parents if he can borrow their car on Friday night. He is thinking about all of the possible reasons that they might bring up for not letting him use the car, and thinking of a logical reply to each of these possible objections.

sensorimotor (lack of assimilation)

Deanna who is 17 months old learned to call her family do a "woof woof". Her parents were surprised when she pointed to a cow and said "woof woof".

formal operational (hypothetical thinking)

During a class discussion Else and Beatriz discuss the possible outcomes if the a particular candidate were to be elected as President of the United States.

preoperational (lack of conservation)

Five-year-old Tammy mistakenly believes that her short, wide glass contains less soda than her brother's tall, narrow glass. Actually, both glasses contain the same amount of soda.

preoperational (accommodation)

Four-year-old Emily's older brother taught her how to catch a beach ball by positioning her hands a certain distance apart. When Emily later learned to catch a smaller tennis ball by adjusting the distance between her hands she used this process.

concrete operational (hierarchical classification)

Gerard watched as a researcher placed 5 toy station wagons and 3 toy convertibles on a table. The researcher asked him if there were more station wagons or more cars, and Gerard correctly answered that there were more cars.

preoperational (egocentrism)

Gretchen assumes that car is moving only because she is inside of it.

preoperational (lack of conservation)

Gretchen watches her preschool teacher form two identical balls of modeling clay. The teacher gives one of the balls to Gretchen, and then squashes the remaining ball into a flat pancake. She asks Gretchen if they both have the same amount of clay, and Gretchen confidently states that the teacher has more clay because the pancake looks bigger than the ball.

preoperational (pretend play)

In 3-year-old Eli's game checkers are cookies, papers are dishes, a box is the table, and so on in the world of pretend play. What stage of cognition is being represented?

formal operational (hypothetical thinking)

John is considering potential career routes that he might take later in life. He carefully assesses the positive and negative aspects of each option, and speculates about the possible outcomes of each career path before he makes his decision.

sensorimotor (lack of object permanence)

Lisa does not attempt to retrieve her bottle after her father hides it under a blanket believing it is gone.

concrete operational (conservation)

Mrs. Pearson cut Judy's hot dog into eight pieces and Sylvia's into six pieces. Sylvia does not get upset because she correctly realizes that even though it looks like Judy got a larger portion, they are both eating the same amount of food.

preoperational (centration)

Steve is only able to focus on one aspect of a problem, which makes it impossible for him at this age to master conservation tasks.

sensorimotor (lack of object permanence)

Tom's older sister is playing a game with him. She hides the ball that they are playing with behind her back, and Tom quickly loses interest in the game. He makes no attempt to look for the ball, but instead picks up another toy that is close by.