introduction:
Jean Piaget (1896 -1980) devised a theory of intellectual (cognitive) 
development.Ex. In the "clown" incident, the boy's father explained to his son that the man 
was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a clown's, he wasn't 
wearing a funny costume and wasn't doing silly things to make people laugh 
with this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his schema of "clown" 
and make this idea fit better to a standard concept of "clown". 3. Equilibration: this is the force which moves development along. It occurs 
when the child's schemas can deal with newest information through 
assimilation. However, UN pleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new 
information can't be fitted into existing assimilation. ? Stages of cognitive Development:
? Sensory
- motor, 
? Preoperational, 
? Concrete operational, 
? Formal operational. Stages of Cognitive Development:
1. Characteristics of Piaget's Stages:
1. Each stage is a structured whole and in a state of equilibrium
2. Each stage derives from the previous stage and incorporates and transforms to prepare for the next stage. 3. There is no skipping stage.Culture does not impact the stages. Children everywhere go through the 
same stages no matter what. 5. There is a gradual progression from stage to stage. 2. Stages of cognitive development:
1-Sensorimotor stage (Birth to 2 Years): Infants learn about the world by 
input obtained through the senses and by their motor activity. Six sub-stages 
are characteristic of this stage. 1-Use of reflexes (birth to one month). ? The infant begins life with a set of reflexes such as sucking, rooting, and 
grasping. By using these reflexes, the infant receives stimulation via touch, 
sound, smell, and vision. ? The reflexes thus pave the way for the first learning to occur. ? Development occurs as the reflex behaviors are applied to a wider variety 
of stimuli and events (assimilation)
? Example: If a nipple is put into baby's mouth, he will reflexively suck on 
it.
2-Primary circular actions (1-4months). Once the infant responds reflexively, the pleasure gained from that response 
causes repetition of the behavior. For example, if a toy grasped reflexively makes noise and is interesting to watch, the infant will grasp it again3-Secondary circular reactions (4-8 months): -
Awareness of the environment grows as the infant begins to connect cause and 
effect. The sounds of bottle preparation will lead to excited behavior. If an 
object is partially hidden, the infant will attempt to uncover and retrieve it
? For example, a child will purposefully pick up a toy to put in his hand or 
mouth. 4-CO-ordination of secondary circular reactions (8-12months):-
? Intentional behavior is observed as the infant uses learned behavior to obtain 
objects, create sounds, or engage in other pleasurable activity. ? Object permanence (the knowledge that something continues to exist even 
when out of sight) begins when the infant remembers where a hidden object is 
likely to be found; it is no longer "out of sight, out of mind.Piaget observed that behaviors occurred 
in steps at a certain age-groups, so he divided these patterns in to four main 
stages of intellectual growth.Assimilation: -Using an existing schema to deal with a new object or 
situation." Ex: - a 2-year child sees a man who is bald on top of head and has 
frizzy hair on the sides .to his father's horror, the toddler shouts" clown, clown.Accommodation: The existing schema doesn't work and needs to be changed 
to deal with new object or situation.??Trial-and-error activity
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