Piaget Stage Theory » Sensorimotor Stage

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Piaget's cognitive development theory and its key principles
The sensorimotor stage (0-2 years) in detail
The six substages of sensorimotor development
Object permanence and its significance
Strengths and limitations of Piaget's sensorimotor stage theory
Research evidence supporting and challenging the theory

Introduction to Piaget's Stage Theory

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist who developed one of the most influential theories of cognitive development. He believed that children think differently from adults and go through four distinct stages of cognitive development from birth to adolescence.

Key Definitions:

Schema: Mental frameworks or concepts that help organise and interpret information.
Assimilation: The process of taking in new information and fitting it into existing schemas.
Accommodation: Changing existing schemas or creating new ones when new information doesn't fit.
Equilibration: The balance between assimilation and accommodation that drives cognitive development.
Object permanence: Understanding that objects continue to exist even when they can't be seen.

📖 Piaget's Four Stages

Piaget proposed that all children progress through four universal stages in a fixed order:

Sensorimotor stage: Birth to 2 years
Preoperational stage: 2 to 7 years
Concrete operational stage: 7 to 11 years
Formal operational stage: 11 years onwards

In this session, we'll focus on the sensorimotor stage.

🔬 Key Principles

Piaget's theory is based on several key principles:

Children are active learners who construct knowledge through experience
Development occurs in distinct stages
Each stage builds on the previous one
Children can't skip stages or be rushed through them
The stages are universal across cultures

The Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 Years)

The sensorimotor stage is the first of Piaget's four stages. During this period, babies develop an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences (seeing, hearing) with physical actions (grasping, sucking). Infants learn about the world through their senses and motor activities.

At the beginning of this stage, newborns have little more than reflexes. By the end, they've developed into toddlers who can think about objects that aren't present - a huge cognitive leap!

Why "Sensorimotor"?

The name "sensorimotor" comes from how babies learn during this stage - through their senses (what they can see, hear, touch, taste and smell) and motor actions (how they move their bodies and manipulate objects). They don't yet use language or symbols to represent the world.

The Six Substages of Sensorimotor Development

Piaget divided the sensorimotor stage into six substages, each representing significant developments in the infant's cognitive abilities:

👶 Substage 1: Reflexes

Age: Birth to 1 month

Babies are born with reflexes like sucking, grasping and rooting. They begin to adapt these reflexes to their environment (e.g., distinguishing between different objects to suck).

🎁 Substage 2: Primary Circular Reactions

Age: 1 to 4 months

Babies repeat enjoyable actions centered on their own bodies (e.g., thumb-sucking). They begin to coordinate sensations and develop new schemas.

🎮 Substage 3: Secondary Circular Reactions

Age: 4 to 8 months

Babies become more interested in the environment and repeat actions that produce interesting results (e.g., shaking a rattle to hear the noise).

🧠 Substage 4: Coordination of Secondary Schemes

Age: 8 to 12 months

Babies combine and coordinate previously learned behaviours to solve new problems. They show intentional, goal-directed behaviour (e.g., moving obstacles to reach toys).

🎲 Substage 5: Tertiary Circular Reactions

Age: 12 to 18 months

Toddlers become little scientists, experimenting with new behaviours to see what happens. They actively explore cause and effect through trial and error.

💡 Substage 6: Mental Representation

Age: 18 to 24 months

Children can now think symbolically and solve problems mentally rather than through trial and error. They develop deferred imitation and symbolic play.

Object Permanence: A Key Development

One of the most important developments during the sensorimotor stage is object permanence - the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they can't be seen, heard, or touched.

👀 Development of Object Permanence

According to Piaget, object permanence develops gradually:

Before 4-8 months: "Out of sight, out of mind" - if you hide a toy under a blanket, the baby won't look for it
8-12 months: Babies will search for partially hidden objects
12-18 months: Babies can find objects that are completely hidden, but show the "A-not-B error" (looking for objects where they were previously found rather than where they were last hidden)
18-24 months: Full object permanence is achieved - babies can find objects even after invisible displacement

🏋 Testing Object Permanence

Researchers test object permanence using hiding tasks:

Show the baby an interesting toy
Hide the toy (e.g., under a cloth or behind a screen)
Observe whether the baby searches for the hidden toy

More complex versions involve moving the toy to different locations or hiding it when the baby isn't watching.

Case Study Focus: Piaget's Observations of His Own Children

Piaget developed much of his theory by carefully observing his own three children: Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent. He kept detailed diaries of their development and conducted simple experiments with them.

For example, he observed that when his daughter Jacqueline was 8 months old, she would look for a toy that was partially hidden but not one that was completely hidden. By 12 months, she would search for completely hidden objects, demonstrating the development of object permanence.

While these observations were groundbreaking, they also highlight a limitation of Piaget's research - his small, non-diverse sample.

Evaluating Piaget's Sensorimotor Stage Theory

Strengths of the Theory

Pioneering research: Piaget was one of the first to study cognitive development systematically and recognize that children think differently from adults.
Influential framework: His stage theory has influenced education, parenting and further research in developmental psychology.
Detailed observations: Piaget provided rich, detailed observations of children's cognitive development.
Active learning emphasis: His theory correctly emphasizes that children actively construct knowledge rather than passively receiving it.

Limitations and Criticisms

Underestimating infants' abilities: More recent research suggests that babies are more cognitively capable than Piaget believed.
Methodological issues: Piaget's research methods were sometimes informal and based on small, non-representative samples.
Cultural variations: The theory doesn't adequately account for cultural and social influences on development.
Individual differences: Children develop at different rates and the strict age boundaries may not apply to all children.

🔍 Research Supporting Piaget

Many studies have confirmed aspects of Piaget's sensorimotor stage:

Bower and Wishart (1972) found that infants develop object permanence gradually, as Piaget suggested
Cross-cultural studies show that the sequence of sensorimotor development is similar across different cultures, though the timing may vary
The A-not-B error has been consistently observed in infants around 8-12 months

⛔ Research Challenging Piaget

More recent research has challenged some of Piaget's claims:

Baillargeon (1987) used looking-time methods to show that 3.5-month-old infants have some understanding of object permanence
Diamond (1985) found that the A-not-B error may be due to memory and motor limitations rather than a lack of object permanence
Studies using habituation techniques suggest that infants have more advanced cognitive abilities than Piaget thought

Modern Perspectives

Today, most psychologists acknowledge Piaget's important contributions while recognizing that cognitive development is more complex and variable than his theory suggests. Modern research emphasizes:

The role of social interaction and language in cognitive development (Vygotsky's sociocultural theory)
Domain-specific development rather than general stages
The importance of innate capabilities and core knowledge
The brain development that underlies cognitive changes

Applying Sensorimotor Theory

Understanding the sensorimotor stage has practical applications:

For parents: Providing stimulating environments with opportunities for sensory exploration and motor practice
For childcare providers: Designing age-appropriate activities that support cognitive development
For toy designers: Creating toys that encourage exploration, cause-and-effect learning and problem-solving
For early intervention: Identifying developmental delays by comparing a child's progress to sensorimotor milestones

Summary: Key Points About the Sensorimotor Stage

The sensorimotor stage spans from birth to approximately 2 years of age
During this stage, infants learn about the world through their senses and motor actions
The stage is divided into six substages, each with distinct developments
Object permanence is a crucial achievement of this stage
While Piaget's theory has limitations, it provides a valuable framework for understanding early cognitive development
Modern research has both supported and refined Piaget's ideas about sensorimotor development

🧠 Test Your Knowledge!