👶 Physical
Sounds are tied to the body and to actions. A baby makes a sound with their mouth and tongue, or makes a noise while waving their arms or banging a spoon.
Piaget's Cognitive Theory of Language Development » Sensory Motor and Pre-operational Stages
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Cambridge spec: 6.4.2
- The sensory motor stage and why language skills are physical and repetitive
- The pre-operational stage and symbolic thought
- Egocentric speech: seeing only one's own point of view
- Animism: believing non-living objects can think and feel
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Unlock This CoursePiaget's stages and language
Piaget said children's thinking grows through stages, and that language grows with their thinking. You already know from the lesson Schemas: Assimilation and Accommodation that thinking comes first and language follows. In this lesson we look at the first two stages. The next lesson covers the other two.
The ages below are only approximate. Children move through the stages at different speeds, so treat each age range as a rough guide, not an exact rule.
Key terms:
- Sensory motor stage: the first stage, from birth to about 2 years, when babies learn through their senses and their body movements.
- Pre-operational stage: the second stage, from about 2 to 7 years, when children start to use words and images to think.
- Symbolic thought: using words and images to represent objects and events in the world.
- Egocentric speech: speech that comes from an inability to see any point of view other than one's own.
- Animism: the belief that non-living objects can think, feel and behave like living beings.
Stage 1: the sensory motor stage (birth to about 2 years)
A baby in this stage learns by doing. They look, touch, shake, suck and bang things. Their language skills are mostly physical and repetitive. This is Piaget's idea of assimilation in the sensory motor stage: the baby keeps using the same sounds and actions again and again on whatever is in front of them.
🔄 Repetitive
The baby repeats the same sound or word over and over, such as "ba-ba-ba". They repeat it because they enjoy the result, not because they know what it means yet.
Example: the rattle
A baby shakes a rattle and hears a noise. They shake it again and again, saying "ah, ah" each time. Later they say "ba" each time they pick up a ball. The sounds are linked to the action and the object, and they are repeated many times.
At this stage the baby is not yet using words to stand for things in their mind. That change comes in the next stage. For how children's first sounds and words develop, see the lessons on the stages of language acquisition.
Stage 2: the pre-operational stage (about 2 to 7 years)
Now children start to use words and images to think about the world. This is why their language grows so fast. Two big features of this stage are shown in their speech: it is egocentric and it shows animism.
Symbolic thought
In symbolic thought, a child uses words and images to represent objects and events. The word "cup" stands for a real cup, even when no cup is there. A drawing of a house stands for a house.
Example: pretend play
A four-year-old holds a banana to their ear and says, "Hello, Grandad, I'm coming to see you." The banana stands for a phone. The child can talk about a person who is not in the room, and about a visit that has not happened yet.
Children can now talk about the past and the future, and about things they cannot see. Sensory motor babies could not do this.
Egocentric speech
Egocentric speech means the child cannot see any point of view other than their own. They think everyone sees, knows and feels what they do. So they do not explain things clearly, and they do not change what they say for the listener.
Example: the phone call
A five-year-old is on the phone to their aunt. They say, "Look at this one!" and hold up a toy. They forget that their aunt cannot see the toy, because they assume she sees what they see.
Two children may also talk side by side, each saying what they want to say, without really answering the other. Each child is speaking from their own point of view only.
Animism
Animism means believing that non-living objects can think, feel and behave like living beings. A pre-operational child's speech shows this clearly.
🌕 Thinks
"The moon is following our car because it wants to come home with us."
😭 Feels
"My teddy is sad because I left him on the floor."
The child is not telling a joke. They really believe the moon wants things and the teddy has feelings. Their thinking is still developing, so they cannot yet tell clearly which things are alive and which are not.
Summary table
Sensory motor (birth to about 2): language skills are physical and repetitive (assimilation).
Pre-operational (about 2 to 7): symbolic thought, egocentric speech and animism.
Common mistakes
- Giving exact ages. Say "about" or "approximately", because children develop at different rates.
- Saying egocentric means selfish. It means the child cannot see another person's point of view.
- Mixing up symbolic thought and animism. Symbolic thought is using a word or image to stand for something. Animism is believing a non-living object has thoughts and feelings.
- Writing "repetitive" without an example. Always add one, such as repeating "ba-ba-ba".
Exam-style question
(a) State what is meant by animism. [1 mark]
(b) Three-year-old Sam says, "The wind is angry. It is shouting at my window." Explain which feature of Piaget's pre-operational stage this shows. [2 marks]
(c) Describe how language skills show up in Piaget's sensory motor stage. [2 marks]
Model answer
(a) The belief that non-living objects can think, feel and behave like living beings (1).
(b) It shows animism (1), because Sam believes the wind, which is not alive, has feelings and can shout like a living being (1).
(c) Language skills are physical (1) and repetitive (1), for example a baby repeating the same sound "ba-ba-ba" while banging a toy.
Exam tip
In (b), name the feature and then link it to Sam's words. Say what Sam believes about the wind, not just the word "animism".