1.
Sensorimotor Stage
Age: Birth to 2 years
Key Features:
- Learning through sensory experiences and motor actions
- Development of object permanence (understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of sight)
- Stranger anxiety emerges (~8–9 months)
Buzzwords:
“Peek-a-boo”, reflexes, object permanence, sensory exploration
2.
Preoperational Stage
Age: 2 to 7 years
Key Features:
- Symbolic thinking (e.g., using words or images to represent things)
- Egocentrism (difficulty understanding others’ perspectives)
- Animism (believing inanimate objects have feelings)
- Centration (focus on one aspect of a situation)
Buzzwords:
Pretend play, egocentric, no conservation, magical thinking, animism
3.
Concrete Operational Stage
Age: 7 to 11 years
Key Features:
- Logical thinking about concrete events
- Understanding of conservation (e.g., liquid in different shaped containers is still the same amount)
- Reversibility and classification skills develop
Buzzwords:
Conservation, concrete logic, less egocentric, reversibility, mental operations
4.
Formal Operational Stage
Age: 12 years and up
Key Features:
- Development of abstract thinking
- Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
- Can consider future possibilities and moral reasoning
Buzzwords:
Abstract reasoning, hypothetical thinking, problem solving, metacognition
Exam Tip:
If a question involves a child solving abstract problems or understanding complex hypothetical scenarios, they’re likely in the formal operational stage. If they believe a toy is sad because it fell down, they’re in the preoperational stage.
