Summarize Piaget's Theory

The sensorimotor stage is so immense; psychologist Jean Piaget separated it into six substages. For this research study, I will briefly discuss the fourth, fifth, and sixth substage, and give insight on specific behavior and development of object permanence. Additionally, I will describe my observations in detail and indicate whether they support Piaget’s theory. In the fourth substage, a baby’s behavioral process evolves, for instance inadvertent actions become premeditated, furthermore instilling goal-directed behavior. This type of behavior is exemplified by the infant when there is a need/want to attain a particular goal. An example of such is offered by Piaget’s game of rescuing hidden objects. According to Piaget, the infant’s participation in this activity (and the performance of intentional behavior) is proof that he/she is gaining an understanding of one of the most important accomplishments in the sensorimotor stage, object permanence. Though the infant has expanded his/her aptitude of finding hidden objects, unfortunately the baby still makes the “stage four error.” This illustrates the incomplete thought of object permanence, and it is not until stage five when the child shows an …show more content…
I gathered my data through three object-hiding tasks, and for these tasks I used a plastic, green Brachiosaurus – the size of a television remote control. The first task consisted of me showing each child the toy dinosaur and then hiding it under a blanket in front of the child. I performed the task to the ten month old first; she became fascinated by the toy creature and reached out for it when I presented it to her. I methodically placed the toy under the blanket in front of us, in which she picked up the blanket with one hand and grasped the toy with the other. The second child, twenty months of age, did the same thing without any