Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, which is one of the most influential and extensive theory’s of cognitive development, came about as a result of Piaget himself, observing his own children. In this essay the writer will discuss how, according to Piaget, the process of adaption helps us to understand how a child constructs his/her world. The writer will then go on to outline Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. They will be focusing on the final stage of the theory, the formal operational stage which concerns young adolescents’ aged eleven years and up. Finally, the writer will speak about how their understanding the formal operational stage might influence them when working with a child or a young adolescent as a nurse …show more content…
Stage one, occurring from birth to two years of age, is known as the sensorimotor stage. During this stage, the child begins to recognise itself as an “agent of action” and begins to act deliberately. The child is fully egocentric during this phase of life. The second stage of Piaget’s theory is the preoperational stage. This occurs between the ages of two and seven years. This stage involves the child learning to represent objects through the use of language. Stage three, the concrete operational stage, takes place from when the child is seven years old approximately until they turn eleven years old. At this stage, the child can think rationally about events happening around them and about objects in their surroundings. The final stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is the formal operational stage. This stage takes place when the child is roughly eleven or twelve years of age. During this stage, those in this age bracket, can set up a series of hypotheses and test them methodically. At this stage, the children and adolescents can also become preoccupied with the future and problems that may arise for …show more content…
The formal operational stage involves the young adolescent having the capacity to deal with possibilities that are entirely hypothetical. (Piotrowski, N. 2005) “Considering all the possibilities – working out the consequences for each hypothesis and confirming or denying these consequences – is the essence of formal operational thought.” (Smith, E. et al. 2003). During this stage children do not have the need to rely on real events, objects and problems. They are now capable of thinking about things in completely abstract ways and thinking about hypothetical problems and ideas. The young adolescents can now systematically approach their problems and think of possible