Age Range
Description of Stage
Birth
to nearly 2 years of age
Sensorimotor
Experiencing the
world through the
senses
and exploration (looking, hearing, touching, mouthing,
etc.)
•Object permanence
•Stranger anxiety
About
2 to 6 years of age
About
7 to 11 years of age
About
12 years of age through
adulthood
Preoperational
Representing
things with words and images but have no logical reasoning
abilities
•Pretend play
•Egocentrism
•Rapid language
development
Concrete
operational
Thinking logically
about concrete
events; grasping
concrete analogies
and performing
math operations
•Conservation
•Mathematical transformations
Formal operational
Abstract reasoning;
reflection; thinking about thinking
•Abstract logic
•Potential for moral reasoning
Piaget’s
Stages of
Cognitive Development
Arranged by Dr. Gordon
Vessels 2005