Jean Piaget Cognitive Development Theory Stages. In this stage a child develops the ability to utilize abstract thinking. In the 1960s and 1970s as freudian and jungian psychology were rapidly being replaced by more empirical methods of studying human behavior a swiss philosopher and psychologist named jean piaget 1896 1980 stepped in to offer a new theory of cognitive development.
The theory deals with the nature of knowledge itself and how humans gradually come to acquire construct and use it. Jean piaget theory of cognitive development biography early life and history of jean piaget jean piaget 1896 1980 was a swiss biologist who later turned into a cognitive and child psychologist he is well known for providing a stage theory of cognitive development for explaining the development of thinking in human beings from infancy to adulthood. Piaget s theory is mainly known as a developmental stage theory.
Piaget 1936 was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development.
Piaget stages of development are the foundation of a well known theory of early childhood development. Jean piaget proposed four stages of cognitive development. Jean piaget s theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of mental development. This includes thought judgment and knowledge.