Understanding Of The Preoperational Stage Of Cognitive Development

Conclusion

It is clear that early childhood is an interesting and important stage of human development. The essential elements of a child’s development such as physical, emotional, social, and cognitive are strongly inter-related with each other. For instance, if one aspect of a child’s wellbeing is delayed, then it might affect other areas of one’s development as well. The early childhood stage works as a foundation for later stages of a person’s growth.

Part B

Jean Piaget has made important contributions and understanding of the Preoperational Stage of Cognitive Development which occurs roughly between the ages of two and seven. He stated that during this stage, children are learning to communicate with others by writing, drawing and speaking, as well as represent things, places and events through symbols, which is referred to as symbolic function. However, there are certain characteristics that limit their ideas such as egocentrism, animism, and centration. Piaget explains that egocentrism prevents a child from understanding others’ perspectives while centration allows one to only focus on one aspect of a situation rather than viewing the big picture. Animism on the other hand, refers to the young child’s thinking that a non-living

According to Piaget, they tend to believe that their own perspective of the world is the same as everybody else, which is an aspect called egocentrism. This does not mean that young children are self-centered, it only means that they do not have the full ability to view things in another person’s point of view yet (Boyd, Johnson & Bee, 2015). For instance, a 3 year old boy may give his dad a piece of play dough for a birthday present, expecting his dad to like it as much as he does. In a way, egocentrism can make a child feel frustrated when his/her perspective does not match other’s point of