Child Development Theories of Piaget and Erikson
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Direct answer
Child development theories of Piaget and Erikson describe how children think and how they build their personality, each through a fixed sequence of stages. Piaget's cognitive stages run from sensorimotor thinking in the first two years, through preoperational and concrete operational thought, to formal operational reasoning from about eleven years. Erikson's eight psychosocial stages pair a developmental conflict with each age, such as trust versus mistrust in infancy.
What you must remember
- Sensorimotor stage: birth to two years, with object permanence emerging around eight to twelve months.
- Preoperational stage: two to seven years, marked by symbolic play, egocentrism, animism and centration.
- Concrete operational stage: seven to eleven years, with conservation, reversibility and classification.
- Formal operational stage: from about eleven years, with abstract and hypothetico-deductive reasoning.
- Trust versus mistrust: Erikson's first stage, covering roughly the first year, resolved by consistent and responsive care.
- Industry versus inferiority: Erikson's school-age stage, from about six to twelve years, resolved through mastery at school and in peer activities.
- Identity versus role confusion: Erikson's adolescent stage, from about twelve to eighteen years, resolved by a coherent sense of self.
Working through Piaget's stages and Erikson's crises
Piaget's stages describe how the child reasons, while Erikson's describe what the child must resolve emotionally at each age. The steps below move through the cognitive ladder first and then add the psychosocial conflicts, so both theories can be recalled together.
- Sensorimotor (birth to two years): infants learn through reflexes and action, and object permanence emerges around eight to twelve months, so a hidden toy is searched for.
- Preoperational (two to seven years): thinking is symbolic and egocentric, shown by pretend play, animism and centration, where the child focuses on one dimension of a problem.
- Concrete operational (seven to eleven years): logic applies to concrete objects, so the child conserves number, mass and volume and understands that operations can be reversed.
- Formal operational (eleven years onwards): abstract and hypothetical reasoning becomes possible, with systematic testing of ideas, although not every adolescent reaches this level consistently.
- Erikson's crises: each stage poses a conflict, such as autonomy versus shame and doubt in toddlers and initiative versus guilt in preschoolers, and a healthy resolution yields a strength.
These steps show that cognitive ability and emotional task advance together, but they are separate frameworks.
Where the exam tries to catch you
Developmental theory questions usually give an age and ask you to name the stage or the expected behaviour. Each trap below swaps the age of one stage for another.
- Trap: placing conservation as a preoperational achievement. Correct: children fail conservation tasks before about seven years and acquire conservation in the concrete operational stage.
- Trap: believing object permanence is complete at birth. Correct: it emerges gradually, and the A-not-B error, searching where an object was previously found, appears around eight to twelve months.
- Trap: linking identity versus role confusion with Piaget's formal operations. Correct: identity versus role confusion is Erikson's psychosocial stage, while formal operations is Piaget's cognitive stage from about eleven years.
Frequently asked questions
At what age does Piaget's concrete operational stage begin?
Piaget's concrete operational stage begins at about seven years and lasts until about eleven years. During this stage children apply logic to concrete objects, which allows them to understand conservation and reversibility. Abstract, hypothetical thinking is still absent at this age.
What is object permanence in Piaget's sensorimotor stage?
Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist when they are hidden from view. It emerges gradually in the sensorimotor stage, typically around eight to twelve months. The A-not-B error, searching at a location where the object was previously found, is a classic demonstration of it.
Which Erikson stage corresponds to the school-age years?
Industry versus inferiority is Erikson's stage for roughly six to twelve years, when children develop competence through school and peer activities. Success in these tasks builds a sense of competence, whereas repeated failure leads to a sense of inferiority. The stage is a common basis for school-age questions in examinations.
What is egocentrism in Piaget's preoperational stage?
Egocentrism is the child's difficulty in seeing the world from another person's viewpoint, typically seen between two and seven years. In Piaget's three mountains task, the child assumes that others see the same scene that the child sees. It is a cognitive limitation rather than selfishness.
Which Erikson stage occurs in infancy?
Trust versus mistrust is Erikson's first psychosocial stage, covering roughly the first year of life. Consistent, responsive care from caregivers builds a basic sense of trust in the world. Inconsistent or neglectful care leads to mistrust.