The Concrete Operations Stage of Piaget’s Development

The stage of concrete operations is part of the theory of development proposed by Jean Piaget., whose discoveries have been fundamental in the development of cognitive psychology. According to it, a child’s thinking has unique characteristics that will vary depending on the maturational stage and interaction with the environment.

In this article, we explain How does the logic of a child who is beginning the stage of concrete operations work?what your vision of the world is like and what problems you are capable of solving.

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

If anything can be said about the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, it is that he completely revolutionized the theories of child development and the concept of intelligence that was held until then. With his development theory, questioned whether children were less competent thinkers than adults or that they were molded at the mercy of the environment, as was thought until the 1940s.

In this way, he showed through ingenious experiments that the forms of children’s thinking were not inferior to those of adults, but different. With his theory of development, Piaget described children as “little scientists” who actively operate with the environment, experimenting and modifying your thinking based on your findings.

For Piaget, They build a series of mental representations of the world in accordance with their maturation stage.. As they interact with the environment, they observe the discrepancies between the mental map they have and the reality they perceive. This allows them to modify their conceptions of the world.

The stage of concrete operations

Piaget divided his theory of development into four main stages: the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the stage of concrete operations and, finally, formal operations. All children go through the stages in the same order towards thinking that evolves in complexity and abstraction.

According to Piagetian theory, The concrete operations stage is acquired between seven and eleven years of age.. Although, the author accepts the existence of great individual and cultural variability. This third phase of development is considered fundamental as it is considered the beginning of logical or operational thinking in the child.

In this period, the child has acquired sufficient biological maturity to act according to rules. That is, this evolutionary moment is characterized by the development of logical thinking that no longer needs physical manipulation as much. In addition, it allows the child to make a more flexible reflection, without relying solely on the appearances of the objects.

In this instance, children have the maturity to use logic and its rules to reach conclusions. However, They are not yet able to think abstractly or hypothetically, so they can only apply them to physical elements; their reasoning is limited by what they can hear, touch and experience. This is why the stage is called concrete operations.

Fundamental skills of the concrete operations stage

According to Piaget’s theory of development, in the stage of concrete operations the child will acquire several fundamental skills that are described below:

The serie

It is the ability to compare elements and order them based on their differences. This operation is necessary for the management of concepts such as numbers, time, measurements or orientation.

In a practical example, a child who has not yet reached the stage of concrete operations He has a well-formed concept of time. Therefore, you cannot distinguish how long a minute is compared to an hour…

The classification

It is the ability that allows catalog objects according to their characteristics and determine whether they belong to a particular set or hierarchy. Thus, a child who has not acquired the skills of this stage will not understand the hierarchical relationship between human beings and mammals. That is, he would not understand that all human beings are mammals, but they are not the only mammals among living beings.

Piaget identified three types of classification:

Class inclusion: refers to the ability to understand that an object can belong to a broad and specific category at the same time. For example, a cat is an animal, but it is also a mammal.Simple classification: refers to the ability to group into categories based on a characteristic. For example, sorting objects by size.Multiple classification: refers to the grouping of categories according to multiple characteristics. For example, objects by color and texture).

The conservation

It allows us to recognize that an object can be the same despite changes in appearance. In other words, the redistribution of an element would not affect qualities such as its mass, volume or length.

A possible experiment in this regard could consist of showing a child a glass of water and pouring it, without changing the amount, into a smaller glass. If we asked a child—who has not begun the stage of concrete operations—if there is the same amount, he would answer no.

The reversibility

It is the ability to turn in thought, allowing you to reason in reverse order. According to an article published in Educational Pen Piaget maintained that: «reversibility is the most defined characteristic of intelligence. If thought is reversible, then it can continue the course of reasoning to the point from which it started.

The child now knows that, on some occasions, things can return to their original state. For example, frozen water can become liquid again. They can also understand that arithmetic operations can be reversed.

The decentering

It consists of considering several aspects of the same situation. For example, little ones can take into account the height of a glass and its width at the same time; In previous stages, they were only able to focus on one of these questions to provide an answer.

Spatial relationships

In the concrete operations stage, Children are capable of making spatial relationships. This allows them to interpret a map, get to and from school, estimate how much time it takes to get from one place to another, and remember the route and landmarks that exist along a path. For example, the child uses a map to look for a hidden object and may also give another person directions to find it.

Judgments of cause and effect

Another key development at this stage is the ability to form judgments of causality. The minor can understand that some events can cause others and can reflect on the consequences or effects of their actions. For example, the child knows that objects placed on each side of a scale will affect the tilt of the scale.

Solving arithmetic problems

The children too acquire skills to solve simple arithmetic problems stated in words. At this stage they learn to use mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and they can apply them in their daily lives. Likewise, they can count with the mind and upward.

The consistency of the self-concept

Cognitive development during this stage allows children to form more complex concepts of themselves. and improve understanding and control of your emotions.

Before entering this stage, children have difficulties with abstract concepts and connecting the different dimensions of the self. Their self-concepts focus on physical attributes, possessions, and global descriptions.

However, around age seven or eight, judgments about the self become more conscious, realistic, balanced, and general as children form representational systems.

Reduction of egocentrism

The concrete operational stage is marked by the decrease in egocentrism. In earlier phases, children have trouble taking the perspective of others; On the other hand, in the concrete stage they can think about things the way others see them.

The transitivity

It is the ability to deductively establish the relationship that exists between two elements. For example, understanding that if a dog is a mammal and a poodle is a dog, then the poodle is a mammal.

Criticisms of Piaget

Piaget’s postulates and experiments received several criticisms later that questioned the validity of their findings. Some of the most significant were the following:

Rose and Blank (1974) showed that the way you ask children about conservation could alter their response. If they are asked the same question twice (before and after the transformation) they may change their answer to understand that, if they are asked again, it is because they have failed the first time. When asked just once, many more younger children gave correct answers. McGarrigle and Donaldson (1974) found that if children saw adults make the alteration (for example, moving a series of candy), they assumed that this It had been a significant change and they responded that the number was no longer the same. Instead, when this alteration occurs accidentally (a mischievous teddy bear dislodges the candy) They are able to know that it is the same numberDasen (1994) highlighted that cognitive development is not purely dependent on maturation, but rather the cultural context has great relevance. For example, he saw that Aboriginal children in the Australian desert acquired the capacity for conservation later than Swiss children; However, their spatial awareness (which was much more useful to them in their context) developed earlier.

The stage of concrete operations: “the practical child”

Despite criticism, it is undeniable that Piaget’s theory of cognitive development built the foundations of current evolutionary psychology. For the first time, a vision of the child’s particular and unique thinking was proposed. Furthermore, they described the biological maturation processes and the relationship with the environment that underlies the development of mental processes.

This stage of development is often described as the birth of “the practical child,” as it has surpassed the previous phases through activity and intuition. Consequently, he becomes a practical child who stops learning by trial or error.

Activities for the concrete operations stage

Below is a list of fun activities that can be done together with the child to strengthen the skills of this stage.

The glass of milk: Take a small carton of milk and pour it into a tall, narrow glass. Then, do the same, but in a short glass. Ask the child which glass contains the most.Build towers: The pieces…