Piaget’s stages – the unfinished symphony of cognitive development
After a period during which Piaget’s work in developmental psychology went into serious decline as a central force in the field, it has once again gained considerable interest to theorists and researchers. The purpose of the current discussion is to reconsider Piaget’s stage construct so that a revised version is viable within the psychological part […]
After a period during which Piaget’s work in developmental psychology went into serious decline as a central force in the field, it has once again gained considerable interest to theorists and researchers. The purpose of the current discussion is to reconsider Piaget’s stage construct so that a revised version is viable within the psychological part of the theory.
The premise of the discussion is that Piaget fully intended his stages to remain at the heart of his psychology, but had difficulty meeting the objections of critics: that the stages as proposed were too vague, too broad, and too dependent on faith in a miraculous transition process. By shifting stage transitions to the midpoint of each stage, by adopting recursive transition processes from neo-Piagetian theories, by embracing decalage as systematic and necessary, and by using Piaget’s idea of the taking of consciousness, some of the main problems of his stages can be resolved in a satisfying way.
Although still not fully specified, the Piagetian stages can retain their place as general guides to cognitive development and as sources of constraints on what structures and functions are available to the developing mind.
New Ideas in Psychology
Volume : 22
Issue : 3 (SPECIAL ISSUE)
Date : Dec-2004
Stage Theory
D.H. Feldman
pp 175-231
A commentary on D.H. Feldman’s essay on Piaget’s stages
W.M. Bart
pp 233-237
Commentary on: Piaget’s stages: the unfinished symphony of cognitive
development
J. Boom
pp 239-247
Commentary on: ”Piaget’s stages: the unfinished symphony of
cognitive development” by D.H. Feldman
P.C.M. Molenaar, H.L.J. van der Maas
pp 249-253
Do stages belong at the center of developmental theory? A commentary
on Piaget’s stages
T.L. Dawson-Tunik, K.W. Fischer, Z. Stein
pp 255-263
Piaget’s stages: a response to the commentaries
D.H. Feldman
pp 265-274
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SCR COMMENT
Pages on Jean Piaget and his work:
Jean Piaget, by Dr. C. George Boeree
