According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, during which stage will a child first start to look for something that has been hidden from view?

Answer options:

Concrete operational

Formal operational

Pre-operational

Sensorimotor

How to approach this question

The question is asking about the concept of 'object permanence' – knowing something exists even when hidden. You need to recall Piaget's four stages of cognitive development and identify which stage is associated with the development of this ability. Object permanence is the hallmark achievement of the first stage.

Full Answer

D.Sensorimotor✓ Correct

The correct answer is D. The development of object permanence, which is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, is the key achievement of the sensorimotor stage.

Jean Piaget's theory describes four stages of cognitive development. The first is the sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years). A key concept in this stage is 'object permanence'. Initially, infants operate on an 'out of sight, out of mind' basis. If they cannot see an object, it ceases to exist for them. Towards the end of this stage (around 8-12 months), they develop object permanence and will begin to search for hidden objects, demonstrating that they have a mental representation of the object.

Common mistakes

Mixing up the order of the stages or the key achievements within each stage.

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According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, during which stage will a child first start to look for something that has been hidden from view?

How to approach this question

Full Answer

Common mistakes

Practice the full AQA GCSE Psychology Paper 1

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