Comparative Summary of Child Development
Piaget (cognitive) and Erikson (social/emotional)
Ages birth through twelve+
Piaget
Birth – 2 years Sensory-motor Stage
Birth to 2 years
 Reflex physical action
 repeats and learns to control
 imitation of actions and
sounds
 repetition
 social interaction
 gain control of physical
movements
 object permanence
2 – 7 years Pre-operational Stage
2-7 years
 egocentric
 perception based thinking
 symbolic play
 generalize in illogical ways
 animism
 artificialism
Erikson
Trust Vs. Mistrust (bonding)
Birth to 1 year
 physical needs are met and the
baby then learns to trust
◦ crying, smiling, cooing,
reaching
◦ parents receptive
 reliable
 “warm” interactions w/adults
 safe
 basis for hope
Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt
1 to 3 years (toddlers)
 given the emotional support,
they are free to explore
physically on their own (do it
by myself...)
 adults support rather than fuss
when accidents happen
 perpetual motion stage
 potty training
 starting to talk and explore
their world.
Initiative and belonging vs.Guilt and
alienation
3 and 4 years
 language development is key
for interactions & initiative
 their questions are looking for
“purpose of” answers
 parallel play, then cooperative
play
 importance of frames
7-11 years Concrete Operational
7-11 years
 reversibility
 conservation
 transitivity/ unit
sense/concept
 logical thinking (post
concrete and pre-abstract)
 classify and categorize
 rules
 social cooperation
12 - 18 Formal Operational Stage
11+
 abstract thinking
 hypothetical
 bigger world because they
are able to have broader
ideas
Industry and competence vs.
Inferiority and helplessness
5-11 years
 ages 5-7ish play still important
for learning
 begin to develop work habits
 competence
 manipulative & fundamental
learning
 enjoy global, permeable,
hands-on, learning
 like skills & facts (trivia)
 social comparison
 need to feel
success/accomplishments/achi
evements (but have to be true
ones)
Identity vs. role confusion
12-18 years
 Social Identity (Who am I?)
 gender development reemerges
 delineation of identity separate
from parents begins
 create and identify values