Which Piaget stage covers birth through approximately 18-24 months?

Which Piaget stage covers birth through approximately 18-24 months?

• A. Sensorimotor
• B. Preoperational
• C. Concrete Operational
• D. Formal Operational

Answer: (A)

Cognition in infancy is organized around the sensorimotor period, which spans birth through about two years (roughly up to 18–24 months). In this stage, thinking is grounded in action and immediate experience rather than in internal symbols. Infants start with reflexes, then build on them by repeating actions that bring interesting outcomes (primary and secondary circular reactions). They begin coordinating schemas to solve problems, and later explore objects and their effects in more varied ways (tertiary circular reactions). A key milestone is object permanence—the understanding that objects continue to exist even when not visible—which typically emerges during this period and becomes more solid by around 18–24 months. As this stage closes, children begin to form basic mental representations, hints of symbolic thought that point toward the next stage. The following stages involve increasingly internal, symbolic, and logical thinking that goes beyond direct action with objects, which is why they describe later development.

Cognition in infancy is organized around the sensorimotor period, which spans birth through about two years (roughly up to 18–24 months). In this stage, thinking is grounded in action and immediate experience rather than in internal symbols. Infants start with reflexes, then build on them by repeating actions that bring interesting outcomes (primary and secondary circular reactions). They begin coordinating schemas to solve problems, and later explore objects and their effects in more varied ways (tertiary circular reactions). A key milestone is object permanence—the understanding that objects continue to exist even when not visible—which typically emerges during this period and becomes more solid by around 18–24 months. As this stage closes, children begin to form basic mental representations, hints of symbolic thought that point toward the next stage. The following stages involve increasingly internal, symbolic, and logical thinking that goes beyond direct action with objects, which is why they describe later development.