Cognitive development has had several theories thrown at it recently, and psychologist Jean Piaget creates a new theory. He believed cognitive development occurs in four different stages of life. There is the sensorimotor, which starts from birth and lasts until the child is two. That is followed by the preoperational stage, which occurs from the ages two and seven. The concrete operational begins soon after and lasts until the child is eleven. Formal operational is the last stage and develops into adulthood. 

Piaget believes for children to move through each developmental stage, they must first reach a milestone. It’s an interesting theory and something that creates the idea of object permanence. So, what do you need to know about object permanence?

Understanding the Idea of Object Permanence

Piaget’s theory focuses on the continued existence of an object even when it isn’t visible any longer. Children must visualize to establish object permanence. Developing a mental image is necessary because it will remain with the child, even when it isn’t in sight. The child develops a schema. 

For example, a dog has four legs, a tail, and fur. The child recognizes this as a dog; however, they see a cat and assume it’s a dog since cats also have four legs, a tail, and fur. So, when children are going through their development stage, the parent must correct the child. Parents must stress dogs bark and can’t don’t. This will help the child understand cats and dogs are different animals. So, the picture of the dog is changed, and now the child has a schema of a cat in their minds. 

Schemas go through modification as a child learns and can be crucial for them to learn about different objects. 

How Object Permanence Is Developed

Jean Piaget believes there are six substages of the sensorimotor phase. Those include:

• Month Reflexes: Babies learn about the environment through reflexes, such as sucking. 

• 1-4 Months Schemas: Circular reactions help to form new schemas in a child’s memory.
• 4-8 Months Intentional Actions: Children begin to understand what actions will get a response, so will initiate those actions. 
• 8-12 Months Exploration: Infants start to become more cohesive. They are more coordinated and react to the environment too. For instance, children use a rattle to create sound, they do this intentionally. 
• 12-18 Months Trial and Error: Infants go through trial and error from their environment. Most will do things to get a reaction. 
• 18-24 Months the Creation of Object Permanence: Every interaction creates schemas and objects are formed. 

Does The Theory Measure Up?

Piaget’s theory, however, hasn’t been received well by researchers and even some psychology experts. Some believe children are being underestimated and that Piaget’s conclusions are incorrect. Other research has found some infants, as young as four months, can already identify objects when it is taken away from them. So, object permanence is up for debate; some believe in its existence and others do not. 

Child development, however, remains crucial for everyone and begins at birth.