Object permanence is a hallmark of which Piaget stage?

Object permanence is a hallmark of which Piaget stage?

• A. Sensorimotor stage
• B. Preoperational stage
• C. Concrete operational stage
• D. Formal operational stage

Answer: (A)

Object permanence—knowing that objects continue to exist even when they’re out of sight—appears as infants move through the sensorimotor stage, the first period of Piaget’s theory. In this stage, thinking is grounded in concrete actions and sensory experience. Early on, babies respond to the world through reflexes, but as they gain control and begin to explore, they start forming mental representations of objects. Around 8 to 12 months they begin to search for hidden items, and by the end of the stage they can anticipate the existence of objects even when they’re not visible, signaling that they’ve developed a memory and a mental image of the object. The other stages involve different kinds of thinking—symbolic thought and egocentrism in the preoperational stage; logical thinking about concrete problems and conservation in the concrete operational stage; and abstract reasoning in the formal operational stage. So object permanence is specifically a hallmark of the sensorimotor period.

Object permanence—knowing that objects continue to exist even when they’re out of sight—appears as infants move through the sensorimotor stage, the first period of Piaget’s theory. In this stage, thinking is grounded in concrete actions and sensory experience. Early on, babies respond to the world through reflexes, but as they gain control and begin to explore, they start forming mental representations of objects. Around 8 to 12 months they begin to search for hidden items, and by the end of the stage they can anticipate the existence of objects even when they’re not visible, signaling that they’ve developed a memory and a mental image of the object. The other stages involve different kinds of thinking—symbolic thought and egocentrism in the preoperational stage; logical thinking about concrete problems and conservation in the concrete operational stage; and abstract reasoning in the formal operational stage. So object permanence is specifically a hallmark of the sensorimotor period.