4 Important Stages of Cognitive Development

A person’s ability to think, perceive, analyze, and comprehend is a daily activity. While it becomes compulsory to go through these cognitive exercises for the brain, it is still underrated and not recognized as important. To instill the idea and benefits of brain workouts and stages of cognitive development, it is important to create an ambiance that simplifies the complexity of this topic and presents it for the understanding of a universal audience.

Cognitive skills are not only important among the children during the growing years but also in the later stages of life where one needs to adapt to the required surroundings. It is not a herculean task to achieve these basic elements of the brain as most of this is quite essential and evident during the personality development training stage of a human being.

Before exploring the stages of cognitive development, it should be known that these stages are inevitable and a natural process, however, to maintain brain-body balance, it is essential to lead a healthy life. This can be achieved not only with regular body exercises but also by indulging in brainstorming quizzes, puzzles, and mindful reading. The stages of cognitive development start right from the birth of a child and the family always proves to be the best personality development mentor because of which it becomes important to raise a child in a healthy family environment and neighborhood.

This article is curated for a common audience who can access the information without much technicalities or bookish words and provide genuine information without much confusion. This becomes a necessary step especially when you aim at the brain and mental health development which no one should be devoid of.

There are four important Stages of Cognitive Development:

1. Sensorimotor:

This starts to function and develop right after birth where all the senses of an infant start to activate immediately after coming out from the womb. The sensory elements namely touch, see, hear taste, and smell should be in proper functionality. This stage even though starts right after birth but the significant time is 18-24 months where the brain-body development is at its peak. During this duration, if there is any defect found in the sensory organs of the toddler, treatment at this stage becomes easy as compared to later stages.

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2. Pre-operational:

The age tenure starts from 2 to 7 where a child learns of its surroundings, adapts to different habits and behavioral settings, inculcates new information and the learning at this stage is at its peak. It recognizes and identifies what object or person is associated with what type of behavior or reaction, also known as the symbolic representation/thought. Parents at this stage act as the best personality development mentor while helping them differentiate between good and bad.

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3. Concrete Operational:

During this age duration which spans from 7-11 years before it hits adolescence is the pre-affirmation time where a child not only learns but also is on the verge of solidifying his/her behavior that will, in turn, shape their personality and prepare them for the teenage years. As the name suggests "concrete", literally indicates the permanence of any behavior at this stage, a reason why parents and other family members need to be very careful while behaving, enacting, or speaking a certain way as this will be again taken up by the child. So, guidance and monitoring during this time are highly essential.

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4. Formal Operational:

This involves adolescence to adulthood where a child starts to explore, differentiate, and develop new hormonal changes that affect his/her height, voice, sexual preferences, and even priorities. They go through a lot of "distractions" and yet they mold their delicate brains into logical thinking and reasoning, analyzing, exploring, generating ideas and creative thinking, zeal and efforts are in zenith during this time and this forms the base for adulthood. There is curiosity and competition which sharpens their growth which provides an edge to their personality. They identify their interests and become conscious about their image and status making them semi-adult during this time. Parents and family members also experience a change in their behaviors as they sense adulthood approaching anytime soon. During this time, schools arrange counselors and therapists for personality development training.

It is not easy to raise a child as it involves giving your 100% to the needs of the child, sometimes even 100% is also not enough. This development period is crucial as the child is going to carry this till his/her old age. So, whatever he/she has learned during the stages of cognitive development is reflected in every hurdle and challenges they face in their lives later on. Experience, failure, and testing times prove to be the best personality development mentor. It is safe to say that when a child arrives in a family, there is a new update in the living standards, priorities change, everyone faces a personality development, and those are the organic signs of a progressive and healthy family environment.