Make Friends and Get a Social Life Free Essays

A genuinely basic social issue individuals have is that they’re not certain how to make companions and set up a public activity for themselves. There are many ways somebody can wind up in this circumstance: They’ve moved to another city and don’t know a lot of individuals yet. They’ve been in a drawn out relationship and have let their public activity wilt. We will compose a custom paper test on Make Friends and Get a Social Life or on the other hand any comparable subject just for you Request Now Their old companions have gradually been dropping good and gone (moving endlessly, occupied with work or another family, and so forth ) and haven’t been supplanted by new ones. An enormous piece of their group of friends vanished for the time being, similar to everybody moved on from college and a large portion of their companions moved out of the city. They have a feeling that they’ve become separated from their present companions and need to make altogether new ones. In the past they were glad being separated from everyone else a great deal of the time, yet now they need to associate with individuals all the more frequently. They never truly realized how to make companions and have consistently wished their public activities were better. They’ve as of late made a major way of life change, for example, choosing not to drink any longer, and need to build up another group of friends that’s increasingly fit to it. The following are my contemplations on the best way to make companions. I’ll spread a fundamental structure first, at that point go into certain perspectives and standards towards the entire thing that I believe are significant. I’ve saw individuals who are now acceptable at making companions normally will in general do the greater part of the things I plot underneath without considering it. Stripped down guide on the best way to make companions Here are the essential strides to making companions. It appears to be shortsighted, however there can be a great deal to each point. Individuals who battle with their public activities frequently discover at least one of them also. 1. Locate some likely companions To make companions you initially need to locate some potential applicants. There are two principle approaches to do this: Draw on your present contacts This won’t apply to individuals who have recently moved to another territory and don’t know anybody, however frequently you’ll as of now have the seeds of a public activity around you. You don’t essentially need to go out and meet ten aliens to have one. It’s frequently simpler to transform existing contacts into undeniable companions than it is to meet new ones. There are most likely a bunch of individuals you definitely realize who could wind up turning out to be a piece of another group of friends. I’m discussing individuals like: Acquaintances you’re well disposed with when you run into one another, yet who you never observe something else. Individuals at work or in your classes who you coexist with. Companions of individuals you know who you’ve coexisted with previously. Somebody who has indicated an enthusiasm for being your companion yet you never truly took up the offer. Individuals you once in a while spend time with, who you could see all the more regularly. Companions you’ve steadily lost contact with who you could call up once more. For certain individuals, cousins who are near your age. Meet some new individuals Getting increasingly out of your present connections can go far, however it doesn’t consistently work. Some of the time you’re at a point where you have to meet totally new individuals. Not having simple access to potential new companions is a major obstruction for some individuals in making a group of friends. I really expound here: How To Meet People. By and large, I’d direct the most straightforward sentiments toward do are: Being in a circumstance where loads of potential companions are near, and you normally need to become more acquainted with them as the day progressed to-day communications. Work and school are the two major ones. Meeting a couple of good individuals and afterward becoming more acquainted with every one of their companions. On the off chance that you spend time with fifteen individuals, you shouldn’t must have met them all separately. Being into leisure activities or networks where you’ll normally meet many individuals, ones you as of now have something regular with and an implicit movement/discussion chance to do with them. By and large, meeting new individuals may require putting forth an attempt to pull out of your everyday daily schedule. On the off chance that the greater part of your diversions are lone you may likewise need to include some more individuals situated ones to the blend. Additionally, the most effortless approach to normally meet many individuals is simply to carry on with a full, intriguing life and run into heaps of likely companions as a reaction. Once you’re in a circumstance with some imminent companions around, you have to start up discussions and attempt to become acquainted with them. You won’t structure an association with everybody you cooperate with, however on the off chance that you talk to enough individuals you’ll discover you like and get along really well with some of them. Once you’ve done that you could state you’re now at the Friendly Acquaintance stage, or that they’re setting explicit contacts (e. g. , work â€Å"friends†). On the off chance that you experience difficulty with effectively meeting, talking to, and becoming more acquainted with individuals, you might need to look at the site’s segments on bashfulness, fears, and instability and on making discussion. . Welcome possible companions to accomplish something with you Once you’ve met those individuals you appear to click with, request that they hang out and accomplish something outside of the circumstance you met them in. This is the most significant advance I would say. You can meet all the individuals you need, and they can think you’re incredible, yet on the off chance that you don’t take any activities to accomplish something with them later on, at that point you won’t structure numerous new connections. Individuals will remain as the person you converse with in class, or the young lady you visit to at work in the lunchroom. This appears to be fundamental, yet lonelier individuals regularly hit a stopping point here. There might be somebody they joke around with at work, or talk to in one of their classes, however they won’t make the stride of welcoming them out and taking the relationship to the following level, and past the associate stage. On the off chance that you’re on the shyer side, you may be somewhat reluctant to welcome individuals out. While it is somewhat terrifying from the outset, and there is some danger of dismissal, it’s genuinely simple to become accustomed to. It’s not close to as terrible as asking somebody out on the town, for instance. Contingent upon how you met them, you may welcome somebody to hang out decently fast or hold up half a month. For instance, if a companion brings one of their mates along to have drinks with you one day, and you went through four hours together and hit it off right from the beginning, you might be absolutely happy with requesting that they hang out again immediately. Then again, in the event that you appear to work with somebody at your specific employment, you may just have the option to have short discussions to a great extent longer than a month prior to you feel like they’d be somebody worth knowing better. In the event that you’re not certain how to request that somebody accomplish something with you, you could look at this article: Examples Of Various Ways To Invite People To Hang Out Make a propensity for getting people’s contact data It’s a smart thought to start getting people’s contact information genuinely early. You may meet somebody intriguing, yet you can never accept you’re going to see them around again at any point in the near future. Request their telephone number or email address, or check whether they’re on Facebook. That way if a chance to get together comes up, they’ll be anything but difficult to reach. Likewise, on the off chance that they have your data, at that point they can take a few to get back some composure of you in the event that they need to welcome you to something. Have a fundamental handle of how to make arrangements To spend time with somebody you’ve got the opportunity to design it. Some of the time the procedure is straight forward. You inquire as to whether they need accomplish something, they concur, and you set a period and spot. At different occasions attempting to make certain about an arrangement can be dreary and unusual, particularly when more than one other individual is included. It assists with tolerating this is only a territory where there’s continually going to be a measure of vulnerability, and you can’t control everything. On the off chance that enticing individuals out and masterminding plans all appears to be a major issue, it likewise most likely feels that path for every other person now and again. They shouldn’t consistently need to step up and sort out things for you. Do a portion of the lifting yourself when you have to. More subtleties here: Advice On Making Plans With People Do your best to acknowledge each greeting obviously, making your own arrangements is significant, yet on the off chance that somebody requests that you hang out, at that point that’s far and away superior. In the event that somebody welcomes you to accomplish something, at that point you ought to go. Why turn down a free opportunity to get out there with individuals? When you’ve got more companions and various alternatives vieing for your time you can be progressively fussy. On the off chance that you’re to a greater extent a modest or lone individual it’s simple to think about the greeting and legitimize that it won’t be that fun and that you don’t need to go. Overlook those contemplations and go in any case. You never can be certain how fun something will be until you appear and perceive how it is for yourself. Here and there you’ll need to bother yourself for your public activity. You may get welcome to a film you don’t especially need to see, or somebody may ring you on Friday evening as you’re going to head to sleep, inquiring as to whether you need to go out. At whatever point you have at least two individuals in the condition, you’re must trade off in some cases. Once more, simply being out there exceeds these minor irritations. Something else to consider is that numerous individuals will quit welcoming somebody out to things in the event that they decay over and over again. They may have nothing against the individual, yet whenever they’re arranging an occasion will think, â€Å"Paul never comes out when I ask him, so no reason for telling him this time truly. † 3. Once you’ve made some bud kinships, stay in contact, continue hanging out, and let the relationship develop It’s one thing to spend time with somebody once, or just once in a while. You could think of them as a frie

Octavian by M.T. Anderson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Octavian by M.T. Anderson - Essay Example Anderson. The book recounts to the narrative of Octavian, a kid of African-American legacy who lives with his mom at The Novanglian College of Lucidity. He is raised among researchers and thinkers and is given sumptuous treatment for an amazing duration. In the main volume, we find out about the training of Octavian; he is capable in music and strict investigations, and music considers have made him a capable musician. At first Octavian was under the impression, or it may be the case that he had the figment, that every one of the individuals living at â€Å"The Novanglian College of Lucidity† is equivalent. Be that as it may, because of a slip-up submitted by his mom, them two are tossed out of the school and need to live with Richard Sharpe. Octavian accepted that he was a free individual from the Utopian culture yet his fantasies are broken by Sharpe’s plan to probe him to demonstrate that the African race is mediocre compared to white and different races. In this way Octavian comes to discover the truth of living in the old America.

Piagets 4 Stages of Cognitive Development Explained

Piagets 4 Stages of Cognitive Development Explained Theories Developmental Psychology Print The 4 Stages of Cognitive Development Background and Key Concepts of Piagets Theory By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD on July 14, 2019 Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn about our Medical Review Board Steven Gans, MD Updated on August 12, 2019 Stages of Cognitive Development Piaget's Theory Sensorimotor Stage Preoperational Stage Concrete Operational Stage Formal Operational Stage Support and Criticism In This Article Table of Contents Expand How Piaget Developed the Theory The Stages Important Concepts View All Jean Piagets theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of mental development. His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge, but also on understanding the nature of intelligence.?? Piagets stages are: Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 yearsPreoperational stage: ages 2 to 7Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up Piaget believed that children take an  active role in the learning process, acting much like little scientists as they perform experiments, make observations, and learn about the world. As kids interact with the world around them, they continually add new knowledge, build upon existing knowledge, and adapt previously held ideas to accommodate new information. Illustration by Joshua Seong,  Verywell How Piaget Developed the Theory Piaget was born in Switzerland in the late 1800s and was a precocious student, publishing his first scientific paper when he was just 11 years old. His early exposure to the intellectual development of children came when he worked as an assistant to Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon as they worked to standardize their famous IQ test. Much of Piagets interest in the cognitive development of children was inspired by his observations of his own nephew and daughter. These observations reinforced his budding hypothesis that childrens minds were not merely smaller versions of adult minds. Up until this point in history, children were largely treated simply as smaller versions of adults. Piaget was one of the first to identify that the way that children think is different from the way adults think. Instead, he proposed, intelligence is something that grows and develops through a series of stages. Older children do not just think more quickly than younger children, he suggested. Instead, there are both qualitative and quantitative differences between the thinking of young children versus older children. Based on his observations, he concluded that children were not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently. Albert Einstein called Piagets discovery so simple only a genius could have thought of it. Piagets stage theory describes the  cognitive development of children.  Cognitive development involves changes in cognitive process and abilities.?? In Piagets view, early cognitive development involves processes based upon actions and later progresses to changes in mental operations. The Stages Through his observations of his children,  Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development that included four distinct stages: The Sensorimotor Stage Ages: Birth to 2 YearsMajor Characteristics and Developmental Changes:The infant knows the world through their movements and sensationsChildren learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, and listeningInfants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen (object permanence)They are separate beings from the people and objects around themThey realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them During this earliest stage of cognitive development, infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and manipulating objects. A childs entire experience at the earliest period of this stage occurs through basic reflexes, senses, and motor responses. It is during the sensorimotor stage that children go through a period of dramatic growth and learning. As kids interact with their environment, they are continually making new discoveries about how the world works. The cognitive development that occurs  during this period takes place over a relatively short period of time and involves a great deal of growth. Children not only learn how to perform physical actions such as crawling and walking; they also learn a great deal about language from the people with whom they interact. Piaget also broke this stage down into a number of different substages. It is during the final part of the sensorimotor stage that early representational thought emerges. Piaget believed that developing  object permanence  or object constancy, the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, was an important element at this point of development. By learning that objects are separate and distinct entities and that they have an existence of their own outside of individual perception, children are then able to begin to attach names and words to objects. The Sensorimotor Stage of Cognitive Development The Preoperational Stage Ages: 2 to 7 YearsMajor Characteristics and Developmental Changes:Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects.Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of others.While they are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about things in very concrete terms. The foundations of language development may have been laid during the previous stage, but it is the emergence of language that is one of the major hallmarks of the preoperational stage of development.?? Children become much more skilled at pretend play during this stage of development, yet continue to think very concretely about the world around them.   At this stage, kids learn through pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view of other people. They also often struggle with understanding the idea of constancy.For example, a researcher might take a lump of clay, divide it into two equal pieces, and then give a child the choice between two pieces of clay to play with. One piece of clay is rolled into a compact ball while the other is smashed into a flat pancake shape. Since the flat shape  looks  larger, the preoperational child will likely choose that piece even though the two pieces are exactly the same size. Preoperational Stage of Cognitive Development in Young Children The Concrete Operational Stage Ages: 7 to 11 YearsMajor Characteristics and Developmental ChangesDuring this stage, children begin to thinking logically about concrete eventsThey begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for exampleTheir thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concreteChildren begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a general principle While children are still very concrete and literal in their thinking at this point in development, they become much more adept at using logic.?? The egocentrism of the previous stage begins to disappear as kids become better at thinking about how other people might view a situation. While thinking becomes much more logical during the concrete operational state, it can also be very rigid. Kids at this point in development tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts. During this stage, children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people might think and feel. Kids in the concrete operational stage also begin to understand that their thoughts are unique to them and that not everyone else necessarily shares their thoughts, feelings, and opinions. The Concrete Operational Stage in Cognitive Development The Formal Operational Stage Ages: 12 and UpMajor Characteristics and Developmental Changes:At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly and reason about hypothetical problemsAbstract thought emergesTeens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that require theoretical and abstract reasoningBegin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information The final stage of Piagets theory involves an increase in logic, the ability to use deductive reasoning, and an understanding of abstract ideas.?? At this point, people become capable of seeing multiple potential solutions to problems and think more scientifically about the world around them. The ability to thinking about abstract ideas and situations is the key hallmark of the formal operational stage of cognitive development. The ability to systematically plan for the future and reason about hypothetical situations are also critical abilities that emerge during this stage.   It is important to note that Piaget did not view childrens intellectual development as a quantitative process; that is, kids do not just add more information and knowledge to their existing knowledge as they get older. Instead, Piaget suggested that there is a  qualitative  change in how children think as they gradually process through these four stages.?? A child at age 7 doesnt just have more information about the world than he did at age 2; there is a fundamental change in  how  he thinks about the world. Formal Operational Stage of Cognitive Development Important Concepts To better understand some of the things that happen during cognitive development, it is important first to examine a few of the important ideas and concepts introduced by Piaget. The following are some of the factors that influence how children learn and grow: Schemas A schema describes both the mental and physical actions involved in understanding and knowing. Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand the world. In Piagets view, a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that knowledge.?? As experiences happen, this new information is used to modify, add to, or change previously existing schemas. For example, a child may have a schema about a type of animal, such as a dog. If the childs sole experience has been with small dogs, a child might believe that all dogs are small, furry, and have four legs. Suppose then that the child encounters an enormous dog. The child will take in this new information, modifying the previously existing schema to include these new observations. What Role Do Schemas Play in the Learning Process? Assimilation The process of taking in new information into our already existing schemas is known as assimilation. The process is somewhat subjective because we tend to modify experiences and  information slightly to fit in with our preexisting beliefs. In the example above, seeing a dog and labeling it dog is a case of assimilating the animal into the childs dog schema. Assimilation and Jean Piagets Adaptation Process Accommodation Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering our existing schemas in light of new information, a process known as accommodation. Accommodation involves modifying existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new experiences.?? New schemas may also be developed during this process. The Role of Accommodation in How We Learn New Information Equilibration Piaget believed that all children try to strike a balance between assimilation and accommodation, which is achieved through a mechanism Piaget called equilibration. As children progress through the stages of cognitive development, it is important to maintain a balance between applying previous knowledge (assimilation) and changing behavior to account for new knowledge (accommodation). Equilibration helps explain how children can move from one stage of thought to the next.?? A Word From Verywell One of the most important elements to remember of Piagets theory is that it takes the view that creating knowledge and intelligence is an inherently  active  process. I find myself opposed to the view of knowledge as a passive copy of reality, Piaget explained. I believe that knowing an object means acting upon it, constructing systems of transformations that can be carried out on or with this object. Knowing reality means constructing systems of transformations that correspond, more or less adequately, to reality. Piagets theory of cognitive development helped add to our understanding of childrens intellectual growth. It also stressed that children were not merely passive recipients of knowledge. Instead, kids are constantly investigating and experimenting as they build their understanding of how the world works. What Is the Sensorimotor Stage of Cognitive Development?

Piagets 4 Stages of Cognitive Development Explained

Piagets 4 Stages of Cognitive Development Explained Theories Developmental Psychology Print The 4 Stages of Cognitive Development Background and Key Concepts of Piagets Theory By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD on July 14, 2019 Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn about our Medical Review Board Steven Gans, MD Updated on August 12, 2019 Stages of Cognitive Development Piaget's Theory Sensorimotor Stage Preoperational Stage Concrete Operational Stage Formal Operational Stage Support and Criticism In This Article Table of Contents Expand How Piaget Developed the Theory The Stages Important Concepts View All Jean Piagets theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of mental development. His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge, but also on understanding the nature of intelligence.?? Piagets stages are: Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 yearsPreoperational stage: ages 2 to 7Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up Piaget believed that children take an  active role in the learning process, acting much like little scientists as they perform experiments, make observations, and learn about the world. As kids interact with the world around them, they continually add new knowledge, build upon existing knowledge, and adapt previously held ideas to accommodate new information. Illustration by Joshua Seong,  Verywell How Piaget Developed the Theory Piaget was born in Switzerland in the late 1800s and was a precocious student, publishing his first scientific paper when he was just 11 years old. His early exposure to the intellectual development of children came when he worked as an assistant to Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon as they worked to standardize their famous IQ test. Much of Piagets interest in the cognitive development of children was inspired by his observations of his own nephew and daughter. These observations reinforced his budding hypothesis that childrens minds were not merely smaller versions of adult minds. Up until this point in history, children were largely treated simply as smaller versions of adults. Piaget was one of the first to identify that the way that children think is different from the way adults think. Instead, he proposed, intelligence is something that grows and develops through a series of stages. Older children do not just think more quickly than younger children, he suggested. Instead, there are both qualitative and quantitative differences between the thinking of young children versus older children. Based on his observations, he concluded that children were not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently. Albert Einstein called Piagets discovery so simple only a genius could have thought of it. Piagets stage theory describes the  cognitive development of children.  Cognitive development involves changes in cognitive process and abilities.?? In Piagets view, early cognitive development involves processes based upon actions and later progresses to changes in mental operations. The Stages Through his observations of his children,  Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development that included four distinct stages: The Sensorimotor Stage Ages: Birth to 2 YearsMajor Characteristics and Developmental Changes:The infant knows the world through their movements and sensationsChildren learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, and listeningInfants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen (object permanence)They are separate beings from the people and objects around themThey realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them During this earliest stage of cognitive development, infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and manipulating objects. A childs entire experience at the earliest period of this stage occurs through basic reflexes, senses, and motor responses. It is during the sensorimotor stage that children go through a period of dramatic growth and learning. As kids interact with their environment, they are continually making new discoveries about how the world works. The cognitive development that occurs  during this period takes place over a relatively short period of time and involves a great deal of growth. Children not only learn how to perform physical actions such as crawling and walking; they also learn a great deal about language from the people with whom they interact. Piaget also broke this stage down into a number of different substages. It is during the final part of the sensorimotor stage that early representational thought emerges. Piaget believed that developing  object permanence  or object constancy, the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, was an important element at this point of development. By learning that objects are separate and distinct entities and that they have an existence of their own outside of individual perception, children are then able to begin to attach names and words to objects. The Sensorimotor Stage of Cognitive Development The Preoperational Stage Ages: 2 to 7 YearsMajor Characteristics and Developmental Changes:Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects.Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of others.While they are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about things in very concrete terms. The foundations of language development may have been laid during the previous stage, but it is the emergence of language that is one of the major hallmarks of the preoperational stage of development.?? Children become much more skilled at pretend play during this stage of development, yet continue to think very concretely about the world around them.   At this stage, kids learn through pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view of other people. They also often struggle with understanding the idea of constancy.For example, a researcher might take a lump of clay, divide it into two equal pieces, and then give a child the choice between two pieces of clay to play with. One piece of clay is rolled into a compact ball while the other is smashed into a flat pancake shape. Since the flat shape  looks  larger, the preoperational child will likely choose that piece even though the two pieces are exactly the same size. Preoperational Stage of Cognitive Development in Young Children The Concrete Operational Stage Ages: 7 to 11 YearsMajor Characteristics and Developmental ChangesDuring this stage, children begin to thinking logically about concrete eventsThey begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for exampleTheir thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concreteChildren begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a general principle While children are still very concrete and literal in their thinking at this point in development, they become much more adept at using logic.?? The egocentrism of the previous stage begins to disappear as kids become better at thinking about how other people might view a situation. While thinking becomes much more logical during the concrete operational state, it can also be very rigid. Kids at this point in development tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts. During this stage, children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people might think and feel. Kids in the concrete operational stage also begin to understand that their thoughts are unique to them and that not everyone else necessarily shares their thoughts, feelings, and opinions. The Concrete Operational Stage in Cognitive Development The Formal Operational Stage Ages: 12 and UpMajor Characteristics and Developmental Changes:At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly and reason about hypothetical problemsAbstract thought emergesTeens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that require theoretical and abstract reasoningBegin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information The final stage of Piagets theory involves an increase in logic, the ability to use deductive reasoning, and an understanding of abstract ideas.?? At this point, people become capable of seeing multiple potential solutions to problems and think more scientifically about the world around them. The ability to thinking about abstract ideas and situations is the key hallmark of the formal operational stage of cognitive development. The ability to systematically plan for the future and reason about hypothetical situations are also critical abilities that emerge during this stage.   It is important to note that Piaget did not view childrens intellectual development as a quantitative process; that is, kids do not just add more information and knowledge to their existing knowledge as they get older. Instead, Piaget suggested that there is a  qualitative  change in how children think as they gradually process through these four stages.?? A child at age 7 doesnt just have more information about the world than he did at age 2; there is a fundamental change in  how  he thinks about the world. Formal Operational Stage of Cognitive Development Important Concepts To better understand some of the things that happen during cognitive development, it is important first to examine a few of the important ideas and concepts introduced by Piaget. The following are some of the factors that influence how children learn and grow: Schemas A schema describes both the mental and physical actions involved in understanding and knowing. Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand the world. In Piagets view, a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that knowledge.?? As experiences happen, this new information is used to modify, add to, or change previously existing schemas. For example, a child may have a schema about a type of animal, such as a dog. If the childs sole experience has been with small dogs, a child might believe that all dogs are small, furry, and have four legs. Suppose then that the child encounters an enormous dog. The child will take in this new information, modifying the previously existing schema to include these new observations. What Role Do Schemas Play in the Learning Process? Assimilation The process of taking in new information into our already existing schemas is known as assimilation. The process is somewhat subjective because we tend to modify experiences and  information slightly to fit in with our preexisting beliefs. In the example above, seeing a dog and labeling it dog is a case of assimilating the animal into the childs dog schema. Assimilation and Jean Piagets Adaptation Process Accommodation Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering our existing schemas in light of new information, a process known as accommodation. Accommodation involves modifying existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new experiences.?? New schemas may also be developed during this process. The Role of Accommodation in How We Learn New Information Equilibration Piaget believed that all children try to strike a balance between assimilation and accommodation, which is achieved through a mechanism Piaget called equilibration. As children progress through the stages of cognitive development, it is important to maintain a balance between applying previous knowledge (assimilation) and changing behavior to account for new knowledge (accommodation). Equilibration helps explain how children can move from one stage of thought to the next.?? A Word From Verywell One of the most important elements to remember of Piagets theory is that it takes the view that creating knowledge and intelligence is an inherently  active  process. I find myself opposed to the view of knowledge as a passive copy of reality, Piaget explained. I believe that knowing an object means acting upon it, constructing systems of transformations that can be carried out on or with this object. Knowing reality means constructing systems of transformations that correspond, more or less adequately, to reality. Piagets theory of cognitive development helped add to our understanding of childrens intellectual growth. It also stressed that children were not merely passive recipients of knowledge. Instead, kids are constantly investigating and experimenting as they build their understanding of how the world works. What Is the Sensorimotor Stage of Cognitive Development?