Using observations, dialogues and experiments, Piaget suggested that children progress through a series of stages in their thinking and these stages occur in a fixed order from the sensori-motor to the formal operational.
Before, describing the stages which Piaget observed babies go through in the attainment of object permanence, briefly the actual “concept” of object permanence will be described.
What is Object Permanence?
For in order to grasp object permanence, the child must also grasp “what makes an object an object”. How does the baby know that a heap of blocks is not “one” object but a number of separate objects? The term object permanence refers to the child’s knowledge that objects have a permanent existence that is independent of their perception of them. This is strongly emphasized in Piaget’s theory of infant development where he argued that the understanding of object permanence emerges in a series of stages.
Briefly these steps are:
- Stage 1: Babies aren’t particularly aware of objects to know they have disappeared from sight (0 – 4 months)
- Stage 2: Babies notice objects and start following their movements
- Stage 3: Babies are able to find a partially hidden item (4 – 8 months)
- Stage 4: Babies are able to retrieve a completely hidden object from where they last saw the object (8 – 12 months)
- Stage 5: Baby can find object that has been hidden, retrieved and hidden again (12 – 18 months)
- Stage 6: Baby is able to understand the concept of items that are hidden in containers. (18 months onwards)
How did Piaget Develop His Theory of Object Permanence?
To Piaget, the beginning of object permanence occurs when the child starts to actively look for an object which has been hidden or which has slipped out of view. The act of searching for objects which are out of sight is seen as one of the first intelligent behaviour patterns which the child shows.
According to Piaget, this is an enormous intellectual breakthrough in the child’s development as it provides evidence that the child has developed an internal representation of objects even when they aren’t present.
Out of this is to grow the understanding that not only are things permanent but in piaget’s words “the universe becomes objectified and is detached from the self.”
Piaget used both observation and contrived situations or experiements to substantiate his views. He observed, for instance, that if a child of 4-5 months is playing with a toy which is then covered by a cloth, he/she responds as if the toy no longer existed. If the object is only partly covered, the baby at that age can retrieve it. At a later age the baby can recover an object which has been totally hidden, but still makes “place errors”. The child will search for a concealed object in the place in which it was found some time earlier rather than in the place in which it was last seen.
Full object permanence is only achieved, according to Piaget, at the end of the sensori-motor stage.
Sources:
Piaget J. The Psychology of the Child. New York Basic Books 1972.
Neisser U. Cognitive Psychology. New York: Appleton-Century Crofts 1977.
