Piaget's four stages......

     Today we discussed Piaget's four stages of cognitive development in class.  While I do think there is definitely value in what Piaget has done, in really analyzing and compartmentalizing the stages of cognitive development, I strongly disagree that there is no thinking in the sensorimotor stage of development.  I rather think that language does not define thought, it is merely a medium through which thought takes place.  Thus, these young children can think and reason to some extent, yet this thought is not in the form of the standardized vocal symbols of speech, but probably rather much more of a function of the mediums through which they experience the world, through images.  I know that this also is speculation, but I would say that to define thought as language actually serves to dehumanize these infants as it assumes that because we cannot understand them, they are not as human, not as capable of reason as are we.  I would rather say that it appears that they cannot reason simply because they do not have a schema of prior knowledge with which they can reason to the extent that adults reason.  Similarly, just because a man does not have access to a kitchen does not mean that he does not have the capability to cook.  These infants are working and reasoning at an admirable rate to build a knowledge base with which they can better interact with the world around them in the years to come. 
     I suppose in the context of Piaget's stages, I see the sensorimotor stage as defined by the infant needs to touch and, often, bite the world around them.  As this is the way in which they interact with the world around them at this stage, they react to this external stimulus, and thus begin to build a knowledge base of the world around them. 
     To go off on a tangent, today's class really brought some sympathy for my mother into my life.  My brother is eight years younger than I am.  My mom has actually often said that it sometimes seems that we go through similar behavioural stages at the same time and so, today, I really found it interesting that egocentrism was a characteristic of both preoperational and formal operational thought.  My poor mother had to deal with my brother's self-serving stage at the same time as I began to demand that my chores be put on hold because I had "amazing pressure from school that was going to determine the course of my life and thus it was her fault if I failed not only in school but in life" just because she made me clean the dishes once.  It felt somewhat validating to have psychological theory affirm my mother's experiences, but I really, dearly, hope that my future children don't both decide to go through their egocentric phases simultaneously, however divinely just that retribution might seem. 

     Anyhow, to cover the one stage that I have not yet mentioned, while I don't remember going through it very well, I remember one time at a homeschool conference, the leaders of a small group told us they were going to distribute m&ms to the group but they asked an older child to group the candies into enough groups for everyone, and I was really quite angry because I saw this division as an unnescessary, time-wasting activity that kept me from the candy that was rightfully mine, while the person doing the activity clearly felt it a useful illustration of the concept.  I suppose this example serves to reveal the contrast in perception of an egocentric preoperational child from that of a concrete operational who is more able to learn and benefit from physically manipulating objects.
Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this highly anecdotal, rambling post.
-Rachel