Developmental psychologist Piaget devised a theory for a cognitive
development. In his ‘Developmental Stage Theory’, Piaget distinguishes 4
stages in the cognitive development of the child, starting at birth with the
sensorimotor stage (0-2 years old) (Piaget, 1969). In this stage the child
experiences the world entirely through its senses and movement.
Furthermore, children are extremely self-centered as they cannot perceive
the world from other viewpoints than their own. In the preoperational stage
(2- 7 years old) so-called ‘magical thinking’ dominates, which means that
children believe their personal thoughts to have a direct effect on the rest of
the world. Partly because of this magical thinking, children do not yet
possess the ability to think logically, and cannot conserve. In this stage,
children start egocentric, but this weakens when they grow older