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Piaget’s Sensorimotor Period

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Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development

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Synonyms

Piaget’s sensorimotor stage; Sensory motor stage

Definition

The sensorimotor period refers to the earliest stage (birth to 2 years) in Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. This stage is characterized as the period of a child’s life when learning occurs through a child’s sensory and motor interactions with the physical environment. These interactions are known as circular reactions and are a means of building schemes in which infants try to repeat a chance event caused by their own motor activity [1]. Piaget separated his sensorimotor period into six sensorimotor substages: reflexive schemes, primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, coordination of secondary circular reactions, tertiary circular reactions, and mental representations [1–4].

Description

Reflexive schemes is the substage that occurs from birth to 1 month of age and is a period of development in which newborns automatically respond to particular forms of stimulation [1, 4]. Reflexes...

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References

  1. Berk, L. E. (2004). Development throughout the lifespan (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

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  2. Flavell, J. H., Miller, P. H., & Miller, S. A. (1993). Cognitive development (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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  3. Meadows, S. (1993). The child as thinker: The development and acquisition of cognition in childhood. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.

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  4. Piaget, J. (1963). The origins of intelligence in children (M. Cook, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. (Original work published 1952).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Psychology Program, Argosy University/Atlanta, 980 Hammond Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA

    Katherine Simpson Spencer MA

Authors
  1. Katherine Simpson Spencer MA
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neurology, Learning and Behavior Center, 230 South 500 East, Suite 100, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84102, USA

    Sam Goldstein Ph.D.

  2. Department of Psychology MS 2C6, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Jack A. Naglieri Ph.D. (Professor of Psychology) (Professor of Psychology)

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Spencer, K.S. (2011). Piaget’s Sensorimotor Period. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2578

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2578

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77579-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79061-9

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

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