Erickson's Psychosocial Stages
Piaget's Cognitive Stages

Piaget's Cognitive Stages

Newman & Newman (2007) describe stages three and four of Piaget's theory of cognitive development, Concrete Operational Thought and Formal Operational Thought respectively. Children in the Concrete stage are able to manipulate catergories, classifications, and hierarchies in groups. They have a beginning understanding of some causal relationships and are able to solve problems based on physical reality. Children in this stage are usually unable to manipulate problems that are purely philosophical or abstract or contain multiple variables. They also have difficulty taking another's perspective, whether in a hypothetical manner or in a real-life social situation.

It is not until a child reaches the Formal Operational Stage that they are able to examine and understand philosophical questions and problems, manipulate complex problems with multiple variables, such algebraic equations, and take another's perspective with genuine understanding and concern (Newman & Newman, 2007). Piaget proposed that children would begin entering this phase around the ages of 11 to 13. However, it appears that this type of thinking is possible, but not typical of children at this age. According to S. L. Wood (personal communication, October 7, 2008) most adolescents and many adults do not fall in this category. This begs the question "Why don't all children exhibit symptoms of ADHD?", since most, if not all children, are not in this final stage. In fact, most children do exhibit symptoms of ADHD, however children with ADHD experience these symptoms in excess causing significant difficulties in multiple social arenas (APA, 2000). Therefore, children with ADHD should experience substantially more difficulty and less success in the progression through the Concrete and Formal Operational Stages.