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Piaget

Identifying

Effects

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Object permanencedescribes a child’s ability to know that objects continue to exist even though they can no longer be seen or heard. If you have ever played a game of “peek-a-boo” with a very young child, then you probably understand how this works.

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Piaget on Object Permanence

In thesensorimotor stageof development, a period that lasts from birth to about age two, Piaget suggested that children understand the world through their motor abilities such as touch, vision, taste, and movement.

During early infancy, babies are extremely egocentric. They have no concept that the world exists separate from their point of view and experience.

Schemas

In order to understand that objects continue to exist even when they are unseen, infants must first develop a mental representation of the object. Piaget referred to these mental images asschemas.

A schema is a category of knowledge about something in the world. For example, an infant might have a schema for food, which during early infancy will be either a bottle or breast.

As the child grows older and has more experiences, their schemas will multiply and become much more complex. Through the processes ofassimilationandaccommodation, children develop new mental categories, expand their existing categories, and even completely change their current schemas.

Identifying Object Permanence

To determine if object permanence was present, Piaget would show a toy to an infant before hiding it or taking it away. In one version of his experiment, Piaget would hide a toy under a blanket, then observe to see if the infant would search for the object.

In Piaget’s experiments, the recognition of object permanence tended to occur around the age of 8 to 9 months.

Effects of Object Permanence

One consequence of the development of object permanence is the emergence ofseparation anxiety.Once infants know that objects and people persist when they are no longer in sight, they often become upset when parents and caretakers are no longer visible.

Object Permanence in ADHDA lack of object permanence is sometimes said to be asymptom of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD). However, people with ADHD do understand object permanence; they may just have trouble remembering that the object is there.

Object Permanence in ADHD

A lack of object permanence is sometimes said to be asymptom of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD). However, people with ADHD do understand object permanence; they may just have trouble remembering that the object is there.

How Object Permanence Develops

Piaget suggested that there were six substages that occur during the sensorimotor stage of development, including:

Birth to 1 Month: Reflexes

During the earliest part of the sensorimotor stage, reflexes are the primary way that infants understand and explore the world. Reflexive responses such as rooting, sucking, and startling are how the infant interacts with their environment.

1 to 4 Months: Development of New Schemas

4 to 8 Months: Intentional Actions

Around the age of 4 to 8 months, infants begin paying much more attention to the world around them. They will even perform actions to create a response. Piaget referred to these as secondary circular reactions.

8 to 12 Months: Greater Exploration

Between 8 and 12 months, intentional actions become much more evident. Babies will shake toys to produce sounds and their responses to the environment become more cohesive and coordinated.

12 to 18 Months: Trial and Error

Tertiary circular reactions appear during the fifth stage. These involve trial and error, and infants might start performing actions to gain attention from others.

18 to 24 Months: Object Permanence Emerges

Piaget believed that representational thought begins to emerge between 18 and 24 months. At this point, children become able to form mental representations of objects. Because they can symbolically imagine things that cannot be seen, they are now able to understand object permanence.

Criticisms of Object Permanence

While Piaget’s theory was enormously influential and remains quite popular today, it has also been the subject ofcriticism. Research on object permanence has also called into question some of Piaget’s conclusions.

One of the major criticisms of Piaget’s work is that he often underestimated children’s abilities. Children may be capable of more at an earlier age than Piaget originally suggested.

Researchers have been able to demonstrate that with cues, children as young as 4 months can understand that objects continue to exist even though they are unseen or unheard.

Other researchers have suggested alternative explanations for why infants do not look for hidden toys. Very young children simply may not have the physical coordination necessary to search for the item. In other cases, babies might not have an interest in finding the hidden object.

Ways to Foster Object Permanence

Interacting with and playing with your child is one of the best ways to help develop important skills such as object permanence. Simple games and play can give your child the opportunity to practice skills and explore the world around them.

Some things you might do to support this skill include:

A Word From Verywell

The emergence of object permanence is an important developmental milestone and marker of cognitive development in children. While originally believed to occur later during the sensorimotor stage of development, researchers now understand that infants are capable of this feat much earlier in life.

It is important to remember, however, that all children develop at different rates. If you are concerned about your child’s understanding of object permanence or have another concern about a developmental milestone, talk to your child’s healthcare provider. In many cases, early intervention and treatment can lead to better outcomes.

7 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Bremner JG, Slater AM, Johnson SP.Perception of object persistence: The origins of object permanence in infancy.Child Development Perspectives. 2014;9(1):7-13. doi:10.1111/cdep.12098Kumar S, Shaw P, Giagkos A, Braud R, Lee M, Shen Q.Developing hierarchical schemas and building schema chains through practice play behavior.Front Neurorobot. 2018;12:33. doi:10.3389/fnbot.2018.00033Piaget J.The construction of reality in the child. Psychology Press; 1999.Stanford Children’s Health.What is separation anxiety?Feriante J, Bernstein B.Separation Anxiety. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.An M, Marcinowski E, Hsu L, et al.Object permanence and the relationship to sitting development in infants with motor delays.Ped Phys Ther. 2022;34(3):309-316. doi:10.1097/PEP.0000000000000909Moore MK, Meltzoff AN.New findings on object permanence: A developmental difference between two types of occlusion.Br J Dev Psychol. 1999;17(4):623-644. doi:10.1348/026151099165410

7 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Bremner JG, Slater AM, Johnson SP.Perception of object persistence: The origins of object permanence in infancy.Child Development Perspectives. 2014;9(1):7-13. doi:10.1111/cdep.12098Kumar S, Shaw P, Giagkos A, Braud R, Lee M, Shen Q.Developing hierarchical schemas and building schema chains through practice play behavior.Front Neurorobot. 2018;12:33. doi:10.3389/fnbot.2018.00033Piaget J.The construction of reality in the child. Psychology Press; 1999.Stanford Children’s Health.What is separation anxiety?Feriante J, Bernstein B.Separation Anxiety. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.An M, Marcinowski E, Hsu L, et al.Object permanence and the relationship to sitting development in infants with motor delays.Ped Phys Ther. 2022;34(3):309-316. doi:10.1097/PEP.0000000000000909Moore MK, Meltzoff AN.New findings on object permanence: A developmental difference between two types of occlusion.Br J Dev Psychol. 1999;17(4):623-644. doi:10.1348/026151099165410

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Bremner JG, Slater AM, Johnson SP.Perception of object persistence: The origins of object permanence in infancy.Child Development Perspectives. 2014;9(1):7-13. doi:10.1111/cdep.12098Kumar S, Shaw P, Giagkos A, Braud R, Lee M, Shen Q.Developing hierarchical schemas and building schema chains through practice play behavior.Front Neurorobot. 2018;12:33. doi:10.3389/fnbot.2018.00033Piaget J.The construction of reality in the child. Psychology Press; 1999.Stanford Children’s Health.What is separation anxiety?Feriante J, Bernstein B.Separation Anxiety. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.An M, Marcinowski E, Hsu L, et al.Object permanence and the relationship to sitting development in infants with motor delays.Ped Phys Ther. 2022;34(3):309-316. doi:10.1097/PEP.0000000000000909Moore MK, Meltzoff AN.New findings on object permanence: A developmental difference between two types of occlusion.Br J Dev Psychol. 1999;17(4):623-644. doi:10.1348/026151099165410

Bremner JG, Slater AM, Johnson SP.Perception of object persistence: The origins of object permanence in infancy.Child Development Perspectives. 2014;9(1):7-13. doi:10.1111/cdep.12098

Kumar S, Shaw P, Giagkos A, Braud R, Lee M, Shen Q.Developing hierarchical schemas and building schema chains through practice play behavior.Front Neurorobot. 2018;12:33. doi:10.3389/fnbot.2018.00033

Piaget J.The construction of reality in the child. Psychology Press; 1999.

Stanford Children’s Health.What is separation anxiety?

Feriante J, Bernstein B.Separation Anxiety. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.

An M, Marcinowski E, Hsu L, et al.Object permanence and the relationship to sitting development in infants with motor delays.Ped Phys Ther. 2022;34(3):309-316. doi:10.1097/PEP.0000000000000909

Moore MK, Meltzoff AN.New findings on object permanence: A developmental difference between two types of occlusion.Br J Dev Psychol. 1999;17(4):623-644. doi:10.1348/026151099165410

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