Testing Stages of Development
Steve Reedy
Human Development
Scott Floyd, Ph.D.
November 13, 2006
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to use a set of age appropriate questions
of which the answers will help me discover which stages of development
my interviewees are in as theorized by Piaget and his predecessors.
Testing Stages of Development
The concept of stages within the
human life cycle has been the subject of theorists since mankind's first
attempt at philosophical thought. Over the past hundred years several theorists
have attempted to explain the evolution of human cognition. Many of these
theories, such as Piaget's theory of cognitive development, Kohlberg's six
stages of moral reasoning, and James Fowler's developmental theory of spiritual
faith were created using an extensive amount of research gathered through the
observation and questioning of people at various stages in their life combined
with advances in biological science. Since their conception, these theories
have become the foundation for everything from educational programs to mass
marketing strategies.
In my attempt to
test a few of the cognitive development theories presented in Kathleen Berger's
The Developing Person Through The Life Span, I created a series of
questions I hoped would test my subject's stage of cognitive functioning,
morality, gender awareness, and faith. At first I planed to create a separate
set of age appropriate questions for each interviewee. Then I decided I might
get better results if I created one set of questions that would allow me to
examine if the interviewee gave age appropriate answers according to the
theories I used to create the questions. To get a wide range in my answers,
each of my subjects were representatives of different ages group and included a
three-year-old boy named Aden, a twelve-year-old girl named Lina, an
eighteen-year-old boy named Jon, and a twenty-eight year old woman named Misty.
Each of them was asked to look at a piece of paper with two pictures printed on
it as I asked them a series of questions. The first five questions were given
to all four of my subjects to test their ability to create concrete operational
thought. These questions were designed for them to use their classification
skills to come up with the correct answer.
 
- How many smiles are in these two pictures?
- How many pictures do you see?
- Are there more smiles or are there more pictures?
- How many sunglasses do you see?
- Are there more pictures or more sunglasses?
Aden, the three-year-old
boy, answered each question with great confidence, but he was unable to
understand that one set of objects can include another, or see beyond what his
mind was focusing on. He could only see one smile, the one on the picture of a
balloon held by the boy. He was unable to acknowledge that there were three
pictures as he could only see the picture held by the boy. He didn't understand
the third question and pointed at the picture of the balloon again. He saw one
pair of sunglasses on the balloon and didn't understand the fifth question, but
confidently said sunglasses. Then I assisted Aden in locating the other pair of
glasses while repeating the fourth question. He was then able to acknowledge
that there were two pairs. This is a good example of Vygotsky's "zone of
proximal development" where the child "can perform with assistance but cannot
quite perform independently" (Berger, 2005, p. 221).
Lina, Jon, and Misty were
able to answer each question correctly. Everyone's answers in this portion of
the survey seemed to coincide with the age range Piaget placed on a person's
ability to form cognitive thought, which is seven years and up. I then asked a
series of gender identity questions to determine if my interviewees would base
their answer on predefined gender roles.
6. Who
would wear pink and who would wear blue?
7. Which
one would take care of a baby when they grow up?
8. Which
one will make a lot of money?
9. Which
one will grow up to be a fireman?
10. Which one will
grow up to be a nurse?
11. Which one will
shop for groceries?
12. Which one has a
toy truck?
13. Which one has a
toy doll?
14. Which one is a
bully?
15. Which one is
strong?
16. Which one would
you play with?
Aden answered most of
these questions without using gender roles saying that the boy wears pink,
takes care of babies and shops for groceries while the girl wears blue, is a
bully, and will grow up to make a lot of money. Aden answered some of the
questions using gender roles like the girl would grow up to be a nurse and has
a toy doll while the boy grows up to be a fireman and owns a toy truck. Lena
answered some of the questions using traditional gender roles with the boy
wearing blue, growing up to be a fireman, and owning a toy truck while the girl
wears pink, grows up to be a nurse, takes care of babies, and owns a doll. Lena
also said that neither of them would be a bully and that both kids were strong,
would shop for groceries, and would make a lot of money.
Apparently children begin
to become aware of objects and roles that are considered gender specific by age
four (Berger, 2005). This may explain why several of Aden's answers seemed to
go against gender norms. During the play years children develop the cognitive
ability to categorize males and females as opposites based on gender role
(Berger, 2005), which could explain why Lena was more confident in her answers
than Aden. Both Lena and Aden chose to play with the child of their gender,
which is an appropriate choice for their age.
Apparently sometime after
children enter into the formal operational stage, they may begin to dismantle
the categorizations they created based on the roles and differences imposed by
their culture because Jon and Misty both answered the questions with, "how
would I know". Lena showed an example of abstract thinking when her answers
went beyond gender classification creating the possibility of equality. Misty
and Jon could not answer the gender specific questions because Lena's
alternative did not occur to them, which shows that children do have the ability
to see things in a way adults sometimes miss. This may also be due to Jon and
Misty being in the fifth stage of cognition called the "postformal stage",
which gives adults more problem solving techniques, but may limit their ability
to use those techniques because they are now "less playful and more practical"
(Berger, 2005, p. 436).
The next two
questions were designed to test for abstract thinking. My hope was that I would
be able to test if the interviewee had progressed into what Piaget defined as
the "formal operations stage". This stage is marked to begin at around age
eleven, though some say some people fixate on the perceptions created during
the concrete operation stage preventing them from moving into the more abstract
and open minded stage of formal operations (Wikipedia, 2006). I asked
Lena, Jon, and Misty the following questions, as I did not think they were age
appropriate for a three-year-old.
- What do you like most about yourself?
- What do you dislike about yourself?
Lina liked the fact that
she is smart, but dislikes the fact that she is short. Jon likes his
personality, but dislikes his voice. Misty likes that her positive energy acts
as a magnet, drawing others toward her, and dislikes her inability to stick
with something. All were able to answer most of the questions abstractly, since
they were able to evaluate concepts of themselves like personality,
intelligence, and magnetism. I found it interesting that the concrete answers
were based on negative concepts like Jon's voice and Lina's height. Though,
given the ages they are in, their dislikes could coincide with "egocentrism"
and the concept of "imaginary audience" where their features are judged as they
believe other would evaluate them (Berger, 2005). I created two additional questions
to test for these characteristics of adolescent cognitive development, and to
see if these characteristics could follow someone into adulthood.
- What do you believe others think about you?
- How do you think people react to the way you look?
Lina believes that others
think she is kind and do not care how she looks. Jon believes that others think
he is funny and extremely social while always remarking that he is cute. Misty
has been told that she is a very positive person and people react to the way
she looks as if she must know something special, something that causes her to
radiate a positive energy that affects those around her. None of these answers
seem to show any resemblance to adolescent egocentrism, which either means they
have yet to go through that stage, have already gone through that stage, or I
am asking the wrong types of questions. Though some may point out that Misty's
second answer appears to be a "personal fable" where people "imagine their own
lives as unique, heroic, or even legendary" (Berger, 2005, p. 368). But, having
been in the presence of Misty, I would have to say it is not a fable, there is
just something special about her that seems to radiate positive energy.
The next two
questions were used to see if I could determine where my interviewees were in
Kohlberg's theory of moral development since they were created using Paiget's
stages of cognition.
- Would you do something against the law if it would
save someone's life?
- Is it moral to disobey a law if it is unjust?
Lina, Jon, and
Misty said they would do something against the law if it would save someone's
life, though Lina and Jon said it is not moral to disobey a law if it is
unjust. This would place both Lina and Jon in stage four of Kohlberg's
conventional moral reasoning where "proper behavior means being a dutiful
citizen and obeying the laws set down by society " (Berger, 2005, p. 368). Yes
they would break the law, but they would see it as improper behavior. This
proved interesting in that even though Lina and Jon appeared to be in Piaget's
post operational stage, they are still in Kohlberg's equivalent of Piaget's
concrete operations stage. This shows that people of any age can confine
themselves to concrete operational thinking.
Misty thought
about this question a great deal. She does not seem to believe in the legal
system of our community, but in a more universal concept of right and wrong. By
her definition of what is moral and what is just, she agreed that that it is
moral to disobey a law if it is unjust. Though people seem to rarely reach
stage six of post conventional moral reasoning (Wikipedia, 2006), Misty seems to have met the criteria for that
stage.
My final question
was created to determine their stage in James Fowler's developmental theory of
spiritual faith of which he created using the stages of Piaget and Kohlberg.
- Where does god live? (If heaven, where is heaven?)
Lina said that her god
lives in heaven. When I asked her where heaven was, she believed it was up in
the clouds. Jon believes that his god lives everywhere and is all around us.
Misty believes that her god is also everywhere, it is part of her, which makes
her, and everyone else, god. I asked both of them where they thought god lived
when they were a child and they both believed their god lived in heaven and
that heaven was in the clouds.
According to
Fowler's theory, Lina is in stage two where children "take the myths and
stories of religion literally" (Berger, 2005, p. 448). This stage is
appropriate for her age, and is more concrete than post operational. Jon and
Misty, once in stage two, have moved onto a more abstract stage, but I will
need to ask more questions to discover exactly which stage they are in. Judging
by their previous answers, I would guess that Jon is in stage three because of
his position in Kohlberg's stage of morality. This stage is also appropriate
for Jon's age and is based more on what feels right, though there is still an
attachment to the rules of society (Berger, 2005).
I would guess
that Misty would be in stage five, which combines unconscious ideas with
rational conscious values (Berger, 2005). Judging by Misty's position on
Kohlberg's stage of morality, it would appear that she has achieved this. This
is not the appropriate stage for Misty's age since "this cosmic perspective is
seldom achieved before middle age (Berger, 2005, p. 448), but, given the rest
of her answers, she does appear to be well beyond her age in thought.
As I set out to create
these age appropriate questions, I believed the answers I received would help
me classify my interviewees into the various stages of development theorized by
Piaget and his predecessors. In trying to do this I have learned to appreciate
all the hard work and effort that went into creating and testing the theories I
was trying to place them into. I have shown through my limited amount of
testing that we can migrate from one stage to another depending on the question
being asked. We can describe ourselves with abstract thinking while confining
ourselves to concrete perceptions of religion or law. So it appears that the concepts we use to define our reality can
evolve separately while advancing or constraining each other depending on their
connectedness. For example, an inability to evolve through James Fowler's developmental
theory of spiritual faith may also affect someone's position in Kohlberg's six
stages of moral reasoning. It is my hope that further study into these theories
will give me a greater perspective into the interrelatedness of conceptual
ideas and their affect on the evolution of cognitive thought.
References
Theory of cognitive
development. (2006, November 1). In Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:41, November 9, 2006, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theory_of_cognitive_development&oldid=85103021
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