Piaget Qualitative Study

Abstract
This paper aims to study the relation between birth order and cognitive development in young children. this study will be looking at the cognitive development of these children in the age group of 3-6 who are in their preoperational stage (Piaget,) This qualitative study involves 13 children between the ages of three and six who attend a Kindergartens in singapore. Their cognition is tested on the basis of three categories- Conservation, ego centrism and Mental representation.

Introduction

According to Piaget,cognitive development in children is a mental process which they acquire from maturation and environmental experience. Piaget categorized children's developmental stages into four- Sensorimotor,preoperational,concrete operational

and formal operational stages. He believed that children move through each stage and age and environment played a huge role in this process.
In the sensorimotor stage (0-2years) a child progresses from reflexive and instinctive actions towards symbolic thought. His understanding of the world is predominanatly through his sensory experiences.
The preoperational stage (2-7years) is one in which the child progresses towards a representation of his world through words and images.However he may not be able to reason logically.The child is egocentric in this phase.In the concrete operational stage( 7-12 yrs),the child can think logically about the objects in his environemnt. He also understands conservation. In the formal operational stage ,an adolscent can reason abstractly and think in hypotheitcal terms.

The effect of birth order on intelligence has been a topic of interest for many years ever since Galton(1874) mentioned in his book about its influence on ability of men in a family to become Judges. His study did not find any ponderance among of first borns . Many studies have concluded that the effects of birth or