A 2-month-old infant is seen at a well-child visit. The nurse explains that the infant's cognitive development is best described by which Piagetian stage?

A 2-month-old infant is seen at a well-child visit. The nurse explains that the infant's cognitive development is best described by which Piagetian stage?

• A. Preoperational development
• B. Sensorimotor development
• C. Concrete operational development
• D. Formal operational development

Answer: (B)

Infants think through sensing and acting in the world. In the sensorimotor stage, cognition centers on how the body can influence the environment: reflexes evolve into more deliberate actions, and learning happens by tying sensory input to motor responses. A 2-month-old relies on basic reflexes and immediate interactions with people and objects, rather than using symbols, imagining, or performing logical operations. Object permanence isn’t fully developed yet, so the mind isn’t organized around stable mental representations. This pattern—learning about the world directly through actions and sensations—best describes the sensorimotor stage. The other stages involve advancing symbolic thought, logical operations on objects, or abstract reasoning, which don’t characterize cognition at two months.

Infants think through sensing and acting in the world. In the sensorimotor stage, cognition centers on how the body can influence the environment: reflexes evolve into more deliberate actions, and learning happens by tying sensory input to motor responses. A 2-month-old relies on basic reflexes and immediate interactions with people and objects, rather than using symbols, imagining, or performing logical operations. Object permanence isn’t fully developed yet, so the mind isn’t organized around stable mental representations. This pattern—learning about the world directly through actions and sensations—best describes the sensorimotor stage. The other stages involve advancing symbolic thought, logical operations on objects, or abstract reasoning, which don’t characterize cognition at two months.