In Piaget's theory, object permanence is associated with which stage?

Prepare for the JCJC Human Growth and Development Test. Our quiz includes flashcards, multiple choice questions, hints, and explanations. Enhance your readiness and succeed!

Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen or touched. In Piaget’s view, this realization develops during the sensorimotor stage, which lasts from birth to about two years old and is driven by direct interaction with the world. Early on, infants act on objects they see and interact with, but they don’t yet grasp that hidden items still exist. As they engage in coordinated actions and begin to search for partially hidden objects (roughly around 8 to 12 months), they demonstrate that they have formed a mental representation of the object’s continued existence. By the end of this stage, the achievement is well established, even though more complex symbolic thought continues to develop later. The other stages involve different cognitive advances—symbolic and egocentric thinking in the preoperational stage, logical reasoning about concrete objects in the concrete operational stage, and abstract reasoning in the formal operational stage—so object permanence is most characteristic of the sensorimotor period.