Important cognitive skills emerge during the teen years
The teen years are a time of significant changes and challenges.
It begins at approximately age 12 and lasts into adulthood.
During the formal operational stage, children’s thinking becomes much more sophisticated and advanced.
Illustration by Brianna Gilmartin, Verywell
They can considerabstractand theoretical concepts and use logic to devise creative solutions to problems.
Skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning also emerge during this stage.
Piaget tested formal operational thought in a few different ways.
Two of the better-known tests explored physical conceptualization and the abstraction of thought.
Younger children said that they would put the imagined third eye in the middle of their forehead.
For example, an eye in the middle of one’s hand would be useful for looking around corners.
Creative ideas represent the use of abstract and hypothetical thinking, both important indicators of formal operational thought.
They gain the ability to think more abstractly, consider hypothetical scenarios, and reason more logically.
These skills help them grasp more complex concepts in areas like math and science.
Such developments help set the stage for thinking and decision-making in adulthood.
Deductive Logic
Piaget believed that deductive reasoning becomes necessary during the formal operational stage.
Deductive logic requires the ability to use a general principle to determine a particular outcome.
Science and mathematics often require this bang out of thinking about hypothetical situations and concepts.
Instead of relying solely on previous experiences, children begin to consider possible outcomes and consequences of actions.
This bang out of thinking is important in long-term planning.
Problem-Solving
In earlier stages, children used trial-and-error tosolve problems.
At this point, teens become capable of thinking about abstract and hypothetical ideas.
They often ponder"what-if" punch in situationsand questions and can think about multiple solutions or possible outcomes.
Older research found that only around 45% of adults ever reach formal operational thought.
The formal operational stage hinges on the emergence of critical thinking skills.
It has also been noted that formal operational thought may, in some cases, be domain-specific.
Takeaways
The formal operational stage represents an important period of cognitive development.
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