Formal operational period

Authors

• Katie Cunningham, University of Cincinnati
• Heidi Kloos, University of Cincinnati

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

4-25-2025

Keywords

childhood, cognition, formal operational period, hypothetico-deductive reasoning, Jean Piaget

Disciplines

Child Psychology | Cognition and Perception | Developmental Psychology

Abstract

Consider the following prompt: “If you hit a glass with a feather, the glass will break. Ann hit a glass with the feather. What will happen to the glass?” To answer correctly, one would have to first learn the rule about how the feather will affect the glass. The second step then is to apply the learned rule in a logical fashion. The mental activity needed to carry out these steps is known as hypothetico-deductive reasoning. It is required for counter-factual thinking, transitive inferences, and hypothesis testing. Jean Piaget postulated that this type of mental activity is characteristic of children who have reached the formal operational period. In the current entry, we describe Piaget’s argument and the effect of his insights on hypothetico-deductive reasoning on research in cognitive development.

Recommended Citation

Cunningham, Katie and Kloos, Heidi, "Formal operational period" (2025). Essays in Developmental Psychology. 71.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/edp/71