Concrete and Abstract Thinking

In psychology were learning about human development. While the instructor talked about the different stages of Piaget she went over a new stage in the theory that I had became oblivious to while working with preschoolers. The concrete operational stage, deals with six to evelen year olds and explains how they develop the ability to think concrete and abstractly. Concrete terms usually remain the same significance to an adolescent as well as a fully developed adult. For example, puppy, spoon, and chair are all concrete terms. Abstract ideas are fairly common and recognizable. Abstract thinking however, can be difficult because it is hard to understand the terms. Some examples of abstract terms are love, freedom, and success. While talking to a teacher about this topic I was informed of a time when she interacted with a child while they were developing the concept of abstract thinking.
While the story “Caps for sale” was read to a four year old she replied in a serious tone, “I think this is a story about bad monkeys. They stole the hats!” Meredith is beginning to develop the skills to think abstractly. By using a serious tone she is already connecting the idea to her feelings. To continue Meredith’s abstract thinking, the teacher asked her questions about the feelings of the characters in the story.
I ended up doing some extra research on this topic and when I gave a survey to many children at the daycare and asked what they believed the word love and success meant. The six to eight year olds responded by saying, "Love is when Grandpa gives me a chocolate bar." Many also said, "Love is when you like or love someone." When I asked them what success meant to them they also replied, "When I'm really good at art." Clearly they haven't developed the skills to think abstractly. Most children will later develop this skill around age eleven.