Concrete thought: what it is and how it develops in childhood

The process by which human beings mentally elaborate and relate ideas about what surrounds us is quite complex. It starts from our early years and progresses according to a series of stages and determined characteristics.

Among other things, this process allows us to develop two ways of thinking: one based on the physical objects of the world, which we call concrete thought; and the other established in mental operations, which we call abstract thought.

In this article we will see what concrete thought is and how it is related to or different from abstract thought.

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What is concrete thought and how does it originate?

Concrete thought is a cognitive process that is characterized by the description of facts and tangible objects. It is the type of thought that is linked to the phenomena of the real world, that is, to material objects. concrete thought allows us to generate general concepts about particular phenomena and categorize them in a logical way.

In this area, the studies of the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget on the stages of thought formation are classic. In broad strokes, he analyzed how cognitive processes develop from early childhood through adolescence.

From a biological, psychological and logical perspective, Piaget was interested in knowing how a child achieves his cognitive abilities.. He proposed, among other things, that thinking has patterns derived from genetic makeup, which in turn are activated by sociocultural stimuli.

The latter are those that allow the person to receive and process information, with which, psychological development is always active. From this he proposed a series of stages, each one qualitatively different from the others, and which allow the child to move towards a more complex way of understanding and organizing the knowledge.

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Stage of concrete operations

According to Piaget, concrete thinking develops during the concrete operations stage, which occurs between the ages of 7 and 12. In this, the child is already able to perceive and discriminate between reality and appearances. He cannot do without what is real and, unlike what happens in previous stages, he begins to decenter his thinking, that is, he gradually decreases egocentric thinking.

Furthermore, during this stage he can classify and account for, for example, the transformations of the states of matter. Thus, a series of logical comparisons occurs that allow it to respond to stimuli in a way that is no longer conditioned by appearance, as in the previous stage, and begins to be determined by concrete reality.

In the area of ​​mathematics, for example, the child is expected to be able to develop cognitive skills such as conservation of numbers, the notions of substance, weight, volume and length, as well as coordination space. All of the above are acquired once the child can describe objects based on their material composition.

In this sense, for learning to occur, the child must always have the object present: through her senses, she establishes relationships that allow her to know reality. In this period also it is not yet possible for children to make hypotheses, and it is not possible for them to apply previously acquired learning to new situations (the latter belongs to abstract thinking).

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Differences between concrete thought and abstract thought

While concrete thought is what allows us to process and describe the objects of the physical world, abstract thought occurs through purely mental processes. Piaget called the latter "formal thought" because it occurs in the "formal operations" stage, which occurs between 12 and 16 years of age. In addition to occurring at different times of development, concrete thinking and abstract thinking have the following differences:

1. Deductive or inductive?

Abstract thought is a deductive hypothetical thought, which allows the construction of hypotheses without the need to test them empirically. In the case of concrete thought, this occurs the other way around: knowledge can only be formulated through direct experience with the phenomenon or object; It is an inductive type of thinking.

2. The general and the particular

Abstract thinking can go from the general to the particular, thus making it possible to formulate more general laws, theories, and properties. Concrete thought operates in the opposite direction, it goes from the particular to the general. A broad or multidimensional phenomenon can only be understood and described by its particular characteristics.

3. Flexibility

Abstract thought allows an opening to reflection and debate, it is therefore a flexible thought. For its part, concrete thought, being based on the tangible and the evident, does not allow variations.

4. Complexity in the acquisition

Abstract thought, as Piaget puts it, is acquired later than concrete because it requires a more complex process. Although the concrete thought finally consolidates towards the end of childhoodThroughout his development, the child acquires learning and psychological maturation only through direct experience with the environment. Abstract thinking only occurs after the need for purely empirical testing has been reached and satisfied.

Bibliographic references:

• Fingerman, H. (2011). concrete thought. The Guide. Retrieved July 26, 2018. Available in https://educacion.laguia2000.com/general/pensamiento-concreto
• Piaget, J. (1986). Evolutionary Psychology. Madrid: Editorial Paidos
• Pages, J. (1998). The formation of social thought, pp. 152-164. In Pijal Benejam and Joan Pagés, Teaching and learning social sciences, geography and history in secondary education. Barcelona: ICE/Horsori.