Page - 122 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

122 Development of thinking “epigenetic system” (in the embryological sense, epigenesis is always deter- mined both internally and externally). 2 In its structure and development, intelligence adapts to the coordination of inner and outer information. 3 Cognitive or (generally) epistemological relations come into being that are neither a simple imitation of external objects nor an evolution of the subject’s inherent structures, but instead constitute a totality of structures that arise through constant interaction between the subject and the external world (Pia- get 1970, 41). Piaget’s concepts led to seeing a child not as a blank slate, but as possessing qualitative faculties for acquiring information from the outside world. The child’s cognitive faculties develop according to his age, as can be seen through his play, fantasy and emotions. Because of this, Piaget considered it fruitless to pressure a child to enter his next phase prematurely; rather, the according stage of develop- ment should be supported, and the child afforded time to develop his correspond- ing capabilities. Piaget identified the following stages of cognitive development: 1 Sensomotoric stage (ages 0 to 2) 2 Concrete -operational stage, including pre -operational stage, ages 2 to 7 (2a) and concrete -operational stage, ages 7 to 11 (2b) 3 Stage of formal operations (ages 11 to 15–20 years)1 In the sensomotoric stage, the baby/young child employs its tactile and oral fac- ulties to investigate the world: thus, a contribution from the outside is necessary in order to develop inner structures. The subject’s first priority is his own body, followed by the development of practical intelligence. In the pre -operational stage, the child becomes capable of imagining inner sym- bolic representations with the help of language. In the stage of concrete operations (to be more precisely described later), the child can already employ mental operations, but only in a concrete experience; he cannot yet think hypothetically. According to Piaget, these stages follow one another in one immutable order. For his data, he employed three different methods: child observation, experimen- tation and questioning children. For adolescence, the third stage of development is relevant. In his essay “Intel- lectual Evolution from Adolescence to Adulthood” (1972b), Piaget points out that adolescents exhibit major differences within this age group, depending on their social environment and career interests. In addition, he contends that we know very little concerning the transition from adolescence to adulthood (Ibid). Between the ages of 12 to 15, the adolescent attains a capacity for formal opera- tions (as distinguished from concrete operations), thus vastly improving his ability to think, his sense of space, his ability to differentiate and his speed of observation.