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

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

March 1, 2024

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

In this article we will see what concrete thinking is and how it relates to or differentiates abstract thinking.

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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. The 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. Broadly speaking, he analyzed how cognitive processes develop from early childhood to adolescence.

From a biological, psychological and logical perspective, Piaget was interested in knowing how a child reaches his cognitive abilities . He proposed, among other things, that thought has patterns derived from genetic composition, 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 . He proposed a series of stages, qualitatively different from the others, and that allow the child to move towards a more complex form of understanding and knowledge organization.


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Stage of concrete operations

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

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


In the mathematical area, for example, the child is expected to be able to develop cognitive skills such as the conservation of numbers, the notions of substance, weight, volume and length, as well as spatial coordination. 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 present object: through his senses he establishes relationships that allow him to know reality. In this period also It is not yet possible for children to make hypotheses , and neither is it possible to apply previously acquired learning to new situations (the latter belongs to abstract thinking).

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Differences between concrete thought and abstract thinking

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

1. Deductive or inductive?

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

2. The general and the particular

The abstract thinking can go from the general to the particular, with what allows to formulate laws, theories and more general properties.Concrete thought operates in the opposite direction, going from the particular to the general. A broad or multidimensional phenomenon it can only be understood and described by its particular characteristics .

3. Flexibility

Abstract thinking allows an opening to reflection and debate, it is therefore a flexible thought. On the other hand, concrete thought, being based on the tangible and the obvious, does not allow for variations.

4. Complexity in the acquisition

Abstract thinking, 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 childhood , throughout its development, the child acquires learning and psychological maturation only through direct experience with the environment. Abstract thinking only happens after the need to make merely empirical checks has been reached and satisfied.

Bibliographic references:

  • Fingermann, H. (2011). Concrete thinking The Guide. Retrieved July 26, 2018. Available at //educacion.laguia2000.com/general/pensamiento-concreto
  • Piaget, J. (1986). Evolutionary Psychology. Madrid: Editorial Paidós
  • Pagés, J. (1998). The formation of social thought, pp. 152-164. In Pijal Benejam and Joan Pagés, Teach and learn social sciences, geography and history in secondary education. Barcelona: ICE / Horsori.

What is abstract thinking? (March 2024).


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