Question

Piaget believed the highest level of cognitive development is formal operational thought. however, many developmental psychologists disagree with piaget and suggest that the highest level occurs in a later stage known as the postformal stage.

a)True
b) False

Answer 1

It is true that developmental psychologists propose a postformal stage beyond Piaget's final stage, where advanced cognitive processes such as integrated logic with emotion and context-based reasoning are observed.

Step-by-step explanation:

It is true that many developmental psychologists suggest that cognitive development can extend beyond Piaget's formal operational thought into a postformal stage. According to Piaget, the formal operational stage, which begins at around age 11, represents the pinnacle of cognitive development. However, research by Basseches, Commons & Bresette, and Sinnott indicates that adults can reach a fifth stage of cognitive development, the postformal stage, where reasoning becomes more integrative, mixing logic with emotion and acknowledging that solutions can depend on context. This stage is characterized by multilogical thinking which includes the awareness of complexity, contradiction, and the imperfection of knowledge, and this type of reasoning is particularly useful when dealing with real-world problems, which often involve ambiguity and relativism.