Piaget's Stages on Reactions to Death

Since the onset of the sciences, biology, psychology, physics and philosophy, the subject of death has always been a major source of mystery -- specifically, finding ways of coping with it and understanding it. Jean Piaget was a psychologist who, through his study of child development, developed theories about how people deal with death.

Life of Jean Piaget

• Jean Piaget was a philosopher and developmental psychologist. He was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland, in August of 1896. In his teenage years, after a period of sickness, he began to document his own philosophy. He developed what he called a "biological explanation of knowledge." After receiving his doctorate in science, Piaget worked at a psychology lab in Zurich where he was introduced to the works of Freud, Jung and others. While studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, he started doing research on intelligence testing, which led him to start research on the psychological development of children and how they grasp issues of life and death.

Death-Related Thoughts and Experience

• We first come into contact with death through our thoughts and experiences, either directly or indirectly. Piaget observed that a child might first come into contact with death when a pet dies. There is fascination and curiosity, but there is also a slightly hidden threat: If a fish, dog or cat can die, then maybe this can happen to someone else. The discovery of death is filled with anxiety and is a door opened to its great mystery.

Developing an Understanding of Death

• Our first experiences with death may be initially startling but that doesn't mean that a firm and reliable concept is formed. Separation and fear of abandonment become a major association that causes more anxiety surrounding the issue of death. We begin to accept that death is final, but coupled with that understanding we begin to imagine that we can somehow escape it if we are either very smart or very lucky. At this point, the final stage of understanding begins.

Death as Transformative

• This stage, which Piaget calls "formal operations," is when abstract as well as concrete thoughts can exist for a person at the same time. This mental range brings the prospect of death into a much clearer view. Acceptance begins at this point where it is realized that death happens to every living thing. One slowly begins to understand that death is universal as well as personal and inevitable. This brings with it a new level of functioning that allows one to strategize on how to live a more fulfilling existence.