Formal Operations Stage

The formal operational stage begins in early adolescence. In childhood, logical

operations are concrete ones, limited to objects that can be visualized,

touched, or directly experienced. The advance of the early adolescent into

formal operational thinking involves the capacity to deal with possibilities

that are purely speculative. This permits coping with new classes of problems:

those involving relationships that are purely abstract or hypothetical

or that involve the higher-level analysis of a problem by the systematic consideration

of every logical (sometimes fanciful) possibility. The logical adequacy

of an argument can be examined apart from the truth or falsity of its

conclusions.

Concepts such as “forces,” “infinity,” or “justice,” nowhere directly experienced,

can now be comprehended. Formal operational thought permits the

midadolescent or adult to hold abstract ideals and to initiate scientific investigations.