More Piaget Terminology

Jean Piaget was well known for adaptation, assimilation and accommodation. Although these terms are specific to his theory many individuals tend to overlook his other terms that are significant to his cognitive development theory. Piaget was interested in dreams, play and imitation.  Some of his terms that are recognized but not as much as the three mentioned are: animism, egocentric, equilibration.

Have you ever heard anyone say that a child has a vivid imagination to be so young. Children often say things like “The sky is crying” or the moon is chasing me. Children also give characteristics to their toys. This imaginative thinking is what Piaget would define as animism. According to Piaget this occurs between the ages of 2-7 (Pre-operational stage) Animism can be compared to personification. Often times, personification is used in poetry and we are taught to use personification in writing, for example “the leaves dance in the wind.”

Egocentrism can be described as seeing things from someone else’s perspective.  Children are in there own world when egocentrism.   I found this interesting/ironic because some adults often have the issues seeing others perspective the even though they have surpassed the preoperational stage and understand that their actions and the actions of others are noticed.

Lastly, during equilibration child finds balance with the world around them and themselves. Equilibration is formally defined by Piaget as a combination of assimilation and accomodation. This is also described as a time when children adapt and begin to construct their own knowledge.

Animism-children believe and assign no human objects, human-like characteristics. (Usually occurs during the pre-operational stage)

Egocentric- the child has no concept of anyone else or the views of anyone else.  

 Equilibration -Piaget stated that as children grow or develop , balance is needed between assimilaiton and accommodation

Piaget Credibility

Piaget wrote many books and one which I found very interesting and worthy of review is Six Psychological Studies (1968).  This book would be very beneficial to anyone looking to incorporate Piagetian theory in their research.  I believe this book demonstrated his ability of making accessible his theory of cognition. It continues to be considered a cornerstone text in current research amongst a broad audience.  Another psychologist Bruner reviewed Six Psychological Studies (1968) and stated: “[Piaget] has prevailed by providing a general conception of mind in growth that is so compelling that even in attacking it…one is inevitably influenced by it.” I believe this statement to highlight the influence of Piaget’s work and its ability to create movement and dialogue within the field of Child Development. The studies can, therefore, be seen as opportunities for further research in the areas of Child Development which even in current research still remains quite unexplored. In light of this, I believe Six Psychological Studies (1968) to be beneficial to a broad audience with the ability of continuing to serve as a foundation for future studies and pedagogical designs. 

Piaget Videos

We have uploaded some 4 YouTube videos on our Piaget Wiki Page focused around Piaget’s stages of Cognitive Development. The video that I want to highlight are the Concrete. When viewing the video I immediately noticed that the child was older which I made a connection with the age group (7-11) The child in the video game a detailed explanation as to why the liquid in the containers were the same amount. Within this stage a child begins to develop a better sense of decentering, reversiblity, classification and conservation. The child was able to explain that the container changed but nothing was added to the liquid to increase the amount. On the other hand a child in the preoperational stage would state that the amount was different because the two different sizes of containers. 
After viewing the videos are there other Piaget videos you suggest ? What are your views on the stages of cognitive development? Have you seen any components of the stages in your observations? 
Stages of Cognitive Development (brief descriptions)
Sensorimotor---children begin to understand the world around them through there senses (Birth-2 years) Key term from this stage (object permeance) 
There are a few links to other videos on our wiki page to see each stage in action.
Preoperational-Children use play , words as well as pictures to learn how to use objects. The child is usually only aware of their own perspectives (ages 2-7). ( Key term in this stage (egocentrism)
Concrete- Children begin thinking logically and accept the viewpoints of others. (ages 7-11) Key terms from this stage (reversibility, conservation and classification)
Formal- Individuals are able to make inferences along with thinking logically and ideas are not longer “black and white” (age 11 and continues to adulthood)

Jean Piaget Terms

Before I took this class I knew of Piaget but I did not yet have a full understanding of his cognitive development theory. My first in depth look at this theory began when I started reviewing his seminal work. Piaget was a prolific writer with over 60 literary publications and hundreds of articles with a concentration in constructing theory of structures and uniting psychological work with biological findings. In researching his theory I found that the primary focus of his theory was that a child’s mind does not only respond to stimuli, but instead, changes, grows, and adapts to all elements of the world. Thinking about all of the current educational designs and parenting advice, it appears that at least this aspect of his theory has remained intact since its original conception. When I looked through the available articles and journals I found many reoccurring terms. I identified these terms to form the foundation of his theory. Due to his rich writing, Piaget provided an abundance of terms. The underlying terms which I thought contributed to a better understanding of his theory included: Accommodation, Adaptation, and Assimilation. These three “A’s” are not too tricky to remember when seen together! I have provided these as a starting point to exploring the rich terminology available when researching Piaget’s work.  

Accommodation: developing old structures into new ones under pressure from new externally given information.

Adaptation- It is the process by which infant schemes are elaborated, modified, and developed. Typically, this is thought to involve the process of assimilation and accommodation. 

Assimilation:  relates to new information to pre-existing structures of knowledge and understanding

Blogging on our page

We will blog Monday November 14, Wednesday November 16 and Friday November 18

Please feel free to blog your topic of choice.

1.      Please click on google sign (if you have a google account ) or you may sign in under another account (Yahoo, AIM, etc)

2.      When going to our blog, please click the topics on the right example (Piaget Feature Chart) to begin

3.      We do have a few sections from our Wiki page that we would like you to review and incorporate into your blog.

Wiki Information

Monday: There is a glossary section on our Wiki with terms related to Piaget’s research. Please click on Glossary on the Wiki Page

Wednesday:  We have videos for you to Review

Please click on the Videos Section of Our Wiki Page

Friday: Piaget’s credibility and publications and any other comments you may want to add.