piaget lecture

8/2/2019 Piaget Lecture

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Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

Piaget was born in

Neuc h te l Switzerland Prod ig ious writer,

writing over 60 booksand pub lishing

hundred s of papers Worked as a teacher at

a sc hool for boys run byAlfrend Binet, the

developer of the Binetintelligence test


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Piaget and Cognitive Development

Where does Piaget s theory sit on the

c ontinuum from rad ic a l to soc ia lconstructivism?


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Three ma jor steps in thedevelopment of intelligence

Sensory-motor ac tivity the c rad le of

intelligence

Egoc entric thought transitory thought

form between autistic and ra tiona lthought

Ra tiona l (c ommunic ab le) thought


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Sensorimotor Ac tivity

At the beg inning o f menta l life, the world

appears to the c hild as a series of p ic tureswhic h a re c entered about ac tivity and lac kany intrinsic sta b ility. (pp . 159-160)

The a bsence o f perma nent ob jec ts and of

the ob jec tive organiza tion of spac e seemsthus to go hand in hand with a rad ic a l andunc onsc ious egoc entric ity, so tha t thesub jec t d oes not c onsider himself as one

thing among many but only c onceives ofthings in rela tion to his own ac tions. (pp .160)


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Cha rac teristic s of Egoc entric Thought

A. Egoc entric log ic is more intuitive than ded uc tiveitsreasoning is not made exp lic it

B. Little va lue is a ttac hed to c hecking o r p rovingpropositions

C. Persona l sc hemas of analogy are made use o f,

whic h control the p resent c ourse o f reasoningwithout openly manifesting their influenc e

D. Visual sc hema s a lso p lay an imp ortant role, and c aneven take p lac e of proof in supporting the

ded uc tion tha t is madeE. Judgments of va lue have fa r more influence oneg oc entric than c ommunic ab le thought


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Piaget s Stage Theory Piaget introd uced four d ifferent stages of c og nitive

develop ment. Eac h stage depends onphysiolog ic a l matura tion for the hardwarenec essary to a sc end the ladder of menta lfunc tioning . His four sta ges a re: Sensorimotor ob jec t perma nenc e

http:/ / www .youtube.c om/ wa tc h?v=6NGq 6SHOE5k&mod e=related&search= Preopera tions eg oc entric , fails c onservation tasks Conc rete op era tions eg oc entric , ma sters c onservation

taskshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8yKhbXhkk0&mode=related&search=

Forma l Op era tions abstrac t rea soning, propositiona lthinking , ma sters c ontrol, All things being equa l


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Piaget s Stage Independent theory

Piaget a lso introduced severa l important

stage-independentc oncep ts, c oncep tsc utting ac ross the d ifferent sta ges. They a re:

Sc hema

Operation Assimila tion

Ac c ommoda tion

Equilib rium Disequilib rium

Ada ptation


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Sc hema Sc hema s are genera lized pa tterns of

behavior and thought that are mea ningfuland reproduc ib le (e.g ., g rasp ing sc hema ininfancy, and the a ll other things being

equa l sc hema in ad olesc ence). Sc hemas a re p reva lent in p re-opera tiona l

thinking, a lthough we c ontinue to use

sc hema even with log ic a l thinking


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Soc ia l Information Proc essing Theory:Sc hematic thinking goes wrong!

Source: Crick, N. R. and K. A. Dodge (1994). Areview and reformulation of socialinformation processing mechanisms in

children's social adjustment. PsychologicalBulletin 115: 74-101.


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Operation

Menta lly ac ting on an ob jec t

Two examp les a re:

Reversibility Numb ers and ob jec ts c anbe c hanged and then returned to theirorig ina l sta te (e.g ., 1+1=2, 2-1=1)

Classification Ab ility to a rrange ob jec tsby simila rity (e .g ., color, sha pe, size).


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Conserva tion is the mother of a lloperations!

Piaget w rote : Yet a t the o ther extremity (from infantileeg oc entric ity) of the deve lopment o f the universe is

c onsidered as being formed of permanent ob jec ts whosemovements take p lac e in a spac e indep endent o f us, andwhose many rela tionships form a series of inva riab les whic hprolong the c onserva tion of the ob jec t itself; inva riab les ofnumber, quantity,One may therefore say tha t, in so far as

eg oc entric ity is red uced by c o-ord ination of the ind ividua lpoint o f view with o ther possib le ones, the c o-ord ina tionwhic h exp la ins this reduc tion exp la ins a lso the formation oflog ic a l instruments of conserva tion (ideas of g roups,systems of rela tions, etc .) and the formation of inva riab lesin the world of rea lity (idea s of the permanenc e o f theob jec t, of quantities, weights, etc .). (p . 160-161)


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Piaget p roposed two b io log ic func tions:

Organiza tion and adapta tion

Organiza tion, he prop osed to have a

regula tive inte llec tua l func tion. The a im of organiza tion is to a tta in idea l

intellec tua l sta tes, c onsistent w ith experienc e,through assimila tion and ac c ommodation.

We organize our c onc eptions to make sense o four experienc e

The idea l is c ognitive equilib rium, in whic h our

c onc ep tions easily assimila te experienc e; Ourc onc ep tions a re suffic ient to exp la in ourexperience, and we a re a t menta l pea c e


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Equilibrium

Equilib rium is a relaxed vegeta tive

sta te when p resent und erstand ingmatc hes experienc e

Disequilib rium is the opposite ofeq uilib rium absence o f pea c e; weare wanting more

Thus, desire is an ind ic a tor ofequilibrium


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Desire is an ind ic a tor of d isequilib rium

Piag et wrote:

Idea ls and va lues a re to ta lities in the making ,va lues being merely the expression of desirab ility

on the va rious levels [o f organiza tion]. Ac tua lly,

desirab ility is an index showing tha t a n

equilib rium has been d isrup ted or a to ta lity [inthe ma king] has not yet been c onsummated . It

is an ind ic a tor tha t a missing element is sought o r

is to be c rea ted in order tha t equilib rium bea tta ined . (p. 190, Piaget, 1951)


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Disequilibrium Desirab ility ind ic a tes tension between an

idea l (outc ome) and the intrinsic va lue ofthe idea l, the g rea ter the va lue, the g rea terthe tension

Cog nit ion, from the perspec tive ofb iolog ic a l organiza tion, therefore, imp liesc ognitive work to a tta in the idea l, and areturn to equilib rium, a vegeta tive sta te

Therefore, desirab ility ma y be an idea lind ic a tor of d isequilib rium, bec ause of itsrela tionship to menta l work (wanting)


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Adaptation Piag et wrote:

Inte lligenc e is an adapta tion. In order to g raspits rela tion to life in genera l, we must first definethe rela tionship between the organism and itsenvironment. Life is a c ontinuous c rea tion of

ever more c omp lex forms, and a p rogressiveequilib ra ting of these w ith the environment. Tosay tha t inte lligenc e is a partic ula r c ase ofb iolog ic a l adap ta tion imp lies, therefore, tha t it is

essentia lly an organiza tion, the func tion of whic his to struc ture the universe just as the organismstruc tures its immed ia te environment. (p . 180,Piaget, 1951)


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Adaptation As seen from another vantage p oint,

adap ta tion is simp ly organiza tion a tgrips with environmenta l oc c urrenc es.(p . 192, Piaget, 1951)


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Adaptation Acc ord ing to Piaget:

adap ta tion oc c urs when the organismis so c hanged by the environment tha t its

integra tion with the environment

inc reases and its c onserva tion is therebypromoted . (p. 182, Piaget, 1951)

This imp lies a restful (vegeta tive) end sta te

in whic h energy is c onserved


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Assimilation The inverse of adap ta tion is

assimilation Assimila tion oc c urs when a c ognitive

struc ture integra tes information,

interp reting information to fit the struc ture As suc h, struc ture supersedes experienc e

However, bec ause experience is b roader

than a ny struc ture, assimila tion ultima te lyfa ils, nec essita ting adap ta tion


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Assimilation Piaget wrote:

intellec tual adap ta tion, like any otheradap ta tion, is a suc c ession of equilib riabetween the c omp lementa ry

mec ha nisms of assimila tion a ndac c ommod ation. The mind is adap ted torea lity only if ac c ommodation isc omp lete, tha t is, if no further c hange

oc c urs in rea lity tha t would nec essita te ana ltera tion of the sub jec t s sc hemata . (p.185, Piaget, 1951)


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Soc ia l information p roc essing and adapta tion: how

do we fix a soc ia lly ma lad justed ind ividua l?

If you worked with a soc ia lly ma lad justed

adolesc ent ma le with severe soc ia l phob ia ,how would you app ly Piagetian psyc holog yto help this adolesc ent overc ome his

problem?


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Formation of intelligenc e

CommunicatedintelligenceEgo-centricthoughtDirectedthought

Mythological

thought

Autistic thoughtUndirected

thought

Communicable

thought

Non-

communicablethought


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Piaget Referenc e Piaget, J. (1951). The b iologica l p rob lem of intelligenc e. Organiza tion and

patho logy o f thought. New York, Co lumbia University Press: 176-192.

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