Piaget’s Developmental
Psychology
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
was one of the most influential researchers in the area of developmental
psychology during the 20th century.
Piaget was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of
cognitive development. Piaget originally trained in the areas of biology
and philosophy and considered himself a "genetic epistemologist."
(genetic= development, epistemology = study of knowledge).
He was mainly
interested in the biological influences on "how we come to know." He
believed that what distinguishes human beings from other animals is our ability
to do "abstract symbolic reasoning.“
According
to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically
inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based.
Piaget designed a proper framework to understand the structure , functioning
and development of the cognitive network of the human mind. He pointed that
there are two aspects of human mind : cognitive structure and cognitive
functioning
The
development of human intellectual abilities take place as a result of the organization
and reorganization of certain pattern of behaviour called schema
. Schemas constitute the structural units of human mind i.e., cognitive
structure .The process of organisation of theses structural units take
place by three different activities –assimilation , accommodation and
equilibration. These activities constitute the functional aspects of human
mind.
• Piaget
studied cognitive development by observing children in particular, to examine
how their thought processes change with age.
• He
pioneered a way of thinking about how children grow psychologically.
• It
is the growing apprehension and adaptation to the physical and social
environment.
• Piaget
rejected the idea that learning was the passive assimilation of the knowledge.
• He
proposed that learning is dynamic process comprising successive stages of
adaptation to reality.
The
essential development of cognition is the establishment of new schemes.
Assimilation and accommodation are both processing of the ways of cognitive
development. The equilibration is the symbol of a new stage of the cognitive
development.
Basic
assumptions of Development
• A
person has hereditary organic reactions
• He
is naturally active
• He
is born without mind
• He
Needs to adapt to environment
• To
adapt, he organizes thinking into Structures
(schemas)
Constructivist
Approach
Jean
Piaget’s theory remains the standard against which all other theories are
judged and often labeled constructivist because it depicts children as
constructing knowledge for themselves .
Piaget’s theory is
often described as a constructivist view. According to constructivists, people
interpret their environments and experiences in light of the knowledge and
experiences they already have. People do not simply take in an external reality
and develop an unchanged, exact mental copy of objects or events. Instead, they
build (or “construct”) their own individual understandings and knowledge.
Individuals
construct their own knowledge during the course of interaction with the
environment. Thinking is an active process whereby people organize their
perceptions of the world
Children
are seen as
• Active
• Learning
many important lessons on their own
• Intrinsically
motivated to learn
• Generating
hypotheses, performing experiments, drawing conclusions
Schemas
Schemas
are the basic structural units of human mind . They constitute patterns of
behaviour that an individual use in dealing with objects in his environment .
Piaget called the schema the basic building block of intelligent behavior – a
way of organizing knowledge.
A
schema can be defined as a set of linked mental representations of the world,
which we use both to understand and to respond to situations. Schemas are
mental or cognitive structures which enables a person to adapt and to organise
the environment. Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret
and understand the world.
For
example, at birth the schema of a baby is reflexive in nature such as sucking
and grasping. The sucking reflex is a schema and the infant will suck on
whatever is put in its mouth such as a nipple or a finger. The infant is unable
to differentiate because it has only a single sucking schema. Slowly, the
infant learns to differentiate where milk-producing objects are accepted while
non-milk objects are rejected. At this point, the infant has two sucking
schemas, one for milk-producing objects and one for non-milk producing objects.
Assimilation
Assimilation
is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation. The process
of taking in new information into our previously existing schema’s is known as assimilation.
Assimilation which is using an existing schema to deal with a new
object or situation. It is the process of taking in new information into our
already existing schemas is known as assimilation. The process is somewhat
subjective because we tend to modify experiences and information slightly
to fit in with our preexisting beliefs.
It’s a kind of matching between the already existing cognitive structure
and the environmental needs as they arise.
Eg: A child sees a Donkey for the first time and immediately calls it a Horse. Thus, the child
has assimilated into his schema that this animal is a Horse. Another example of assimilation would be when an
infant uses a sucking schema that was developed by sucking on a small bottle
when attempting to suck on a larger bottle.
Accommodation
Accommodation
involves modifying existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information
or new experiences. New schemas may also be developed during this process. The
boy who had assimilated the Donkey as a Horse will eventually accommodate more
information and thus realize the different characteristics between a Horse and
a Donkey. The child will learn that the Donkey is not a Donkey but a Horse, an
accommodated ability.
Equilibration
According
to Piaget’s theory , optimal level of intellectual functioning take s place
when there is a balance between assimilation and accommodation. This process of
maintaining this balance is termed as Equilibration. The
cognitive structure change from one stage to another by the process of
equilibration, maintaining child and his changing environment. As children
progress through the stages of cognitive development, it is important to
maintain a balance between applying previous knowledge (assimilation) and
changing behavior to account for new knowledge (accommodation). Equilibration
helps explain how children can move from one stage of thought into the next.
Adaptation:
Assimilation
and accommodation are the two sides of adaptation. It is the ability of the
person to adjust to the environment and to interact with it. It’s a process that takes place through direct
interaction with the environment. Adaptation occurs as a result of two
complementary processes, Assimilation and Accommodation.
In
the cycle of adaptation and equilibration, a new experience is first assimilated
into an existing scheme. If it doesn’t fit properly, cognitive disequilibrium
results. Accommodating (adjusting) the scheme brings the child to cognitive
equilibrium, until a new assimilation challenges the scheme again.
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