Piaget's theory of cognitive development: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:32, 9 December 2023

Revision as of 23:54, 25 December 2023

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===Cognitive equilibration===

Piaget agreed with most other developmental psychologists in that there are three very important factors that are attributed to development: maturation, experience, and the social environment. But where his theory differs involves his addition of a fourth factor, equilibration, which "refers to the organism's attempt to keep its cognitive schemes in balance".<ref>{{Citation |last1=Bjorklund |first1=David F. |last2=Causey |first2=Kayla B. |year=2018 |section=Social construction of mind |title=Children’s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences |edition=6th |pages=65-9165–91 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]] |isbn=978-1506334356}}</ref>

<ref>{{Citation |last1=Bjorklund |first1=David F. |last2=Causey |first2=Kayla B. |year=2018 |section=Thinking in symbols |title=Children’s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences |edition=6th |pages=147-198147–198 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]] |isbn=978-1506334356}}</ref>

.<ref>{{Citation |last=Miller |first=Brittany |date=June 2020 |title=Do Children Learn on Their Own or With Others? |work=You Don’t Say? Developmental Science Offers Answers to Questions About How Nurture Matters, Chapter 17 |publisher=Presswords}}</ref>. Also see Piaget,<ref>{{Citation |last=Piaget |first=Jean |year=1977 |title=The Development of Thought: Equilibration of Cognitive Structures |publisher=University of California}}</ref> and Boom's detailed account.<ref>{{Citation |last=Boom |first=J. |year=2009 |title=Piaget on Equilibration |work=The Cambridge Companion to Piaget, Chapter 6 |pages=132-149132–149 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CCOL9780521898584.006}}</ref>

Equilibration is the motivational element that guides cognitive development. As humans, we have a biological need to make sense of the things we encounter in every aspect of our world in order to muster a greater understanding of it, and therefore, to flourish in it. This is where the concept of equilibration comes into play. If a child is confronted with information that does not fit into his or her previously held schemes, disequilibrium is said to occur. This, as one would imagine, is unsatisfactory to the child, so he or she will try to fix it. The incongruence will be fixed in one of three ways. The child will either ignore the newly discovered information, assimilate the information into a preexisting scheme, or accommodate the information by modifying a different scheme. Using any of these methods will return the child to a state of equilibrium, however, depending on the information being presented to the child, that state of equilibrium is not likely to be permanent.

For example, let's say Dave, a three -year -old boy who has grown up on a farm and is accustomed to seeing Horses regularly, has been brought to the zoo by his parents and sees an Elephant for the first time. Immediately he shouts "look mommy, Horsey!" Because Dave does not have a scheme for Elephants, he interprets the Elephant as being a Horse due to its large size, color, tail, and long face. He believes the Elephant is a Horse until his mother corrects. The new information Dave has received has put him in a state of disequilibrium. He now has to do one of three things. He can either: (1) turn his head, move towards another section of animals, and ignore this newly presented information; (2) distort the defining characteristics of an Elephant so that he can assimilate it into his "Horsey" scheme; or (3) he can modify his preexisting "Animal" schema to accommodate this new information regarding Elephants by slightly altering his knowledge of animals as he knows them.

With age comes entry into a higher stage of development. With that being said, previously held schemes (and the children that hold them) are more than likely to be confronted with discrepant information the older they get. Silverman and Geiringer propose that one would be more successful in attempting to change a child's mode of thought by exposing that child to concepts that reflect a higher rather than a lower stage of development. Furthermore, children are better influenced by modeled performances that are one stage above their developmental level, as opposed to modeled performances that are either lower or two or more stages above their level.

<ref>{{Citation |last1=Silverman |first1=Irwin W. |last2=Geiringer |first2=Eva |date=Dec 1973 |title=Dyadic interaction and conservation induction: A test of Piaget’s equilibration model |journal=Child Development |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=815-820815–820 |publisher=[[Society for Research in Child Development]] |doi=10.1111/J.1467-8624.1973.TB01157.X}}</ref>

<ref>{{Citation |last1=Silverman |first1=Irwin W. |last2=Litman |first2=Ruth |date=Sep 1979 |title=Two tests of Piaget’s Equilibration Model: a replication and an extension |journal=International Journal of Behavioral Development |volume=2 |issue=3 |doi=10.1177/016502547900200302}}</ref>

<ref>{{Citation |last1=Levin |first1=Diane E. |last2=Feldman |first2=David Henry |date=Sep 1979 |title=Peer interaction as a source of cognitive developmental change |publisher=Spencer Foundation, Chicago |place=[[American Psychological Association|APA]] 87th Meeting, New York |id={{ERIC|ED179317}} }}</ref>

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===Formal operational stage===

<!-- This section is linked from [[Jean Piaget]]. -->

The final stage is known as the '''formal operational stage'''<!--boldface per [[WP:R#PLA]]--> (early to middle adolescence, beginning at age 11 and finalizing around 14-1514–15):<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.190772/2015.190772.The-Growth-Of-Logical-Thinking-From-Childhood-To-Adolescence_djvu.txt | title=The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence | year=1958 }}</ref> Intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. This form of thought includes "assumptions that have no necessary relation to reality."<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Psychology of Intelligence|last = Piaget|first = Jean|publisher = Littlefield|year = 1972|___location = Totowa, NJ}}</ref> At this point, the person is capable of hypothetical and deductive reasoning. During this time, people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts.

Piaget stated that "[[hypothetico-deductive reasoning]]" becomes important during the formal operational stage. This type of thinking involves hypothetical "what-if" situations that are not always rooted in reality, i.e. [[counterfactual thinking]]. It is often required in science and mathematics.

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To date, with one exception, it has been impossible to investigate such RNA hypotheses by traditional direct observation and logical deduction. The one exception is that such ultra-micro sites would almost certainly have to use optical communication, and recently studies have demonstrated that nerve-fibres can indeed transmit light/[[infra-red]] (in addition to their acknowledged role).<ref>Sun Y[an], Chao Wang, & Jiapei Dai (2010, Jan). "Bio-photons as neural communication signals demonstrated by in situ biophoton autography". ''Photochem. Photobiol. Sci.'', '''9''', 315-322. https://doi.org/10.1039/b9pp00125e</ref><ref>Zangari A., D.Micheli, R.Galeazzi & A.Tozzi (2018) "Node of Ranvier as an array of bio-nanoantennas for infrared communication in nerve tissue" ''Scientific Reports'', '''8''', 539. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-18866-x</ref><ref>Zangari A., D.Micheli, R.Galeazzi & A.Tozzi, V.Balzano, G.Bellavia & M.E.Caristo (2021) "Photons detected in the active nerve by photographic technique" ''Scientific Reports'', '''11''', 3022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82622-5</ref> However it accords with the [[philosophy of science]], especially [[scientific realism]], to do ''indirect'' investigations of such phenomena which are intrinsically [[unobservable]] for practical reasons. The art then is to build up a plausible interdisciplinary case from the indirect evidence (as indeed the child does during concept development) — and then retain that model until it is disproved by observable-or-other new evidence which then calls for new accommodation.

In that spirit, it now might be said that the RNA/infra-red model ''is'' valid (for explaining Piagetian higher intelligence). Anyhow the current situation<ref>Traill R.R. (2022) Coding for the Brain: RNA, its Photons, and Piagetian Higher-Intelligence through Action. ''Journal of Psychiatry and Psychiatric Disorders'', '''6''', 276-297. https://doi.org/10.26502/jppd.2572-519X0175</ref> opens the way for more testing, and further development in several directions, including the finer points of Piaget’sPiaget's agenda.

==Practical applications==