Jean Piaget's Theory

Question 1

What is Genetic epistemology?

What does Epistemology and Genetic mean separately?

4pts

Answer 1

Epistemology: Study of the nature of knowledge

Genetic: Development or emergence

Genetic Epistemology: study of the development of knowledge

• When does knowledge begin –> When do we actually see when kids develop knowledge

Question 2

What is knowledge?

2pts

Answer 2

• not a thing, but a process
• involves “acting on the environment”

Question 3

What are schemes/schemas? Give an example

3pts

Answer 3

-Patterns of organized actions or thoughts
-Like a visual representation of information

Ex- if we see a dog, we have an image of a dog and have created a scheme for a dog

Question 4

What is assimilation?

2pts

Answer 4

• Fitting reality into existing schemes
• Applying what we already know to understand the world

Question 5

What is accommodation?

Answer 5

• Adjusting scheme to fit new information

Question 6

What is equilibrium vs disequilibrium?

Answer 6

Equilibrium: When our existing knowledge fits well with our current experiences

Disequilibrium: When existing knowledge does not fit well with current experiences. Must adjust our schemes.

Question 7

What are the 4 major periods in Piaget’s theory?

Answer 7

1. Sensorimotor period (0-2 years)
2. Preoperational period (2-7 years)
3. Concrete operation period (7-11 years)
4. Formal operational period (12 years and up)

Question 8

What is stage 1 of the sensorimotor period? When does it occur?

3pts

Answer 8

Stage 1: Exercising Reflexes
- up until the first month
- practice and repetition of reflexes

Question 9

What is stage 2 of the sensorimotor period? When does it occur?

What circular reaction do we see here?

4pts

Answer 9

Stage 2: Developing schemes
- 1 to 4 months
- Through habituation studies, we show them things and if they keep sucking then that means they recognize it but if they stop sucking it means they are seeing something new
- primary circular reactions (cause and effect) (ex- open and close their fingers)

Question 10

What is stage 3 of the sensorimotor period? When does it occur? What circular reaction appears?

5pts

Answer 10

Stage 3: Discovering procedures
- 4 to 8 months
- secondary circular reactions focused on external world
- interactions with objects of the external world
- object permanence

Question 11

What is object permanence and in what stage of the sensorimotor period does it occur?

2pts

Answer 11

• Understanding that things and people still exist even when you can’t see or hear them
• Stage 3: discovering procedures (4 to 8 months)

Question 12

What is stage 4 of the sensorimotor period? When does it occur?

5pts

Answer 12

Stage 4: Intentional behaviour
- 8 to 12 months
- develop cause-effect understanding
- anticipation of events
- “Coordination of means and ends”

Question 13

What is stage 5 of the sensorimotor period? When does it occur? What circular reaction appears?

4pts

Answer 13

Stage 5: Novelty and exploration
- 12 to 18 months
- “Little scientist” (in order to see what happens), trial and error
- tertiary circular reactions: has grasped cause-effect and now experimenting with it

Question 14

What is stage 6 of the sensorimotor period?

3pts

Answer 14

Stage 6: Mental representation- beginning of representational thought
- 18 to 24 months
- Anticipates and solve problems using “mental” combinations

Question 15

What is the preoperational period? When does it occur?

3pts

Answer 15

• Symbolic representation
• pretend play
• 2 to 7 years

Question 16

Ways of manipulating and understanding objects in relation to each other.

What concept is this?

Answer 16

Operations

Question 17

Childs inability to understand another person’s point of view from another person’s perspective.

What concept is this? Elaborate a bit.

Answer 17

Egocentrism
- The child believes that other children feel, think and experience life as they do

Question 18

What is Piaget’s Mountain Task? what does it show?

3pts

Answer 18

Children are shown a 3-dimensional model of a mountain and are asked to describe what a doll or person from a different angle might see. Children tend to choose a picture that represents their own perspective rather than the doll/other person’s view.

• Shows how often children see the world differently from adults
• Help develop theory of mind- ability to see things from another perspective

Question 19

Child talking to themselves for self-guidance, usually through an activity. The tendency for pre-operational children to assume that listeners knowing everything that they know, revealing difficulty with perspective taking.

What concept is this?

Answer 19

Egocentric speech

Question 20

Child’s tendency to focus on only one aspect of a problem at a time.

What concept is this? What is it a lack of?

Answer 20

Centration
- lack of conservation

Question 21

The knowledge that the quantitative properties of objects are not changed by a change in appearance. This is a concrete operational achievement.

What concept is this? Give examples.

Answer 21

Conservation
- realizing that just by things being stretched, cut, elongated, spread out, shrunk, poured etc they still have the same quantity

Question 22

Young child’s tendency to attribute properties of life to non-living things.

What concept is this?

Answer 22

Animism

Question 23

Proposed by Alfred Adler people want to succeed based on their goals and ideals for the future.

What concept is this? Give an example.

Answer 23

Finalism
Ex- Johnny believes he will work in a big company and earn a lot of money after finishing his degree, which motivates him to study more hours

Question 24

The belief that environmental characteristics can be attributed to human actions or interventions.

What concept is this? Give an example.

Answer 24

Artificialism
Ex- a child might say that it is windy outside because someone is blowing very hard, or the clouds are white because someone painted them that color

Question 25

What is the 3rd stage of Piaget’s theory, concrete operations? When does it occur?

4pts

Answer 25

• 7 to 11 years
• Acquire operations
• Logical thinking
• less thinking about themselves

Question 26

What is the 4th stage of Piaget’s theory, formal operations? When does it occur?

4pts

Answer 26

• 12 years and older
• logical
• abstract reasoning and thinking
• hypothetical- come up with theories