Piaget's Description Research Articles

Defensive misperception of the emotional contents of self/other communication

In this paper, I will be discussing a group of narcissistic patients who are not autistic, or psychotic but exhibit some autistic like symptoms in that they tend to misinterpret emotional communications and fail to detect aggression and attack in their own provocative language and behavior. As a result, they have very few friends, and often feel disrespected, discarded, and alienated by others. They easily feel insulted and get involved in interpersonal altercation. They fail to appreciate humor and show an inability to properly decode metaphoric language. They fit Piaget's description of developmental pathology in a paradoxical way, in that they exhibit an absence of both self-perception and objectivity, whereas acquiring possession of the object as such is on a par with the acquisition of self-perception. Very similar to cases of autism, these patients show a relative incapacity to participate in an intersubjective field.

An update on primary identification, introjection, and empathy

This paper tries to follow the historical development of the ideas related to the term “primary identification.” It is shown that Freud's thinking regarding primary identification was developed around the phenomenon of mass suggestion, which was explained using the concept of identification with the leader, “primary identification,” and Einfühlung. However, two false translations from Freud's German to English led to severe confusion in the subsequent literature. The most important one was that “Einfühlung” was translated as “empathy.” It is shown that Freud meant by Einfühlung something like affect contagion that was considered to be an inborn capacity to activate motoric patterns by just looking at the behavior of other human beings. This idea is a conceptual forerunner of mirror neurons. The activation of these is a prerequisite for empathy, but without separation between the self and the other, the attribution to which the feeling belongs is impossible. Kernberg, following Klein, uses the term “introjection” for the process of very early internalisations. We are proposing to discriminate interjections from identifications following Piaget's description of assimilation versus accommodation.

Psychology and schooling: the impact of Susan Isaacs and Jean Piaget on 1960s science education reform

Piaget's fundamental psychology of mental growth not merely supports [activity] methods, but decisively demands them. A radical activity approach over virtually the whole front of education is in fact now shown to be the only one that makes psychological sensemdash; at least for all the primary period, and even well into the secondary. (Nathan Isaacs [1965] Piaget: Some Answers to Teachers' Questions). The importance of Piaget's description of thought as internalized action lies in driving home to us our responsibility in providing enough action to internalize if we wish our children to become good thinkers. (M. Brearley [1963] ‘The practical implications for the teacher’, in First Years in First Years in School)… the study of science fits in with each stage of a child's intellectual growth, as Piaget sees it, from the time of his entry into infant school to adolescence. (Nuffield Foundation [1967] Nuffield Junior Science: Teacher's Guide 1)

The New Science of Life and Learning Differences

In the study of learning differences, attention has recently been given to holistic, dialectical concepts of development and learning such that cognitive processes are defined and investigated relative to their dynamic, transforming, hierarchically organized systems of energy. Such a point of view is consistent with the new science of life in which matter has, as its essence, active, dynamic forms of hierarchically organized energy that are bound within fields. The hierarchical nature of energy forms is due to their organization into distinct systems of order with varying levels of complexity. Openings for energy exchanges within and between individual energy systems are created from perturbations as systems interact with the environment and result in the reorganization and expansion of activity that give birth to more complex structures. Piaget's description of cognitive processes as dynamic, transforming, hierarchically organized systems of energy that evolve in interaction with the environment calls into question the validity of current reductionist assumptions regarding learning differences. At the same time, Piaget's insights (and those of similar progressive thinkers) provide a foundation upon which to build an understanding of learning differences consistent with the principles of the new science of life.

The child's understanding of correspondence relations.

A number of quantitative comparison tasks were designed to tap knowledge of injective and surjecfive correspondences, one-directional compositions (greater + greater yields greater), countervailing compositions (greater + lesser yields ?), and length-density relations in 4- to 7-year-olds. The results indicated that performance on the comparison tasks was related to performance on a number conservation test as well as to age. Nonconservers performed at better than chance levels on tasks that tapped an elementary knowledge of injective and surjective correspondences; concrete-operational children, ~3weve~ tended perform better on all tasks. Uncorrected and disattenuated correlation coefficients revealed considerable consistency across measures, Factor analyses, with and without age included, yielded a unitary factor. An explanation of the results based on perceptual salience was ruled out. In the 1960s a new look in Genevan theory emerged with Piaget's description of a psychology of functions and correspondences. An important feature of the theory has been the attribution of a number of cognitive accomplishments to preoperational children. Previously, the Genevans were more apt to characterize preoperational children by the cognitive behaviors they lacked in comparison with concrete-operational children (Schonfeld, 1986). Developments in the Genevan psychology of functions and correspondences have enabled investigators to obtain more detailed descriptions of what both preoperational and concrete-operational children can accomplish (Piaget, Grize, Szeminska, & Vinh-Ban?= 1968/1977).

A Synthesis of Social Cognition and Writing Research

The fields of social cognition and writing have both evolved significantly from their infancy in the 1960s. Yet by 1960, each field had already suffered from years of neglect; a social-cognitive framework was initially published in the 1930s (Mead, 1934), while audience awareness in speaking and writing was first addressed by Aristotle (Cooper, 1932). During the 1970s, cognitive-developmentalists interested in audience awareness in writing found Piaget's (1926) description of the egocentrism displayed by children in various communicative tasks particularly appealing. The combined acceptance by these writing researchers of the concepts of egocentrism and decentration led to a growing concern for audience awareness and adaptation in written communication. However, many researchers noted the limitations of cognitively based audience heuristics and the conflicting evidence regarding egocentrism. Support for their views on writing was found in the new field of social cognition and writing. Of the four theoretical positions currently advanced in the field, Rubin's (1984) multidimensional proposal dominates the research. Although the actual studies generated have been few, numerous theoretical and methodological problems already plague this area of research. Nonetheless, the emerging social-cognitive model of writing presents implications for research and teaching not available under traditional perspectives.

Piagetian assessment measures revisited: Issues and applications

This article evaluates scales based on Piaget's description of cognitive development in children. First, there is a presentation of the more prominent Piagetian scales. Following a rational comparison of Piagetian approaches vis-a-vis psychometric approaches, the empirical relationships between the types of scales are discussed. Next, the issue of nonbiased assessment of blacks and Hispanics is analyzed with respect to Piagetian measures. Lastly, implications of Piagetian assessment procedure for school psychologists are examined.

Information Processing and Cognitive Development

Publisher Summary This chapter characterizes information processing as a general framework for understanding human cognitive growth that has had enormous impact on the study of cognition and over the past decade it has been adopted by a growing number of developmental psychologists. Journals and books contain numerous articles about the development of information-processing skills in children, in sharp contrast to the recent past when such topics were only rarely mentioned. It is emphasized that information processing, as a general perspective, has considerable potential for developmental work, and some relevant characteristics and implications of information processing is described. Information processing was not influential in developmental psychology until the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this period two essentially independent events brought information processing to the forefront of developmental research. First, psychologists studying the development of attention and memory based their work, in part, on information-processing models derived from experimental psychology. Second, several psychologists from the information-processing became interested in Piaget's description of children's understanding of concepts like transitivity and class inclusion. These psychologists proposed radically different interpretations of the phenomena, and their research sometimes produced findings that were hard to reconcile with Piaget's account of development.

Performance on a Stage IV Object-Permanence Task with Standard and Nonstandard Covers

Piaget's description of object concept development is based on success in performing a series of search tasks. However, failure to perform successfully may result from undeveloped aspects of the cognitive or motor system unrelated to a concept of objects. This study examined the role of perceptual-motor development in a typical Stage IV task by comparing performance given a standard cloth cover or a small card cover. Subjects were 10 infants 147--187 days old (median age = 160 days). A pass was defined as the retrieval of the toy within 30 sec on 2 out of 3 trials. The difference in performance between the 2 cover conditions was significant (p = .032). These results advise caution in interpreting Stage IV performance in terms of a developing object concept.

Performance on a Stage IV Object-Permanence Task with Standard and Nonstandard Covers

Piaget's description of object concept development is based on success in performing a series of search tasks. However, failure to perform successfully may result from undeveloped aspects of the cognitive or motor system unrelated to a concept of objects. This study examined the role of perceptual-motor development in a typical Stage IV task by comparing performance given a standard cloth cover or a small card cover. Subjects were 10 infants 147--187 days old (median age = 160 days). A pass was defined as the retrieval of the toy within 30 sec on 2 out of 3 trials. The difference in performance between the 2 cover conditions was significant (p = .032). These results advise caution in interpreting Stage IV performance in terms of a developing object concept.

Essay Reviews

Beginning with research published in the 1920's, Jean Piaget's description of the development of cognition is a monumental achievement, the reason that he is one of the most influential psychologists alive today. During the past decade, increasing numbers of American educators have become interested in the implications of Piaget's work for the classroom. Early attempts at applying Piaget's theory to education were based on his theory of cognitive stages which had essentially been completed by the 1950's. Stage theory was, however,only a part of the task which Piaget had set for himself at the outset of his career, a model of psychological development firmly grounded in both modern evolutionary theory and in philosophy. Biology and Knowledge is the captstone of that effort, the result of nearly a half century of work attempting to link the two fields. This model—resting on the notion of a macrogenetic sequence of biological-epistemological structures—implies and suggests research on a complementary notion, the process of equilibration. This process has in fact been the focus of much of Piaget's research during the past decade.

A Developmental Model of Human Learning

This chapter proposes the conception of developmental learning that involves a processor that operates on information that is processed, transformed, and integrated into ongoing behavior by activated schemes, and an organized set of cognitive subprocesses that regulate a continuous flow of information to (and from) the processor. The processor encompasses the underlying cognitive schemes available to the child at each level of development. These capabilities determine the kinds of solution plans the child may generate and execute and, consequently, they are reflected in the efficiency with which information is processed. As a first approximation, the processor schemes are identified with Piaget's description of the cognitive operations available to preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational thought. The cognitive subprocesses probably involve differentiating environmental cues, attentional mechanisms, coding processes, memory storage, and retrieval from memory. The efficiency with which various subprocesses function changes quantitatively with development, and in some cases they are readily manipulable in the laboratory.

Conservation of quality attained by Iranian elementary school children.

808 Iranian elementary school children (aged 6.00 to 12.11 yr.) were tested for development of quantity conservation by boys and girls. Outcomes corroborated the Piaget description of the sequential development of the conservation of mass, weight, and volume. Boys obtained higher scores than girls.

Conservation of mass, weight, and volume in intermediate grades.

84 girls and 97 boys from intermediate grades were tested for quantity conservation. Results confirmed the Piaget description of the sequential attainment of the conservation of mass, weight, and volume. Sex differences were not significant. The more intelligent children scored better than those with lower IQs.

Linear Measurement in the Primary Grades: A Comparison of Piaget's Description of the Child's Spontaneous Conceptual Development and the SMSG Sequence of Instruction

The paper presents a discussion of the problem of relating research on the intellectual development of children to curriculum construction in mathematics. The work of Piaget in investigating concepts stressed in school learning is seen as relevant to this problem, and particularly his outline of the development of the concept and use of measurement. SMSG materials on linear measurement are outlined for grades 1 to 3, and Piaget's stages of spontaneous development of measurement are also outlined for the corresponding age levels. A comparison of Piaget's descriptions of development and the SMSG sequence of instruction is made; discrepancies are indicated, and note is made of the educational implications.

Linear Measurement in the Primary Grades: A Comparison of Piaget's Description of the Child's Spontaneous Conceptual Development and the SMSG Sequence of Instruction

Linear Measurement in the Primary Grades: A Comparison of Piaget's Description of the Child's Spontaneous Conceptual Development and the SMSG Sequence of Instruction

Piaget's conservation tasks: The logical and development priority of identity conservation

The present research has investigated Elkind's conceptual distinction between identity conservation and equivalence conservation. Although Piaget's description and analysis of conservation acquisition rests primarily on considerations of identity conservation, his assessment format has been exclusively equivalence conservation. The present argument contends that equivalence conservation subsumes identity conservation ability, but also includes a necessary logical deduction sequence for adequate equivalence conservation performance. Accordingly, identity conservation should be an earlier developmental acquisition than equivalence conservation. Appropriate settings were devised for identity and equivalence conservation assessment which equated the two conservation tasks in terms of perceptual cues and memory requirements. The tasks were administered, in a nonrepeated measures design, to equal numbers of males and females at the kindergarten, first, and second grade levels. A nonparametric multiple contingency analysis revealed that the main effects of conservation task type, age levels, and the sex dichotomy were significant. It was concluded that identity conservation definitely precedes equivalence conservation as a developmental achievement. Accordingly, Piaget's view of identity and equivalence conservation as simultaneous or concommitant developments is erroneous. Identity conservation cannot be adequately assessed in the conventional paired-stimulus format, and care should be taken in considering identity processes or explanatory concepts as a complete description of equivalence conservation achievement.