J. Piaget's theory of cognitive development

Early stage of scientific creativity

≪The research of J. Piaget constituted an entire era in the development of teaching

about the child’s speech and thinking, about his logic and worldviews. They are from-

marked historical significance≫,” wrote L.S. Vygotsky is already about

Piaget's first works3. The most significant thing is that

Piaget abandoned the position that a child is “stupid” than an adult and

The thinking of a child, compared to the intelligence of an adult, has a

personal “flaws”, and for the first time set the task of investigating

qualitative originality of children's thinking.

Young Piaget, working in the laboratory of T. Simon, paid

the greatest attention is paid to the speech of preschool children, especially his

I was interested in repeated errors in answers to test questions.

sy. In conditions kindergarten a study was conducted in which

Roma observers systematically recorded all statements and

accompanying actions of children during free activity

(drawing, sculpting or playing). Piaget's analysis showed that children

statements can be divided into two groups1:

1. Socialized speech- characterized by interest -

ity in the response of the communication partner, its function is

impact on the interlocutor. Categories of socialized speech -

information, criticism, order, request, threat, question, answer.

2. Egocentric speech. The form of these statements can be

be different: repetition (echolalia), monologue, collective

monologue, but the general thing is that the child communicates what he is thinking about

swings in at the moment, not interested in whether they listen to him, what

point of view of the “interlocutor”. The function of egocentric speech is rather

expressive - “pleasure to talk”, accompaniment and

rhythmization of actions.

Having measured the proportion of egocentric speech in free

child's speech, Piaget established that the egocentric coefficient

speech is maximum in early age- 75%, gradually decreasing towards

six or seven years of age. A dispute that is not a

one hundred clashes of statements, and an exchange of points of view, accompanied by

given by the parties' interest in mutual understanding and

explanations, arises only by 7-8 years.

In the fact of egocentric speech, Piaget saw the most important evidence

establishing the qualitative originality of children's thoughts. Method on-

observation and intellectual testing, according to Piaget, are not

are able to reveal the specifics of children's thoughts. Test examinations

tions recorded only the final results of solving the problem, and

Piaget sought to penetrate the internal structure of thinking

preschoolers. Piaget developed a new method - clinical

(or clinical conversation method). Clinical interview method

Piaget is a free conversation with a child without restrictions on fixation.

with standardized questions. Content of communication between expe-

the tutor and the child concerned natural phenomena, dreams, morals

military norms, etc. The questions were questions that the children themselves often

asked to adults in everyday life: “Where does the sun come from in the sky?”

Why doesn't the sun fall? How does it hold up? Why does the sun shine

tse?≫, ≪Why does the wind blow? How does the wind happen?≫, ≪How do people vi-

do you have dreams?≫.

The clinical method is a carefully conducted observation

facts, age profile of speech and mental development. Research

The teacher asks a question, listens to the child’s reasoning, and then

formulates additional questions, each of which depends

from the child's previous answer. He expects to find out that op-

defines the child’s position and what is the structure of his cognitive

activities. During a clinical conversation there is always a danger

the ability to misinterpret the child’s reaction; get confused

not find the question you need at the moment or, conversely, suggest

desired answer. Clinical conversation is a kind of use

art, “the art of asking.”

Piaget's original hypothesis was that

intermediate form of thinking, egocentric thinking,

which provides a transition from infant autism to realistic

to the socialized thinking of an adult. Distinguishing between autistic

istic and socialized thought was borrowed by Piaget

from psychoanalysis. Autistic thought - individualized,

undirected, subconscious, guided by the desire for

satisfaction of desire; is revealed in images. Socialized

intelligent, rational, directed thought is social, pursues conscious

personal goals, adapts to reality, obeys

laws of experience and logic, expressed in speech. Egocentric

thinking is an intermediate form in the development of thinking in the gene

tical, functional, structural aspects.

Egocentrism as the main feature of children's thinking

consists in judging the world exclusively from one’s immediate

from a different point of view, “fragmentary and personal,” and in the inability to take into account

someone else's Egocentrism is considered by Piaget as a variety

unconscious systematic illusion of knowledge, like hidden

mental attitude child. However, the egocentric muscle

change is not a simple imprint of the influences of the external world, it is ak-

tive cognitive position in its origins, original

cognitive focus mind.

Piaget considers egocentrism as the root, as the foundation

all other features of children's thinking. Egocentrism is not subject to

given to direct observation, it is expressed through other

phenomena. Among them - dominant traits children's thinking:

realism, animism, artificialism.

Realism. At a certain stage of development, the child becomes

looks at objects as they appear directly to them

perception (for example, the moon follows the child while walking).

Realism happens intellectual- the wind “makes” the branches

review; the name of an object is as real as the object itself;

the image of the object is “transparent” and includes everything that the child

knows about things. Realism moral manifests itself in the fact that the child

does not take into account the internal intention in an action and judges it only

according to the visible final result (whoever broke more cups will

more to blame - despite the fact that one person tried

and accidentally dropped the dishes, and the other got angry and broke the cup

intentionally).

Animism represents universal animation, hope

movement of things (primarily independently moving, so-

like clouds, river, moon, car) consciousness and life,

feelings.

Artificialism - understanding natural phenomena by analysis

ology with human activity, everything that exists is considered

as created by man, by his will or for man (the sun is

“so that there would be light for us”, the river - “so that the boats would float”).

Among the list of other distinguished Piaget characteristics of children's

logic:

Syncretism (global schematicity and subjectivity of children

sky ideas; the tendency to connect everything with everything; perception

details, causes and effects as a series),

Transduction (transition from particular to particular, bypassing the general),

Inability to synthesize and juxtapose (lack of connection between

I'm waiting for judgments)

Insensitivity to contradiction

Inability to self-observe

Difficulties in understanding

Impermeability to experience (the child is not isolated from external

his influence, upbringing, but it is assimilated by him and deformed

All these features form a complex that determines the child’s logic.

ka, and the complex is based on egocentrism of speech and thinking.

A clear manifestation of egocentrism is observed when children solve problems

A. Binet “about three brothers.” So, if there are three brothers in a family (Mitya, Vova, Sasha) and Sasha

they ask how many brothers he has, he answers correctly and names his two

At the age of six or seven, a child makes a mistake: “Odin, Vova,” because for ver-

For any answer, he needs to mentally change his position (take the position of his brother

Mitya), but he fails.

A clear example the child's egocentric position serves

experiment with a model of three mountains.

The child sat at a table on which was placed a model with three mountains of different

color and with additional distinctive features(snowy peak, up to

mick, tree). A doll was placed on the other side. The child was asked (in one of the

options for the task) choose from the photographs presented to him the one in which

The view of the mountains is captured as the doll sees them. Children up to six or seven years of age

tend to choose a picture depicting what they see themselves.

Piaget explained this phenomenon as an “egocentric illusion”,

lack of awareness of the existence of other points of view and

by not relating them to one's own.

What are they roots of egocentrism as a cognitive position

tions of a preschooler? Piaget sees them in the peculiar character of children

social activity (for example, parental care prevents all

material needs of the child, and he almost never meets with support

permanence of things), in the relatively late socialization of children

ka, in adaptation to the social environment no earlier than 7-8 years.

To overcome egocentrism, you need to realize your Self in

as a subject and separate the subject from the object, learn to coordinate

share your point of view with others. Reduced egocentrism

is explained not by the addition of new knowledge, but by the transformation of

running position. Relationships with adults - mainly from

wearing coercion, they do not lead to the child’s awareness

own subjectivity. The development of self-knowledge comes from

social interaction, are especially important in this regard

phenomena of cooperation between a child and peers, when possible

disputes, discussions. Thus, there is a gradual Yetsen-

tradition of knowledge, socialized thought displaces egocentric

cultural, and egocentric speech disappears, dies.

The main concepts considered in this theory in relation to development: intelligence, thinking. J. Piaget defines development as a process of active construction in which children build increasingly differentiated and comprehensive cognitive structures or schemas. Scheme– any pattern (drawing, sample) of action that provides contact with the environment.

Intelligence is adaptive in nature and executes function of balancing the body with the external environment. Adaptation of the body to the environment is achieved through balancing development mechanisms- assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation – inclusion of an object in existing action schemes(ensuring stabilization and conservation). Accommodation– changing the action scheme in accordance with the characteristics of the object(growth and change).

Development is determined complex system determinant: heredity, environment and activity of the subject. Children's thinking is formed through learning organized by adults (environmental factor), which is based on the level of development achieved by the child (heredity factors). At the same time, children interact with the environment, building their own cognitive structures (activity factors).

In the process of developing intelligencethere is a successive change of stages, reflecting various logical structures of thinking, ways of processing information. Ultimate Goal development of thinking - the formation of formal logical operations.

Stages of child intellectual development:

The Greatest Discovery J. Piaget - discovery of the phenomenon of egocentrism in children's thinking. Egocentrism is a special cognitive position occupied by the subject in relation to the surrounding world, when phenomena and objects are considered by him subcritically, preobjectively only from his own point of view, which is absolutized and manifested in the inability to coordinate various points view of the subject. For example, in a situation where parents divorce, a child may feel guilty, reasoning as follows: “I didn’t listen to dad when he told me. I’m bad, that’s why he left.”

Characteristics of a child’s egocentric thinking: syncretism(unity) of children's thinking - perception of an image without analyzing details, a tendency to connect everything with everything; juxtaposition– the tendency to connect everything with everything; intellectual realism– identification of one’s ideas about things with real objects; animism- general animation; artificialism– idea of the artificial origin of natural phenomena; insensitivity to contradictions;impenetrability to experience;transduction– transition from particular to particular, bypassing the general; precausality– inability to establish cause-and-effect relationships; weakness of introspection(self-observation).

Security questions and practical tasks:

1. Describe V. Stern’s understanding of development.

2. What is the relationship between heredity and environment in development from the point of view of V. Stern? What does V. Stern consider the determinant of development: heredity or environment? Do you agree with his point of view?

3. What do you think is the determinant of development: heredity or environment? Justify your point of view. Give examples that prove the legitimacy of your views and the opposing point of view.

4. Name the development mechanism identified by V. Stern in the theory of development, and give its definition.

5. What conclusions were drawn based on the experimental testing of V. Stern’s ideas?

6. What is the difference between the understanding of development by V. Stern and J. Piaget?

7. Expand J. Piaget’s ideas about the adaptive nature of intelligence.

8. What are the determinants of development from the point of view of J. Piaget? Compare the ideas about the determinants of development of V. Stern and J. Piaget.

9. Name the stages of intellectual development of a child identified by J. Piaget. Reveal their contents.

10. Define egocentrism in children's thinking. Name its main characteristics.

11. Observe the children, record examples of manifestations of egocentrism in children's thinking.

The cognizing subject is not some abstract individual existing outside the concrete new position conditions. The process of cognition always takes place under certain circumstances. Let us remember this fact: when we climb mountains, at every turn a new look. What determines the emerging “picture” of the area? Is it only because of the existence of this area itself and our visual apparatus? The vantage point we choose plays an important role in what picture will be revealed to us. Moreover, we cannot make observations unless we have chosen a particular “point of view.”

Although the fact described above has been known to us since childhood, it allows us to understand, by analogy, the deepest feature of all knowledge. It has long been established in physics that the experimentally observed characteristics of moving bodies (speed, mass, position in space, etc.) have certain values not in general, but only relative to a certain reference system. In accordance with this, we can say that, in essence, any object of natural or socio-historical existence also exists and manifests itself in a certain way only in specific conditions, in a particular system of connections. It is in relation to such a system that we can talk about the quantitative or qualitative certainty of the properties of an object.

Summarizing what has been said, we can conclude that a person experiences the world every time from the point of view of a certain “cognitive position.” The results that he obtains in this case turn out to be valid not in general, but only relative to a given cognitive position.

In order to better understand the process of comprehending the world, it is necessary to take any subject of knowledge in the fullness of its socio-historical definitions and certainly consider it taking into account the specific cognitive attitude formed by the culture of a particular era. This installation assumes, firstly, subjective a moment expressed by the presence of a certain intellectual perspective in knowledge; secondly, objective moment, associated with the selected (out of many possible) consideration interval.

Just as when perceiving a picture, the “observation point” must be chosen taking into account specific circumstances that predetermine maximum clarity, so when choosing cognitive position must be taken into account objective conditions of knowledge. In this case, it acquires a new quality in epistemological terms: on the one hand, as a certain “reference point” of the knowing subject, setting an intellectual perspective for the vision of reality, on the other hand, as something externally determined, a certain measure that predetermines the objectivity of meaning and determines the scale of the approach to the subject being studied, a certain projection of it, highlighted by the subject with the help of the subject-practical and conceptual means available to him.

The fact that in knowledge there are many different semantic horizons that have an equal right to truth does not negate the fact that they are characterized by different cognitive capabilities. Three important methodological requirements follow from this: 1) when analyzing the process of comprehending reality, it is necessary to record the cognitive position occupied by the subject, its epistemological characteristics and capabilities; 2) fixing one position or another, it is necessary to achieve maximum consistency between the subjective and objective foundations of knowledge (epistemological focusing); 3) it is necessary to explore the logical and epistemological mechanisms of transition from one position to another.

It may happen that some statements about the properties and phenomena of reality turn out to be true not only with respect to given conditions of knowledge, but also when moving to others. In physics, in such cases we talk about invariant quantities and relationships. Two consequences follow from this: 1) when asserting some kind of truth, one must indicate the objective and subjective conditions within which it was obtained, 2) there is a class of truths that are valid for several cognitive horizons - this speaks of the unity of the world and the presence of deep connections in the process of transition from one truth to another.

According to R. Arnheim

The visual image is holistic, schematic, clear, abstract, and retains the meaning of the image as a whole.

Spatial thinking – operating with a spatial image.

Peter and Paul were asked the same problem: “It is now 3 hours 40 minutes; What time will it be in half an hour?” Peter does this: he remembers that half an hour is thirty minutes: therefore, you need to add 30 to 40. Since there are only 60 minutes in an hour, the remainder of 10 minutes will go into the next hour. So he comes to the answer: 4 hours 10 minutes.

For Pavel, an hour is a round clock face, and half an hour is half of this circle. At 3 hours 40 minutes the minute hand is at an oblique angle to the left at a distance of two five-minute divisions from the vertical. Taking this arrow as a basis, Pavel cuts the disk in half and hits a point that is two divisions to the right of the vertical, on the opposite side. So he gets the answer and translates it into numerical form: 4 hours 10 minutes.

Both Peter and Paul solved this problem mentally. Peter translated it into quantities not associated with sensory experience. He performed operations with numbers according to the rules that he had learned since childhood: 40+30=70; 70 - 60=10. He thought "intellectually." Pavel used an appropriate visual image in this task. For him, the whole is a simple complete form, the half is half of this form, and the passage of time is not an increase in an arithmetic quantity, but a circular motion in space. Paul thought “visually.”

According to I.S. Yakimanskaya: “Spatial thinking is a specific type of mental activity that takes place in solving problems that require orientation in practical and theoretical space (both visible and imaginary). In its most developed forms, this is thinking in images in which spatial properties and relationships are recorded. Operating with initial images created on various visual bases, thinking ensures their modification, transformation and the creation of new images different from the original ones.”

Egocentric, autistic and realistic thinking

Stages of development of a child’s thinking according to Piaget:

· autistic thinking – 0 – 2-3 years

Identification of subject and object, inability to separate oneself and the surrounding world.

· egocentric thinking 2-3 years – 11-12 years

Egocentrism is a special cognitive position occupied by a subject in relation to the world around him, when phenomena and objects are considered only from his own point of view. Egocentrism is the absolutization of one’s own cognitive perspective and the inability to coordinate different points of view on a subject. Tests for egocentrism: “Brothers”, “Three Mountains Test”.

· socialized thinking – over 12 years old

Decentration is the coordination of one’s own point of view with other possible views of an object.

J. Piaget identified the characteristics of a child’s thinking that constitute his qualitative originality:

· syncretism of thinking - a spontaneous tendency of children to perceive global images without analyzing details, a tendency to connect everything with everything, without proper analysis (“lack of connection”);

· juxtaposition - inability to unite and synthesize (“excess of connection”);

· intellectual realism - identification of one's ideas about things in the objective world and real objects. Analogous to intellectual moral realism;

· participation - the law of participation (“nothing is accidental”);

· animism as universal animation;

· Artificialism as the idea of the artificial origin of natural phenomena. For example, a child is asked: “Where do rivers come from?” Answer: “People dug canals and filled them with water”;

· insensitivity to contradictions;

· impenetrability to experience;

· transduction - transition from a particular position to another particular, bypassing the general;

· precausality - inability to establish cause-and-effect relationships. For example, a child is asked to complete a sentence interrupted by the words “because.” A man suddenly fell on the street because... The child completes: he was taken to the hospital;

· weakness of children's introspection (self-observation).

Speech thinking. Basic approaches to research

Speech thinking is a complex dynamic whole in which the relationship between thought and word is revealed as a movement passing through a number of internal plans: from the motive to the thought - to its mediation in the internal word - in the meanings of external words - and, finally, in words.

From Vygotsky:

"If you try in short words to formulate the results of historical work on the problem of thinking and speech in scientific psychology, we can say that the entire solution to this problem, which was proposed by various researchers, has always and constantly fluctuated - from the most ancient times to the present day - between two extreme poles - between identification, complete the merging of thought and word and between their equally metaphysical, equally absolute, equally complete rupture and separation.”

“Starting from ancient times, the identification of thinking and speech through psychological linguistics, which declared that thought is “speech minus sound,” and right up to modern American psychologists and reflexologists, who consider thought as “an inhibited reflex, not identified in its motor part,” passes a single line of development of the same idea, identifying thinking and speech.”

The Würzburg school separated the concepts of thinking and speech. The connection between thought and word is considered as purely external.

Thinking and speech are complexly interconnected and influence each other. The development of speech begins with one word (meaning a whole sentence) and goes to grammatically developed units, to statements. Externally, the unit is a word, but in terms of internal content, it is a thought. The development of speech is dismemberment, and thought, at first global, is dismembered along with it.

Thinking in some ways is ahead of speech, in some ways it lags behind - parallel lines converging in speech thinking in otogenesis. Unity of speech and thinking.

Language, speech and thinking

L.S. Vygotsky set out to explain complex shapes conscious activity from processes accessible to analysis. A materialist approach to causal explanation. It is necessary to go beyond the boundaries of the organism and look for the origins of conscious activity and categorical behavior in external conditions life, in the socio-historical forms of human existence.
In the process of division of labor, the need for communication arises, this leads to the emergence of language. The development of language leads to the emergence of a whole system of codes, the formation of complex syntactic structures - sentences. Language is gradually separated from practice. As a result of social human history, language becomes a decisive means of human knowledge. A person goes beyond the limits of sensory experience, he develops abstract categorical thinking.

Speech is a specifically human mental function, which is a process of communication through language (according to Rubinstein).

French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure:

· language is a historically established system of signs

· speech is the process of transmitting information using language, which is a form, not a substance.

Language is a certain code of rules that exists outside the individual and is independent, but obligatory for him.

Language is a purely social product, a set of necessary conventions adopted by a group to ensure the functioning of speech.

Language, unlike speech, is not an activity, but a finished product passively used by the speaker.

Language is static, but speech is dynamic.

Speech is language in action.

Questions for the exam in developmental psychology and developmental psychology

Question 8: Theory of convergence of biological and social factors.

Theories of convergence of social and biological factors

Having examined some of the currently most popular psychological theories, we saw that each of them offers its own view of a person. In some cases, human nature is determined by innate instincts, in others - social environment providing incentives and reinforcements. Is it possible to combine these factors? After all, it would seem obvious that man is both a biological and a social being. Maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle?

In an attempt to answer this question, the theory of convergence, or the theory of two factors, proposed by V. Stern arose. From his point of view, mental development is the result of the convergence (fusion) of internal data with external conditions. For example, a children's game: environment provides material for play, and how and when the child plays depends on the innate instinct of play. The problem arises of clarifying the relative roles of heredity and environment in the development of a child. To solve the problem of the relationship between the biological and the social in the process of development, an appropriate method was needed. This method was found in comparative studies of twins (twin method). It is known that twins can be monozygotic (MZ - with identical heredity) and dizygotic (DZ - with different hereditary basis). If children with different heredities in the same external conditions develop differently, then this development is determined by the factor of heredity, but if approximately the same, then the environment plays a decisive role. Similarly with monozygotic twins: if they live in different conditions(in different families) and at the same time their indicators mental development are the same, this may indicate that the decisive role belongs to heredity, if different - to the environment. By comparing the coefficients of differences between MZ and DZ twins living in the same and different conditions, one can judge the relative role of hereditary and environmental factors. This method is basic for psychogenetics - a science that studies the role of environment and heredity in the human psyche in general and in the development of a child in particular.

From the theory of two factors it follows that children with identical heredity, living in the same external conditions, should be absolutely the same. However, this does not happen. Both parents and psychologists have repeatedly noted that monozygotic twins in the same family grow up completely different people, despite the identity of both factors. Why does this happen? Perhaps both the hereditary factor and the environmental factor are not the main ones determining the development of a child?

Factual data and observations of a child can only be explained and interpreted on the basis of some psychological theory that gives a general idea of human development. The theory makes it possible to systematize observed facts, highlight the main lines of child development, and also provides specific concepts and terms for describing children’s behavior.

Historically, there have been two main groups of theories child development- theories of preformationism and theories of social learning. In one of them, development is understood as the maturation of innate mechanisms, in the other - as the accumulation of individual experience of interaction with the environment. Convergence theory, attempting to overcome the shortcomings of these two approaches, is built on the idea that child development is determined simultaneously by hereditary and environmental factors.

2. Theory of cognitive development g. Piaget

Development is determined complex system of determinants: heredity, environment and activity of the subject. Children's thinking is formed through learning organized by adults (environmental factor), which is based on the level of development achieved by the child (heredity factors). At the same time, children interact with the environment, building their own cognitive structures (activity factors).

In the process of developing intelligencethere is a successive change of stages, reflecting various logical structures of thinking, ways of processing information. The ultimate goal of thinking development is the formation of formal logical operations.

Stages of child intellectual development:

The greatest discovery of J. Piaget is the discovery of the phenomenon of egocentrism in children's thinking. Egocentrism is a special cognitive position occupied by a subject in relation to the surrounding world, when phenomena and objects are considered by him subcritically, preobjectively only from his own point of view, which is absolutized and manifests itself in the inability to coordinate different points of view on an object. For example, in a situation where parents divorce, a child may feel guilty, reasoning as follows: “I didn’t listen to dad when he told me. I’m bad, that’s why he left.”