"FOR A-PLUS WRITER"

SOCIAL THINKING

· Egocentrism

· Moral judgment

· Animism

· Dreams

· Peer interaction

Egocentrism

· Inability to distinguish one’s own perspective from that of others, which doesn't necessarily mean being selfish

· Children’s perception of space

· Example of two boys getting a present for mom

· As long as children are egocentric, they tend to simply play alongside with one another

· Sandbox example (tunnel): as they overcome egocentrism, they learn to coordinate their actions in joint endeavors

· it requires considering each others’ perspective (concrete operations)

· Egocentrism may also influence on child’s speech (collective monologues)

· as they overcome egocentrism, they consider the reactions and view-points of their listeners

· Piaget states: child overcomes egocentrism, as they interact less with adults and more with other children

· The idea that once figuring out that adults seem to understand and others don't, the child learns to consider other’s viewpoints so that others can understand them

· Children are less impressed by the authority of other children and feel freer to engage in conflicts with them

· Whether they overcome egocentrism through peer interaction or not, Piaget’s theory:

· Children themselves play an active role in grasping the fact of alternative viewpoints

· Whatever step they take, they take on their own (examples with Piaget’s son)

Moral Judgment

· Piaget’s investigating children’s social thought including morals

· The moral judgment of the child (his work)

· How children understand the rules of the game of marbles

· He first observed how children actually played the game

· Found that between the ages of 4-7, children played in egocentric way (each playing in own way)

· Have little sense of winning

· After the age of 7, they try to follow common rules to play and win the game

· Next, he investigated children’s thinking about the rules

· Interested whether children thought the rules could be changed

· Found that children up to the age of 10 or so believed the rules were fixed and not changeable

· Thinking that the rules were made by gov. or God

· After the age of 10, the children were more relativistic

· Children no longer think of the rules as fixed or absolute

· Invented new rules (mutually agreed-upon ways of playing game)

· Two basic moral attitudes

· First morality: heteronomy

· A blind obedience to rules imposed by adults

· Characteristic of the young children

· Child assumes that there is one powerful law that they must follow

· Second morality: autonomy

· Considers rules as human devices produced by equals for the sake of cooperation

· Piaget believed that “moral heteronomy” is tied to egocentrism;

· The child views rules from a single perspective, seeing only what powerful adults impose

· Overcome of egocentrism:

· Moral heteronomy: at the age of 10 or so

· Egocentric play: by age 7

· Piaget thinks that: heteronomy is a form of egocentric thought and that the thought lags behind action

· When child gets engaged with peers so that they can actually change the rules to meet everyone’s satisfaction

· 10-11 years old arguing about the game rules;

· Takes a lot to decide who will be a leader

· Discussing what is fair/right and not

· During the process, they develop their conceptions of justice

Animism

· Different ways of thinking between young and old children

· Young children don't make the same distinctions between living and nonliving things

· They perceive everything as full of life

· Called this view of the physical world animistic

· Piaget was interested in their concepts and definitions of life

· At first, he found that children sees life with any kind of activity (between the ages of 4 and 6)

· Then, between the ages of 6 and 8 years, they restrict life to things that move

· Only after 8 years of age or so, children restrict life to objects that move on its own and later to plants and animals

Dreams

· Children’s conceptions of dreams

· Children’s understanding of dreams seems to follow a specific stage sequence

· Piaget’s dream sequence:

· At first, children seem to believe that dreams are real

· After, children discover that dreams are not real but still view them differently than others (adults/older children)

· They think that their dreams are visible to others and dreams come from the outside

· They also think that their dreams remain outside while they dream;

· As if watching a TV

· How do children learn about dreams?

· Assumptions that they first learn it from adults

· Piagetian believe that children actually discover the various properties of dreams on their own