Culture and the Individual

Genetic Epistemology

Genetic Epistemology

Jean Piaget

Genetically (developmentally) determined

Epistemology = ways of knowing

Piagets research on his own (Swiss) children

Four stages of cognitive development

He believed they were universal and genetically programmed.

Piaget’s Stages

Sensory Motor – relating sensory experiences to motor actions, object permanence

Preoperational – use of symbols to think and talk and to solve simple problems, pretending, storytelling, drawing

Concrete Operations – logical mental operations on concrete objects, conservation of volume

Formal Operations – think about and solve abstract problems in a logical manner

Piaget: General Criticisms

Piaget’s theory is no longer a basis of understanding child development because of weaknesses in the theory

• Genetic contributions have been found to be less important than environmental factors

• Children can sometimes solve problems earlier than Piaget’s projected stage.

• Piaget’s theory describes stages, but does not say how change from one stage/task to another happens.

• Children have many more skills and abilities than Piaget describes in any of his stages.

New theories have been developedEG. Theory theory = children have an innate ability to make guesses about the world and test them against information in their environment.

Cross Cultural Tests of PiagetConcrete Operations

When people use concrete operations, they do so in similar ways cross-culturallyLag times up to 5 or 6 years in some culturesSome cultures acquire skills earlier (Mexico – pottery)Some operations not performed at all if not culturally relevantConservation tasks will be affected by subsistence strategies:

Hunting and gathering – better at horizontality - slower at conservation

Agricultural – advanced in conservation because of storage and transportation of goodsEcological factors do not affect sequences, but do affect

rates of acquisition

Cross-Cultural Tests of Piaget

Formal OperationsPeople in all cultures need training to get to formal operationsAll people have the capacity for formal operationsSchooling is a crucial factor in acquiring formal operationsTraining is necessary but not sufficient

EG. High school and University studentsAustralia, Mayalasia, India and Chinese-MalayPretests, training, post tests showedPretests showed differences (performance)Post tests showed no differences (competence)