Egocentrism in Young Children
“What does psychological research tell us about ‘egocentrism’ in young children?”
“Egocentrism is the tendency of children to cognize their environment only in terms of their own point of view” (Castillo, R.J, 1954). This technical meaning for the term was given by Jean Piaget who suggests that it is a state of mind where the child attempts to understand the world from their own point of view and fails to realise that other people’s points of view are different from theirs. Egocentrism is the unawareness of the child to be able to understand the difference from objective to subjective parts of experiences. In this essay, will be discussing different research studies looking at egocentrism in young children especially Piaget’s preoperational stage. I will then look at studies such as Dunn’s and Piaget’s perspective tasks, theory for mind and zone of proximal development.
Through developmental psychology, we can understand how young children interpret cognitively the world around them and the way in which they form relationships. Many people have different views on the cognitive development of children. Some suggest reasons the way children behave changes through time and that reasons differ amongst cultures. However, psychological research allows us to take such views and find scientific explanations for such behaviour in children. Developmental theories in psychology explain both nature and nurture and the contributions they play, and how the two influences work together. Explanations of development in children emphasise biology and claim that behaviour is innate, but fails to take into consideration factors such as difficulties in conducting research with infants and that nature influences can occur at any age and under different circumstances for different children.
Another influence on the development of a child’s cognitive state is the environment which includes both physical and social aspects. Skinners behaviourist approach suggests that the environment
“Egocentrism is the tendency of children to cognize their environment only in terms of their own point of view” (Castillo, R.J, 1954). This technical meaning for the term was given by Jean Piaget who suggests that it is a state of mind where the child attempts to understand the world from their own point of view and fails to realise that other people’s points of view are different from theirs. Egocentrism is the unawareness of the child to be able to understand the difference from objective to subjective parts of experiences. In this essay, will be discussing different research studies looking at egocentrism in young children especially Piaget’s preoperational stage. I will then look at studies such as Dunn’s and Piaget’s perspective tasks, theory for mind and zone of proximal development.
Through developmental psychology, we can understand how young children interpret cognitively the world around them and the way in which they form relationships. Many people have different views on the cognitive development of children. Some suggest reasons the way children behave changes through time and that reasons differ amongst cultures. However, psychological research allows us to take such views and find scientific explanations for such behaviour in children. Developmental theories in psychology explain both nature and nurture and the contributions they play, and how the two influences work together. Explanations of development in children emphasise biology and claim that behaviour is innate, but fails to take into consideration factors such as difficulties in conducting research with infants and that nature influences can occur at any age and under different circumstances for different children.
Another influence on the development of a child’s cognitive state is the environment which includes both physical and social aspects. Skinners behaviourist approach suggests that the environment
References: Cherry, K. (n.d.). John B. Watson Biography (1878-1958). Retrieved November 22nd, 2011, from About: http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/watson.htm G. Neil Martin, N R Carlson, W Buskist (2010). Psychology. England: Pearson Education Limited. Castillo, R. J. (n.d.). Egocentrism. Retrieved November 24th, 2011, from JRank: http://social.jrank.org/pages/223/Egocentrism.html