Egocentrism in Young Children - 1649 Words

â€Å"What does psychological research tell us about ‘egocentrism’ in young children?† â€Å"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†¦show more content†¦Piaget suggests that a child cannot be taught unless they are ready to be and that children go through a series of stages of development intellectually. His research suggests there are four stages; the sensorimotor stage between 0-2years, the preoperational thought stage between 2-7years , the concrete operational thought stage between 7-11years and the formal operational thought stage from 12years and above. After learning one development stage, Piaget says that the child progresses to the next. During the sensorimotor stage, he suggests that cognitive development consists largely of ‘object permanence’, ‘deferred imitation’ and ‘symbolic thinking’. During the preoperational stage, he shows that a child has developed language skills and is able to characterize things symbolically. Piaget also shows us in this stage how a child’s view of the world is different from an adults view of the world. We also learn about how Piaget’s research into children explains egocentrism, which is an important aspect of this particular stage. This is the belief of the child that people see the world in the same way as they do. He conducted a study called the mountains study where children were put in front of a couple of mountain models and asked them to choose from some pictures, the way he, Piaget, would see them. According to Piaget’s results, if a child at this age could take on the perspective ofShow MoreRelatedNaturally Immoral: The Purpose Of Egocentrism In Children.1213 Words   |  5 Pages Naturally Immoral: The Purpose of Egocentrism in Children In our society, people who only think about themselves and their own needs are considered â€Å"egotistical† and morally wrong, but for children this comes naturally. In fact, Piaget believes all children have a deficiency of preoperational thinking that he calls â€Å"egocentrism† (Berk, 2013). But if society frowns upon self-centeredness, why do children still use egocentric thinking? 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