People often regard Jean Piaget’s theory as an ‘ages and stages’ theory – they see the theory as synonymous with the four stages of development and the cognitive tasks associated with each stage (for example, conservation and decentring). I am not arguing that the stages are unimportant to Piaget’s theory. However, it is a shame that other aspects of Piaget’s work are neglected.
In his 1970 book, Piaget began the overview of his theory with a discussion of the adaptation of the individual to their environment. This process of adaptation is motivated – we want to understand things because it is uncomfortable to not understand. This sense of being uncomfortable was called disequilibrium or perturbation. The process of overcoming disequilibrium/perturbation is called equilibration – this involves modifying existing schemas and creating new ones.
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