Question

Jean Piaget suggests that acquiring knowledge is done through action. In other words, committing an action leads to knowledge and knowledge leads to action. Piaget stated that an infant advances their cognitive development when they reach a certain point of physical maturation. By developing their understanding of the world around them, infants are able to cognitively mature. As they are further exposed to the world, infants will naturally undergo assimilation, in which they will utilize their acquired knowledge in order to understand the new knowledge that is bestowed upon them. For example, a child who sees a cat for the first time may refer to it as a dog since it may have been the only animal they have encountered beforehand. A creature that walks on four legs, in their mind, may be interpreted as a dog, as they have acquired previous knowledge that an animal who does not stand upright is a canine. Accommodation takes place when we alter our actions and beliefs when exposed to a situation that either challenges or changes our understanding. For example, an individual is told a rather unsavory rumor about another individual. They may accept the rumor as the truth and proceed to view the other individual as “undesirable”. However, the two individuals share an interaction, and it seems that the rumors were false. The misled individual then changes their view of the other individual, as they are quite different from what they expected them to be. In short, accommodation has taken place. The process of accommodation is an essential practice, as it allows us to “fit in” with others and ascertain new information presented to us throughout our lives. Schemes are our basic ways of understanding and functioning. Both a physical and psychological concept, schemes allow us to interpret information from our world and how to choose the appropriate reaction.

IN 7-8 LINES WHAT DO YOU AGREE WITH PAGE AND HOW WOULD YOU COMMENT?

Answer 1

I agree with this page as our interaction with the outside world makes us understand the world and this understanding keeps on evolving as we grow richer by experiences. Thus by the process of accommodation new information or experiences cause us to modify our existing schemas. According to Jean Piaget, rather than making the new information fit into an existing schema, we change the schema in order for accommodating the new information. As experiences introduce new information or information that conflicts with existing schemas, we must accommodate this process occurs not only in the childhood but throughout our life. Piaget believed that it is important to strike a balance between the accommodation and assimilation. Thus assimilation is the process of accommodating new information into the existing scheme while accommodation is the cognitive process of revising the existing schemes.