Transcript Characteristics of Formal Operational Thought

Piaget’s Model
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Model of how children think, not just the
content of their thinking
Cognitive development proceeds through a
set sequence of qualitatively distinct stages
that are progressively more advanced
Timing of transitions to next stage influenced
primarily by biologically maturation, and
secondarily by environmental stimulation
Child as Active Agent
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Biological maturation places a limit on
how much learning can take place at
any given developmental point
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But, children are not passive recipients
of the environment, but seek stimulation
at their level
Childhood Cognitive
Developmental Stages
Sensorimotor
(ages 0-2)
Preoperational
(2 to ~7)
Concrete operations
(~7 to ~11)
Formal operations
Learning to coordinate sensory
experience with motor
movement
Symbolic reasoning (esp.
language), but limited mental
operations
Mental operations in physical
world (e.g., conservation of
mass)
Logical & abstract thought,
hypothesis formulation and
testing, metacognition
Piaget on Reasoning of Adolescents
Adolescents begin to apply propositional
logic (applying principles of logic to
abstract and social reasoning)
 They begin to approach problems with
systematic strategies:
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 E.g.,
holding all but 1 variable constant
 E.g., systematically test all possibilities
Characteristics of Formal
Operational Thought
Idealistic
Logical
Abstract
Adolescents
often think
about what is
possible. They
think about ideal
characteristics
of themselves,
others, and the
world.
Adolescents begin
to think more like
scientists, devising
plans to solve
problems and
systematically
testing solutions.
“HypotheticalDeductive
Reasoning”(Piaget)
Adolescents
think more
abstractly than
children. Formal
operational
thinkers can
solve abstract
algebraic
equations,
for example.
Are Formal Operations
Universal?
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Not all adolescents or adults use formal
operations
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By 8th grade, only 1/3 of teens use them
On tests of formal operations, roughly 40-60% of
teens and adults do not use them
Reasons for variation:
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Requires effort
 Varies with formal education, cultural norms
 Within person variability: may be used more with
some tasks than others
Metacognition
Thinking about thinking, monitoring
one’s thinking
 Ability to describe and explain mental
processes of ourselves
 Related to perspective taking
 Also a point where adolescents can get
‘lost in thought’
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Egocentrism
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Increased introspection can lead to
egocentrism
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Imaginary Audience
– Imagine that others are thinking about, evaluating you
(especially appearance)
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Personal Fable
– Belief that one is special and unique. Can lead to:
– Anguish: no one can understand me, no one has ever felt
this bad
– Hopes for a unique personal destiny: movie or rock star,
star athlete
– Invulnerability: bad things won’t happen to me
Integrate Multiple Concepts
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Adolescents can integrate factors along
several dimensions in abstract problems
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In self-descriptions and understanding of
social events, adolescents can integrate
seeming contradictions, and multiple
perspectives
Relativism
Children believe in absolute knowledge
that exists in environment
 Adolescents believe that knowledge is a
mental construction, and is relative
 “Accommodation” of formal thought
occurs in late adolescence, when
adolescent must face adult social
demands
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Postformal Thought
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Theoretically is an achievement of early
adulthood
Pragmatism: taking practical limitations into
account (e.g., social context) in one’s logic
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Inductive reasoning may be more useful than
deductive reasoning
Relativism Commitment to certain points of
view considered most valid
Postformal development may be more a
function of education and culture than
maturation
Advances in Perspective-Taking
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Perspective taking = ability to assume
perspective of another, and understand his/her
thoughts, feelings (Selman)
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Stage 0 (ages 3-6) Children don’t distinguish thoughts/feelings of
self vs. other
Stage 1 (ages 6-8) Realize others have different perspective, but
cannot take it into account
Stage 2 (ages 8-10) Aware that everyone is aware of others’
perspectives and intentions, which affects how both respond
Stage 3 (ages 10-12) Aware of 3rd person (system) perspective
(how others might view one’s relationships)
Stage 4 (ages 12-15) Aware that perspectives influenced by
institutions, society, etc. Aware of need for social conventions.