Animism: A Study of Piaget’s Theory

1. Animism: A Study of Piaget’s Theory By Scott Crisp, Viron Hackney and Jeff Kress

2. Jean Piaget – 1896-1980 • Born in Neuchatel, Switzerland to Arthur Piaget and Rebecca Jackson • Interested in science and philosophy as a child • Entered the University of Neuchatel, where he received his Doctorate in science • In 1923 he married Valentine Chatenay, a student co-worker. They had three children together, using them as the basis for their intense research. • In 1950, he published his synthesis, Introduction to Genetic Epistemology.

3. Animism • Animism – the tendency to regard objects as living and endowed with a will • Shedding the Animistic thought process occurs between the Preoperational and Concrete Operational Stages (roughly 4-8 years of age) • Piaget believed that a child will shed the Animistic thought process around 8+ years of age, regardless of their status.

4. Inherent Problems • Does the child attribute consciousness to the objects around him and in what measure? (2) What does the concept of Life imply to the child? (3) What type of necessity does the child see in natural laws, moral necessity or physical determinism ?

5. 4 Stages of Animism • Everything Active is Conscious……Stage 1 • Everything that Moves is Conscious….. “”2 • Intrinsic Movement is Conscious……… “”3 • Animal World is Conscious……………. “”4

6. Our Hypothesis • Piaget argues that children reach the point of understanding animism around the age of 8. We argue that children as young as 6 can obtain a reasonable understanding of animism.

7. The Study • We interviewed 18 students from Holy Family • 6 students each from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. • 3 boys and 3 girls from each grade • Students were asked 16 questions, 4 questions for each stage in Piaget’s theory • Based on their answers for each section, we placed the children in 1 of 4 categories, or stages, described by Piaget.

8. Eh oh

9. 1st Grade • Ashley (6) …………………………Stage 1 • Tessy (6) …………………………Stage 1 • Britton (7) …………………………Stage 4 • Andrew (6)…………………………Stage 4 • Bryce (7) …………………………..Stage 4 • Josh (7) ……………………………Stage 4

10. Well said……….. • “No, the chair is made of metal, not blood, so it won’t feel the needle” - Josh, 7 • “No, the tree can only feel a chainsaw” – Andrew, 6 • “Uh, No, the sun would melt the needle, duh” - Ashley, 6

11. 2nd Grade • Everett (8)…………………………..Stage 3 • Lauren (8)………………………….Stage 3 • Sophia (8)…………………………..Stage 3 • Juliana (8)…………………………..Stage 3 • Arturo (8) ……………..…….Almost to 2nd • Matt (8) ……………………Almost to 2nd

12. Oh I see…. • “Yea, the mouse will feel the poke, unless you kill it first” - Lauren, 8 • “No it doesn’t feel the tree, the wind doesn’t have eyes” - Juliana, 8 • “Are you really gonna poke me with a needle?” - Sophia, 8

13. 3rd Grade • Myriah (9) …………………………Stage 4 • Laaiba (8) ………………………...Stage 4 • Tyler (9) ………………………….Stage 1 • Kyle (9) …………………………..Stage 3 • Jonathon (9) ……………………..Stage 3 • Lauren (9) ………………………..Stage 2*

14. So…………….. We were right…… sort of...

15. Terms • Animism • Preoperational • Concrete Operational • Physical Determinism • Moral Necessity

16. Do-Overs This study would probably have been better if we had: • Interviewed younger children • Tried our own questions. No offense to the good doctor, but Piaget’s questions seemed a bit outdated