FRENCH STRUCTURALIST MOVEMENT

1. FRENCH STRUCTURALIST MOVEMENT ANTHROPOLOGY: CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS LINGUISTICS: ROMAN JACOBSON GENETIC EPISTEMOLOGY: JEAN PIAGET

2. JEAN PIAGET

3. A YOUNGER JEAN PIAGET

4. A STILL YOUNGER JEAN

5. FRENCH STRUCTURALISM FRENCH STRUCTURALIST MOVEMENT WAS AGAINST EMPIRICIST/BEHAVIORIST APPROACH WORLD COMES ATOMISTICALLY WE RECEIVE THE WORLD AS IT IS THROUGH OUR SENSES WE COMBINE THE ATOMS MENTALLY THE ENVIRONMENT “IMPRESSES ITSELF” ON THE MIND

6. BASIC TENETS OF STRUCTURALIST APPROACH A.THROUGH RESEARCH, ONE CAN ARRIVE AT FORMAL PROPERTIES OF THOUGHT B.THESE PROPERTIES ARE UNDERLYING STRUCTURES, THAT ORGANIZE THE WORLD AND ONE’S THOUGHTS C.FORMAL PROPERTIES OF THOUGHT ARE STRUCTURAL INVESTIGATOR DEVISES A FORMAL MODEL (LOGICAL OR MATHEMATICAL) TO DESCRIBE BEHAVIOR D.FORMAL MODEL IS INDEPENDENT OF CONCRETE REALITY DESCRIBES MANY CONTENTS E.STRUCTURES ARE CLAIMED TO BE 1.INDEPENDENT OF TRANSITORY PHENOMENA A.MOTIVATION B.PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE (EMOTIONS) C.FORMAL SCHOOLING 2.UNIVERSAL 3.INVARIANT SEQUENCE 4.QUALITATIVE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STAGES INABILITY TO RECONSTRUCT FORMER THINKING

7. PIAGET’S QUESTIONS WHERE DOES NOVELTY COME FROM? WHERE CAN ONE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS TO THAT QUESTION? ONTOGENESIS (WORK WITH DEVELOPING CHILDREN) PHYLOGENESIS (WORK WITH SNAILS) HISTORY OF DOMAINS (WORK WITH GARCIA ON PARALLELS AND THEIR LACK IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICS CONCEPTS IN THE DOMAIN OF PHYSICS – PRE – NEWTONIAN AND NEWTONIAN CONCEPTS OF FORCE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SAME CONCEPTS IN ONTOGENESIS) IN ONTOGENESIS, THE ANSWER TO THE NOVELTY QUESTION IS STRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT 1. SENSORIMOTOR (BIRTH - ~1 ½) 2. INTUITIVE/PREOPERATIONAL (~1/12 - ~4,5) 3. CONCRETE OPERATIONS (~4,5 - ~11,12) 4. FORMAL OPERATION (FROM ~11-12 ONWARDS THESE STRUCTURES/STAGES ARE AGE-RELATED BUT NOT AGE-DEPENDENT FASTER OR SLOWER DEVELOPMENT IRRELEVANT TO PIAGET WHAT IS RELEVANT IS THE STRUCTURE/STAGE SEQUENCE

8. Structures/stage characterization SENSORIMOTOR CONNECTS BIOLOGICAL TO PSYCHOLOGICAL INFANT BEGINS WITH REFLEXES REPRESENTATION BEGINS AT THE END OF THE S-M PERIOD DEFERRED IMITATION INTUITIVE/PREOPERATIONAL END STATES BUT NOT REVERSE DIRECTIONS BETWEEN THEM IMAGERY TASKS EGOCENTRIC REASONING WITHOUT OPERATIONS CONCRETE OPERATIONS ABLE TO MENTALLY PERFORM OPERATIONS HAS REVERSIBILITY CONNECTED TO HERE AND NOW REASONING FORMAL OPERATIONS REASONS HYPOTHETICALLY AND DEDUCTIVELY THINKS ABOUT POSSIBLE WORLDS THINKS ABOUT ALL POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS PROPORTIONAL REASONING

9. WITH WHAT IS THE INFANT BORN? THE SENSORIMOTOR STRUCTURE IF PIAGET HAD CLAIMED THAT INFANTS WERE BORN WITHOUT STRUCTURES, HE WOULD HAVE TO ANSWER THE QUESTION ABOUT HOW INFANTS GOT STRUCTURES IF THEY WEREN’T BORN WITH THEM. WHAT IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ENTITY THAT DEVELOPS? MENTAL STRUCTURES WHAT CONCEPTS DID PIAGET SEEK OUT TO EMPIRICALLY TEST HIS IDEAS? BECAUSE OF HIS PHILOSOPHICAL BENT, HE CHOSE KANT’S CATEGORIES (AND OTHERS’) SPACE PERSPECTIVE-TAKING 3-MOUNTAIN TASK MENTAL ROTATIONS OF SELF YAEL AND HADAS DANCING PENCIL ROTATING MENTAL ROTATION OF OBJECTS PUZZLE: MIRROR EXTEND RIGHT ARM; WHAT GOES OUT IN THE MIRROR. THERE IS AN UP-DOWN MIRROR IMAGE. HOW CAN YOU PROVE IT?

10. TIME IMPORTANCE OF TIME IN PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY AGAINST EMPIRICIST/BEHAVIORIST POSITION THAT ALL KNOWLEDGE ORIGINATES IN OUR EXPERIENCES WITH THE WORLD TIME IS NOT IN THE WORLD IN THE WAYS THAT OBJECTS ARE HOW DO WE MEASURE TIME? WATCHES MEASURE SPACE COVERED AND WE INFER TIME IF TIME IS NOT EXPERIENCE YET WE CONSTRUCT UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT IT, THEN IT IS A CASE IN POINT AGAINST THE EMPIRICISTS/BEHAVIORISTS PIAGET DISCUSSION WITH EINSTEIN TIME’S COMPONENTS SIMULTANEITY SUCCESSION DURATION TASK TO MEASURE CHILDREN’S UNDERSTANDING OF TIME: A--------------------- B---------------------------------------- CARS A AND B BEGIN MOVING AT THE SAME TIME (SIMULTANEITY) AND GET TO THE END OF THE TRACK AT THE SAME TIME (SIMULTANEITY). DID THEY TRAVEL THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME (DURATION)? PREOPERATIONAL CHILDREN: NO CONCRETE OPERATIONS CHILDREN: YES

11. CAUSALITY CLASSIFICATION/SERIATION DREAMS OBJECTS (CONSERVATION) NUMBER (AGE 4,5) LENGTH (AGE 6,7) LIQUID QUANTITY (AGE 6,7) SOLID QUANTITY (AGE 7,8) WEIGHT (AGE 9,10) DECALAGE HOW DO STRUCTURE FUNCTION? PIAGET SAW 2 FACES TO THE STRUCTURE AND ITS FUNCTIONING ADAPTATION – FACE THAT TURNS OUTWARDS TOWARDS THE WORLD ORGANIZATION – FACE THAT TURNS INWARDS TOWARDS ITSELF

12. ADAPTATION THE STRUCTURE ADAPTS TO THE ENVIRONMENT INVARIANT FUNCTIONS ASSIMILATION – FITTING THE WORLD TO THE STRUCTURE ANALOGY: DIGESTION – WE BREAK THE FOOD INTO PARTS AND FIT THEM TO OUR BODY; THE REST GETS ELIMINATED ANALOGY: WE CAN HEAR WHAT OUR MENTAL STRUCTURE ALLOWS US TO HEAR; THE REST GETS IGNORED ACCOMMODATION – FITTING THE STRUCTURE TO THE WORLD ANALOGY: GRASPING IN INFANCY – THE WORLD COMES IN DIFFERENT SHAPES AND FORMS; THE INFANT CHANGES HIS HAND TO FIT THOSE SHAPES AND FORMS. BY DOING THAT HE GENERALIZES THE GRASP, I.E., GENERALIZES THE STRUCTURE. MAKES IT MORE FLEXIBLE ORGANIZATION THE STRUCTURES DEVELOPED DURING DECALAGE REMAIN IN EQUILIBRIUM WITH THEMSELVES EXAMPLE: THE CHILD BELIEVES THAT THERE IS CONSERVATION (NUMBER CONSERVATION WITH SMALL NUMBERS OF OBJECTS) AND NON CONSERVATION (NUMBER C OBSERVATION WITH LARGE NUMBERS) AT THE SAME TIME. HE IS BOTH CONCRETE OPERATIONAL AND PREOPERATIONAL AT THE SAME TIME.

13. WHAT IS THE MAIN MECHANISM OF DEVELOPMENT? DISEQUILIBRIUM OF TWO TYPES: ADAPTATIONAL DISEQUILIBRIUM LACK OF A FIT BETWEEN THE STRUCTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT LEADS TO DISEQUILIBRIUM TENDENCY OF THE STRUCTURE IS TO BE IN EQUILIBRIUM DONE IN 2 PRINCIPAL WAYS 1. STRUCTURE “IGNORES” THE DATA THAT DON’T FIT (COHERENCE MECHANISM) 2. STRUCTURE CHANGES TO BE IN EQUILIBRIUM (LEARNING OF DEVELOPMENT) EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE BY TURIEL (1969) PH.D. THESIS AT YALE HEARING MORAL REASONING AT LEVELS DIFFERENT THAN YOUR OWN ABOUT MORAL DILEMMAS +1: CHANGED +2: DIDN’T CHANGE MUCH BUT WHEN THEY DID, THE CHANGED TO +1 -1: LITTLE CHANGE BY PROVIDING REASONING DIFFERENT THAN THE REASONING PREDOMINANTLY USED BY THE CHILDREN, THERE IS A MISMATCH BETWEEN THE ENVIRONMENTAL INPUT (MORAL REASONING) AND THE CHILDREN’S STRUCTURE. THEREFORE THIS IS ADAPTATIONAL DISEQUILIBRIUM.

14. EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE OF ADAPTATIONAL DISEQUILIBRIUM THAT WAS MOSTLY GOVERNED BY THE COHERENCE MECHANISM BY STRAUSS, STAVY, & ORPAZ (1982). 10 C + 10 C = 20 C. TEST IT WITH A THERMOMETER. CHILDREN THINK THE THERMOMETER IS BROKEN THERE IS A MISMATCH BETWEEN THE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION 10 C + 10 C = 10 C AND WHAT KIDS THINK: 10 C + 10 C = 20 C ORGANIZATIONAL DISEQUILIBRIUM LACK OF FIT BETWEEN CHILDREN’S DIFFERENT STRUCTURES IN DECALAGE CHILD CONTRADICTS HIMSELF STATE OF DISEQUILIBRIUM INCREASES THE LIKELIHOOD THAT THE STRUCTURE WILL BE CHANGED COLD WATER + COLD WATER -SHAPED GROWTH10 C + 10 C = 20 C POTENTIAL ORGANIZATIONAL DISEQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN 2 CONTRADICTORY THOUGHTS THE CHILD HOLDS SIMULTANEOUSLY

15. WHAT ARE THE RELATIONS BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING? DEFINITION OF DEVELOPMENT: THE CONSTRUCTION OF A STRUCTURE FOR THE FIRST TIME DEFINITION OF LEARNING: THE APPLICATION OF AN ALREADY-EXISTING STRUCTURE TO NEW CONTENT FOR THE FIRST TIME. EXAMPLE: A CHILD HAS THE CONCRETE OPERATIONS STRUCTURE FOR NUMBER CONSERVATION ONLY. HE THEN HAS THE SAME STRUCTURE FOR NUMBER AND LENGTH CONSERVATION. THIS IS LEARNING BECAUSE AN ALREADY-EXISTING STRUCTURE (CONCRETE OPERATIONS) HAS BEEN APPLIED TO NEW CONTENT (LENGTH CONSERVATION) RELATIONS BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING? DEVELOPMENT RESTRICTS LEARNING. LEARNING FOSTERS DEVELOPMENT. YOU CANNOT LEARN (APPLY AN ALREADY-EXISTING STRUCTURE) TO NEW CONTENT IF THAT STRUCTURE HAS NOT YET BEEN CONSTRUCTED (DEVELOPED).