David Elkind

EGOCENTRISM IN ADOLESCENCE

This paper describes the different forms of egocentrism characteristic of each of the major stages of cognitive growth outlined by Piaget. Particular attention is paid to the egocentrism of adolescence which is }iere described as the failure to differentiate between the cognitive concerns of others and those of the self. This adolescent egocentrism is said to give rise to 2 mental constructions, the imaginary audience and tJie personal fable, which help to account for certain forms of adolescent behavior and experience. These considerations suggest, it is concluded, that the cognitive structures peculiar to a given age period can provide insights with respect to the personality characteristics of that age level.

Piaget's conservation problems.

An effort is made to show that every conservation problem assesses 2 forms of conservation-identity and equivalence-and that Piagets theory of conservation is a theory of the conservation of identity and not of equivalence. Misunderstandings of Piagets position on conservation are attributed to his failure to make clear the distinction between the 2 forms of conservation, and his tendency to interpret conservation problems as assessments of the conservation of identity when, in fact, equivalence is the only form of conservation directly assessed by the standard conservation task.

Personal injury and property damage in the moral judgments of children.

ELKIND, DAVID, and DABEK, RUTH F. Personal Injury and Property Damage in the Moral Judgments of Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 518-522. 72 children, 24 each at the kindergarten, second-, and fourth-grade levels, participated in a study of moral judgment. Each child responded to 6 story pairs corresponding to all possible combinations of intentionality (intentional/unintentional) and type of damage (personal injury/property damage). Results supported the hypotheses that: with intentionality constant, children at all age levels judged personal injury as more culpable than property damage; with type of damage held constant, children at all age levels judged intentional acts to be more culpable than unintentional ones; and, when type of damage and intentionality both varied, young children judged according to damage while older children judged according to internationality. It was concluded that personal injury is an important dimension of moral judgment that should be considered in future studies of this aspect of child development.

Developmental Studies of Figurative Perception

Publisher Summary This chapter brings together various studies dealing with the perceptual development of children and shows their relation to one another and to the more general problem of figurative perception that provides their common theme. The problem of figurative perception has been discussed. The general theoretical background of the research, Piagets theory of perceptual development, is summarized. The studies concerned with the assessment of perceptual processes; studies concerned with variables affecting these processes are also described, and finally, studies dealing with the role of perceptual processes in higher-order cognitive activities. The chapter concludes by summarizing and commenting upon the research findings to date.

Cognitive Development and Psychopathology: Observations on Egocentrism and Ego Defense

Over the past decade and a half, American research on the cognitive development of children has received its greatest impetus from the work of Jean Piaget (e.g., Piaget, 1963). Most of this research started from Piaget’s later studies and theorizing concerned with the evolution of rational thought. Much less attention was paid to Piaget’s early work (e.g., Piaget, 1929) on egocentrism. But the work on egocentrism seems most closely related to psychopathology and thus seems to warrant more study than it has heretofore received. The intent of the present paper is to provide a brief example of one of the directions such a study might take. The paper is divided into four sections. The first section reviews some of the history of the study of egocentric thought. In the second section, some of my own conceptions of the evolution of egocentric structures in children and adolescents will be described. The third section of the paper deals with the relation between egocentric structures and ego defenses at three age levels. Then, in the final section, some clinical and research implications of the discussion will be briefly presented.

Behavioral Disorders: A Postmodern Perspective.

This article argues that, at any given time in history, our conceptions and theories of behavioral disorders reflect the basic social and cultural tenets that prevail. In support of this argument, the article describes how modern theories and conceptions of behavioral disorders were reflective of the modern beliefs in progress, universality, and regularity. Our contemporary conceptions and theories of behavioral disorders, however, mirror the postmodern themes of difference, particularity, and regularity. We are historical as well as social beings, and it is well to be aware of how much our science echoes themes of our contemporary society and culture.

Piaget's Theory of Perceptual Development: Its Application to Reading and Special Education

1 Revised from an invited address delivered lo Division 16 of the American Psychological Association, New York. 1966. This paper will describe an application of Piaget’s theory of perceptual development to the process of reading. Before proceeding, however, it might be well to make a few general remarks about Piaget and education. Although a great deal has been written on education in the name of Piaget, h e himself has never been very much concerned with pedagogical issues-and this for at least two reasons. First of all, he tends to feel that practical applications of his work are somewhat premature-that we need to have much more information about the mental development of the child before we begin tampering with educational practice. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, Piaget sees himself primarily as an epistemologist rather than an educator or psychologist and is more concerned with resolving philosophical issues through t h e experimental study of the child than with advancing psychological theory or improving educational practice. Accordingly, what follows here is an interpretation of the implication of Piaget’s perceptual theory for reading and is not necessarily the view of Piaget himself on these matters. The paper is divided into four parts. In the first part Piaget’s developmental theory of perception will be briefly summarized. In t h e second and third parts two lines of research on this theory will -be interpreted with respect to the process of reading. The concluding section will deal with some implications for remedial education.

Child development in educational settings 1

A year as headmaster of a small school suggested some practical and some conceptual issues regarding child development in educational settings. On the practical plane perhaps the most significant contribution child development can make is to provide teachers with developmental perspectives and with methods and techniques for assessing the childs view of classroom realities. On a more general plane developmental psychology needs to distinguish between the developmental, the school and the personal curricula and to help teachers coordinate the three rather than insisting upon a substitution of the personal and developmental curricula for the school curriculum. Developmental psychology could also be more helpful if it studied the complicated learning actually engaged in by pupils and teachers. Finally, if child development, or some branch of it, aspires to be a science of education, then new patterns of training combining teaching and research experience will have to be instituted.

Piagetian Psychology and the Practice of Child Psychiatry

This paper argues that the most productive relation between developmental psychology and child psychiatric practice derives from viewing developmental psychology as a science of child psychiatry in action. Viewed in this way the interaction between the two disciplines has to be seen as dynamic and ongoing rather than as static and final. The paper provides examples of this type of interaction in the domains of developmental norms, the understanding of ego development, and the conception of social reality.

Developmentally Appropriate Education for 4‐Year‐Olds

The education of 4-year-old children in our public schools is a social experiment with consequences for the entire society. The kind of education young children receive in the early years does make a difference later (Miller & Bizzell, 1983; Schweinhart, Weikart, & Larner, 1986). In my opinion, developmentally appropriate education gives young children the wherewithal to succeed in school and become