Are children selfish? Analyze 'Children's Cognitive Theory' to cultivate children's ability to think in multiple ways
Confucius said, "Do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself."
Thousands of years ago, Confucius said this sentence to tell us that when speaking and doing things, we must consider the problem from the perspective of the other party.
In life, we often need to be able to understand the "overtones" of others. And this ability seems to be something we are born with. For example: "This time the grade is great, my mother will reward me" "The teacher must think I did well this time" "The boss may criticize me today", as if we are all The Supernatural who have obtained "mind reading" ( superpowers).
However, is this natural approach really our innate superpower?
Let's think about it, in "The Emperor's New Clothes", is the little boy who exposed the truth of the emperor's naked body innocent and innocent, or did he not understand the "overtones" of the people around him?
We are often able to read other people's "overtones", which is actually determined by our brain mechanisms.
Our brains are like a high-speed simulator.
When receiving information from the outside world, the brain will synthesize the information to judge and analyze, and establish a corresponding response model. Or think in the opposite direction, with the help of more information, build the other party's reaction model.
Just like in a football game, the goalkeeper will judge the position of the opponent to insert according to the opponent's movement and the passing of the ball. In order to make technical actions such as saves or interceptions outside the restricted area.
In the same way, when we abstract the information source and use more diverse information to build the model, we will better get in touch with the essence of things. Rather than simply flowing on the surface of the phenomenon.
But for children aged 2 to 7, the abstraction of information does not seem to be an easy task. This is also the so-called "what I see is the world" stage that children are in.
In psychology, this stage is called the "pre-budget stage", and the phenomenon of children's existence is called the theory of "children's cognitive development".
Children's "I see is the world" stage, what is "Children's Cognitive Development Theory"
When it comes to "children's cognitive development theory", we have to mention a hallmark figure in child psychology: Jean Piaget. The famous Swiss psychologist once made a bold hypothesis about child development:
Compared with the abstract thinking ability of adults, children are not lack of experience, lack of understanding, lack of strong analytical ability, etc., but there is a lack of quality in content.
In other words, the reason why children cannot process complex information and establish a multi-angle way of thinking is not because children do not have enough knowledge and cognitive ability, but because of the physical development characteristics of children at this stage. .
Although the "Children's Cognitive Development Theory" has developed into the field of cranial nerves and has been continuously supplemented, Piaget's core views are still the framework of the theory.
To gain a deeper understanding of the different manifestations of children's cognitive development at various stages, it is necessary to establish the link between children's behavior and different stages of thinking through experiments.
The purpose is to further analyze the relationship between children's age stage and multiple thinking ability through this experiment.
Piaget, who was called "genius" by Einstein, put forward the "stage theory of cognitive development", which explained the above problem well, and his experiments to verify the conclusions have also become classic experiments in the history of psychology.
Two Classic Experiments on the Theory of Children's Cognitive Development Stages
- The Three Mountains Experiment—Children's cognition is self-centered
【Experiment content】
In a three-dimensional dune model, Piaget has placed three hills in a well-proportioned manner.
Immediately afterwards, Piaget asked the children to observe the model of the Three Mountains from different directions, front, back, left, and right, and then asked the children to look at four photos of the sand dunes taken from four directions. The dune scene seen by one person (experimenter or doll) is the same as which photo was taken.
【Experiment result】
The experimental results show that most of the children in the preoperational stage, that is, 2 to 7 years old, cannot correctly describe the dune scene seen by another person. Even think that the angle that another person sees is the same as his own.
【Experimental results】
Children in the preoperational stage are often self-centered, and children in this stage have cognitive irreversibility. Not having the ability to translate opinions is also a manifestation of lack of logic, and often choose to look at problems from their own perspective.
The performance in life is that children at this stage will be resistant to "sharing". This is not because they are born "selfish", but because they do not have the ability to think from the perspective of others. This is a qualitative difference rather than a learning equivalence difference.
- Conservation Experiment—Children's Thinking Begins to Be Reversible
【Experiment content】
Give the child two equal cups of water, where the two cups are exactly the same, then pour the two cups into a tall, thin and a short, squat container in front of the child, and ask the child which of the two cups There is more (or as much) water in the cup.
【Experiment result】
In the pre-operational stage, children aged 2 to 7 think that the amount of water in the two cups is inconsistent according to the height of the water surface, without taking into account the influence of the size of the cups, while children aged 7, 8 and above will do so. give the correct answer.
【Experimental results】
Children in the pre-operational stage often do not form the concept of conservation. Only in the specific budget stage will they consider the changes before and after the object through reversible thinking and conduct comparative analysis, think about how this change occurs, and come up with relevant answers. .
This explains why children over the age of 7 to 8 tend to be more receptive to their parents' knowledge, because children at this stage try to see things from a more diverse perspective.
Compared with children in the pre-operational stage, children in this period have improved qualitatively in their diversified thinking ability, and they need more quantitative training from their parents in the process of growth.
The significance of the theory of children's cognitive development stages to children's development
The theory of children's cognitive development plays an important role in analyzing the interaction between people. Psychologists generally believe that if we can accurately grasp the stages of children's psychological development, we will better understand and explain the collective society of human relations.
The theory of children's cognitive development establishes the relationship between children's age and cognitive level, which is the theoretical basis for helping children develop social abilities and better integrate into society.
When children are young, they do not like to share and are "selfish". Is the child "human nature is inherently evil"?
How to help children better develop the ability to think from multiple perspectives
When is the best time for a child to go to school?
These are a series of questions that plague parents. Piaget's theory of children's cognitive development stages points out that it is the best way to help parents solve the above problems by educating children at different levels in different stages of children's cognitive development.
How parents should educate their children according to the theory of children's cognitive development stages
- Pre-operational stage - children aged 2 to 7
【Phenomenon】
Children in the pre-operational stage often do not have the ability to think about problems from multiple perspectives due to age constraints.
This is not because of lack of education or lack of experience, but because children at this stage do not have this ability themselves.
In life, we often see that such children often do not like to share, they often strive for things they like, and even show selfish tendencies. This is actually because children at this stage cannot understand what their parents say "you think about others" and cannot hear the "overtones" of adults.
【practice】
For parents, the most important thing for children at this stage in the process of education is to stay calm and not to compare their children with others too much.
While educating children, we should also make the best use of the situation, through playing games with children and watching cartoons to establish enlightenment education for children to share.
This also answers why children should not receive premature systematic education. If children at this stage are forced to be systematically educated, these children cannot understand problems as quickly as other "big children". Introverted, and even lead to depression. There is also a "second grade effect" on grades.
- Specific budget stage - children aged 7 to 12
【Phenomenon】
Children at this stage will experience reversibility. Reversibility means that children can think backward about the phenomenon they have seen, and analyze it on this basis, thinking about the reason for this phenomenon, and then get the correct answer.
Children in the specific operation stage have the characteristics of conservation, similar to the problem of a pound of cotton and a pound of iron. Even if the children at this stage cannot answer correctly immediately, they will understand why they are the same weight, which is different from the pre-operation stage. the biggest difference.
【practice】
Seizing the critical period of the age of 7 is the key to cultivating children's diverse thinking.
Children at this stage tend to have a better understanding of their parents' phrase "think about what others think" because of the ability to think in multiple ways in their brains.
Parents should use their children's play time to discuss common life issues with their children, such as:
The cartoon I saw today, what did I do at school, etc.
Parents can try to help their children list different perspectives and point out how to deal with them. Take children to continuously build up the ability to think about problems in a variety of ways.
Children will develop the ability to think about problems from multiple perspectives in the training again and again, which will provide more help for the children's future growth.