1. Culture and the Individual
Genetic Epistemology

2. Genetic Epistemology Jean Piaget
Genetically (developmentally) determined
Epistemology = ways of knowing
Piagets research on his own (Swiss) children
Four stages of cognitive development
He believed they were universal and genetically programmed.

3. Piaget’s Stages
Sensory Motor – relating sensory experiences to motor actions, object permanence
Preoperational – use of symbols to think and talk and to solve simple problems, pretending, storytelling, drawing
Concrete Operations – logical mental operations on concrete objects, conservation of volume
Formal Operations – think about and solve abstract problems in a logical manner

4. Piaget: General Criticisms
Piaget’s theory is no longer a basis of understanding child development because of weaknesses in the theory
Genetic contributions have been found to be less important than environmental factors
Children can sometimes solve problems earlier than Piaget’s projected stage.
Piaget’s theory describes stages, but does not say how change from one stage/task to another happens.
Children have many more skills and abilities than Piaget describes in any of his stages.
New theories have been developed
EG. Theory theory = children have an innate ability to make guesses about the world and test them against information in their environment.

5. Cross Cultural Tests of Piaget
Concrete Operations
When people use concrete operations, they do so in similar ways cross-culturally
Lag times up to 5 or 6 years in some cultures
Some cultures acquire skills earlier (Mexico – pottery)
Some operations not performed at all if not culturally relevant
Conservation tasks will be affected by subsistence strategies:
Hunting and gathering – better at horizontality
- slower at conservation
Agricultural – advanced in conservation because of storage and transportation of goods
Ecological factors do not affect sequences, but do affect
rates of acquisition

6. Cross-Cultural Tests of Piaget
Formal Operations
People in all cultures need training to get to formal operations
All people have the capacity for formal operations
Schooling is a crucial factor in acquiring formal operations
Training is necessary but not sufficient
EG. High school and University students
Australia, Mayalasia, India and Chinese-Malay
Pretests, training, post tests showed
Pretests showed differences (performance)
Post tests showed no differences (competence)