Piaget (1932) argued that to understand the decision made by any individual, you had to first understand her schema. This is basically the generalized knowledge or expectation she might have based on her past experiences. The decision maker depends on: experience, skills, values, needs, goals, and their cognitive style. All of these come from their individual experiences that create who they are and are stored in their long term memory. (Kleindorger, 1993)
So, what you’ve experienced determines how you’ll respond to a situation. The decisions you make are formed from your positive or negative expectations of the results of that decision. You only know this from past experience or observation of other’s mistakes and fortunes.
Moral judgments, being linked to cognitive development, also go through stages. The first stage begins with preconventional thinking, where the child will obey because he is told to. In the last stage, postconventional, the individual has her own sense of right, wrong, and justice. This is based on Lawerence Kohlberg’s work (cited in Dworetzky 1989).
As we age, we have an increased tendency to rely on subjective feelings, rather than objective logic. Major criticism of Piaget’s theory feel as though he “assumes a progression toward a ‘pure’ state of reasoning, free from subjectivity and cultural contamination and totally objective in its search for truth” (Dworetzky 1989, p.416). It is up to you, the reader; to make your own conclusions on what is more right in decision making: objectivity or subjective justice. We all will have our own answers because we were all raised in a different culture.
Culture is a pattern of behavior, thinking, belief systems, etc. They are passed on from generation to generation. We do not think about our culture as something that could be a controlling aspect on our behavior, but it is. This is not saying it is a bad thing. Culture can give us a framework of learning that can put us at an advantage. Culture also gives us perspectives of the world that we can cherish and relate to. Our definition of the world gives us the tools we need to find our place in it.
1 comment:
As shown in your literature review, Jean Piaget was very perceptive in developing theories that emphasized recognition and understanding of how children think rather than just concentrating on the content of their thinking. His descriptions of how children think included the idea that they are active participants rather than passive recipients. It is interesting to note that this was the beginning of the recognition of the part personal interpretations of reality play in learning. These theories have finally led to Constructivist Theory of learning, in which students combine their pre-existing views and beliefs with new experiences to actively construct new understanding. The way the individual's personal experiences and cultural influences impact how and what a person learns and remembers were well established in your review. It is easy to imagine that these influences operate throughout a persons life, even into old age. I'll let you know, when I get there.
Post a Comment