Chapter 1. Characteristics of Formal Thought

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Synopsis

Formal operational thought is the fourth stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. As part of this exploration of the main characteristics of formal operational thought, you will view video clips of children in two different stages of cognitive development attempting to solve a problem that requires systematic thinking and combinational logic. You will then consider the implications and limitations of formal operational thought.

He showed these children how to manipulate four factors that have a possible influence on the oscillation rate:

1. length of the string (short or long);

2. amount of weight (heavy or light);

3. point of release (high or low);

4. force of release (drop the weight or push it).

Researchers find that the pendulum problem separates the concrete operational children from the formal operational teens. Concrete operational thinkers approach the task haphazardly. Manipulating the variables almost at random, they rarely arrive at the correct solution. For example, an eight-year-old might first try a heavy weight with a long strong and then a lighter weight with a short string and mistakenly conclude that the weight determines the pendulum’s oscillation rate.

In contrast, formal operational thinkers approach the task systematically manipulating one factor at a time while holding all other factors constant. A 14-year-old might first try a heavy weight with a long string and then a lighter weight on that same string while being careful to release the weight at the same height and with the same force both times. This 14-year-old might then repeat the process with the short string and then move systematically through the other variables until she has reached the correct conclusion that only the length of the string influences the oscillation rate!

Most elementary school-aged children in the concrete operational stage have trouble with the sandwich problem. They generate some of the possible sandwiches, but they overlook other combinations. They sometimes repeat the same combination two or three times. Play the video clip to observe how, 14-year-old Juana, a concrete operational thinker, approaches this task. While you watch, think about the strategy that the child is using.

Play the video to observe 19-year-old Deborah performing the sandwich task. Again, while you are watching, think about the strategy that she is using.

The same formal operational thought processes that enable adolescents to tackle complicated science problems also help them to function as more flexible, resourceful thinkers outside the classroom. This new reasoning power is evident in adolescents’ pondering and debating such abstract topics as human nature, good and evil, truth and justice, right and wrong. These thought processes also lay the foundation for the struggle to define one’s identity, or one’s definition of self that includes the values, beliefs, and ideals that guide behavior.

1.) Piaget underestimated the importance of culture and education in promoting intellectual development. Studies testing adolescents and adults from non-industrial societies suggest that in those cultures, only a small minority of teens and adults can pass Piaget’s tests of formal operations. Based on this evidence, it seems logical to conclude that some minimum education in math and science may be a prerequisite for formal operational thinking.

2.) Piaget overestimated the number of people who actually master formal operational thought. Recent research has shown that the development of formal operational reasoning ability is far slower and less complete than Piaget believed it to be. These cognitive gains are not always accomplished during adolescence nor are they necessarily achieved by all people.

While most researchers believe that the capacity for formal operations represents a genuine change in the quality of adolescent thinking and is a change that will prepare teens for successful adaptation to the world of adulthood, there is a wrinkle in this theory. Along with the new cognitive abilities of adolescence appears an enhanced capacity for self-centeredness. This adolescent egocentrism is the belief that an adolescent’s own psychological experiences are unique. For example, many teens may be convinced that no one has ever loved as deeply or been hurt as badly as they have. The invincibility fable is a component of this egocentrism that describes a common adolescent belief that he/she is immune to common dangers that apply to ordinary people. This false sense of security that is responsible for adolescents engaging in risky behaviors, such as street racing, drinking and driving, or unprotected sex, accompanies the development of formal operational thinking. It is difficult to assess how these thought processes – one thought process representing systematic, hypothetical logic and the other representing self-absorbed, even irrational thinking – interplay with each other.

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