Egocentric Speech
According to Piaget, Egocentric Speech is apart of the Pre-Operational Stage of Development in his 4 stages of development theory. Egocentrism refers to an individual's preoccupation with their own world, an unawareness regarding others' experience and opinions.
As Rubin describes, "egocentrism.... an embeddedness in one's own view. At an early stage of cognitive development the child is unable to shift mental perspective in order to differentiate among several aspects of an event and between his own and others' points of view" (Rubin, 1973, pp. 102). Egocentric speech was theorized to be the result of both a "cognitive inability to shift perspective and a lack of social will to communicate" (Rubin, 1973, pp. 102).
Egocentric speech was said to be most common in children between the ages of 5-6 years old, and that it was prevalent in spontaneous conversation.
Why is the concept of Egocentric Speech important for Educators?
Facilitators and Educators can utilize Piaget's theory on Egocentric Speech to:
References Cited
Flavell, J. H. (1996). Piaget's legacy. Psychological Science, 7(4), 200-203.
Rubin, K. H. (1973). Egocentrism in childhood: A unitary construct?. Child Development, 102-110.
According to Piaget, Egocentric Speech is apart of the Pre-Operational Stage of Development in his 4 stages of development theory. Egocentrism refers to an individual's preoccupation with their own world, an unawareness regarding others' experience and opinions.
As Rubin describes, "egocentrism.... an embeddedness in one's own view. At an early stage of cognitive development the child is unable to shift mental perspective in order to differentiate among several aspects of an event and between his own and others' points of view" (Rubin, 1973, pp. 102). Egocentric speech was theorized to be the result of both a "cognitive inability to shift perspective and a lack of social will to communicate" (Rubin, 1973, pp. 102).
Egocentric speech was said to be most common in children between the ages of 5-6 years old, and that it was prevalent in spontaneous conversation.
Why is the concept of Egocentric Speech important for Educators?
Facilitators and Educators can utilize Piaget's theory on Egocentric Speech to:
- better understand the way students think, the processes that occur and perhaps specific to this instance, the role of egocentric speech in the development of associations and networking
- build instructional strategies that match students needs and abilities
- to facilitate growth of cognitive development in students
References Cited
Flavell, J. H. (1996). Piaget's legacy. Psychological Science, 7(4), 200-203.
Rubin, K. H. (1973). Egocentrism in childhood: A unitary construct?. Child Development, 102-110.
"As Piaget correctly taught us, children's cognitive structures dictate both what they accommodate to (notice) in the environment and how what is accommodated to is assimilated (interpreted). The active nature of their intellectual commerce with the environment makes them to a large degree the manufacturers of their own development" (Flavell, 1992, pp. 998 in Flavell, 1996, pp. 200).
Delving into the concept of Egocentric Speech: ACTIVITY
Below, you will find Open Canvas, which is what we will use to build a collection of resources and applications for understanding egocentric speech as educators.
OPEN CANVAS: Double Click the Canvas to add a post, or explore the links/ photos that are already on the canvas.