Module 7 Homework

Dear Diary:

Well, I have waited all these years to travel to Switzerland and now I am sick. I can not believe this is happening! I went to a homeopathic doctor and he gave me some herbal teas to drink and recommended that I get rest for at least a week. Luckily the lodge that I am staying at is beautiful, charming, and quaint. The building must be a few hundred years old. The architectural design is magnificent. The view is breathtaking. My travel partners will not be here for at least another week, so I think I am going to just relax, eat healthy, enjoy the view, the spa/amenities, and catch up on some reading. The lodge has an extensive library collection. The innkeeper suggested that I could go up to the attic and explore some other possible reading selections.

Today while rummaging through the attic I found some of the most intriguing books. I found a book that appears to have been written by Jean Piaget. I also found some old guest books from the inn. I found his name in several of the guest books. He must have stayed here rather frequently. Unfortunately, the book I found written by him is written in Scientific French and I do not know French. I was so intrigued by finding these books that I went to the main lodge library and gathered some other books including a French dictionary.

I vaguely remember reading about Piaget and his developmental stages in college but apparently I have forgotten a lot about Piaget. He was born in 1896 in Switzerland. His ideas were heavily influenced by James Baldwin who proposed that logical thinking develops through a sequence of stages. Piaget had three children; Lucienne, Laurent, and Jacqueline. His family used to vacation here at this lodge. He often did observational studies of his children and their development greatly influenced his theoretical design.

Piaget’s earlier published work includes his four stages to cognitive development, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The book I found appears to be a "work in progress" that was never published. I feel like I am on a special mystery assignment trying to understand and interpret this unpublished work of Piaget.

Each day I have been reading and translating. I have completely forgotten my illness, rest or the original vacation that I came here for. Once again I am completely absorbed in work! From what I can translate so far, it appears that Piaget had re-evaluated his original work and decided to add a fifth stage of cognitive development which is a "social-interpersonal component." Piaget had some thoughts regarding how we logically interpret interpersonal relationships. I can not believe that he would have been concerned with this. It seems from the dates of these writings that this fifth stage must have been written while his children were teenagers and young adults. Since his children were such an influence in his work, I can only imagine how those turbulent teen years of rebellion must have effected his ability to place everything in "logical order"!!!

In order to understand this fifth stage manual I had to review some other books about his earlier work. Luckily the library here was well-stocked with books about or by Piaget. His first four stages describe the process of how the individual moves from birth to adulthood and how they develop their ability to cognitively process information.

This unpublished, undiscovered fifth stage describes what happens in interpersonal relationships. It also describes how some of the earlier written principles apply in interpersonal relationship processing and how some of these principles do not apply.

The fifth stage begins in late adolescence and progresses through early adulthood. It describes how we logically move to find a mate during this time. It seems to have a "Darwinian twist" to it. I wonder if he was influenced by Darwin? According to these writings the human species must find a mate and procreate. The writings suggest that after we move from formal operational stage development the next event is finding the mate and building a family. .

According to the manuscript, some of the methods that people use to choose their partners involve the principles of organization, adaptation, and equilibrium. For example, in the process of organization, an individual can combine, integrate or coordinate separate schemas. During this fifth stage when people are attempting to participate in "mate-selection" they can combine separate schemas of information to arrive at the final decision making process. The individuals parents may have given them one set of values and other information about mate selection which is stored in one schema. In addition, the peer influence information about mate selection may be stored in another schema. And the school or societal influence may be stored in another schema. Before the final decision to develop a partnership or marriage the individual must sort through these schemas and make their decision.

During assimilation process, the individual gathers internal and external information. This is the process where the young couple evaluates the external exterior information and analyzes it with the internal schemas to see if there is a match. The information can be derived from the dating experience. It may include facts about the person, are we compatible, do we have common interests, and emotions such as how do I feel when we are out together. The disequilibrium occurs when a person dates someone that does match the information in their existing schemas. For example, this can occur when a young person dates someone their family or peer group does not approve of.

Another important aspect of this fifth stage is the inclusion of Piaget’s "essential factors." His previous works include the four essential factors; physical environment, maturation, social, influence, and equilibration. These writings also describe how the individual’s physical environments may change during the fifth stage. This often occurs when the child goes to college and may live in a new physical surrounding. The young adults ability to process the new information at school, while remembering the values and information stored in previous schemas from the childhood-parental influence is largely dependent upon the maturation process of the individual. If the individual is not very mature they might choose life-mates or partners that are not suitable, and the family may not support these choices. His writing imply that maturation is equivalent to conformity, in particular to conforming to the parental value system.

During this move to college, the physical environment is changing, and the individual is effected by maturation and social influences. The equilibration is designed to maintain the individual while these transformations occur. This book is amazing to me, many of the so-called "new-age" writers of today discuss the concept of "homeostasis." It sounds like Piaget was describing the same things 75 years ago!!!

The book also describes the new schemas that are developed shortly after the young couple make a commitment in marriage. Piaget wrote about how their body language changes and how they begin to describe themselves as "we", or "our" instead of "I". He suggested that this is part of the building of the new schema.

During the process of developing new schemas, the young couple simultaneously may experience aplha, beta, and gamma reactions. The alpha reactions occur when they ignore each other or deny that some of the new information they are receiving does not match their schema. For example, this may occur during the first year of marriage when their first holiday together occurs. Each partner will have their own ritual of how to celebrate the holiday based on their own schemas from childhood. The beta thinking occurs when one partner "gives-in" and begins thinking maybe this not such a bad way to spend the holidays. The equilibration process occurs after the new ideas are formulated into the new schema. Eventually, the young couple will formulate "their own" ideas and rituals for the holidays.

Well, it has been very interesting and rewarding learning about Piaget on my vacation. It has been exciting learning that I stayed at the same lodge he vacationed in. I am beginning to feel better and am ready to go on a sight-seeing tour. Good-bye for now.