Question

According to Piaget, an individual's ability to incorporate new information into existing knowledge is called what?

Answer 1

Accommodation

Explanation:

Accommodation occurs when there is a cognitive disequilibrium.

• A person, through assimilation, takes in new information (schemas).
• If they can not use prior knowledge to solve/understand the new information.. They face cognitive disequilibrium.
• The person then accommodates (adjusts new information to fit into their prior information). This results in a cognitive equilibrium.

Example:
A child who only knows what a cat is, sees a dog. However the child doesn't know what a dog is, and so this is new information (assimilation). The child says to the mother "Look, a cat!"

The mother corrects the child by telling them it's a dog. The child may face cognitive disequilibrium and question the mother saying "But it has four legs and a tail".

The mother points out the differences between a dog and a cat. The child then accommodates (adjusts pre-existing schemas), to further understand what a cat is and a dog is. Thus, achieving cognitive equilibrium .