Piaget called this an imbalance. He believed that in order to seek new information, we had to feel that we were in a state of balance. We need to feel that we have already understood things and that any new information we have corresponds to what we already know. Assimilation is a cognitive process that takes place when a child acquires knowledge and needs to adapt it to what he knows. Although the child learns something new, he does not learn anything that contradicts his current knowledge base. They simply adapt it to what they already know. „David gave me confidence in the therapy I lost years ago after trying again and again and just not getting what I needed. I feel like he really cares and wants to help. I`m a bit unique, and without going into too much detail, it only calms my usual autism symptoms when it comes to new people with its reassuring presence. He`s brilliant and I feel like I could go anywhere with his help.

At this stage, the child seeks the reinforcement of the parents. The parent confirms and reinforces the new information. By assimilating the new information, the child returns to a state of balance. Piaget did not believe that children only passively absorb information. He argued that they are actively trying to understand the world, constantly coming up with new ideas and experimenting with those ideas. Examples of assimilation include: If you use the second method of coping described by Piaget, the girl`s behavior may cause you to re-evaluate your opinion of her. Piaget called this process accommodation, in which old ideas are modified or even replaced based on new information. The three terms under the umbrella of adaptation are assimilation, adaptation and balance. The concepts of assimilation and adaptation are only part of Jean Piaget`s contributions to psychology. Its stages of cognitive development have influenced how psychologists and educators understand children and their development. Assimilation and adaptation are essential to how organisms construct patterns about the world (1952; see also Wadsworth, 2004).

While assimilation is about keeping existing knowledge and patterns intact and finding a new place to store information, adaptation involves actually changing existing knowledge about a topic (Tan et al., 2017). In assimilation, children understand the world by applying what they already know. It`s about adapting reality and what they experience in their current cognitive structure. A child`s understanding of how the world works filters and therefore influences the way he interprets reality. Assimilation is how we add information to the patterns that make up our knowledge base. Through assimilation, we expand our knowledge without changing the basic pattern or belief system. If we were to develop new patterns or replace them with new ones through the learning process, it would represent the process of adaptation rather than assimilation. Before we can adjust our mindset and make room for new information, we experience cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is unpleasant.

Our mind will often avoid it naturally, so we can easily absorb the information and move on to the next information. This means that you may encounter information that directly contradicts what you are thinking right now, but dismisses it as „false“ and focuses on information that confirms your beliefs. If you make it a habit, you may not really understand what`s going on in the world around you. Assimilation may be difficult for us or our children. Whenever there is a learning gap, it can be helpful to assess the gap, discover the cause, and seek treatment. There are two ways to absorb new information. One is assimilation and the other is accommodation, a cognitive process in which new information replaces old beliefs. Assimilation may be more common, especially among adults, as information is usually processed based on our existing belief system. In the early stages of cognitive development, Piaget suggested that a child begins to form patterns. Patterns are frameworks of thought or behavior that organize the information we absorb each day.

Think of a digital mind map. A section of this mind map can be reserved for what we know about cats. These include the appearance of a cat, the types of cats that exist in the wild, and the typical behavior of a domestic cat. In the idea of a cat, there is the idea that cats and dogs do not get along. In a separate section of the mind map is a section about dogs. Piaget`s theory suggests that we have a scheme for „cat“ and a scheme for „dog“. Of course, assimilation can have its drawbacks. There are times when new information doesn`t fit neatly into a category or pattern that exists in our minds. This can lead to errors in judgment; For example, a child who calls a skunk a „kitten.“ In some cases, assimilation can be difficult for children or adults. Those who have interruptions in their cognitive processes may not assimilate information in the same way as most children and adults. With all this preliminary information already in mind, the assimilation process is simple.

Everything you hear about deep breaths and stress relief makes sense with what you already know. So you pack it into your knowledge of yoga, breathing, and calming your body and mind. Later, the child sees a dog in the park; Through the process of assimilation, the child expands his understanding of what a dog is. The latter option is assimilation, and we all owe it to it to use this process instead of the more difficult, perhaps more necessary „accommodation process“. When absorbing new information and making judgments about current people and events, ask yourself. Do you change your old ideas if necessary? Or do you take the easiest way to stick to what you already believe? Assimilation in psychology was first identified by Jean Piaget. Piaget is considered the father of developmental psychology. Among his best-known works is the creation of stages of cognitive development. These steps describe how a child acquires basic knowledge and concepts from birth to adulthood.

Piaget believed that there were two fundamental ways to adapt to new experiences and information: assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the adaptation of a schema by adding information similar to what is already known. These pre-existing patterns may be innate (e.g., reflexes) or previously acquired (Piaget, 1976). Assimilation theory has long been used in the development, teaching, research and education of children at all levels. Business teachers, educators, professors, and trainers can learn how to help individuals and students assimilate new information using these theories. A big part of teaching learning is learning how cognitive processes work and how to nurture them. Assimilation can only be one of these cognitive processes. Another example is how in-company training often takes place. Trainers can link new information about their specific position in the company to their current knowledge and beliefs.

Using what they already know to convey new information, instructors use assimilation techniques to help trainees learn and remember new information.