Understanding Accommodation and Assimilation in Psychology

Assimilation is the process of integrating new information into existing cognitive structures or schemas.

Think of schemas as mental frameworks or blueprints that guide individuals in understanding and responding to various situations. Schemas are the building blocks of assimilation.

Accommodation is the cognitive process of modifying existing mental schemas or creating new ones when new information or experiences cannot be adequately interpreted through current mental frameworks.

This process occurs when assimilation alone is insufficient, requiring the learner to adjust their understanding to accommodate new information (Piaget, 1976).

For example

While accommodation seeks to create new schemas, assimilation seeks to relate new information to old cognitive structures (schemas).

For example, children initially learn new words by assimilating them into existing schemas based on familiar concepts.

For instance, a child might call all four-legged animals “doggie” because they fit into their existing schema for “dog”.

As they encounter more animals and learn to differentiate between them, they accommodate their language schemas, creating new categories and refining their vocabulary to reflect the diversity of the animal kingdom

How Assimilation Takes Place

Assimilation is the process of integrating new information into existing cognitive structures called schemas, which is inherently conservative, aiming to maintain cognitive stability.

It seeks to fit new experiences into pre-existing mental frameworks, much like trying to fit a new piece into a puzzle.

These schemas can be either innate (such as reflexes) or previously acquired through experience, such as reading a book (Piaget, 1976).

When encountering new information, individuals interpret and understand it using their existing knowledge structures.

This process helps maintain cognitive equilibrium by allowing people to make sense of new experiences through familiar patterns of thinking.

In its initial stages, assimilation is deeply egocentric, meaning individuals tend to interpret new information through the lens of their own needs, desires, and perspectives.

This is particularly evident in young children who struggle to differentiate their internal world from external reality, often projecting their own thoughts and intentions onto their surroundings.

Characteristics of Assimilation

  • Conserving Existing Structures: Assimilation is inherently conservative, aiming to preserve existing cognitive structures. It’s like trying to fit a new piece into a puzzle – you look for ways to make it work with the existing pieces.
  • Ego-Centric Tendencies: In its early stages, assimilation is heavily egocentric. This means that individuals tend to interpret new information through the lens of their own needs, desires, and perspectives.
  • Functional and Generalizing: Assimilation is both functional, meaning it focuses on using the new information to maintain existing actions, and generalizing, meaning it attempts to apply existing schemas to a wide range of situations
When a parent reads to a child about dogs, the child constructs a schema about dogs.
Example of Accommodation in Psychology
Example of Accommodation in Psychology
 

Later, the child sees a dog in the park; through the process of assimilation the child expands his/her understanding of what a dog is.

 

piaget assimilation

piaget assimilation2

When the dog barks, the child experiences disequilibrium because the child’s schema did not include barking.

piaget assimilation3

Then the child discovers the dog is furry, and it licks the child’s hand. Again, the child experiences disequilibrium. By adding the newly discovered information to the existing schema the child is actively constructing meaning.

piaget assimilation4

piaget assimilation5

piaget assimilation6

At this point, the child seeks reinforcement from the parent. The parent affirms and reinforces the new information. Through assimilation of the new information, the child returns to a state of equilibrium.

piaget assimilation7

piaget assimilation8

piaget assimilation9

How Accommodation Takes Place

Accommodation involves altering one’s existing ideas (schemas) about how the world operates in response to new information and experiences.

This process is triggered when existing schemas prove inadequate in explaining or interacting with new experiences. Accommodation forces individuals to adjust their thinking, leading to cognitive growth and development.

Accommodation is driven by the constraints and challenges posed by the environment, pushing individuals to move beyond their egocentric perspectives towards a more objective understanding of the world

This enables a child to better deal with the demands of the environment by constantly changing and updating the mental structures associated with it.

For example, a child with a novel problem may not have the skills to deal with it. By experimenting with the problem, they may find a solution.

In this way, they accommodate the demands of the new problem and develop their existing schema in the process.

Characteristics of Accommodation

  • Driven by Environmental Demands: Accommodation is often triggered by the constraints and challenges posed by the external environment. When existing schemas fail, individuals are forced to adapt and change.
  • Differentiation and Integration: Accommodation involves differentiating existing schemas to make finer distinctions and integrating new elements into existing schemas to create more complex understanding. This process is like realizing that the puzzle piece doesn’t quite fit and modifying either the piece or the puzzle to make it work.
  • Progressing Towards Objectivity: As accommodation progresses, individuals move away from purely egocentric perspectives towards more objective and realistic understandings of the world.

The process of accommodation occurs when the child sees a cat in the park.

Example of accommodation in Psychology

A new schema must be formed, because the cat has many traits of the dog, but because the cat meows and then climbs a tree the child begins to actively construct new meaning.

Again, the parent reinforces that this is a cat to resolve the child’s disequilibrium.

Example of accommodation in Psychology
Example of accommodation in Psychology

The child is in disequalibrium and is actively constructing meaning. He”she asks the parent to assist in resolving this disequilibrium. At this point the child seeks reinforcement from the parent.

The parent provides feedback and reinforces that this is a cat.

Example of accommodation in Psychology
Example of accommodation in Psychology

A new schema about cats is then formed and the child returns to a state of equilibrium.

Example of accommodation in Psychology

Dynamic Interplay of Assimilation and Accommodation

The interplay between assimilation and accommodation is fundamental to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.

While seemingly opposing forces, assimilation and accommodation are fundamentally interdependent and complementary

These processes operate in tandem, driving adaptation, schema development, and the progressive understanding of the world from a state of egocentricity to objectivity.

The dynamic interplay between them underscores the active and constructive nature of cognitive development, where individuals continuously seek equilibrium between existing knowledge and new experiences.

Accommodation and Assimilation in Psychology
Assimilation and accommodation, while distinct, are inseparable and work together to shape how individuals interact with and make sense of the world around them. They are the driving forces behind adaptation, which Piaget defines as the continuous process of achieving equilibrium between the individual’s cognitive structures and the environment

This interplay is evident in several ways:

  • Accommodation paves the way for assimilation. As individuals accommodate their existing schemas to better fit new experiences, they create new or modified mental structures that can then be used to assimilate further information.

    Each act of accommodation expands the individual’s capacity to assimilate more complex and nuanced information.
  • The coordination of schemas drives accommodation. As individuals coordinate and integrate multiple schemas, they become increasingly aware of the diversity and complexity of the world around them.

    This heightened awareness, in turn, drives further accommodation as individuals seek to refine and differentiate their schemas to capture the subtle distinctions and relationships between different concepts and experiences.
  • The interplay between assimilation and accommodation leads to increasing objectivity. As individuals progress through stages of cognitive development, the balance between assimilation and accommodation shifts.

    The egocentricity that characterizes early assimilation gradually diminishes as accommodation leads to more differentiated and objective schemas.

    This progression towards objectivity is marked by a growing ability to understand and consider perspectives that differ from one’s own.

Example of assimilation and accommodation

Infants initially grasp objects using an innate reflex, assimilating them into a pre-existing grasping schema.

However, as they encounter objects of different shapes and sizes, they are forced to accommodate their grasping movements, adjusting their hand and finger positions to achieve a successful grasp.

This continuous interplay between assimilation and accommodation leads to increasingly refined and sophisticated grasping skills.

References

  • Piaget, J. (1932). The moral judgment of the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  • Piaget, J. (1936). Origins of intelligence in the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  • Piaget, J. (1945). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. London: Heinemann.
  • Piaget, J. (1957). Construction of reality in the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  • Piaget, J., & Cook, M. T. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New York, NY: International University Press.
  • Plowden, B. H. P. (1967). Children and their primary schools: A report (Research
    and Surveys). London, England: HM Stationery Office.
  • Siegler, R. S., DeLoache, J. S., & Eisenberg, N. (2003). How children develop . New York: Worth.
  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Wadsworth, B. J. (2004). Piaget’s theory of cognitive and affective development: Foundations of constructivism. New York: Longman.
  • Wood, K. C., Smith, H., Grossniklaus, D. (2001). Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.


Saul McLeod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Search

h4 { font-weight: bold; } h1 { font-size: 40px; } h5 { font-weight: bold; } .mv-ad-box * { display: none !important; } .content-unmask .mv-ad-box { display:none; } #printfriendly { line-height: 1.7; } #printfriendly #pf-title { font-size: 40px; }