Piglet, Pooh and Piaget Psychology Today June 1972

Concepts of Piaget in Winnie-the Pooh

Milne provides an enchanting picture of how a child uses logic, language and fantasy.

Winnie-the-Pooh focuses on the world of the child in the preoperational period (Ages two to seven) and more specifically, the period of intuitive thought (ages four to seven).

Egocentrism:

The idea that the child views the world subjectively. The child believes that the world was created for him, that everyone thinks like he does, and that everyone shares his feelings and wishes.
The child cannot distinguish between what is self and what is the outside world.
A child talks to himself and not for the point of view of the listener.
EX:Bear being dragged down the stairs...”It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming down stairs”

Concept of Time:

Piaget suggests that a child’s sense of time is dependent on the order of succession of events and on the duration of intervals.
The young child often confuses present and past events.
Minutes may seem like hours for a child waiting for something.
Ex:“Once upon a time, a very long time ago now, about last Friday”;When Pooh gets too fat to fit through Rabbits door, Christopher Robin comes to the rescue and declares the only way to get out is to get thin, saying it will take “about a week.”

Animism

Piaget has shown that children in the preoperational stage attribute life to inanimate objects.
Toys are real.
All the characters in the book (except Rabbit and Owl) are based on toys from Christopher Milne’s nursery and have distinctive personalities.
Each of these imaginary characters displays a talent for animism.
Ex: Pooh disguises himself as a cloud in a blue sky; Pooh is certain that is the bees see a blue sky and an umbrella they will surely be fooled by the “little dark cloud”

Imminent Justice

Piaget has shown that the child believes that justice is built into the natural order of things; for example, matches burn children who play with them after being forbidden to do so.
Ex: Pooh falls into a gorse bush and covered with prickles. He believes his punishmentcomes from his “liking of honey too much.”

Artificialism

A difficulty with physical space.
The notion that human beings have created mountains, lakes trees, etc...
Chants and songs can control the environment (“Rain, rain go away...)
A child in the intuitive period cannot recognize a familiar scene if he looks at itfrom a different angle. (The tree he sees from his window is not the same onehe sees from the yard)
Ex: A difficulty with physical space is shown when Pooh nearly catches a Woozle; while walking in circles, Pooh and friends come upon their own tracks, not realizing they have madethe extra footprints they see.

Generalization and Language

Children use language in concrete way during the preoperational stage.
Ex: Pooh lives in the forest by himself “under the name Sanders.” Christopher interprets thisto mean that a sign must be hanging above the door with the name “Sanders” on it. Piglet has a broken sign w/the words “Trespassers W” on it. Piglet says it is short forTrespassers Will, which is short for Trespassers William, and his grandfather has twonames in case he lost one. No one sees that it is short for ‘Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted.

Realism

Piaget states that the young child has a belief in the realism of words, pictures, dreams, and objects.
The child associates things without making logical connections between them.
Everything is credible. If an adult mentions the North Pole, it must exist.
Names exist as part of the things named.
Ex: 1. Rabbit says the North Pole is “sure to be a pole because of calling it a pole, and ifit’s a pole, well, I think it would be sticking in the ground...Christopher ends the expedition when Pooh saves Roo with a pole he found, saying “you have found the North Pole.”Christopher believes there must be a east and west pole since he knows about theNorth and South Poles.

Conservation

Piaget defines conservation as the ability to see that objects remain the same despite changes in appearance.
Believes they learn to conserve substance, weight and volume, in that order, and cannot truly conserve until about age seven. (Ex: Two identical balls of clay...one of which is cut into pieces or elongated...the childbelow the age of seven generally see the elongated on as having more clay than the ball does.)
Ex: The Red balloon - when Pooh pops it, he sees he has nothing left but a “small piece of damp rag.”When given to Eeyore, he asks “what color was this balloon when...it was a balloon?” He cannot understand that red remains red even when the balloon is small and no longer round or full.

Centering

Piaget has shown that a child will focus on the most compelling feature of what he sees, while excluding all other parts.
Ex: Missing tail of Eeyore. Owl finds it on a bush and takes it home. For Owl, a tail without Eeyore attached to it is not a tail. Hanging over a bush, it becomes a bell-rope, waiting to be pulled.

Assimilation and Accommodation

A child constantly learns how to adapt to his environment.
Children learn about their world through symbolic play...such as playing house, etc...
Ex: Pooh discovers a bottle with a cork can float on water. It becomes a suitable boat for him. Later he discovers an umbrella makes a better boat for him and another

Onomatopoeia

Words that sound like the noise an object makes.
Ex: A child may “bow-wow” before dog, or “choo-choo” before train.
Ex: After the balloon and bee incident, Pooh’s arms are so stiff he can’t put them down. To get afly off his nose, he had to blow it off...”pooh”…”That’s why he is called Pooh.” says Christopher.

Other Language Tricks of Children:

1. Mispronunciation and Assigning words they know to ones they don’t

Ex: Owl tells Pooh “customary procedure in such case is as follows.” Pooh asks “What does Crustimoney Proseedcake mean?”

2. Collective Monologue

The conversation of the child who doesn’t try to understand or even listen to the point of view of another person.
Ex: children sitting next to each other in a sandbox are completely absorbed in their own conversations and fantasies. Child gives little attention of questions asked by playmate, yet would be upset if they left. Piaget calls this parallel play
Ex:At the party for Pooh, all are happy to be together at the party, but each egocentric animal is involved with his own thoughts and conversation. Owl tries to talk to Christopher, Roo is hiccuping, Kanga is preoccupied with scolding Roo, Eeyore is making a longwinded, senseless speech, Christopher is attempting to praise Pooh.

Physiognomic Properties

Inanimate objects can take on the emotions of human beings.
Ex: Christopher gives Pooh pencils that are green blue and red. He thinks words written have special meanings when written in special colors