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shiny objects

Thursday, October 13, 2005


Occasionally, gentle readers, my coursework lends itself to new insights regarding my own life's experiences. For the last week, I've been studying for a developmental psych exam. As I bone up on Piaget's theories of intellectual development, I can't help but think of my own childhood.

I remember toying with my preoperational classmates in Kindergarten. One boy, I recall, had not yet mastered conservation of matter. When he announced that his snack - a single muffin - was not going to slake his insatiable hunger, I told him that he should crumble the muffin and see what happens. He did as I suggested.

Because the confection, when crumbled, increased in volume, he assumed that he had spontaneously created more muffin than he had originally possessed! Boy, did I ever get a kick out of that! Haha! Stupid child!

I thought he was inferior, until recently. Now I know he was just developing on the normal path of preoperational cognition, while I, somehow, had advanced a bit farther.

Piaget is my bitch.


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