The Child's Conception of the World: A 20th-Century Classic of Child Psychology: A 20th-Century Classic of Child Psychology, Second Edition

A milestone of child psychology, "The Child's Conception of the World" explores the ways in which the reasoning powers of young children differ from those of adults. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Introduction.—Problems and Methods § 1. Method of tests, pure observation and the clinical method. § 2. The five types of reaction revealed by clinical examination. § 3. Rules and criteria for the diagnosis of the preceding types of reaction. § 4. Rules for the interpretation of the results. Part I.—Realism Chapter I.—The Notion of Thought § 1. The first stage: thinking is with the mouth. § 2. Looking and seeing. § 3. The second and third stages: thinking is with the head. § 4. Words and things. Chapter II.—Nominal Realism § 1. The origin of names. § 2. The place of names. § 3. The intrinsic value of names. § 4. Conclusions. Chapter III.—Dreams § 1. The first stage: the dream comes from outside and remains external. § 2. The second stage: the dream arises in us ourselves, but is external to us. § 3. The third stage: the dream is internal and of internal origin. § 4. Conclusions. Chapter IV.—Realism and the Origin of the Idea of Participation § 1. Realism and the consciousness of self. § 2. Participation and magical practices. § 3. The origins of participation and magic as manifested in the child. § 4. Corroborative proof: spontaneous magical ideas in the adult. § 5. Conclusion: logical and ontological egocentricity. Part II.—Animism Chapter V.—Consciousness Attributed to Things § 1. The first stage: all things are conscious. § 2. The second stage: things that can move are conscious. § 3. The third stage: things that can move of their own accord are conscious. § 4. The fourth stage: consciousness is restricted to animals. § 5. Conclusions. Chapter VI.—The Concept of “Life” § 1. The first stage: life is assimilated to activity in general. § 2. The second stage: life is assimilated to movement. § 3. The third and fourth stages: life is assimilated to spontaneous movement, then later is restricted to animals and plants. § 4. Conclusion: the notion of "life,". Chapter VII.—The Origins of Child Animism, Moral Necessity and Physical Determinism § 1. The child's spontaneous animism. § 2.The sun and moon follow us. § 3. Physical determinism and moral necessity. § 4. Conclusions. The significance of the questions on child animism, and the nature of "diffuse animism,". § 5. Conclusions (continued): the origins of child animism. Part III.—Artificialism Chapter VIII.—The Origin of the Sun and Moon § 1. A primitive example of the first stage. § 2. The first stage: the sun and moon are made artificially. § 3. The second and the third stages: the origin of the sun and moon is first partly, then completely, natural. § 4. The quarters of the moon. Chapter IX. —Meteorology and the Origin of Water § 1. The sky. § 2. The cause and the nature of night. § 3. The origin of the clouds. § 4. Thunder and lightning. § 5. The formation of rain. § 6. The explanations of snow, ice and cold. § 7. Rivers, lakes and sea, the primitive origin of water. Chapter X.—The Origin of Trees, Mountains and of the Earth § 1. The origin of wood and of plants. § 2. The origin of iron, glass, cloth, and of paper. § 3. The origin of stones and of earth. § 4. Origin of the mountains. Chapter XI.—The Meaning and Origins of Child Artificialism § 1. The meaning of child artificialism. § 2. The relations of artificialism with the problem of the birth of babies. § 3. The stages of spontaneous artificialism and their relation with the develovment of animism. § 4. The origins of artificlalism. § 5. The origins of identification and the causes of the decline of artificialism and animism. Appendix.—Note on the Relations between belief in Efficacy and Magic, in Connection with §§ 2 and 3 of Chapter IV Index of Names General Index Nineteenth-century developmental psychologist Jean Piaget examines the child's notions of reality and causality at various stages of development