Constructivism (psychological school)

Doctrines of psychology are summarized as constructivism , which differ in the techniques derived from them, for example in relation to education or psychotherapy, but which have in common that they assume an active-constructive nature of human knowledge. In addition, all constructivist schools oppose the association-psychological approach of empiricism , according to which the mind passively absorbs content from the environment and creates a copy of reality.

Constructivism, on the other hand, describes a view from which the human mind actively assigns meaning to reality. Constructivists are interested in how people create systems and understand and assign experiences with these systems.

In psychotherapy , this approach could, for example, ask how a client perceives his world and thus try to understand the client's world with its individual meanings. This approach is based on the assumption that problems can arise from the way in which life events are interpreted or perceived.

Constructivist Psychology in Education

Educational constructivism means that students are actively constructing meanings. The teacher can make this process easier or more difficult for the student, but he cannot create it himself. With regard to this teaching method, knowledge is uncertain, furthermore, learning knowledge is equal to constructing knowledge.

Jean Piaget's theory describes that child development and learning arise from an interaction between the individual and the environment. According to Angela O'Donnell and colleagues, constructivism describes how the learner constructs knowledge through different concepts: complex cognition, "scaffolding", modeled experiences, modeling, and observational learning. These concepts make students, teachers, the environment, and everything else the student has to do with active participants in their learning.

Some constructivist theories

Personal construct theory

George Kelly, the founder of this theory, dealt primarily with the cognitive role of the observer. He argued that our expectations of how we experience the world changes how we feel and behave. His therapeutic approach allows the client to explore their own mind by acting as a facilitator for the investigation of their own meanings and constructs.

Genetic Epistemology

As the founder of genetic epistemology , Jean Piaget argued that one grows into knowledge attitudes and that knowledge structures development through interaction. According to Piaget, behavior is the driving force of evolution . Piaget's constructivist approach was further developed into Neo-Piaget theories of cognitive development.

See also

• Constructivism (learning psychology)
• evolutionary epistemology

literature

• Bernhard Pörksen : The certainty of uncertainty. Conversations on Constructivism. With Heinz von Foerster , Ernst von Glasersfeld , Humberto R. Maturana , Gerhard Roth , Siegfried J. Schmidt , Helm Stierlin , Francisco Varela and Paul Watzlawick . Carl Auer Systems, Heidelberg 2001.
• Humberto R. Maturana, Bernhard Pörksen: From being to doing. The origins of the biology of cognition. Carl Auer Systems, Heidelberg 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Juan Balbi: Epistemological and theoretical foundations of constructivist cognitive therapies: post-rationalist developments . Ed .: Dialogues in Philosophy, Mental and Neuro Sciences. 2008, p. 15-27 .
2. ↑ Jonathan D. Raskin: Constructivism in psychology: personal construct psychology, radical constructivism, and social constructionism . Ed .: American Communication Journal. 2002.
3. ^ Robert A. Neimeyer, Jonathan D. Raskin: Constructions of disorder: meaning-making frameworks for psychotherapy . Ed .: American Psychological Association. 2000, ISBN 1-55798-629-0 .
4. ^ Robert Kegan: The evolving self: problem and process in human development . Ed .: Harvard University Press. 1982, ISBN 0-674-27230-7 , pp. 255 .
5. ^ Qiong Jia: A Brief Study on the Implication of Constructivism Teaching Theory on Classroom Teaching Reform in Basic Education . In: International Education Studies . tape 3 , no. 2 , April 16, 2010, ISSN  1913-9039 , p. 197 , doi : 10.5539 / ies.v3n2p197 ( ccsenet.org [accessed February 12, 2016]).
6. ^ Jean Piaget: Handbook of child psychology: formerly Carmichael's Manual of child psychology 1 . 1983, ISBN 0-471-09057-3 , pp. 103-128 .
7. ↑ Angela M. O'Donnell, John Marshall Reeve, Jeffrey K. Smith: Social learning theory, complex cognition, and social constructivism . Ed .: Educational psychology: reflection for action. ISBN 978-1-118-07613-2 .
8. ↑ George Kelly: The psychology of personal constructs . London; New York: Routledge in association with the Center for Personal Construct Psychology, 1991, 1991, ISBN 0-415-03799-9 .
9. ^ Jean Piaget: Behavior and evolution (1st American ed.) . 1978, ISBN 0-394-41810-7 , pp. 142 .