ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses theoretical assumptions which have been central to accounts of middle childhood—that is, the period following infancy and prior to adolescence. It shows how J. Piaget first developed a theoretical framework in which egocentrism was a failure or distortion in social cognition—a failure to take account of the cognitive points of view of others. Piaget's experimental method was to record and categorise young children's utterances. Developmental psychologists have long been fascinated by children's drawings; for a number of reasons, including the use of drawings as an index of cognition. One of Piaget's central claims is that the young child should be thought of as "egocentric": A formulation first applied by Piaget to language—use and social cognition, and subsequently to spatial representation. Thus, for L. Vygotsky, "Egocentric speech emerges when the child transfers social, collaborative forms of behaviour to the sphere of inner—personal psychic functions."
