Reflective abstraction

Reflective Abstraction

The reflective abstraction is a Piagetian concept that develops in the formal operations stage which describes how adolescents acquire new knowledge for the first time by thinking about their thoughts and abstracting from these personal reflections. This enables them to notice inconsistencies in their mental sets and gives them the ability to think morally and socially. As adolescents obtain this ability they become capable of understanding others’ point of view and can view the world accordingly.

See also

Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology

References

• Galotti, K. (2008). Cognitive Psychology: In and out of the laboratory (4th ed.) Thomson Wadsworth.