Egocentrism in language and space perception: an examination of the concept

Piaget's original work on egocentricity in language and thought and in the perception of space is reviewed, and various criticisms of his findings are summarized. It is argued that in these "experiments" children are often presented with unnatural problems, in situations of which they have had no prior experience. When deprived of customary cues they give poorly considered responses which are assessed as "egocentric." In everyday social interaction even very young children can give "decentered" responses, so the solution to Pigget's problem of egocentricity might be found in social awareness as much as in cognitive abilities and the processing of information.