In Piaget's theory, what is the term for adjusting existing cognitive schemas to incorporate new information?

• A. Assimilation
• B. Accommodation
• C. Equilibration
• D. Adaptation

Answer: (B)

Adjusting existing schemas to incorporate new information is accommodation. In Piaget’s view, this happens when what a child already thinks doesn’t fit what they’re experiencing, so their mental categories are changed or expanded to fit the new data. For example, if a child has a scheme that “dogs are four-legged, bark, and are friendly,” and they encounter a four-legged animal that doesn’t bark, they update their idea of what counts as a dog or create a new category for that animal. That updating process, rather than simply squeezing new information into the old idea, is accommodation. This differs from assimilation, which would try to fit the new animal into the existing dog category without changing it, and from equilibration, which is the overall drive to reach balance between assimilating and accommodating. Adaptation is the broader idea of how thinking changes with experience, not the specific act of changing a schema.