Assimilation refers to a part of the
adaptation process initially proposed by Jean Piaget. Through
assimilation, we take in new information or experiences and
incorporate them into our existing ideas.
Assimilation plays an important role in how we learn about the
world around us. In early childhood, children are constantly
assimilating new information and experiences into their existing
knowledge about the world.
However, this process does not end with childhood. As people
encounter new things and interpret these experiences, they make
both small and large adjustments to their existing ideas about the
world around them.
Through this process, we add new information to our existing
knowledge base, sometimes reinterpreting these new experiences so
that they will fit in with previously existing information.
In assimilation, children make sense of the world by applying
what they already know. It involves fitting reality and what they
experience into their current cognitive structure. A child's
understanding of how the world works, therefore, filters and
influences how they interpret the reality.
For example, let's imagine that your neighbors have a daughter
who you have always known to be sweet, polite and kind. One day,
you glance out your window and see the girl throwing a snowball at
your car. It seems out of character and rather rude, not something
you would expect from this girl.
If you use the process of assimilation, you might dismiss the
girl's behavior, believing that maybe it's something she witnessed
a classmate doing and that she does not mean it to be
impolite.
You're not revising your opinion of the girl, you are simply
adding new information to your existing knowledge. She's still a
kind child, but now you know that she also has a mischievous side
to her personality.
If you were to utilize the second method of adaptation
described by Piaget, the young girl's behavior might cause you to
reevaluate your opinion of her. This process is what Piaget
referred to as accommodation, in which old ideas
are changed or even replaced based on new information.
The process of accommodation involves altering one's existing
schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new
experiences. New schemas may also be developed during this
process.
For example, imagine a young boy raised in a home that presents
a stereotyped schema about another social group. Because of his
upbringing, he might even harbor prejudices toward people in this
group.
When the young man moves away to college, he suddenly finds
himself surrounded by people from this group. Through experience
and real interactions with members of this group, he realizes that
his existing knowledge is completely wrong.
This leads to a dramatic change, or accommodation, in his
beliefs about members of this social group.
Assimilation and accommodation both work in tandem as part of
the learning process. Some information is simply incorporated into
our existing schemas through the process of assimilation while
other information leads to the development of new schemas or total
transformations of existing ideas through the process of
accommodation.
The goal of assimilation is to maintain the status quo. By
assimilating information, you are keeping your existing knowledge
and schemas intact and simply finding a place to store this new
information. It's like buying a new book and finding a place to
keep it on your bookshelves.
Accommodation, on the other hand, involves actually changing
your existing knowledge of a topic. This is like buying a new book,
realizing it doesn't fit in any of your existing bookshelves, and
buying a whole new shelving unit to store all of your books
in.