Originally, “equilibration” means the act of stabilizing something or making it more stable. In psychology, the term “equilibration” refers to a basic process of development which contains both assimilation and accommodation. According to Piaget, equilibration occurs in three phases: People are in a state of equilibrium, and then they become aware of shortcomings of their thinking and experience a cognitive conflict, which motivates them to adopt a more appropriate idea that eliminates the cognitive conflict and reaches a more stable equilibrium. As in mathematics, the equilibrium can be considered the stationary point of a dynamical system.
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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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(2012). Equilibration. In: Seel, N.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_2155
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_2155
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