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CS 210 758
Liberman, Michael Egocentrism and the Problem of Critical Thought. Apr 87 13p.; Paper presented at the Meeting of the Conference on Critical Thinking (Newport News, VA, April 9-12, 1987). Viewpoints (120) -- Speeches/Conference Papers (150) MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. College Students; *Critical Reading; *Critical Thinking; Developmental Stages; *Egocentrism; Freshman Composition; Higher Education; Literary Devices; *Literature Appreciation; *Piagetian Theory; *Reader Response; Social Development; Student Attitudes; Writing Processes *Audience Awareness; Hawthorne (Nathaniel); Writing Attitudes; Young Goodman Brown
ABSTRACT The protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown" misinterprets experiences that befall him because he cannot escape what Jean Piaget calls "egocentrism"--lack of awareness of anything outside one's immediate experience. Today's college students, reading Hawthorne, misinterpret the story, since they too manifest a certain degree of egocentrism, indicated by their writing. In a study of 14 students' free writings, "I" was used with great frequency; for 12 of the students, it was the most frequently used word. Walter Weintraub, in an analysis of psychopathology, considered the frequent use of "I" an indication of self-preoccupation. Four ways to reduce this egocentrism and to develop students' critically perceptive readings of literature would be to instill in them (1) an understanding of reading at a level more complex than the most evident, (2) objectivity about reading, (3) recognition that irony is frequent in fiction, and (4) tolerance of ambiguity. These guidelines would help readers develop a more mature understanding of literature, as would identification with the audience instead of with the protagonist. Limited exposure to written language and lack of extensive language use prevents student readers from understanding how writers manipulate language, and thus from arriving at a self-satisfying interpretation of literature. Students must learn to be sufficiently egocentric to believe that their opinions have value, but objective enough to escape from a too-personal reading of literature or world view. (NKA)
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