What occurs during accommodation in Piaget's theory?

• A. Keeping old ideas unchanged
• B. Revamp old ideas to fit new information
• C. Adding new information to an existing schema without changes
• D. Adjusting existing schemas to fit new information

Answer: (D)

Adjustment of existing schemas to fit new information is how accommodation works in Piaget’s theory. Schemas are the mental categories we use to organize what we know, and when we encounter something that doesn’t quite fit, we alter those categories or create new ones so future experiences make sense. For example, a child who has a simple idea of “dog” as a four‑legged animal that barks may meet a dog with unfamiliar features or a non-dog animal that resembles a dog; to understand the difference, the child revises the dog schema or forms a new category (like distinguishing dogs from cats). This change contrasts with assimilation, which uses existing schemas to interpret new information without altering them.