Compare and contrast Piaget's and Festinger's cognitive theories of motivation.

Piaget and Festinger explored (different aspects)
cognitive theory which researches the connection between an individual's mental
capacities and their ability to construct meaning from experiences, thus clarifying the
world around them. According to Piaget children develop 'schemas' a sort of building
blocks that allow children to either 'assimilate' new experiences into what is already
understood or 'accommodate' a new experience by altering an existing schema. Festinger's
theory focused on the paradoxial elements of cognition mainly in adults. Referred to as
Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Festinger suggests that although an individual has the
knowledge that what they do is not good for them, for example, someone who does harmful
drugs knowing they can die alters their belief to...but I probably
won't die to make what they do 'fit' into their cognition and behavior. For Festinger,
cognitive dissonance is the result of a psychological need, not a logical one. Piaget
would argue that in his theory the assimilation/accommodation motif support cognitive
consonance, a connectivity where as in Festinger's theory the individual desires a
disconnect.