Glossary F

Glossary F

Formal cause is a term which according to Aristotle is the form of a thing.

Formal death education refers to planned and organized instruction involving death-related topics.

Formal discipline is defined as the belief that the faculties of the mind can be strengthened by practicing the functions associated with them. Hence, a person supposedly can become better at reasoning by studying mathematics or logic.

In the context of psychology, the term "formal game" does not have a widely recognized or specific definition that aligns with established psychological theories or practices as directly as other terms like "consummate love" or "conditional positive regard." However, the concept of games, in a broader sense, can be related to several areas within psychology, including developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, and social psychology. When considering a "formal game" within psychology, it's essential to interpret the term within frameworks that discuss structured play, game theory, or psychological assessments involving game-like tasks.

- Formal Operational Stage (11 - 15 years) (Piaget) : Formal Operational Stage refers to the 3rd of the four (4) stages Piaget uses to define cognitive development.

Formal operational thought is a term used in Piaget's theory that refers to the final stage of cognitive development characterized by reasoning, hypothesis generation, and hypothesis testing.

Formal operations refers to the fourth stage in Piaget's Cognitive-developmental theory that is characterized by the capacity for flexible, reversible operations concerning abstract ideas and concepts, such as symbols, statements, and theories. Moreover, in Piaget's theory, it is the fourth and the final stage of Cognitive development, in which children over the age of 11 or 12 and beyond, when the individual begins to think more rationally and systematically about abstract concepts and hypothetical events and are able to apply abstract logical rules. It is characterized by the ability to think logically about abstract ideas and hypotheses as well as concrete facts; complex cognitive capacities, such as reasoning, hypothesis generation, and hypothesis testing.

Formal reasoning is defined as the type of reasoning in which the form of an argument, not its semantic content, is crucial;. reasoning about problems with explicit premises, finite solutions, and well-defined operations.