Jean Piaget“The great pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing”

Early Life

▪ Born on August 9, 1886 in Neuchatel, Switzerland

▪ Had many interests as a child– Mollusks, mechanics, birds, fossils of

secondary and tertiary levels, seashells

▪ Published his first paper at age 10

▪ Graduated from the University of Neuchatel with his Ph.D. in Science at age 22

Middle Life

▪ Spent 2 years at the Sorbonne and attended courses in psychology.

▪ Studied psychology under Carl Jung (father of Jungian psychology) for a semester in Zurich

▪ Taught at a boys’ school run by Alfred Binet (father of the standardized intelligence test) in Paris– Began to theorize about development based on the

incorrect answers he observed from young children– Critiqued Binet’s test for being too rigid and then

allowed children to explain their answers

Piaget as a Psychologist

▪ Analyzed children’s verbal reasoning in response to cause and effect events

▪ Spent a tremendous amount of time and effort observing his 3 children and using them for cognitive experiments – Main goal: to understand how children

acquired knowledge

▪ Studied children’s development for 30 years

▪ Fathered the cognitive and developmental psychology movements

Late Life

▪ Held many appointments at different universities as a professor, chair, and researcher

▪ Awarded multiple honorary degrees from prestigious universities such as Harvard and Oxford

▪ Highly prolific publisher of hundreds of papers and over 50 books

▪ Died September 17, 1980

Main Contributions

▪ First psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development– Conducted detailed observational

studies of cognition in children▪ Series of simple tests to illustrate

cognitive abilities▪ Led to other studies by several

psychologists▪ Showed children and adolescents

think differently compared to adults

Main Contributions

▪ Extremely influential in developing educational policy and teaching– Discovery learning – Readiness concerns – Active learning– Student-centered– Collaborative instruction

Main Contributions Cont.

▪ Theory of cognitive child development –Goal: to explain processes by

which the infant and then the child develops into an individual who can reason & think using hypotheses

Piaget's Cognitive Theory: Three Components

1. Schemas– action sequence

2. Adaptation Processes – allows transition from one stage

to another – equilibrium, assimilation, and

accommodation

3. Stages of  Development– sequence of development

Schemas

▪ Way of organizing knowledge

▪ How to react to incoming stimuli or information

▪ Increases in number and complexity

▪ State of equilibrium–Cognitive balance occurs when

existing schemas can adjust to new information

Buying a

Sandwich

CLICK

ORDEREAT

Assimilation and Accommodation

▪ Assimilation: Using existing knowledge to face a new situation; existing knowledge is consistent with new knowledge and the two fit nicely together

▪ Accommodation: Existing knowledge is insufficient & additional knowledge is needed to face a new situation; existing knowledge is inconsistent with new knowledge and that must be reconciled

▪ Building blocks of knowledge are key in Piaget’s view of cognitive development

1) Sensorimotor Stage

▪ From birth to around age 2

▪ Infants begin to build up knowledge of the world around them

▪ Initially reliant on reflexes

▪ Object permanence

Here is an example of this stage

2) Preoperational Stage

▪ 2- 7 years of age

▪ Thoughts & communications usually egocentric

▪ Child becomes capable of symbolic play

Here is an example of this stage

3) Concrete Operational Stage

– 7-11 years of age– Beginning of logical/operational thought – More organized and rational thinking▪ Conservation–Understanding that although the

appearance of something changes, the thing itself does not

– Unable to think abstractly or hypothetically

Here is an example

4) Formal OperationalStage

– Around 11 years +– Ability to think in an abstract manner – Independently manipulate ideas

(abstract reasoning)▪ Inferential reasoning–Draw conclusions about things

which the child has not actually experienced

The Potential Stages ofAdolescent Development

Concrete Operational Stage

Formal Operational Stage

7-11 years of age 11-15 years of age

Main source of knowledge is actions

Main source of knowledge is mental operations

Capable of logical thinking about concrete events

Capable of logical thinking about abstract & hypothetical events

Mastery of conservation & mathematical operations

Mastery of abstract logic allows for mature moral reasoning

Achieved by the large majority of people before or during adolescence

Achieved by only a portion of people in adolescence (and during the lifespan)

Connections to Adolescent Development

▪ Neuroscience:– Development of the prefrontal cortex necessarily

precedes the “logical, abstract, hypothetical” thinking of formal operations

– Connections increase such that knowledge is added to “an active, complex, self-organizing system”

– Pruning creates more efficient thought processes & facilitates logical & abstract reasoning

▪ Social:– The role of cognitive readiness both inside & outside the

classroom – Peers become large & influential source of information

that can lead to accommodation or assimilation– Egocentrism & altruism

Critiques of Piaget’s Developmental Theory

▪ Stages vs. continuum

▪ Universal vs. performance variability

▪ Underestimation of children’s development by given ages– Requirement of verbal explanations to

show mastery– Avoidance of false positives

▪ Lack of emphasis on social and cultural development

▪ Based upon a biased sample

Bibliography

▪ Evans, R.L. (1973) Jean Piaget: The Man and His Ideas. E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. New York.

▪ Jean Piaget. (2014). Retrieved Jun. 1, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/jean-piaget-9439915.

▪ Miller, P.H. (2010). Piaget’s theory: Past, present, and future. Blackwell Handbooks of Developmental Psychology. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell.

▪ Presnell, F. (1999). Jean Piaget. Retrieved Jun. 4, 2014 fromhttp://muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/piaget.htm

▪ Smith, L. (2000). A brief biography of Jean Piaget. Retrieved Jun. 4, 2014 from http://www.piaget.org/aboutPiaget.html