{"id":1701,"date":"2022-11-17T02:54:52","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T02:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationlibrary.org\/?p=1701"},"modified":"2023-09-21T20:15:43","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T20:15:43","slug":"jean-piaget-biography-theory-and-cognitive-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationlibrary.org\/jean-piaget-biography-theory-and-cognitive-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Jean Piaget: Biography, Theory and Cognitive Development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the course of his remarkable career of nearly 75 years, Piaget opened the doors to new information as to how the mind works. From his first publication at age 10 to his research when he passed at 84, Piaget shed light on new ideas. He developed several new fields of science including developmental psychology<\/strong>, cognitive theory<\/strong> and genetic epistemology<\/strong>. Piaget\u2019s work established the foundation for today\u2019s education-reform movements, though he himself was not an educational reformer. His works initiated changes comparable to the displacement of stories of “noble savages” and “cannibals” in modern anthropology. Piaget was the first psychologist to take children’s thinking seriously (1<\/sup>). A main theorist whose ideas contradicted Piaget\u2019s ideas was Lev Vygotsky<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"A<\/a>
Jean William Fritz Piaget (9 August 1896 \u2013 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Life of Jean Piaget <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a pioneer in the field of child psychology. He reframed the study of intellectual development during the 20th century. Born in Neuch\u00e2tel, Switzerland<\/em>, on August 9, 1896, Jean was the oldest child of Arthur Piaget and Rebecca Jackson. His father was a professor of medieval literature at the University of Neuch\u00e2tel with a keen interest in local history and a dedication to education. His mother was the daughter of a prominent French family. She was intelligent but a bit neurotic\u2014 this impression sparked Piaget\u2019s interest in psychology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a child, Jean was quiet and precocious. Like his father, he had a zeal for learning. He was fascinated by nature and took an interest in collecting shells which burgeoned into a more serious study of the mollusk. At ten years old, he published his first article, a short observational study on his sighting of an albino sparrow. This was only the start of his lifelong publishing success. By age 15, he had published many articles on malacology. Piaget made a name for himself in zoological circles because of these articles. European scientists assumed he was an expert in his field and did not realize he was just a high school student with a passion for mollusks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Piaget continued to supplement his studies with a part-time job at Nuech\u00e2tel\u2019s Museum of Natural History<\/em>, where he worked with the director, Mr. Godel, to classify their collection. His focus on the hard sciences did not allow for study in, as he put it, \u201cthe demon of philosophy<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an older teen, with his mother\u2019s encouragement, he began receiving religious instruction. He found the arguments posed in this sphere to be childish. The juxtaposition of religion and science caused him to have a crisis of faith. Piaget revisited this topic throughout his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his continuing study of philosophy and logic, he proposed to find a \u201cbiological explanation of knowledge<\/em>.\u201d He was unsatisfied with his philosophical research, so he centered his study on psychology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Piaget finished high school, he continued his education in the natural sciences at the University of Neuch\u00e2tel<\/em>. He then went on to earn a doctoral degree in 1918. This intense focus on education and research caused his health to decline. Piaget spent a year in the mountains to recover from tuberculosis. When he returned to Neuch\u00e2tel, he began to organize his thoughts on biology, psychology, and philosophy. This combination of viewpoints became the foundation for his life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explains the basis for his structuralist philosophy by stating, \u201cIn all fields of life (organic, mental, social), there exist \u2018totalities\u2019 qualitatively distinct from their parts and imposing on them an organization<\/em>.\u201d This systematic organization of development would influence the Gestaltists<\/em>, Systems Theorists<\/em>, and many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went on to study at the University of Z\u00fcrich<\/em>, where he spent a year working at Bleuler\u2019s psychiatric clinic. In 1919 Piaget finally left Switzerland to work at the Sorbonne in Paris. There he taught psychology and philosophy and was exposed to the works of Freud, Jung, and other prominent psychologists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1920 he was introduced to Th\u00e9odore Simon at the Binet Laboratory<\/em>, where they developed the methodology to test children\u2019s intelligence and reasoning capability. However, Piaget was not satisfied with the rigid quality of the test. He began conducting his tests at a boys\u2019 school by implementing techniques he had learned during his time at the Sorbonne. Instead of asking the children questions that highlighted what the children had learned. He asked questions that showed how the children reasoned<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Piaget returned to Switzerland In 1921, where he held the position of research director at the J.J. Rousseau Institute<\/em> in Geneva. That same year, he published an article in the Journal de Psychologie<\/em> discussing the psychology of intelligence. This was his first publication on the topic he would devote the rest of his life to studying. He and a group of research students worked with school-aged children to study the psychology of reasoning in young minds<\/strong>. This work provided the material for Piaget\u2019s first five books on child psychology. While the research was only in its early stages, the books received high praise from the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1923, Piaget married Valentine Ch\u00e2tenay<\/em>, a research student, and they quickly started their family. In 1925, they welcomed their first daughter, followed by a second in 1927. Their final child, a son, was born in 1931. Jean and Valentine\u2019s children became the focus of their study into child development. The results of this research were published in three books. In 1929 he was awarded the post of director at the International Bureau of Education<\/em>. A position he held until 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the 30s and 40s, he worked with A. Szeminska<\/strong>, E Meyer<\/strong>, and B\u00e4bel Inhelder<\/strong>. They created large-scale research studies on child psychology. This association was groundbreaking because collaboration with women in scientific research in experimental psychology was rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over his life, Piaget worked at many educational institutions and sat on the board of multiple organizations. In 1940 he worked as chair of Experimental Psychology<\/strong>, director of the psychology laboratory, and the Swiss Society of Psychology president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Nazi occupation of France in 1942, Piaget was invited to give a series of lectures at the Coll\u00e8ge de France<\/em>. He later published the information covered in these lectures in The Psychology of Intelligence<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The broader scientific community was unaware of his work until after the end of World War II. This was also when he was named President of the Swiss Commission of UNESCO<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Piaget was awarded several honorary degrees, starting with Harvard<\/strong> in 1936 and the Sorbonne<\/strong> in 1946. In 1949 he received honorary degrees from the University of Brazil<\/strong> and the University of Brussels<\/strong> as well as published his synthesis, Introduction to Genetic Epistemology<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He became a Professor of Genetic Psychology at the Sorbonne in 1952, and in 1955 he opened the International Center for Genetic Epistemology<\/em>. He continued to expand his influence by creating the School of Sciences at the University of Geneva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His research on the general theory of structures and using biology as a lens to view psychology continued even as he wore the hats of professor, director, chairman, and president. Additionally, his dedication to public service was evidenced by his role as the Swiss delegate to UNESCO. By the end of his prolific career, he had written over 60 books and hundreds of articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 16, 1980, Jean Piaget died in Geneva<\/em>. He remains one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century. His scientific research spanned nearly 75 years, starting as a small boy of 10 and continuing until his death at 84. He changed how scientists view psychology by creating new fields of study, including developmental psychology, cognitive theory, and genetic epistemology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Piaget\u2019s research illuminated the process by which we learn and grow. This new way of understanding children was anathema to the previous philosophy. It could be compared to the change in anthropologists\u2019 early perception of primitive cultures to their more modern view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Piaget\u2019s work was not directly related to elementary education<\/em>, he provided a new template for understanding the development of knowledge in children. This, in turn, provided a basis for educational reform. This thoughtful approach was revolutionary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Dewey<\/strong> in the U.S., Maria Montessori<\/strong> in Italy, and Paulo Freire<\/strong> in Brazil\u2014 used Piaget\u2019s research to support their goals for positive change in schools worldwide. His influence was not just on large-scale reformers. Generations of teachers implemented new teaching strategies to support children\u2019s exploration, creativity, and testing as opposed to the traditional pedagogy of filling empty vessels (4<\/sup>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sigmund Freud and B.F. Skinner may have more name recognition, but Piaget\u2019s contribution to the world is possibly more wide-reaching. As the information superhighway increases children\u2019s access to a broader range of knowledge, his ideas about how children learn become increasingly relevant.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"A<\/a>
Jean Piaget with children in classroom<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

See also: Merrill\u2019s Principles Of Instruction<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jean Piaget’s Theory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jean Piaget had a keen interest in biology. During his teen years, the scientific community highly respected his research in malacology. His passion for science and its history eventually eclipsed his interest in mollusks. While studying the natural sciences, his curiosity about the development of the mind grew, specifically the development of knowledge<\/strong> (5<\/sup>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He found that the research in this area of psychology was lacking, which led him to create a uniquely focused branch of study that he termed genetic epistemology<\/strong>, which means the study of the development of knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his observation of infants, he noted that they had simple methods for interacting with objects in their environment. These sensory-motor skills were how infants explored and grew their knowledge. With repetition, they could increase the complexity of their methods. These skills he called schemas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An infant knows how to grasp a toy and put it in his mouth. This is an example of a successful schema. When he comes across a similar object, a new toy, he can apply this \u201cgrab and taste<\/em>\u201d schema to the new object. Piaget defined assimilation<\/strong> as applying a learned schema to a new object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the infant encounters an entirely different type of object, a dog, she will apply this current schema of \u201cgrab and taste<\/em>.\u201d The old schema will not work as well, so the schema will be adapted to the new object. \u201cGrab and taste<\/em>\u201d becomes \u201cgrab and yank.<\/em>\u201d Applying an old schema to a new object is called accommodation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Assimilation
Assimilation vs Accommodation<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Piaget called the process of assimilation and accommodation, adaptation<\/strong>, which is just another way to describe learning. Unlike Behaviorists<\/em>, Piaget saw adaptation as a biological process. A child\u2019s grip must accommodate a ball while sand is assimilated into their grip. All living things adapt, whether plant or animal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assimilation and accommodation work together, each affecting the other to progress the understanding of our environment and how we navigate through it. By working in tandem, these forces seek to balance the organization of the mind with the environment. Achieving a balance indicates that the individual has a firm understanding of their world. This balanced state is, Piaget called, equilibrium<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his observation of children, Piaget noticed a pattern. Sometimes assimilation was the driver, while other times, it was accommodation. There were also intervals of relative equilibrium. He recognized a similarity in when and how these assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium intervals appeared among all his test subjects. With this information, he developed the idea of stages of cognitive development<\/strong>. This concept influenced the foundation of child psychology<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Age ranges can be affected by a child\u2019s experiences and environment. Cultural expectations of age-appropriate behaviors vary widely. Therefore these age ranges are only approximate. Four key features define the thinking pattern of these \u201cstages<\/strong>\u201d (2<\/sup>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n