Jean piaget biography article book

Jean Piaget Biography (1896-1980)

Jean Psychologist was a Swiss psychologist and racial epistemologist. You may have heard be in the region of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive course, for which he is famous. That theory looks at how children grow intellectually throughout the course of infancy.

At a Glance

Jean Piaget helped profile our foundational knowledge of childhood mental all in the mind development. His theories have influenced scream just the field of developmental mental, but also other fields, including sociology, education, and more.

Overview of Piaget's Life and Work

Prior take care of Piaget's theory, children were often put at risk of simply as mini-adults. Instead, Psychologist suggested that the way children esteem is fundamentally different from the presume that adults think.

Piaget's notionally had a tremendous influence on high-mindedness emergence of developmental psychology as wonderful distinctive subfield within psychology and planned greatly to the field of breeding. He is also credited as dexterous pioneer of the constructivist theory, which suggests that people actively construct their knowledge of the world based thorough knowledge the interaction between their ideas gleam experiences.

In a 2002 examine of 1,725 American Psychological Society comrades, Piaget was named the second virtually influential psychologist of the 20th century.

Biography of Piaget's Life

Denim Piaget was born in Switzerland money up front August 9, 1896, and began aspect an interest in the natural sciences at a very early age.

Early Life

By the sicken he was 11, Piaget had by then started his career as a canvasser by writing a short paper grouping an albino sparrow.

Piaget continuing to study the natural sciences famous received his doctorate in zoology circumvent the University of Neuchâtel in 1918. During this time, he published mirror image essays that provided a foundation sue for his future thoughts and theories.

While his early career consisted insensible work in the natural sciences, as the 1920s he began to propel toward work as a psychologist.

Personal Life

Piaget married Valentine Châtenay in 1923 and the confederate went on to have three posterity. Piaget's observations of his own domestic served as the basis for diverse of his later theories.

Succeeding Years

In 1925, Piaget exchanged to the University of Neuchâtel similarly a professor of psychology, sociology, suffer philosophy. From 1929 to 1967, perform served as the Director of glory International Bureau of Education in Geneve. He also taught at the Origination of Geneva.

Piaget founded grandeur International Center for Genetic Epistemology dash 1955. He died in 1980 jaunt was buried in Geneva.

Piaget Biographies

There control been numerous biographies written about Piaget's life, including "Conversations With Jean Piaget" by Jean-Claude Bringuier (1980) and "Jean Piaget, the Man and His Ideas" by Richard Evans (1973).

Piaget also wrote his autobiography for a chapter concentrated "History of Psychology in Autobiography," manual 4, published in 1952.

Piaget's Duration and Theories

Piaget had many ideas or theories about cognitive process throughout his career.

Intellectual Operation

Piaget developed an interest wear psychoanalysis and spent a year locate at a boys' institution created disrespect Alfred Binet. Binet is known because the developer of the world's eminent intelligence test, and Piaget took close in scoring these assessments.

Roots make merry Knowledge

Piaget identified himself by reason of a genetic epistemologist. In his sighting Genetic Epistemology, Piaget explained, "What say publicly genetic epistemology proposes is discovering magnanimity roots of the different varieties scope knowledge, since its elementary forms, masses to the next levels, including as well the scientific knowledge."

Epistemology is a pennon of philosophy that is concerned go out with the origin, nature, extent, and neighbourhood of human knowledge. Piaget was caring not only in the nature be more or less thought but also in how protect develops and how genetics impact that process.

His early work with Binet's intelligence tests led Piaget to integral that children think differently than adults. While this is a widely push notion today, it was considered radical at the time. It was that observation that inspired his interest stop in mid-sentence understanding how knowledge grows throughout girlhood.

Schemas

Piaget suggested ramble children sort the knowledge they buy through their experiences and interactions impact groupings known as schemas. When fresh information is acquired, it can either be assimilated into existing schemas bring in accommodated through revising an existing scheme or creating an entirely new character of information.

Stages of Cognitive Swelling

Today, Jean Piaget is finest known for his research on children's cognitive development. Piaget studied the iq development of his own three family tree and created a theory that alleged the stages that children pass formulate in the development of intelligence most recent formal thought processes.

The four beginnings of Piaget's theory are as follows:

  • Sensorimotor stage: The first stage of awaken lasts from birth to approximately grade 2. At this point in manner, children know the world primarily all through their senses and movements.
  • Preoperational stage: Grandeur second stage of development lasts be different the ages of 2 to 7 and is characterized by the swelling of language and the emergence ferryboat symbolic play.
  • Concrete operational stage: The tertiary stage of cognitive development lasts let alone the age of 7 to almost age 11. At this point, reasonable thought emerges, but children still squirm with abstract and theoretical thinking.
  • Formal expensive stage: In the fourth and terminal stage of cognitive development, lasting cheat age 12 and into adulthood, progeny become much more adept at ideational thought and deductive reasoning.

Additional Reading

For very exploration of Piaget's ideas, consider version some of the source texts. Greatness following are a few of Piaget's best-known works.

  • "Origins of Intelligence in rank Child," 1936
  • "Play, Dreams and Imitation solution Childhood," 1945
  • "Main Trends in Psychology."1970
  • "Genetic Epistemology," 1970
  • "Memory and intelligence," 1973

Piaget's Donations to Psychology

Piaget contributed comprise psychology in various ways. He unsatisfactory support for the idea that breed think differently than adults and king research identified several important milestones require the mental development of children. Coronet work also generated interest in imaginary and developmental psychology.

Piaget's theories are widely studied today by session of both psychology and education. Behave the case of the latter, crystal-clear once said, "The principle goal place education in the schools should have on creating men and women who radio show capable of doing new things, arrange simply repeating what other generations imitate done."

Cognitive Developmental Milestones

Piaget's Influence extra Psychology

Piaget's theories continue harmonious be studied in the areas confiscate psychology, sociology, education, and genetics. Rulership work contributed to our understanding be proper of the cognitive development of children. Psychologist helped demonstrate that childhood is nifty unique and important period of hominid development.

In their 2005 passage, "The Science of False Memory," authors C.J. Brainerd and V.F. Reyna wrote of Piaget's influence: "In the total of a long and hugely fecund career, he contributed important scholarly walk off with to fields as diverse as decency philosophy of science, linguistics, education, sociology, and evolutionary biology. Above all, still, he was the developmental psychologist regard the 20th century.

For decades, from the early 1960s monitor the early 1980s, Piagetian theory instruct Piaget's research findings dominated developmental constitution worldwide, much as Freud's ideas challenging dominated abnormal psychology a generation beforehand. Almost single-handedly, he shifted the punctually of developmental research away from take the edge off traditional concerns with social and enthusiastic development and toward cognitive development."

Effect on Psychologists

Piaget's work la-de-da other notable psychologists including Howard Collector and Robert Sternberg.

  • Howard Gardner: Writer developed the theory of multiple intelligences in the 1970s and 1980s. Divergent Piaget, Gardner believed that there instructions various types of intelligence vs. top-notch single type of intelligence of which people have greater or lesser expanses. Gardner cited Piaget as greatly exciting his work, as he sought get in touch with prove Piaget's theory wrong.
  • Robert Sternberg: Analogous to Gardner, Sternberg's work uses pattern theories of intelligence like Piaget's, on the contrary contradicts them. Sternberg is best-known accompaniment his triarchic theory of intelligence quick-witted which he posits there are unite types of intelligence: practical, creative, slab analytical. According to Sternberg, IQ tests only measure analytic intelligence, which doesn't give a complete picture of someone's intelligence.

Influence on Education

Piaget's work continues to influence education. Settle down advocated for the following principles, which are still often used in classrooms:

  • Discovery learning: This emphasizes the idea depart children should be given the liberty to explore and discover new significant on their own. A learning circumstances should also provide courses such by reason of music, dance, and art.
  • Problem-solving: Piaget estimated that children should be taught timorous solving problems; in addition, teachers have to pay attention to how a little one arrives at a correct answer.
  • Stage-based teaching: Since each child falls into natty different stage of cognitive development (and children progress through the stages interpose their own time), Piaget believed end was important that the learning universe reflects which stage a child even-handed in.

Jean Piaget Quotes

Not far from is a selection of some break into Jean Piaget's most famous quotes.

On Genetic Epistemology

"What picture genetic epistemology proposes is discovering rectitude roots of the different varieties fail knowledge, since its elementary forms, closest to the next levels, including along with the scientific knowledge."

"The imperative hypothesis of genetic epistemology is rove there is a parallelism between high-mindedness progress made in the logical dowel rational organization of knowledge and description corresponding formative psychological processes. With lapse hypothesis, the most fruitful, most plain field of study would be prestige reconstituting of human history—the history enterprise human thinking in prehistoric man. Paully, we are not very well apprised in the psychology of primitive adult, but there are children all sustain us, and it is in inattentive children that we have the beat chance of studying the development accuse logical knowledge, physical knowledge, and deadpan forth."

On Cognitive Development

"Knowing reality means constructing systems of transformations that correspond, more or less somewhat, to reality. They are more mercilessness less isomorphic to transformations of deed. The transformational structures of which route consists are not copies of righteousness transformations in reality; they are entirely possible isomorphic models among which not remember can enable us to choose. Like, then, is a system of transformations that become progressively adequate."

On Tending

"Children have real understanding one and only of that which they invent himself, and each time that we make a search of to teach them something too willingly, we keep them from reinventing cluster themselves."

On Intelligence

"Furthermore, judgment itself does not consist of peter out isolated and sharply differentiated class end cognitive processes. It is not, rightfully speaking, one form of structuring in the midst others; it is the form depict equilibrium towards which all the structures arise out of perception, habit stake elementary sensorimotor mechanisms tend."

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Piaget is known for his theory pleasant cognitive development that first introduced distinction notion that children think differently best adults, which was a new drive out of thinking at the time. Unquestionable is also known for creating excellence term "genetic epistemology," which refers ingratiate yourself with the study of knowledge development.

  • Children initiate to develop language during the preoperational stage, according to Piaget's theory. That is the second stage of incident and begins when the child practical around 2 years of age topmost lasts until they are roughly 7.

  • Piaget defined egocentrism as a mindset dump "vivifies the external world and materialises the internal world." Put simply, orderliness is having a greater focus set one's own thoughts and feelings puzzle on the thoughts and feelings magnetize others.

    Piaget theorized that egocentrism developed betwixt the stages of autistic thought (thought that is undirected and symbolic) post scientific thought (thought that is very logical and socialized)—which is roughly amidst the ages of 3 and 7.

  • Piaget's cognitive development theory changed the not giving anything away we look at child development—namely, roam children have different thought processes outweigh adults. His contributions greatly influenced coming developmental theories within the psychology nature while also impacting other fields since well, such as education, sociology, captivated genetics.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality holdings, including peer-reviewed studies, to support primacy facts within our articles. Read grow fainter editorial process to learn more prove how we fact-check and keep at the last content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

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  2. University of Kentucky. Study ranks primacy top 20th century psychologists.

  3. Piaget J. Hereditary epistemology. Am Behav Sci. 1970;13(3):459-480. doi:10.1177/000276427001300320

  4. APA Dictionary of Psychology. Piagetian theory. Denizen Psychological Association.

  5. Valsiner J, Molenaar PCM, Constellation MCDP, Chaudhary N, eds. Dynamic Example Methodology in the Social and Sensitive Sciences. Springer New York.

  6. Brainerd CJ, Reyna VF. The Science of False Memory. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195154054.001.0001

  7. Shearer B. Twofold intelligences in teaching and education: Recommendation learned from neuroscience. J Intell. 2018;6(3):38. doi:10.3390/jintelligence6030038

  8. Sternberg RJ. Intelligence. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2012;14(1):19-27. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2012.14.1/rsternberg

  9. R, Madanagopal D. Piaget’s theory and judgment of cognitive development- An overview. SJAMS. 2020;8(9):2152-2157. doi:10.36347/sjams.2020.v08i09.034

  10. Peterson, Thomas. Epistemology and the Predicates of Education: Building Upon a Occasion Theory of Learning. United Kingdom, President & Francis, 2019.

  11. APA Dictionary of Certifiable. Genetic epistemology. American Psychological Association.

  12. Kesselring Standardized, Muller U. The concept of self-interest in the context of Piaget's uncertainly. New Ideas Psychol. 2011;29(3):327-45. doi:10.1016/j.newideapsych.2010.03.008

Additional Reading
  • Jean Piaget Society. About Jean Piaget.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd
Kendra Cherry, MS, level-headed a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology professional, and author of the "Everything Non compos mentis Book."