Biography Category
Name :
Jean Piaget
Date :
Views :
552
Category :
Birth Date :
09/08/1896
Birth Place :
Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Death Date :
16-Sep-80
Not Available
One of the eminent researchers in child development and a major theorist Jean Piaget was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland on August 9, 1896. He was the oldest child of Arthur Piaget, professor of medieval literature and of Rebecca Jackson.[br /]
[br /]
When he was 10 years old, his observations led to questions that could be answered only by access to the University library. When he was a pupil at Neuchâtel Latin high school, he wrote and published a short note on the sighting of an albino sparrow. He was a child prodigy who soon became interested in the scientific study of nature.[br /]
[br /]
During his late adolescence his interest for mollusks (invertebrates like snails, oysters and other sea life) was developed. In fact, he became a well-known malacologist by finishing his high school studies. After high school graduation, he studied natural sciences at the University of Neuchâtel where he obtained a Ph.D. in Zoology. During this period, he published philosophical essays.[br /]
[br /]
He was enrolled at the University of Zurich for doctoral work. He got interested in psychoanalysis and especially on the subject of Child Intelligence and its development. During his stint at Zurich, Piaget standardized Cyril Burt’s test of Intelligence. He got the opportunity to study abnormal psychology under Carl Jung and also worked with Bleuler in Lipps’ Laboratory. Dr. Gottlob Triedrich Lipps, a Ph.D. from Liepzig was the professor and director of the Psychological Laboratory, established in 1911.[br /]
[br /]
To gain more knowledge in the field, he proceeded to France and joined the Ecole de la rue de la Grange-aux-Belles, an institute for boys. This institute was co-founded by Alfred Binet, the pioneer of Intelligence Testing and De Simon who developed techniques for testing along with Binet.[br /]
[br /]
After Binet’s death in 1911, Simon took over as the faculty in Sorbonne University. Around that period Piaget would administer the Binet reading tests to the children of Paris. In fact, he complemented his findings with data obtained from children confined with mental disorders. As an outcome and turning point in Piaget’s life he took up study of Child Psychology, forever.[br /]
[br /]
The contemporaries of Piaget who have shared the respect for children, were John Dewey in United States, Maria Montessori in Italy and Paulo Freire in Brazil. They fought courageously for immediate change in the schools. Piaget’s influence on education is enriched and deeper in sense as well as pervasive. Piaget has been adored by generations of teachers inspired by the belief that children are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge as traditional pedagogical theory had put forth, but they are active builders of knowledge. Children are the little scientists. They are constantly creating and testing their own world of life.[br /]
[br /]
In 1921, his finding was published in a reputed Parisian Journal, Journal de psychologie. Dr. Elapare’de the institute head, appointed Piaget as the director of studies at the J.J. Rousseau Institute. The same year he was awarded doctorate degree in Zoology, Natural Science from the University of Paris. In 1925 he became a professor of philosophy at the University of Neuchâtel. No doubt, it was his Alma Mater. Then he left the post in 1929 for the University of Geneva as professor of the history of scientific thought. In 1940, the professorship title was changed to professor of experimental psychology and he became the director of its laboratory of psychology. In 1955, Piaget accepted the post of professor of child psychology at the Sorbonne.[br /]
[br /]
When Piaget returned to Switzerland, the young scientist began watching the children play. He scrupulously recorded their words and actions, as their minds raced to find reasons for why things are the way they are. Piaget’s early interests were in zoology. Soon afterward, he became interested in child psychology. He combined his biological training with his interest in epistemology.[br /]
[br /]
Although, Piaget devoted over half a century to his psychological research in new area of psycholinguistics, his basic ideas appear within the first decade of his research. He stimulated considerable experimental research in cognition and child language development, which provoked criticism throughout the world.[br /]
[br /]
During his academic and professional career, he published an extraordinary number of books and scientific research papers, not just on child development, but also on education, the history of thought, philosophy and logic. He continued his prodigious output right up to his death. He wrote more than 50 books and monographs during his long career. Piaget discovered that the mind of the child evolves through a series of set stages of adulthood.[br /]
[br /]
In 1955 he became a director of the International Center for Epistemology at the University of Geneva, and also he worked as co-director of the International Bureau of Education.[br /]
[br /]
Jean Piaget’s contribution is known all over the world and is still an inspiration in fields like psychology, sociology, education, epistemology, economics and law as witnessed in the annual catalogues of the Jean Piaget Archives. Jean Piaget was still researching, at the age of eighty-four, at the time of his death in Geneva on September 17, 1980.[br /]
[br /]
Shortly after Piaget’s death, John Flavell, a leading Piagetian scholar, described what we owe Piaget:[br /]
[br /]
Firstly we owe him a host of insightful concepts of enduring power and fascination… concepts of object permanence, conservation, assimilation, accommodation, and Decentration. Second, we owe him a vast conceptual framework that has highlighted key issues and problems in human cognitive development. This framework is the now-familiar vision of the developing child, who, through its own active and creative commerce with its environment, builds an orderly succession of cognitive structures en route to intellectual maturity. These two debts add up to a third, more general one: We owe him the present field of cognitive development…Our task is not to extend and go beyond what he began so well.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
When he was 10 years old, his observations led to questions that could be answered only by access to the University library. When he was a pupil at Neuchâtel Latin high school, he wrote and published a short note on the sighting of an albino sparrow. He was a child prodigy who soon became interested in the scientific study of nature.[br /]
[br /]
During his late adolescence his interest for mollusks (invertebrates like snails, oysters and other sea life) was developed. In fact, he became a well-known malacologist by finishing his high school studies. After high school graduation, he studied natural sciences at the University of Neuchâtel where he obtained a Ph.D. in Zoology. During this period, he published philosophical essays.[br /]
[br /]
He was enrolled at the University of Zurich for doctoral work. He got interested in psychoanalysis and especially on the subject of Child Intelligence and its development. During his stint at Zurich, Piaget standardized Cyril Burt’s test of Intelligence. He got the opportunity to study abnormal psychology under Carl Jung and also worked with Bleuler in Lipps’ Laboratory. Dr. Gottlob Triedrich Lipps, a Ph.D. from Liepzig was the professor and director of the Psychological Laboratory, established in 1911.[br /]
[br /]
To gain more knowledge in the field, he proceeded to France and joined the Ecole de la rue de la Grange-aux-Belles, an institute for boys. This institute was co-founded by Alfred Binet, the pioneer of Intelligence Testing and De Simon who developed techniques for testing along with Binet.[br /]
[br /]
After Binet’s death in 1911, Simon took over as the faculty in Sorbonne University. Around that period Piaget would administer the Binet reading tests to the children of Paris. In fact, he complemented his findings with data obtained from children confined with mental disorders. As an outcome and turning point in Piaget’s life he took up study of Child Psychology, forever.[br /]
[br /]
The contemporaries of Piaget who have shared the respect for children, were John Dewey in United States, Maria Montessori in Italy and Paulo Freire in Brazil. They fought courageously for immediate change in the schools. Piaget’s influence on education is enriched and deeper in sense as well as pervasive. Piaget has been adored by generations of teachers inspired by the belief that children are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge as traditional pedagogical theory had put forth, but they are active builders of knowledge. Children are the little scientists. They are constantly creating and testing their own world of life.[br /]
[br /]
In 1921, his finding was published in a reputed Parisian Journal, Journal de psychologie. Dr. Elapare’de the institute head, appointed Piaget as the director of studies at the J.J. Rousseau Institute. The same year he was awarded doctorate degree in Zoology, Natural Science from the University of Paris. In 1925 he became a professor of philosophy at the University of Neuchâtel. No doubt, it was his Alma Mater. Then he left the post in 1929 for the University of Geneva as professor of the history of scientific thought. In 1940, the professorship title was changed to professor of experimental psychology and he became the director of its laboratory of psychology. In 1955, Piaget accepted the post of professor of child psychology at the Sorbonne.[br /]
[br /]
When Piaget returned to Switzerland, the young scientist began watching the children play. He scrupulously recorded their words and actions, as their minds raced to find reasons for why things are the way they are. Piaget’s early interests were in zoology. Soon afterward, he became interested in child psychology. He combined his biological training with his interest in epistemology.[br /]
[br /]
Although, Piaget devoted over half a century to his psychological research in new area of psycholinguistics, his basic ideas appear within the first decade of his research. He stimulated considerable experimental research in cognition and child language development, which provoked criticism throughout the world.[br /]
[br /]
During his academic and professional career, he published an extraordinary number of books and scientific research papers, not just on child development, but also on education, the history of thought, philosophy and logic. He continued his prodigious output right up to his death. He wrote more than 50 books and monographs during his long career. Piaget discovered that the mind of the child evolves through a series of set stages of adulthood.[br /]
[br /]
In 1955 he became a director of the International Center for Epistemology at the University of Geneva, and also he worked as co-director of the International Bureau of Education.[br /]
[br /]
Jean Piaget’s contribution is known all over the world and is still an inspiration in fields like psychology, sociology, education, epistemology, economics and law as witnessed in the annual catalogues of the Jean Piaget Archives. Jean Piaget was still researching, at the age of eighty-four, at the time of his death in Geneva on September 17, 1980.[br /]
[br /]
Shortly after Piaget’s death, John Flavell, a leading Piagetian scholar, described what we owe Piaget:[br /]
[br /]
Firstly we owe him a host of insightful concepts of enduring power and fascination… concepts of object permanence, conservation, assimilation, accommodation, and Decentration. Second, we owe him a vast conceptual framework that has highlighted key issues and problems in human cognitive development. This framework is the now-familiar vision of the developing child, who, through its own active and creative commerce with its environment, builds an orderly succession of cognitive structures en route to intellectual maturity. These two debts add up to a third, more general one: We owe him the present field of cognitive development…Our task is not to extend and go beyond what he began so well.[br /]
[br /]
Swiss born Jean Piaget was a world-renowned psychologist who put forth fundamental theories on mental growth of children known as [i][b]Cognitive Development Theory[/b][/i].[br /]
[br /]
With a keen eye for observation, Jean at a very young age wrote several papers on subjects like Albino Sparrow and Mollusks. This fetched him due recognition from the European Zoologists of those times.[br /]
[br /]
Equipped with a Doctorate in Zoology and trained further as a Biologist, he conducted research in the new field of [i][b]Genetic Epistemology[/b][/i] – the theory of knowledge on Genetics.[br /]
[br /]
His revolution theories gained appreciation even from Albert Einstein who remarked: [i]His discovery is so simple that only a genius could have thought of it[/i].[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
With a keen eye for observation, Jean at a very young age wrote several papers on subjects like Albino Sparrow and Mollusks. This fetched him due recognition from the European Zoologists of those times.[br /]
[br /]
Equipped with a Doctorate in Zoology and trained further as a Biologist, he conducted research in the new field of [i][b]Genetic Epistemology[/b][/i] – the theory of knowledge on Genetics.[br /]
[br /]
His revolution theories gained appreciation even from Albert Einstein who remarked: [i]His discovery is so simple that only a genius could have thought of it[/i].[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]August 9, 1896[/b] Jean Piaget was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1906[/b] Published his first paper at age of 10.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1918[/b] He obtained Doctorate in Zoology from the University of Neuchâtel, studies in Psychology at Zurich.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1926-29[/b] He was professor of philosophy at the University of Neuchâtel.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1929[/b] He became a professor of child psychology at the University of Geneva. He established the center for Genetic Epistemology.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1948[/b] His book, The Origins of Intelligence in Children was published.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1952[/b] Revised edition of his book on The Origins of Intelligence in Children published.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1923[/b] His book The Language and Thought of the Child was published.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1924[/b] His book Judgment and Reasoning in the Child was published.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1939[/b] Appointed the Chairperson of Sociology at Geneva up to 1952.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1940[/b] He was the Chairperson of Genetic and experimental psychology at Geneva up to 1971.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1955[/b] He became director of the international center for Genetic Epistemology until his death.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1964[/b] He wrote The Early Growth of Logic in the child.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1970[/b] He wrote Science of Education and the Psychology of the child.[br /]
[br /]
[b]September 16, 1980[/b] Died in Geneva at the age of 84.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]1906[/b] Published his first paper at age of 10.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1918[/b] He obtained Doctorate in Zoology from the University of Neuchâtel, studies in Psychology at Zurich.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1926-29[/b] He was professor of philosophy at the University of Neuchâtel.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1929[/b] He became a professor of child psychology at the University of Geneva. He established the center for Genetic Epistemology.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1948[/b] His book, The Origins of Intelligence in Children was published.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1952[/b] Revised edition of his book on The Origins of Intelligence in Children published.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1923[/b] His book The Language and Thought of the Child was published.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1924[/b] His book Judgment and Reasoning in the Child was published.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1939[/b] Appointed the Chairperson of Sociology at Geneva up to 1952.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1940[/b] He was the Chairperson of Genetic and experimental psychology at Geneva up to 1971.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1955[/b] He became director of the international center for Genetic Epistemology until his death.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1964[/b] He wrote The Early Growth of Logic in the child.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1970[/b] He wrote Science of Education and the Psychology of the child.[br /]
[br /]
[b]September 16, 1980[/b] Died in Geneva at the age of 84.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
It is remarkable that Piaget wrote and published his first scientific paper on his observations of an albino sparrow and by 15 his several publications on mollusks and gained him a reputation among European Zoologists.[br /]
][br /]
In his work Piaget identified the child’s four stages of mental growth. His researches in developmental psychology and genetic epistemology had one unique goal.[br /]
[br /]
After a semester spent at the University of Zurich where he developed an interest for psychoanalysis and intelligence testing, Piaget spent one year working at the Ecole de la rue de la Grange–aux–Belles, a boy’s institution created by Alfred Binet. There he standardized Burt’s test of intelligence and did his first experimental studies of the growing mind.[br /]
[br /]
The interest of Jean Piaget in cognitive development began when he started working with Theodore Simon in his Paris Laboratory for preparation of intelligence tests. He was required to administer intelligence tests to children in order to try and establish better test norms. During his work, Piaget found himself becoming more interested in the quality of children’s answer to questions rather than how many they got wrong or right. Then Piaget became interested with reasoning process that lay behind the answers that children gave. After that, work of Piaget was solely focused on cognitive development, which he continued to study till his death.[br /]
[br /]
In Paris, Piaget devised and administered reading tests to school children and he became interested in child language development and what types of errors they made. These studies, lead him to explore the reasoning process in children.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget worked on cognitive development of the child. The influence of Jean Piaget’s work has not fallen short of that of Freud. He spent most of his life directing an institute of child development in Geneva. [br /]
[br /]
He worked out his ideas in the context of philosophical discussion to study the children’s behavior. He based much of his work on detailed observation of limited numbers of individuals, rather than studying large samples.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget placed great emphasis on the ability of child activity to make sense of the world. According to him children do not passively seek up information, but select and interpret what they see, hear and feel in the world around them.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget undertook number of observations of children as well as numerous experiments to study their way of thinking and development of language.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget interned in Genetic Epistemology and in latter life he established Center for Genetic Epistemology.[br /]
[br /]
[b]What is Epistemology? [/b][br /]
[br /]
Epistemology is a term for a part of Cognition Theory. Epistemology endeavors to investigate cognition in the most varied fields of knowledge by throwing a critical light on the objects of investigation. According to Jean Piaget, Epistemology itself can be science when it is concerned with research into mechanisms of scientific knowledge. In a wider sense the term is often used instead of cognition theory, or theory of knowledge.[br /]
[br /]
In one of his most famous experiments, Piaget explored the role played by the child’s reasoning process in their cognitive development. We will here mention a typical Piaget dialogue with Julia, a small girl:[br /]
[br /]
Piaget: What makes the wind?[br /]
Julia: The trees.[br /]
Piaget: How do you know?[br /]
Julia: I saw them waving their arms.[br /]
Piaget: How does that make the wind?[br /]
Julia: I saw them waving their arms.[br /]
Piaget: How does that make the wind?[br /]
Julia: (Waving her hand in front of his face): Like this. Only they are[br /]
bigger. And there are lots of trees.[br /]
Piaget: What makes the wind on the ocean? [br /]
Julia: It blows there from the land. No it’s the waves….[br /]
[br /]
Piaget’s conversation with Julia shows five-year-old Julia’s beliefs, which are not correct by any adult criterion, but are not incorrect either. Piaget believed that they are sensible and convert within the framework of the child’s way of knowledge. When we classifying them as ‘true’ and ‘false’ we miss the real point and show a lack of respect for the child.[br /]
[br /]
The dialogue between Piaget and Julia on wind, by referring to body actions, which showed that young children are in very good stead when they do not know enough or have enough skill to handle the kind of explanation that elders would prefer to have known.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget’s put forth findings in his research in cognition area of children at the Maison des Petits of the Institute. They issued sequentially progress reports of their research in his books: (1) The Language and Thought of the Child, published in 1923, (2) Judgment and Reasoning in the Child; published in 1924; (3) The Child’s conception of the world, published in 1926, (4) The Child’s Conception of Physical Causality, published in 1930, and The Moral Judgment of Child, published in 1932. From this publication one can gauge Piaget’s contribution in child development, particularly in area of mental growth and language development. The common theme throughout of his lifelong work is that of a developmental principle. He went through the research on an evolutionary process in which a person progresses from the mentality of a child to that of grown up to adulthood.[br /]
[br /]
From Piaget’s observations, one can conclude that despite their interpersonal activity, children are much more egocentric and much less social in thought and speech than adults. Piaget wrote, "The adult thinks socially, even when he is alone and the child under seven thinks egocentrically, even in the society of others." Piaget’s observations conclude that only a spurious social life is found among children less than seven years of age. Instead of reasoning in universal terms, children’s thoughts deal with individual instances.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget said, "They form logic of action but not yet a logic of thought." The child’s ego-centrism does not permit him to think in relative terms, but they think in absolute terms. Self-contradictions are not avoided, due to the transductive reasoning of the child. They are reasoning from one particular instance to another rather than reasoning from deduction to induction.[br /]
[br /]
Due to animistic thinking, a seven-year-old child assumes that the sun moves because it is alive and the child generalizes that all things that move are alive. In fact, the child’s conception of the world is animistic, inputting spontaneous movement to bodies.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget had not only worked on, child’s reasoning process and language development, but he had also worked on moral development. Piaget argued that there are four stages of moral development of child. He narrated his views in his book Moral Judgment of the Child (1932). After working on moral judgment, Piaget structured four stages of cognitive development in his book Logic and Epistemology (1953). Piaget believed that from birth, human beings are active and do not require external incentives. He proposed that the cognitive development occurs in four stages.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget also worked on Genetic Epistemology and in his book on Logic and Epistemology; he identified infants as initially forming basic sensorimotor skills in relation to their physical environment. As this set or schema of basic sensorimotor skills developed, it increasingly laid foundations for the development of another set or schema of exploratory skills.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget in his child developmental research gradually built up a theory, which included large number of different skill sets of schemas. He argued that each at these skills sets tended to be open to be attended by children of differing ages as they become adapted to the world around them. He also suggested that there might be preoperational, concrete, operational and formal operational stages of development.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget was influenced by Gestaltists, which we can observe from his book on The Child Conception of Space (with Barbel Inhelder, 1948). Piaget observed that a child views space topologically, rather than geometrically. For a child special relationships are qualitative rather than quantitative and later child develops his conception of space.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget first intended to study children for the purpose of understanding the development of thought, both in individuals and in the species. In his early days of research work on child development, he was interested in studying genetic epistemology from a scientific viewpoint instead of a philosophical one. That led him into studies of cognitive development; language and moral and intellectual development trait brought him fame not as a biologist or a philosopher, but as a Child Psychologist. Piaget’s work on child psychology not just focuses as on his observations, but also on his methodology in studying children. Mostly, he had adopted the method of observation to understand the child behavior. In fact, Piaget’s work had also been much criticized on grounds of his method. How can findings based on observations of small numbers of children all living in a Geneva or Paris be generalized? Yet for most, Piaget’s thoughts and ideas on cognitive development of child have stood up well in the light of the enormous amount of subsequent research. Piaget devoted over half a century to his psychological research. He has stimulated considerable experimental research throughout the world. He stimulated thought-provoking criticism also. The eminent psychologist of Harvard Roger Brown, who has a high opinion for Freud, remarked that, "After Freud, it is Jean Piaget, I think, who has made the greatest contribution to modern psychology."[br /]
[br /]
][br /]
In his work Piaget identified the child’s four stages of mental growth. His researches in developmental psychology and genetic epistemology had one unique goal.[br /]
[br /]
After a semester spent at the University of Zurich where he developed an interest for psychoanalysis and intelligence testing, Piaget spent one year working at the Ecole de la rue de la Grange–aux–Belles, a boy’s institution created by Alfred Binet. There he standardized Burt’s test of intelligence and did his first experimental studies of the growing mind.[br /]
[br /]
The interest of Jean Piaget in cognitive development began when he started working with Theodore Simon in his Paris Laboratory for preparation of intelligence tests. He was required to administer intelligence tests to children in order to try and establish better test norms. During his work, Piaget found himself becoming more interested in the quality of children’s answer to questions rather than how many they got wrong or right. Then Piaget became interested with reasoning process that lay behind the answers that children gave. After that, work of Piaget was solely focused on cognitive development, which he continued to study till his death.[br /]
[br /]
In Paris, Piaget devised and administered reading tests to school children and he became interested in child language development and what types of errors they made. These studies, lead him to explore the reasoning process in children.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget worked on cognitive development of the child. The influence of Jean Piaget’s work has not fallen short of that of Freud. He spent most of his life directing an institute of child development in Geneva. [br /]
[br /]
He worked out his ideas in the context of philosophical discussion to study the children’s behavior. He based much of his work on detailed observation of limited numbers of individuals, rather than studying large samples.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget placed great emphasis on the ability of child activity to make sense of the world. According to him children do not passively seek up information, but select and interpret what they see, hear and feel in the world around them.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget undertook number of observations of children as well as numerous experiments to study their way of thinking and development of language.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget interned in Genetic Epistemology and in latter life he established Center for Genetic Epistemology.[br /]
[br /]
[b]What is Epistemology? [/b][br /]
[br /]
Epistemology is a term for a part of Cognition Theory. Epistemology endeavors to investigate cognition in the most varied fields of knowledge by throwing a critical light on the objects of investigation. According to Jean Piaget, Epistemology itself can be science when it is concerned with research into mechanisms of scientific knowledge. In a wider sense the term is often used instead of cognition theory, or theory of knowledge.[br /]
[br /]
In one of his most famous experiments, Piaget explored the role played by the child’s reasoning process in their cognitive development. We will here mention a typical Piaget dialogue with Julia, a small girl:[br /]
[br /]
Piaget: What makes the wind?[br /]
Julia: The trees.[br /]
Piaget: How do you know?[br /]
Julia: I saw them waving their arms.[br /]
Piaget: How does that make the wind?[br /]
Julia: I saw them waving their arms.[br /]
Piaget: How does that make the wind?[br /]
Julia: (Waving her hand in front of his face): Like this. Only they are[br /]
bigger. And there are lots of trees.[br /]
Piaget: What makes the wind on the ocean? [br /]
Julia: It blows there from the land. No it’s the waves….[br /]
[br /]
Piaget’s conversation with Julia shows five-year-old Julia’s beliefs, which are not correct by any adult criterion, but are not incorrect either. Piaget believed that they are sensible and convert within the framework of the child’s way of knowledge. When we classifying them as ‘true’ and ‘false’ we miss the real point and show a lack of respect for the child.[br /]
[br /]
The dialogue between Piaget and Julia on wind, by referring to body actions, which showed that young children are in very good stead when they do not know enough or have enough skill to handle the kind of explanation that elders would prefer to have known.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget’s put forth findings in his research in cognition area of children at the Maison des Petits of the Institute. They issued sequentially progress reports of their research in his books: (1) The Language and Thought of the Child, published in 1923, (2) Judgment and Reasoning in the Child; published in 1924; (3) The Child’s conception of the world, published in 1926, (4) The Child’s Conception of Physical Causality, published in 1930, and The Moral Judgment of Child, published in 1932. From this publication one can gauge Piaget’s contribution in child development, particularly in area of mental growth and language development. The common theme throughout of his lifelong work is that of a developmental principle. He went through the research on an evolutionary process in which a person progresses from the mentality of a child to that of grown up to adulthood.[br /]
[br /]
From Piaget’s observations, one can conclude that despite their interpersonal activity, children are much more egocentric and much less social in thought and speech than adults. Piaget wrote, "The adult thinks socially, even when he is alone and the child under seven thinks egocentrically, even in the society of others." Piaget’s observations conclude that only a spurious social life is found among children less than seven years of age. Instead of reasoning in universal terms, children’s thoughts deal with individual instances.[br /]
[br /]
Piaget said, "They form logic of action but not yet a logic of thought." The child’s ego-centrism does not permit him to think in relative terms, but they think in absolute terms. Self-contradictions are not avoided, due to the transductive reasoning of the child. They are reasoning from one particular instance to another rather than reasoning from deduction to induction.[br /]
[br /]
Due to animistic thinking, a seven-year-old child assumes that the sun moves because it is alive and the child generalizes that all things that move are alive. In fact, the child’s conception of the world is animistic, inputting spontaneous movement to bodies.[br /]
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Piaget had not only worked on, child’s reasoning process and language development, but he had also worked on moral development. Piaget argued that there are four stages of moral development of child. He narrated his views in his book Moral Judgment of the Child (1932). After working on moral judgment, Piaget structured four stages of cognitive development in his book Logic and Epistemology (1953). Piaget believed that from birth, human beings are active and do not require external incentives. He proposed that the cognitive development occurs in four stages.[br /]
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Piaget also worked on Genetic Epistemology and in his book on Logic and Epistemology; he identified infants as initially forming basic sensorimotor skills in relation to their physical environment. As this set or schema of basic sensorimotor skills developed, it increasingly laid foundations for the development of another set or schema of exploratory skills.[br /]
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Piaget in his child developmental research gradually built up a theory, which included large number of different skill sets of schemas. He argued that each at these skills sets tended to be open to be attended by children of differing ages as they become adapted to the world around them. He also suggested that there might be preoperational, concrete, operational and formal operational stages of development.[br /]
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Piaget was influenced by Gestaltists, which we can observe from his book on The Child Conception of Space (with Barbel Inhelder, 1948). Piaget observed that a child views space topologically, rather than geometrically. For a child special relationships are qualitative rather than quantitative and later child develops his conception of space.[br /]
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Piaget first intended to study children for the purpose of understanding the development of thought, both in individuals and in the species. In his early days of research work on child development, he was interested in studying genetic epistemology from a scientific viewpoint instead of a philosophical one. That led him into studies of cognitive development; language and moral and intellectual development trait brought him fame not as a biologist or a philosopher, but as a Child Psychologist. Piaget’s work on child psychology not just focuses as on his observations, but also on his methodology in studying children. Mostly, he had adopted the method of observation to understand the child behavior. In fact, Piaget’s work had also been much criticized on grounds of his method. How can findings based on observations of small numbers of children all living in a Geneva or Paris be generalized? Yet for most, Piaget’s thoughts and ideas on cognitive development of child have stood up well in the light of the enormous amount of subsequent research. Piaget devoted over half a century to his psychological research. He has stimulated considerable experimental research throughout the world. He stimulated thought-provoking criticism also. The eminent psychologist of Harvard Roger Brown, who has a high opinion for Freud, remarked that, "After Freud, it is Jean Piaget, I think, who has made the greatest contribution to modern psychology."[br /]
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• "Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves, and each time that we try to teach them something too quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves."[br /]
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• "Most elementary perceptions…are simultaneously related to each other and structured into organized totalities."[br /]
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• "Desirability is the indication of a rupture in equilibrium or of an uncompleted totality to whose formation some element is lacking and which tends toward this element in order to realize its equilibrium."[br /]
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• "The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done … men who are creative, inventive and discoverers."[br /]
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• "I am a constructivist. I think that knowledge is a matter of constant, new construction, by its interaction with reality, and that it is not pre formed. There is no continuous creativity."[br /]
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• "The sense of justice, through naturally capable of being reinforced by the percepts and the practical example of the adult, is largely independent of these influences, and requires nothing more for its development than the mutual respect and solidarity which holds among children them – selves.[br /]
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