Is Piaget still alive ?
Francisco Pons
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... etc : "Piaget is dead !"
Grave of Piaget in the Cimetière de Plainpalais – Geneva
("together" with Jean Calvin, José Luis Borges, Jeanne
Hersch, Sergio Vieira de Mello, etc.)
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What is the impact of Piaget’s theory
on developmental research today?
… Cognitive, Clinical, Social Psychology,
Neurosciences, Educational Sciences, Sociology,
Political sciences, Philosophy, etc.
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≈ 12 years ago
(Ph.d. – University of Geneva)
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≈ 10 years ago
(1st
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Post-Doc – University of Oxford)
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≈ 8 years ago
(2nd
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Post-Doc – Harvard University)
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Last 8 years: Where is Piaget?
(Piaget = Crypto-Paleo-Theory)
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≈ 2 months ago: Piaget was in Bergen!
Special Event - 15th ECDP (August 2011)
Together with Cintia Ródriguez (UAM)
& Philippe Rochat (Emory)
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Today: Piaget is in Oslo
(= Post-Bergen Stage!)
•
•
•
•
•
Piaget!
Is Piaget still alive?
Which aspect of Piaget is still alive?
Why is Piaget still alive?
Prospects
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Piaget !
Urd
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Who was Piaget?
• Born August 9, 1896 (Neuchâtel)
• Died September 16, 1980 (Geneva)
• Biologist (Malacologist, Botanist)
• Epistemologist  “Psychologist”
• Professor at the University Geneva, etc.
• Director of the International Bureau of
Education
• Director of the International Centre for
Genetic Epistemology
• Numerous Prizes (Erasme, Balzan, etc.)
• More than 30 Doctorates Honoris Causa
(Æresdoktor): Cambridge, Harvard,
Paris, Oslo (1960), Yale, etc.
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Jean Piaget
(early 1920’)
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Piaget: One Goal & Two Strategies
How does True Knowledge develop
(i.e. Physical objectivity & Mathematical logic) ?
Genetic Epistemology
Genetic Psychology
Sociogenesis of Knowledge
History of Sciences
&
Historical-Critical Method
Psychogenesis of Knowledge
Intellectual Development
&
Observation of Infants +
Clinical-Critical Interview of
Children & Adolescents
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Piaget in three books
By Piaget:
• Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (2002/1966). Barnets
psykologi. Copenhagen: Hans Reitzels.
By pupils of Piaget:
• Montangero, J., & Maurice-Naville, D. (1997). Piaget
or the advance of knowledge. Mahwah: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
By epigones of Piaget:
• Müller, U., Carpendale, J., & Smith, L. (Eds.). (2009).
The Cambridge companion to Piaget. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
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Piaget’s Publications
• Circa 60-90 Books and 500 Articles & Book
chapters
• Over more than 60-67 years:
– Piaget, J. (1920). La psychanalyse dans ses
rapports avec la psychologie de l’enfant.
Bulletin mensuel – Société Alfred Binet, 20(1),
18-34.
– Piaget, J., & Garcia, R. (1987). Vers une logique
des significations. Genève: Murionde.
• Mainly in Developmental Psychology (and some
in Education & Epistemology)
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Piaget’s Translations
Number of Piaget’s texts translated by
Language & Year of the 1st translation
Translated into more than
25 Languages
1st trans. in Norwegian:
• Piaget, J (1933/1934).
Social utvikling og ny
pedagogikk. Samtiden:
Tidsskrift for politikk,
litteratur og
samfundsspørsmål, 45(1),
8-20.
200
1926
175
150
125
100
75
1929
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1954
1958
Last trans. in Norwegian:
25
• Piaget, J. (2000/1964).
0
Barnets psykiske utvikling.
Oslo: Gyldendal.
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1952 1948
1934
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Is Piaget still alive more
than 30 years after his
death?
Verdande
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People in the room
• How many of you have been reading (at least) a
text by Piaget?
• How many of you have been referring to Piaget in
(at least) one of their publications?
• How many of you have been referring to Piaget in
(at least) one of their last ten publications?
• Are we representative?
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Piagetian “institutions”
•
•
•
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Archives Jean Piaget (archivespiaget.ch)
Fondation Jean Piaget (fondationjeanpiaget.ch)
Jean Piaget Society (piaget.org)
Laboratory of Genetic Psychology (Universities
of Lyon 2, Nancy 2, Bordeaux 3, Paris 5,
Campinas, Montréal, Michigan, etc.)
• 遺傳心理學實驗室 = 6 entries
• Лабораторией генетической психологии = 20
entries
• ‫ = مختبر علم النفس الوراثية‬0 entries
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References to Piaget
Entries in Google (October 2011):
• “Jean Piaget” = ≈ 3 000 000 entries
• “Lev Vygtosky” = ≈ 500 000 entries
• “Sigmund Freud” = ≈ 12 000 000 entries
Citations in Google Scholar (October 2011)
• “J. Piaget” = ≈ 300 000 citations
– The origin of intelligence in the child (≈ 7000)
– The moral judgment of the child (≈ 7000)
– Play, dream and imitation in childhood (≈ 5000)
• “L. Vygotsky” = ≈ 100 000 citations
• “S. Freud” = ≈ 1 000 000 citations
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References to Piaget
Harzing’s h-index (October 2011)
• “J. Piaget” = 92
• “L. Vygotsky” = 44
• “S. Freud” = 137
No Handbook in Developmental Psychology
without at least one reference to Piaget!
New Translations every year!
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Percentage of developmental publications referring
to Piaget by decade (1920 – 2010)
(PsycInfo, October 2011 / out of 1 million)
?
4
3
2
1
0
20'
30'
40'
50'
Bibliography
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60'
70'
80'
90'
00'
Title & Abstract
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Summary
• Piaget was very much alive when he
was alive!
• Piaget is still alive, more than 30 years
after his death!
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Which aspect of Piaget is
still alive?
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Which aspect ?
Piaget theorieS
• 20’ – Social
• 30’ & 40’ – Biological
• 50’ & 60 – Structural & Logical
• 70’ – Functional & Psychological
Piagetian methods
– Infant observation
– Clinical-Critical Interview
– Historico-critical method
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Which aspect ?
Piaget’s theory about the development of …
• Intelligence
• Language
• Morality
• Perception
• History of sciences
• etc…
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Which aspect ?
Ten Piagetian Commandments (i.e. descriptions &
explanations of cognitive development):
• Universality of Development (versus Individual ≠)
• Generality of Development (versus Content Specificity)
• Structuralism (versus entropy)
• Structural Discontinuity – Stages (versus Quantitative
changes only)
• Constructivism (versus Juxtaposition)
• Interactionism (Beyond Nature & Nurture)
• Primacy of Activity (versus Testimony, Imitation, etc.)
• Optimizing Equilibration (Need of logical coherence &
of objective correspondence)
• Functional Continuity (Biology, Brain, Mind)
• Primacy of Cognition over Emotion
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Why is Piaget still alive?
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“Critics”
Piaget’s was wrong both in his description and explanation of
cognitive development! Sunk by theoretical analyses &
empirical data!
• Underestimation of the role of the social environment (e.g.
Ann Inger Helmen Borge and her work on friendships in
young children)
• Underestimation of infants’ competences (e.g. Annika
Melinder, Claes von Hofsten & EKUP and their work on
social cognition in infancy and toddlerhood)
• Overestimation of adults’ competences (e.g. Eva Skoe and her
work on morality in adolescents and adults)
• Understimation of the role of language (e.g. Stephen von
Tetzchner and his work on communication in typical and
non-typical infants and children)
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Piaget = Secure Base
Piaget’s theory is to developmental psychology what the
sensori-motor stage is to the development of intelligence ?
• Source of new research within the field of genetic
psychology (i.e. How does true knowledge develop?)
 Piagetian research
• Source for new research within the field of cognitive
development
 Neo-Piagetian research
• Source for new research and practices outside the field of
cognitive developmental psychology (neurosciences,
education, clinical psychology, etc.)
 Post-Piagetian research
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Antidote
Piaget’s theory (and Neo-Piagetian) as an antidote (at
least in (cognitive) developmental psychology) against:
• Theoretical emptiness, atomism or reductionism
(i.e. a-theoretical, micro-theories, mono-theories)
• Empirical tsunami (i.e. more than 1 million
publications in dev. psy. during the last 100 years)
• Perpetual “re-discovery” (i.e. History of
developmental psychology doesn’t support Piaget’s
constructivist hypothesis)
Piaget theory = Big Theory (about Everything)!
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Post-Neo-Anti- Piagetian References
• Smedslund, J. (1977). Piagets psykologi i praksis. Norsk
Pedagogisk Tidsskrift, 61, 52-59.,
• Lourenco, O., & Machado, A. (1996). In defence of Piaget’s
theory: A reply to 10 common criticisms. Psychological Review,
103(1), 143-164.
• Vonèche, J. (1998). Piaget se serait-il trompé? Bulletin de
psychologie, 51(3), 265-272.
• Hundeide, K. (2003). Barns livsverden: Sosiokulturelle rammer for
barns utvikling. Oslo: Cappelen Akademisk Forlag.
• Morra, S., Gobbo, C., Marini, Z., & Sheese, R. (Eds.) (2008).
Cognitive Psychology: Neo-Piagetian Perspectives. New York:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Marti, E., & Rodriguez, C. (Eds.) (2011). After Piaget; J. Valsiner
(Series Editor), History and theory of psychology. Transaction
Publishers.
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Prospects
Piaget is still alive but for different reasons!
Piaget = Darwin (valid reference) or Marx
(reference from the past)? A question of
perspectives!
Are we going to assist to a synthesis within
cognitive developmental psychology (Einstein
& Bohr)?
• Thesis: Piagetian  Anti-, Neo-, PostPiagetian thesis  Synthesis
Skuld
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Thank you!
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