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Piaget is a towering figure in psychology and widely respected by all, including those who have criticised or adopted his theories. Contrary to popular belief Piaget was not French (despite being called Jean), he was in fact Swiss. Nor was he a psychologist (not at the outset anyway) but a zoologist (which should really be spelt zooologist surely!). He had his first publication on molluscs when he was still at High School!

Whilst working with Binet (who was French) and an early pioneer of IQ tests, he became fascinated by child development and spent the next 50 some years of his life studying the subject. As a result Piaget was a true expert in his field, which as we shall see later, also covered moral development.

Piaget’s theory is sometimes described as ‘genetic epistemology.’ ‘Genetic’ because he believed that the stages we progress through and the structures and processes we use, are inbuilt and true for all of us regardless of culture. ‘Epistemology’ (not a word to be uttered when in the state suggested by the word) actually means the study of knowledge. Basically Piaget believed that the way in which we learn about and adapt to our World is constant across all cultures and races, and proceeds as a set sequence in all.

Central to Piaget's theory is how the child adapts to an ever-changing World. Piaget noticed that even the youngest of children are inquisitive and actively explore their world. Piaget is most famous for his stages but any description of his theory must also include a discussion of the structures that underlie these stages. It is tempting in an essay on Piaget to write exclusively about his stages, since you will know them backwards in great detail by the time the exam comes round. However, it is essential that the other aspects of his theory are covered too. His processes (or ‘functional invariants’ as he lovingly referred to them) are constant (as their name suggests) throughout all stages, working to make sense of our environment. Schemas (strictly speaking the plural should be ‘schemata’) are the internal representations that we hang our understanding on. Schemata were mentioned in AS memory and will crop up in other topics later in the year. Enough waffle… lets get on with it.

Above: photo of Piaget in later life. He died in 1980 at the age of 84 (despite being a ‘sickly’ as a child).

I got so excited telling you about the great man that I neglected to mention the structure of this first topic. It covers the way our thinking develops over time, and how as we mature we become capable of more complex methods of thinking. A number of theories have developed (that word again) to try and explain how this happens. The syllabus currently specifies three: Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner. As of 2011-12 series however, Bruner will be dropped.

You may also come across ‘Information Processing’ which does appear later, but which you cannot be specifically tested on.

Schemas and associated concepts

Schema: an internal representation of the world. This acts as a framework on which the child bases its knowledge of its environment. According to Piaget we are born with some schemata including sucking and grasping. In the first year of life many other simple schemata develop, for example the schema for mum very quickly develops as the child learns to distinguish her from others as a source of food and comfort. Later the schemata become more complex and include concepts such as density, grammar, love, nature-nurture debate etc. Schemata are crucial as they enable us to interpret and predict events.

Helen Bee (2000) believes that schemata are not so much the categories themselves but the action of categorising.

Equilibrium and disequilibrium: the child requires a stable internal world. If new experience does not match existing schema then a state of disequilibrium (or inbalance) is produced. The child needs to accommodate to restore the balance, i.e. alter its perception of how things work. Piaget saw this desire for equilibrium as innate and believed that it drives or motivates us to learn. Simple examples would be having a schema for dog and misinterpreting a cat as a dog. On being told the mistake this causes temporary confusion and the child needs to alter its schemata to allow for this.

Disequilibrium is essential for learning!!!!

Adaptation: refers to how a child changes over time as it makes sense of the World in which it lives. Adaptation comes about through the processes of assimilation and accommodation:

· Assimilation: new information or experiences can be fitted into the child's existing schema or current understanding of the world. It sees a poodle and is able to fit this into the same schema as the family’s bull mastiff!

· Accommodation: new information or experiences cannot be fitted into the child's current understanding so it either has to alter existing schema or create a whole new schema; for example cat doesn’t fit in with its schema for dog or George W Bush doesn’t tie in with its concept of intelligent life form! In these cases new schemata need to be constructed or changes made to existing schemata. So the child develops a schema for cat and one for nepotism in World Politics!

Operations

Not always mentioned specifically in texts but nevertheless crucial, by definition, to the stages. Operations are mental transformations or manipulations that occur in the mind. Piaget believed that it was operations that provided the rules by which the child is able to understand the world. While schemas develop with experience operations only develop as the child’s brain develops. So children in the first two stages do not possess operations, hence ‘preoperational.’ As the brain matures the child is capable of ever more complex understanding.