This paper revolves around developmental psychologist Jean Piaget and his work. While swaying from the personal to the professional sides of the Swiss psychologist, the research touches on key influences that inspired young Piaget to become such a driven and well respected psychologist. However, the most extensive part of this paper is the explanation of his cognitive development theory and how it evolved. The three main pieces to Piaget¹s puzzle of cognitive development that are discussed are schemes, assimilation and accommodation, and the stages of cognitive growth. In addition to the material on the man and his theory, there is the most important component of the paper, the ways Piaget and his work molded the future.
Now known as one of the trailblazers of developmental psychology, Jean Piaget initially worked in a wide range of fields. Early in his career Piaget studied the human biological processes. These processes intrigued Piaget so much that he began to study the realm of human knowledge. From this study he was determined to uncover the secrets of cognitive growth in humans.
Jean Piaget¹s research on the growth of the human mind eventually lead to the formation of the cognitive development theory which consists of three main components: schemes, assimilation and accommodation, and the stage model. The theory is best known for Piaget¹s construction of the discontinuous stage model which was based on his study of children and how the processes and products of their minds develop over time. According to this stage model, there are four levels of cognitive growth: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
While a substantial amount of psychologists presently choose to adhere to the constructs of the information processing approach, Piaget¹s ground breaking cognitive development view is still a valuable asset to the branch of developmental psychology. Whether or ...