A Look Into the Past: Jean Piaget's Life and Work

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This paper will present an over view of Jean Piaget’s life. It will focus on details of his personal life, his contributions to psychology, his historical development, and his present contributions to his career. Jean Piaget’s research in developmental psychology and genetic epistemology answered the question: How does knowledge grow? Piaget’s findings have been and continue to be an inspiration to fields like psychology, sociology, education, epistemology, economics and law. Jean Piaget was born on August 9, 1896, in the town of Neuchatel which is part of the French-speaking region of Switzerland. He was the oldest child of Arthur Piaget who was a professor of medieval literature and wrote extensively on Neuchatel history at the local University, and Rebecca Jackson who was an intelligent and energetic woman (Brainerd, 1996, p. 191). However, Piaget's childhood was far from happy. Piaget admired his father greatly and adopted his skeptical, scientific attitude at an early age. His mother, however, suffered from what Piaget was later to characterize as "a rather neurotic temperament" and "poor mental health" coupled with religious enthusiasm (Piaget, 2009, para. 4). This situation had two lasting effects on Piaget. First, it led him to forgo play and other normal childhood pursuits and turn to serious scientific research while still in elementary school. Like so many other people, Piaget found a refuge from emotional turmoil in intellectual creation. Second, his mother's difficulties fomented an intense interest in the study of psychology. At first, naturally enough, he concentrated on abnormal personality, especially psychoanalysis. The result was surprising, however. He decided that he strongly preferred the study of col... ... middle of paper ... ...ed September 22, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database. Piaget, Jean. (2009, January). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database. Piaget, Jean: 1896-1980. (1980, September 27). Science News, Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database. Piaget, Jean (Book). (1980, January 19). Science News, Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database. Reginensi, L. (2004, September). On the status of logic in Piaget. International Social Science Journal, 56(181), 439-454. Retrieved September 22, 2009, doi:10.1111/j.0020-8701.2004.00505.x Wall, W. (1982, April). OBITUARY JEAN PIAGET--1896-1979. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines, pp. 97,104. Retrieved September 22, 2009, doi:10.1111/1469-7610.ep11574502

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