Critical Review Of Jean Piaget's Theory Of Cognitive Development

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A central theory of cognitive development was proposed by a Swiss psychologist named Jean Piaget who lived from 1896 – 1980. Piaget was a biologist, philosopher, logician and sociologist, who advanced the knowledge of human beings in their relations to the material and social world (Gainotti, 1997). Piaget’s theories have reoriented current conceptions of the child’s development. Siegler & Ellis (1996) point out that is impossible to understand the field of developmental psychology without understanding Piaget’s ideas and findings. Before Piaget’s work, the common assumption in psychology was that children are merely less competent thinkers than adults (Siegler & Ellis, 1996). Piaget showed that young children think in different ways compared to adults.

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