The Psychology of the Child

by Jean Piaget, Bärbel Inhelder

The definitive account of renowned psychologist Jean Piaget’s work on children’s cognitive development.

Jean Piaget’s influence on child psychology is unmatched. His pathbreaking investigations and theories of cognitive development sent psychological research in new directions, and his influence has an ever-growing impact on the culture at large.

In The Psychology of the Child , Jean Piaget and his long-time collaborator Bärbel Inhelder offer a definitive presentation of Piaget’s research and theories of how cognitive processes develop. Through intensive interviews and observations, Piaget realized that cognition develops over time, in response to one’s environment, and with exposure to new information. Through his exemplary descriptions of a child’s cognitive development from infancy to adolescence, this classic book gives readers a broad and nuanced understanding of how intelligence unfolds.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Education, Parenting, Science, Philosophy, Child Psychology

192 pages, Paperback

Published October 18, 1972

About the author

Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980) was a Swiss philosopher, natural scientist and developmental theorist, well known for his work studying children, his theory of cognitive development, and his epistemological view called "genetic epistemology." In 1955, he created the International Centre for Genetic Epistemology in Geneva and directed it until his death in 1980. According to Ernst von Glasersfeld, Jean Piaget was "the great pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing."

Reviews

[CherryB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard going, especially when reading it while raising a couple of high energy children. Best used as a reference book. It is dense and the language somewhat archaic, but I did gain some very useful insights into the child's cognitive development through persevering through this work. An example, the development of abstract concepts...where do dreams come from? Very young children might say "my pillow" or similar external source. What are thoughts? Dr Piaget traces the child's responses to this and many other concepts through stages of cognitive development from infancy to adolescence. This helped me enormously in terms of understanding what my children could handle at various stages. It was exciting when I recognised in them, thanks to this book, that they had reached another milestone of development, particularly the leap from concrete to abstract abilities around age 9-11 yrs. Many other books are based on this work and it may well be that these would be easier references for busy parents, but I found this a solid base for the challenging role of parenting.

[Owlseyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

By today's standards, this is an old book on cognitive development until adolescence. Basically it describes the 4 stages of cognitive development, postulated and researched by Jean Piaget and collaborator Barbel Inhelder.

A more advanced view would include a post-formal stage (or stages*). We know that, however, the sort of "experimentation" Piaget took recourse to, had received some criticism, as well as the logical or mathematical theory under which he formalised this sequence of stages.

To me, he was a kind of philosopher, who, trying to overcome both the rationalist and empiricist positions in Epistemology, created a new view point: Genetic Epistemology. Pertinent, still.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postfor...

[Lars Guthrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading Margaret Donaldson's wonderful 'Children's Minds,' I wanted more immersion in the source material covered second hand in my teaching credential program. Piaget was a god, but we never read him. Now, after struggling through this summary of his work produced for a broader audience, I can tell you Piaget is very, very challenging to read, even in 'dumbed-down' form. In the future, I might use excerpts from this as an example of dense prose requiring full engagement when I tell children that adults often have trouble understanding what they read, too. The effort sometimes rewarded me, but it was a real and serious effort.

[David Tapp · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am so glad this was not a long book as I don't think I would have finished it. I have worked in developmental intervention for almost 30 years and have a degree in Psychology. I finished this book and not sure if I comprehend anything from it. I know it was translated but this book certainly is not a causal read and I understood the general concepts presented only from my degree and experience but the level of complexity in writing of this book is unbelievable. It was a gift from my daughter so I was determined to finish it.

[Haymone Neto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apesar de ser um livro curto e introdutório, é muito técnico e de difícil compreensão para um leitor comum como eu. Grande parte dele é voltada à descrição de experimentos, e a edição brasileira seria bem melhor se fosse enriquecida com ilustrações e fotos dos procedimentos. Em todo caso, o tema é fascinante.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely more academic than practical use-oriented, so keep that in mind. It is a short lil book though, and not horrifically dense as academic things go.

I liked this because I love psych (one of my undergrad minors), and because I'm working with kids right now. It's fun to read Piaget's classic theories on how their methods and pathways of thought are foundations upon which specific, future methods of thought will build.

Here's a quote on symbolic play in young children, and about how it essentially allows them to make sense of reality on their own term before incorporating the world's rules on it, that I really liked:

"Play transforms reality by assimilation to the needs of the self, whereas imitation is accomodation to external models.... The symbols characteristic of symbolic play are borrowed from imitation as instruments, but not used to accurately picture external reality. Rather, imitation serves as a means of evocation to achieve playful assimilation. Thus, symbolic play is not merely an assimilation of reality to the self, as is play in general, but an assimilation made possible (and reinforced) by a symbolic "language" that is developed by the self and is capable of being modified according to its needs."

[Funda Guzer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cok teorik cok. Profesyonel ugrasmiyorsaniz konuyla ilgili yeniden dusunun kitabi okumak icin.

[William Bies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notwithstanding the sensational claim emblazoned on its title page, The Psychology of the Child by Jean Piaget and Bärbel Inhelder cannot be lauded as the definitive account of the great psychologist’s work. The French original by Presses Universitaires de France dates to 1966: thus, well after Piaget’s magnum opus The Psychology of Intelligence of 1950. All the same, in the present work the two authors achieve a balanced synthesis of their wide-ranging research program, which centers on a genealogical reconstruction of the stages of development of intelligence from childhood to adulthood, to be arrived at inductively from observations on speech-acts of young children conducted under controlled conditions.

Clearly, one ought first to read Piaget’s primary work, The Psychology of Intelligence (vide, our review here). Here, the authors flesh out their thoughts on what they call accommodation and assimilation as the twin bases of psychic life, in terms of how these two factors play out in the developing child. Let us kick off with a sweeping review of contents, before turning to our analysis of the issue of their research program.

Now Piaget thinks of intelligence as a special case of adaptation (see Psychology of Intelligence, p. 8). Yet, to us, a homeostatic view of adaptation seems a little narrow = ‘the individual acts only if he experiences a need, i.e., if the equilibrium between the environment and the organism is momentarily upset’ (Psychology of Intelligence, p. 4). But life is not an equilibrium, rather, better put, a succession of non-equilibrium steady states Hence, there seems always to be a cathexis driving the organism forward even if not in direct response to a readily perceivable environmental perturbation. A major example would be the developmental program of ontogenesis, which to our manner of viewing things is tantamount to a teleological orientation in every organism as we find it, unlike what is the case with physical systems having merely a functionality conferred from outside. Ultimately the role of the organism’s telos is to forward the unfolding of its developmental program.

Perhaps what Piaget has in mind, though, are simple reflexes such as kicking when the knee is knocked, iris expanding/contracting to accommodate ambient light level etc. Thus, he extrapolates to an entire theory of cognitive processes based on only a subset of biological functions, and not necessarily the right or most pertinent subset, either.

Be that as it may, for Piaget affective life and cognitive life are inseparable although distinct. Aside, it is interesting to ponder this tenet, how ultimately (suitably disciplined) affect grounds cognition. For instance, ADHD seems to involve some disregulation of the proper relationship of affect to cognition, i.e., when the child accustoms itself to premature reward.

In Piaget’s fundamental Ansatz (Psychology of Intelligence, p. 6), equilibrium crops up again in his definition of intelligence (not just of adaptation, as above). The implication for psychological development would be that assimilation and accommodation entail a restructuring of existing structures so as to restore equilibrium when presented with a novel percept. As Piaget-Inhelder spell out the idea,

According to this view, the organizing activity of the subject must be considered just as important as the connections inherent in the external stimulii, for the subject becomes aware of these connections only to the degree that he can assimilate them by means of his existing structures...that is to say, the input, the stimulus, is filtered through a structure that consists of the action-schemes (or, at a higher level, the operations of thought), which in turn are modified and enriched when the subject’s behavioral repertoire is accommodated to the demands of reality. The filtering or modification of the input is called assimilation; the modification of internal schemes to fit reality is called accommodation. [Psychology of the Child, p. 5-6]

Piaget-Inhelder proceed to describe a series of stages, starting in early infancy, of increasing coordination culminating in the construction of reality by means of sufficiently broad concepts, such as object permanence, space, time, causality:

However, as the universe is increasingly structured by the sensori-motor intelligence according to a spatio-temporal organization and by the formation of permanent objects, causaility becomes objectified and spatialized: that is, the subject becomes able to recognize not only the causes situated in his own actions but also in various objects, and the causal relationships between two objects or their actions presuppose a physical and spatial connection. [pp. 18-19]—(but not necessarily true if quantum contextuality has any bearing on the macroscopic domain).

The capstone of maturation, in Piaget’s view, occurs during late adolescence with the acquisition of formal operational competence. Roughly speaking, upon completing this stage, the child will have become knowledgeable enough about the world and familiar enough with the potential internal schemes at his disposal by which to intervene in any given situation that he will be equipped for adult life. A peculiarity of Piaget’s is his emphasis on the logical reversibility of the formal operations (for instance, if one can displace an object from point A to B, one can equally well displace it from B to A again). There can be no doubt that Piaget has latched onto an elementary property of the world as we experience it, without which it would probably prove impossible for an organism to acquire formal operational competence, but in our view, he overvalues the role of reversibility per se (viz., the possibility of formulating an exact group-theoretical description of possible operations).

Two further items require discussion before we can reach Piaget-Inhelder’s theory of mind. First, cognition can be understood only by positing, in addition to its structural aspect we have been covering thus far, an affective aspect [p. 21f]. For human beings who inhabit a social world, it is clear that the affective aspect plays a vital role in structuring social interactions or performances. As the authors put it:

Contact with persons thus becomes more and more important, heralding a transition from contagion to communications (Escalona). Even before the formation of a self complementary to and interacting with others we witness the elaboration of a whole system of exchanges through imitation and the reading of gestural signs. From this time on, the child begins to react to persons in a more and more specific manner because they behave differently from things and because they behave according to schemes which bear some relation to the schemes of the child’s own action. Sooner or later there is established a kind of causality whose source is others, in as much as they produce pleasure, comfort, pacifications, security etc. [p. 24]

The second crucial item to contemplate is perception as a part of cognition. For detail on the difference between perception and intelligence, see Psychology of Intelligence, pp. 74-87. This reviewer’s take of the distinction, reprising in our own words: perception behaves like a deep convolutional neural net, i.e., information flows upwards only, whereas intelligence involves the possibility of considering the result of performing potentially reversible operations with the data, hence implements something like a summation over counterfactuals.

By this juncture, Piaget-Inhelder have built up enough terminology and concepts that they can challenge as entrenched a philosophical position as empiricism! Aside, thereby supplying perhaps a far more effective basis of critique than mere dialectic, i.e., the medieval quaestio disputanda? Note how they swiftly reduce the problem to an empirically testable statement! [p. 45] The same goes for other cases of perceptual constancy versus operatory conservation [pp. 46-47], leading to a surprising conclusion = the good old British empiricist philosopher John Locke is simply wrong! [p. 49]

Why? Lockean rationalism suffers from a deficient semiotics which one could characterize as static rather than functional. Hence, Locke admits no role for symbolic play [p. 57ff]—what everyone knows to be a crucial ingredient of childhood. Let us venture to go beyond what the authors say explicitly and propose that symbolic play must be related to lexicalization? For it is during play that the pertinent symbolic schemes are discovered piecemeal and integrated into a whole that manifests the desired competence. In the authors’ terms,

It is no exaggeration, then, to speak of the static quality of preoperatory images. Kinetic and transformational images are possible only after seven or eight, and this is a result of anticipations or reanticipations which are no doubt themselves based on operatory comprehension….From these and other facts, one can conclude that mental images are merely a system of symbols which provide a more or less accurate but, generally speaking, delayed translation of the subjects’ preoperatory or operatory level of comprehension. The image [by itself] is far from sufficient to give rise to operatory structurations….After the age of seven or eight, the image becomes anticipatory and so better able to serve as a base for the operations. This progress is not the result of an internal or autonomous modification of the images, however, but rather of the intervention of external factors due to the development of the operations. These have their source in action itself, and not in image-symbolism, or in the system of verbal signs or language we shall now discuss. [pp. 77-79]

Aside: at this point one could launch into a critique of AI, for a mere inorganic physical system lacking a telos cannot even know or have action of its own. Thus, verbal behavior supervenes on the sensori-motor and expands the child’s repertoire dramatically:

As to the increasing range and rapidity of thought, thanks to language we observe in fact three differences between verbal and sensori-motor behavior: (1) Whereas sensori-motor patterns are obliged to follow events without being able to exceed the speed of action, verbal patterns, by means of narration and evocation, can represent a long chain of actions very rapidly. (2) Sensori-motor adaptations are limited to immediate space and time, whereas language enables thought to range over vast stretches of time and space, liberating it from the immediate. (3) The third difference is a consequence of the other two. Whereas the sensori-motor intelligence proceeds by means of successive acts, step by step, thought, particularly through language, can represent simultaneously all the elements of an organized structure. [p. 86]

To caricature Piaget-Inhelder’s position schematically, one could say that

thought = language + logic + operations.

NB, in this reviewer’s judgment, no convergence towards the adult phenotype could occur in the absence of an intellectual intuition by means of which to tie everything together (this would constitute the substance of Karl Leonhard Reinhold’s Bewusstseinssatz against which Aenesidemus conducts such an energetic, and in the view of most commentators, victorious debate during the 1790’s; clearly, we would wish to contest the received consensus ever since Fichte, but that must remain a topic for another day).

Piaget-Inhelder’s inductive inference would then be to the following determination:

Finality is a subjective notion, and an oriented development (a development that follows a direction: nothing more) does not necessarily presuppose a pre-established plan: for instance, the entropy in thermodynamics. In the development of the child, there is no pre-established plan, but a gradual evolution in which each innovation is dependent upon the previous one. Adult thought might seem to provide a pre-established model, but the child does not understand adult thought until he has reconstructed it, and thought is itself the result of an evolution carried on by several generations, each of which has gone through childhood. Any explanation of the child’s development must take into consideration two dimensions: an ontogenetic dimension and a social dimension (in the sense of the transmission of the successive work of generations). However, the problem is somewhat analogous in both cases, for in both the central question concerns the internal mechanism of all constructivism. [pp. 156-157]

Thus, equilibration by self-regulation constitutes the formative process of the structures we have described. [p. 159]

To commence our critique, let us put forward two questions:

1) Do Piaget-Inhelder capture the experience of learning versus habituation? Of individuality? We would demur. Hence, they cannot account for features every child displays to a greater or lesser degree, viz., creativity, talent, genius and lastly, vocation!

2) Piaget-Inhelder have no concept of knowledge (at best, implicit), the disregard of which being the reef upon which Lockean empiricism founders. Consider for a moment what it means to know something: as an example, take mathematics, in which everyone knows study is required to internalize the concepts (AI doesn’t study, merely rehashes), and, beyond study, reiterated practice in order to acquire mastery. Hence, Piaget-Inhelder’s theory of childhood amounts at best to a phenomenology that misses altogether the final stage, for without vocation, what one has is not really a psychology of the child but rather one of a humanoid robot (the homunculus). The following passage exhibits the ground upon which the preceding allegation rests:

An internal mechanism (though it cannot be reduced to heredity alone and has no pre-established plan, since there is in fact construction) is observable at the time of each partial construction and each transition from one stage to the next. It is a process of equilibrium, not in the sense of a simple balance of forces, as in mechanics, or an increase of entropy, as in thermodynamics, but in the sense—which has now been brought out so clearly by cybernetics—of self-regulation; that is, a series of active compensations on the part of the subject in response to external disturbances and an adjustment that is both retrospective (loop systems or feedbacks) and anticipatory, constituting a permanent system of compensations. [p. 157]

So far so good, but we would dispute permanence. Why? Else individuality itself (J.G. Herder’s eigenes Maaß in his pioneering Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit of 1784-1791) could never arise (in consequence of which, an absolute and unrelieved mannerism would be all one could ever get on Piaget-Inhelders’s terms).

Synthesizes a phenomenological domain of conduct somewhat greater than animal but lesser than human, as traditionally understood ever since the age of the Hebrew prophets at the latest, four stars.

[AC · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dry, highly technical and formalized schematic primer of Piaget's attack on behaviorism and associationism, etc. Not the general survey I was looking for...

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 4 out of 5]

En väldigt konkret genomgång av barns tänkande. Om man är intresserad av ämnet är det inte ett tidsslöseri.

[Mia Lawalin · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Required read for my Explorations in Secondary Education class*
This book was....fine. It definitely read like it was a scientific journal translated from French (which it was). I am a fairly intelligent person but I had a VERY difficult time following this. I also did not find much of it interesting or surprising. Maybe this is just not my subject-matter of interest, but I struggled to get through this book.

[Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب رائع حقا ولكن كما تعودنا من العملاق جين بياجيت قمة في الصعوبة و الدقة العلمية....يطفوا على اسلوبه الاستخدام الغزير للمصطلحات العلمية مع الاحتفاظ بالتفاصيل الدقيقة للعمليات العلمية...
كتاب صعب جدا علميا ولغويا...والترجمة الدنماركية لم تساعد في تبسيط هذا الجانب علي...بل العكس لان ليس لدي المام مقبول بالمصطلحات النفسية والمنطقية في هذه اللغة....ولكن مع هذا استطعت ان اهضم محتوى الكتاب واخرج بفهم ابهرني وشوقني على الاستمرار في الغوص في عالم بياجيت الساحر...
يناقش بياجيت التطور المعرفي, العقلي والادراكي لدى الاطفال وكيف مرورها بمراحل عمرية محددة....ومدى تاثير العمليات الحسية والحركية في نضوج هذه العوامل...
_________________
Great and solid book, and as I already known with the style of the Giant Jean Piaget this book is a pinnacle in difficulty and scientific rigor....
His style floats with heavy use of scientific terms while retaining the precise details of scientific operations ...
A very difficult book scientifically and linguistically....and the Danish translation did not help simplify this side.... Actually it gave the opposite results, because of my lack of knowledge in the psychological and logical terms regarding this language......nonetheless I was able to digest the content of this book and successfully grasp the essence of this marvelous teaching....
Piaget discusses the cognitive and mental development in children and how they mature gradually upon passing some specific age stages .... and also the crucial impact of senso-motor processes in the maturation of these factors...

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A ‘SUMMING UP’ OF PIAGET’S WORK IN CHILD PSYCHOLOGY

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss developmental psychologist known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological views are known as "genetic epistemology." Bärbel Inhelder (1913-1997) was also a Swiss psychologist, known for her work with Piaget.

They wrote in the Preface of this 1966 book, “In this volume we have tried to present, as briefly and as clearly as possible, a synthesis, or summing up, of our work in child psychology. A book such as this seemed to us particularly desirable since our published studies have been spread out over a number of volumes, some of them quite lengthy and some of them fairly difficult to read. This little book, of course, is not meant to be a substitute for reading the other volumes. But it represents, we believe, a useful introduction to the questions we have studied and will enable the reader to gain an adequate understanding of what we have learned in our investigations.”

They add in the Introduction, “[This book] deals with mental growth or, what amounts to the same thing, the development of behavior patterns (including consciousness) up to adolescence, the transitional phase marking the entrance of the individual into adult society. Mental growth is inseparable from physical growth… in order to understand mental growth it is not enough to start with birth; there is an embryology of reflexes… dealing with the movements and responses of the fetus, and the preperceptive behavior of the fetus, for instance, is relevant to the study of the perception of tactilo-kinesthetic causality. From a theoretical point of view, it also implies that child psychology must be regarded as the study of one aspect of embryogenesis… of organic as well as mental growth, up to the beginning of the state of relative equilibrium which is the adult level.” (Pg. vii)

They continue, “one might be tempted to consider the expressions ‘child psychology’ and ‘genetic psychology’ to be synonymous. But there is an important distinction between them: whereas child psychology deals with the child for his own sake and does not consider his eventual development into an adult, we tend today to use the term ‘genetic psychology’ [for] the study of the developmental processes that underlie the functions studies in general psychology (intelligence, perceptions, etc.). Genetic psychology tries to explain mental function by their mode of formation; that is, by their development in the child…. The genetic method has become important in all branches of psychology (consider, for example, the major role attributed to childhood by psychoanalysis) and thus gives child psychology a key position in many diverse fields of psychology… interest in psychological investigations of the child is increased when we realize that the child explains the man as well as and often better than the man explains the child.” (Pg. viii-ix)

They state in Chapter 1, “There certainly is such a thing as a sensori-motor intelligence, but it is very difficult to specify the exact moment when it appears. Actually, the question makes no sense, for the answer always depends on an arbitrary choice of criterion. What one actually finds is a remarkably smooth succession of stages, each marking a new advance, until the moment when the acquired behavior presents characteristics that one or another psychologist recognizes as those of ‘intelligence.’ … There is a continuous progression from spontaneous movements and reflexes to acquired habits and from the latter to intelligence. The real problem is not to locate the first appearance of intelligence but rather to understand the mechanism of this progression.” (Pg. 4-5)

The explain, “As regards the development of the cognitive functions in the child… the sensori-motor structures constitute the source of the later operations of thought. This means that intelligence proceeds from action as a whole, in that it transforms objects and reality, and that knowledge, whose formation can be traced in the child, is essentially an active and operatory assimilation.” (Pg. 28)

Later, they observe, “These advantages of representative thought over the sensori-motor scheme are in reality due to the semiotic function as a whole. The semiotic function detaches thought from action and is the source of representation. Language plays a particularly important role in this formative process. Unlike images and other semiotic instruments, which are created by the individual as the need arises, language has already been elaborated socially and contains a notation for an entire system of cognitive instruments (relationships, classifications, etc.) for use in the use in the service of thought. The individual learns this system and then proceeds to enrich it.” (Pg. 86-87)

They explain, “The construction of whole numbers occurs in the child in close connection with the construction of seriations and class inclusions… Naturally, there can be no question of operatory numbers before the existence of a conservation of numerical groups independent of spatial arrangement. Having said this, one might assume, according to set theory and as the logicians Frege, Whitehead and Russell hold, that number proceeds from a term-to-term correspondence between two classes or two sets; that is, two sets have the same number if their members can be put in one-to-one correspondence. But there are two forms of correspondences: the qualified correspondences based on the resemblances of elements (for example, a nose for a nose… as in the correspondence between a model and its copy), and the random or ‘one-to-one’ correspondences. It is the random correspondences that lead to number, for they already imply numerical unity. Number must still be explained genetically, however; otherwise a vicious circle results.” (Pg. 104-105)

They suggest, “It is highly probable, then, that the social exchanges characteristic of the preoperatory level are precooperative; that is, at once social from the point of view of the subject and centered upon the child and his own activity from the point of view of the observer.” (Pg. 118)

They note, “Each new mental structure , by integrating the preceding ones, succeeds both in partly liberating the individual from his past and in inaugurating new activities which at the formal operatory level are mainly oriented toward the future.” (Pg, 150)

This book will be of keen interest to those studying Piaget.

[Sarah Milne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Piaget was a genius, for sure. Thank goodness for a condensed volume of his theories, because I doubt I will ever get through his other stuff. This is an incredibly dense little volume that requires a great deal of concentration to follow (and even then certain parts eluded me entirely - like every time the subject was mathematical concepts). Beyond commenting on the writing itself I can only say there is a reason Piaget's work (as well as the man himself) is venerated.

[Abner Huertas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The development of our being starts since we were a child, this means that every experience counts, one question might be How can we help a child to have a correct development?

In this book, Piaget teaches the different stages of the psychology development of a person, from birth to adolescence, a well understanding of this we'll give us the tools to raise our kids in a better way.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the seminal book on modern childhood education and development. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is entering or considering to enter into the field of education. I still have my well-worn, original copy with all my penciled commentary in the margins.

[Nádia Faria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dull. I know Jean Piaget is a master of child psychology, but this book was too theoretical and difficult to read since its writing style was so archaic. It might work as an academic book, but I was looking for something more practical for my line of work and this did not help very much.

[Scott Shepard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Piaget is very challenging to read. Even in this slimmed, summarized version it was difficult for me to make it more than a few pages in a sitting. The early chapters (corresponding to earlier in a child's life) are better: easier to understand, more succinct, and personally more revelant. The later chapters about development of intelligence and socialization I found nearly incomprehensible and a little out of date.

Most interesting to me was how frequently I found myself remarking, "wow they have to learn that" when reading a section. We all know about the development of object permanence and how consequential that is but I did not know just how many stages there are. The child must learn not only that the object still exists when it disappears behind a screen, but that it exists behind the screen. If you take a object from behind screen A and then put it behind screen B, at first babies will look for it at screen A because that is where it came from last time. Solving this "tunnel problem" is just one of many steps in what I know as object permanence.

One thing completely missing from this book and indicative of it's age is any discussion of the emotional development of the child. In the 60s when this was written and the 30s-50s when much of the research was done this may not have been seen as revelant but today it is perhaps the most studied aspect of the field. Piaget also focuses far too much I think on the child's grasp of scientific concepts: conservation of volume, mass, and logical structures of thought. Development of these has to be correlated with levels of wealth and schooling at home. There is no discussion of the impact of school or the disparities of race and class on development.

Overall it's fine. Best used as a reference if at all. I was interested in where child psychology started and this is the abbreviated Bible of the field. Piaget pioneered the idea that children think in a fundamentally different way than adults and much of his writing is proving that difference. If you come assuming that as truth then much of his work seems repetitive.

[Asher Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to give this book five stars so badly just on the basis of the invaluable information presented. Piaget and Inhelder’s empirical interpretations of the psychological structure are incredibly insightful and well constructed.

My biggest and only gripe with the book is that it was not a very enjoyable read. While the translation is able to synthesize many complex ideas down into basic principles and all encompassing developmental stages, the language is archaic and difficult to get through for someone without a comprehensive understanding of psychoanalysis. The reward for pushing through the dense language definitely made this read worthwhile but I just can’t justify five stars for such an exhaustive reading experience.

Now for the things I did enjoy. The best thing about this read by far was the incredible experience of relearning how I thought the mind worked. The inner workings of the brain are mostly unconscious to us in our daily lives and therefore elusive and abstract. The compounding nature of the stages from sensorimotor to formal operations gives incredible insight not only into how children view the world but how it evolves into the complex thought which is so inseparable from ourselves as adults. It is easy to apply our adult viewpoints to those of the young children in our lives but through studying the stages of development, I can separate my point of view from the young child’s and better aid them in reaching mental equilibrium. This book has also made me super excited to have children of my own to be able to identify with their worldview in a way I would never have been able to before. The stages of child development are important to the adult as well due to the fact that the stages are not merely sequential but they build upon the previous stages. The sensorimotor structures of infants remain in the brain until death but they are elaborated through the subsequent stages and formal thought. I never would have thought I would learn so much about myself while studying the psychology of the child.

[nAeEMak نعیمک]

بالاخره تمامش کردم. شکل خواندن من این طوری است که هر فصل را می‌خوانم و برای بار دوم یک خلاصه‌ای ازش می‌نویسم. این بار این کار را نکردم چون مطالب برایم خیلی سخت بود و این قدر خود کتاب موجز بود که انگار نمی‌شد چیزی ازش درآورد. در واقع این مثال‌ها و نکات ریزتر بودند که باعث می‌شدند کتاب را بفهمیم و برای من خلاصه‌نویسی دیگر کار نمی‌کرد.
بالاخره خواندمش. مشخصاً باید بگویم که چیز زیادی الان در یادم نیست. یعنی اینکه در هر سن و سالی چی می‌شود و این روند چطوری است را چند بار دیگر باید مرور کنم و احتمالاً به یوتویوب مراجعه کنم که بهتر درک کنم. در مواجهۀ اول متاسفانه این شکلی بودم که «کی گفته این‌ها درست است؟» و مشخصاً داشتم مقاومت می‌کردم چون یک جاهایی نمی‌خواستم باور کنم که این قدر می‌توانیم دقیق بچه‌ها را بشناسیم و این طوری دیگر نمی‌توانم از بار مسئولیتم بیرون بیایم. یعنی اینکه می‌فهمم چرا مدرسه کار نمی‌کند یا چرا بچه‌ها رفتارهای عجیب می‌کنند در حالی که هر کاری هم دلم می‌خواست می‌توانستم بکنم و حالا محتاط‌تر باید باشم.
همۀ این‌ها را گفتم تا به این معنی باشد که کتاب واقعاً آموزنده است و همان چیزهایی که ریز و درشت در بار اول فهمیدم باعث می‌شد برایم تلنگر باشد. البته که رویکردهای دیگری هم در مراحل رشد می‌تواند باشد که خواندنش خالی از لطف نیست. یکی از نکات خوب کتاب که نمی‌دانم بیشتر برای خود کتاب بود یا مترجم زیرنویس‌های خیلی خیلی خوب و با جزییات بود که واقعاً به درک کتاب کمک می‌کرد. حتماً باید دوباره بهش رجوع کنم و خوشحالم که خواندم و پیدایش کردم با اینکه پیاژه خیلی زیاد معروف است.

[Denni George · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good read, the jargon is specific which can sometimes make comprehension challenging, and some diagrams or photos of the experiments would have made it easier to visualize the studies done, this is an fascinating read. It is not a book, it is more like a paraphrased compilation of Piaget's volumes of empirical studies compressed into one book for everybody to get a grasp on the range of Piaget's work without actually reading all the actual volumes.

I loved it, even though I could not visualize some of the experiments described.

[BARIS ISIK · Rating 1 out of 5]

NOTE: This review particularly focuses on the Turkish translation version. The English edit deserves a much better grade (4 to be exact) as it conveys Piaget's words far more successfully.

Düşük not vermemin sebebi kitabın içeriğinden ziyade çevirmenin, dolayısıyla editörün başarısızlığıdır. Çeviri tam anlamıyla bir rezalet. Bu yetmezmiş gibi, kitabın neredeyse her sayfasında dilbilgisi hataları ve tamamlanmamış cümleler mevcut.

[Kitabinnellitonu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çocuklarla anlaşmak için bence onlara ilk etapta güven duygusunu vermeliyiz bunu başardıktan sonra zamanı eğlenceli geçirebileceğimiz aktiviteler yapmalıyız. Bu kitapta bunları daha teorik bir şekilde anlatıyor eğer profesyonel uğraşmıyorsanız yeniden düşünün kitabı okumak için.Kesinlikle pratik kullanım odaklı olmaktan çok akademik bir kitap bu yüzden bunu aklınızda bulundurun. Yine de kısa bir kitap ve akademik konularda korkunç derecede yoğun değil.

[Alisha Jefri · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.4
this is not to say the groundwork that piaget created was not unimaginably principal for so many elements of child psychology to this day; just think if you really want to learn more about the psychology of the child it would be more efficient to read something more recent.

although, i do think i would want to revisit this again in the future because of the extensive terminology -probably would be a more enriching read if i wasnt searching something up every 5 lines lol.

[M.T. Sullivan]

I chose not to rate this because in terms of entertainment value (how I usually base my ratings), it offers next-to-nothing. That said, in terms of groundbreaking and informative scientific research, it is exceptional. Was it a joy to read? No. Could it be something to which I later refer? Absolutely.

[Seda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this books in Turkish to learn psychology vocabularies also to understand it in my native language. This is heavy book and I finished it in a month and a half. This is some sort of in a form of Piaget’s thesises. If you don’t know much about how to read scholarly articles and studies this book is not for you.

[Navin Valrani · Rating 5 out of 5]

The guru of cognitivism doesn’t disappoint as he empirically shows us why Behaviorism didn’t fully explain a child’s development. The 4 stages of Piaget’s theory is very relatable and explains how a child retains learning as they move from one stage to the next. A must read for any learning theorist.

[Allie Piippo · Rating 2 out of 5]

DRYYYYYYYYY but informative

Had to read this for a PhD class. Now I understand why we don't read Piaget in undergrad psych classes. Very boring overall, but systematically presented. The parts about language and some of the developmental stages were interesting but overall I'm glad that's over with.

[Julia Cannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the most vapid read I’ve done in a long while. Honestly it could be edited down from 160 pages to 50. So many filler words. So many empty sentences. I had to skim it. At first I thought it was dense for a good reason, and i was wrong, but I still finished it because I refused to let the book win.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

While his ideas are brilliant, his writing is not easy to follow. He (they) writes in a very abstract manner. However this book lays out the foundation for Piaget's stages. As the subtitle states "the definitive summary of the world's most renowned psychologist."