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Origin of Intelligence in the Child
This book deals with the origins of intelligence in children and contains original observations on young children, novel experiments, brilliant in their simplicity,which the author describes in detail. Piaget divides the growth of intelligence into six sequential stages: the use of reflexes; the first acquired adaptations and primary circular reaction; secondary circular reactions and the child's procedures for prolonging spectacles interesting to him.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1936
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About the author
Jean Piaget
272 books689 followersJean 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."
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 28, 2023
Difficult read which quite frankly nearly ruined my entire life. Properly understanding or following only sparse portions of the text, a highly technical book on a specialized subject within a historic/dated context, though still I reaped benefits from it and found my mind stimulated in consequence. Glad it's over though.
January 24, 2015
Um dos livros mais importantes que li do Piaget! Um clássico!
August 7, 2012
Sample: Observation 137. --At 0;8 (29) Laurent examines at length a notebook which he has just grasped. he transfers it from one hand to the other while turning it in all directions, touches the cover, then one of the corners, then the cover again, and finally the edge. Afterward he shakes himself, shakes his head while looking at it, displaces it more slowly with a wide motion and ends by rubbing against the side of the bassinet. He then observes that in rubbing against the wicker the notebook does not produce the usual effect (sound? consistency?) and examines the contact most attentively while rubbing more gently (p. 254).
October 25, 2025
PIAGET LOOKS BROADLY AT THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN’S ‘INTELLIGENCE’
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss developmental psychologist known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are known as "genetic epistemology.”
He wrote in the Foreword to the Second Edition of this 1952 book, “The theses developed in this volume, which concern in particular the formation of the sensorimotor schemata and the mechanism of mental assimilation, have given rise to much discussion which pleases us…” He replies to a critic, “In the first place, meticulous study of a definite area, that of development of spatial perceptions, has led us … to discover an even greater correlation than there seemed to be between the sensorimotor and the perceptual… In the second place, it is primarily preverbal sensorimotor activity that is responsible for the construction of a series of perceptual schemata the importance of which in the subsequent structuring of the thought cannot, without oversimplification, be denied.” (Pg. ix-x)
He states in the Introduction, “The question of the relationships between mind and biological organization is one which inevitably arises at the beginning of a study of the origins of intelligence… Verbal or cognitive behavior is based on practical or sensorimotor intelligence which in turn depends on acquired and recombined habits and associations. These presuppose, furthermore, the system of reflexes whose connection with the organism’s anatomical and morphological structure is apparent. A certain continuity exists, therefore, between intelligence and the purely biological processes of morphogenesis and adaptation to the environment. What does this mean? It is obvious, in the first place, that certain hereditary factors condition intellectual development. But that can be interpreted in two ways so different in their biological meaning that confusing the one with the other is probably what has obfuscated the classic controversy over innate ideas and epistemological apriorism.” (Pg. 1)
He observes, “Intelligence does not by any means appear at once derived from mental development, like a higher mechanism, and radically distinct from those which have preceded it. Intelligence presents, on the contrary, a remarkable continuity with the acquired or even inborn processes on which it depends and at the same times makes use of. Thus, it is appropriate, before analyzing intelligence as such, to find out how the formation of habits and even the exercise of the reflex prepare its appearance.” (Pg. 21)
After reporting a number of observations of the child’s sucking reflex, he comments, “The theoretical importance of such observations seems to us to be as great as their triteness. They make it possible for us to understand how a system of pure reflexes can comprise psychological behavior, as early as the systemization of their function.” (Pg. 29)
He states, “But the great psychological lesson of these beginnings of behavior is that within the limits we have just defined, the experimental trial of a reflex mechanism already entails the most complicated accommodations, assimilations and individual organizations.” (Pg. 41)
He says, “Association and habit form the automatization of an activity which functionally prepares intelligence while yet differing from it by a more elementary structure.” (Pg. 137)
He asserts, “the theory of pure groping makes of the discovery of new procedures a simple accommodation, this neglecting the formal coordination belonging to assimilation: hence this theory is analogous to an empiricism ascribing invention to experience alone and neglecting the activity of the mind. The theory of ‘structures,’ on the contrary, emphasizes the existence of formal coordinations but neglects accommodations, in this being comparable to an apriority which disdains experience. For us, accommodation is necessarily on a par with a cumulative assimilation, structuring and not structured from the outset. The schema of assimilation thus reconciles the necessary role of experience, that is to say, of accommodation, with the no less necessary role of formal coordination.” (Pg. 314)
He notes, “We are consequently confronted by the most delicate problem which any theory of intelligence has to treat: that of the power of invention… as soon as real invention arises the process of thought baffles analysis and seems to escape determinism.” (Pg. 332)
He summarizes, “at every level, experience is necessary to the development of intelligence. That is the fundamental fact on which the empirical hypotheses are based and which they have the merit of calling to attention. On this question our analyses of the origin of the child’s intelligence confirm that point of view. But there is more in empiricism than just an affirmation of the role of experience: Empiricism is primarily a certain conception of experience and its action. On the one hand, it tends to consider experience as imposing itself without the subject’s having to organize it, that is to say, as impressing itself directly on the organism without activity of the subject being necessary to constitute it.” (Pg. 362)
He adds, “In short, if experience appears to be one of the conditions necessary to the development of intelligence, study of the first stages of that development invalidates the empirical conception of experience.” (Pg. 369)
He notes in the last chapter, “Also, experience is never simply passive receptiveness: it is active accommodation, correlative to assimilation.” (Pg. 416)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying Piaget.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss developmental psychologist known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are known as "genetic epistemology.”
He wrote in the Foreword to the Second Edition of this 1952 book, “The theses developed in this volume, which concern in particular the formation of the sensorimotor schemata and the mechanism of mental assimilation, have given rise to much discussion which pleases us…” He replies to a critic, “In the first place, meticulous study of a definite area, that of development of spatial perceptions, has led us … to discover an even greater correlation than there seemed to be between the sensorimotor and the perceptual… In the second place, it is primarily preverbal sensorimotor activity that is responsible for the construction of a series of perceptual schemata the importance of which in the subsequent structuring of the thought cannot, without oversimplification, be denied.” (Pg. ix-x)
He states in the Introduction, “The question of the relationships between mind and biological organization is one which inevitably arises at the beginning of a study of the origins of intelligence… Verbal or cognitive behavior is based on practical or sensorimotor intelligence which in turn depends on acquired and recombined habits and associations. These presuppose, furthermore, the system of reflexes whose connection with the organism’s anatomical and morphological structure is apparent. A certain continuity exists, therefore, between intelligence and the purely biological processes of morphogenesis and adaptation to the environment. What does this mean? It is obvious, in the first place, that certain hereditary factors condition intellectual development. But that can be interpreted in two ways so different in their biological meaning that confusing the one with the other is probably what has obfuscated the classic controversy over innate ideas and epistemological apriorism.” (Pg. 1)
He observes, “Intelligence does not by any means appear at once derived from mental development, like a higher mechanism, and radically distinct from those which have preceded it. Intelligence presents, on the contrary, a remarkable continuity with the acquired or even inborn processes on which it depends and at the same times makes use of. Thus, it is appropriate, before analyzing intelligence as such, to find out how the formation of habits and even the exercise of the reflex prepare its appearance.” (Pg. 21)
After reporting a number of observations of the child’s sucking reflex, he comments, “The theoretical importance of such observations seems to us to be as great as their triteness. They make it possible for us to understand how a system of pure reflexes can comprise psychological behavior, as early as the systemization of their function.” (Pg. 29)
He states, “But the great psychological lesson of these beginnings of behavior is that within the limits we have just defined, the experimental trial of a reflex mechanism already entails the most complicated accommodations, assimilations and individual organizations.” (Pg. 41)
He says, “Association and habit form the automatization of an activity which functionally prepares intelligence while yet differing from it by a more elementary structure.” (Pg. 137)
He asserts, “the theory of pure groping makes of the discovery of new procedures a simple accommodation, this neglecting the formal coordination belonging to assimilation: hence this theory is analogous to an empiricism ascribing invention to experience alone and neglecting the activity of the mind. The theory of ‘structures,’ on the contrary, emphasizes the existence of formal coordinations but neglects accommodations, in this being comparable to an apriority which disdains experience. For us, accommodation is necessarily on a par with a cumulative assimilation, structuring and not structured from the outset. The schema of assimilation thus reconciles the necessary role of experience, that is to say, of accommodation, with the no less necessary role of formal coordination.” (Pg. 314)
He notes, “We are consequently confronted by the most delicate problem which any theory of intelligence has to treat: that of the power of invention… as soon as real invention arises the process of thought baffles analysis and seems to escape determinism.” (Pg. 332)
He summarizes, “at every level, experience is necessary to the development of intelligence. That is the fundamental fact on which the empirical hypotheses are based and which they have the merit of calling to attention. On this question our analyses of the origin of the child’s intelligence confirm that point of view. But there is more in empiricism than just an affirmation of the role of experience: Empiricism is primarily a certain conception of experience and its action. On the one hand, it tends to consider experience as imposing itself without the subject’s having to organize it, that is to say, as impressing itself directly on the organism without activity of the subject being necessary to constitute it.” (Pg. 362)
He adds, “In short, if experience appears to be one of the conditions necessary to the development of intelligence, study of the first stages of that development invalidates the empirical conception of experience.” (Pg. 369)
He notes in the last chapter, “Also, experience is never simply passive receptiveness: it is active accommodation, correlative to assimilation.” (Pg. 416)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying Piaget.
January 19, 2026
Lo difícil que es leer al viejo este me da ganas de ponerle una sola estrella, y casi me arruina la cabeza en la cursada de la facultad. PERO que grande que es este señor, un poco lo quiero. Gran teoría.
Igual no hacía falta que se tome 300 páginas para explicar el desarrollo de los primeros dos años de vida. Síntesis Piaget, síntesis.
Igual no hacía falta que se tome 300 páginas para explicar el desarrollo de los primeros dos años de vida. Síntesis Piaget, síntesis.
June 22, 2025
The next book chronologically in my reading of Piaget, The Origins of Intelligence in Children deals with an earlier period than the previous five. While those books began with the acquisition of language or later, this one covers the period between birth and about two and a half years. It is also much more theoretical. Although there are interesting observations on his own three children, three siblings raised in the same household is not a particularly large or representative sample for drawing the major conclusions he draws.
The focus of the book is to prove an epistemological theory about how intelligence originates from the interplay of “assimilation to schemata” and “accommodation of the schemata”, which he contrasts to four other theories, which he describes as “Associationist Empiricism”, “Vitalistic Intellectualism”, “Apriority and the Psychology of Form” (essentially Gestalt theory), and “The Theory of Groping”. His own view he calls “The Theory of Assimilation”. I would say the book requires a background in philosophy rather than psychology, which fortunately is my case. Even so, it is a difficult book.
After a very abstract introduction, which I only understood after reading the final chapter of the book, he as usual divides the development into sequential “stages”. In this case there are six, which, to use his chapter headings, are: I. The Use of Reflexes, II. The First Aquired Adaptations and the Primary Circular Reaction, III. The “Secondary Circular Reactions” and the Procedures Destined to Make Interesting Sights Last, IV. The Coördination of the Secondary Schemata and Their Application to New Situations, V. The “Tertiary Circular Reaction” and the “Discovery of New Means Through Active Experimentation, and VI. The Invention of New Means Through Mental Combinations. He ends with a long chapter of conclusions, titled “Sensorimotor” or “Practical” Intelligence and the Theories of Intelligence.
According to the reviews, this was his most influential book, and it is worth reading for anyone with an interest in epistemology.
The focus of the book is to prove an epistemological theory about how intelligence originates from the interplay of “assimilation to schemata” and “accommodation of the schemata”, which he contrasts to four other theories, which he describes as “Associationist Empiricism”, “Vitalistic Intellectualism”, “Apriority and the Psychology of Form” (essentially Gestalt theory), and “The Theory of Groping”. His own view he calls “The Theory of Assimilation”. I would say the book requires a background in philosophy rather than psychology, which fortunately is my case. Even so, it is a difficult book.
After a very abstract introduction, which I only understood after reading the final chapter of the book, he as usual divides the development into sequential “stages”. In this case there are six, which, to use his chapter headings, are: I. The Use of Reflexes, II. The First Aquired Adaptations and the Primary Circular Reaction, III. The “Secondary Circular Reactions” and the Procedures Destined to Make Interesting Sights Last, IV. The Coördination of the Secondary Schemata and Their Application to New Situations, V. The “Tertiary Circular Reaction” and the “Discovery of New Means Through Active Experimentation, and VI. The Invention of New Means Through Mental Combinations. He ends with a long chapter of conclusions, titled “Sensorimotor” or “Practical” Intelligence and the Theories of Intelligence.
According to the reviews, this was his most influential book, and it is worth reading for anyone with an interest in epistemology.
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September 13, 2013
Me intriga mucho saber que paso con los hijos/cobayos de Piaget...
April 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews