The Language and Thought of the Child By JEAN PIAGET Professor at the University of Neuchatel and at the Institut J. J. Rousseau, Geneva Preiace by PROFESSOR E. CLAPAREDE NEW YORK HARCOURT, BRACE COMPANY, INC. LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER CO., LTD. 1926 Translated by MARJORIK WARDEN CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE ix FOREWORD . . . . . . . xix CHAPTER I THE FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE IN TWO CHILDREN OF SIX I I. The material ....... 5 I. An example of the talk taken down, 6 2. The functions of child language classified, 9 3. Repetition echolalia, ii 4. Monologue, 13 5. Collective monologue, 18 6. Adapted information, 19 7. Criticism and derision, 26 8. Commands, requests, threats, 27 9. Questions and answers, 28. II. Conclusions 34 10. The measure of ego-centrism, 34 n. Conclusion, 37 12. Results and hypotheses, 43. CHAPTER II TYPES AND STAGES IN THE CONVERSATION OF CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OF FOUR AND SEVEN SO i. Check of the coefficient of ego-cenmsm, 51 2. Types of conversation between children, 52 3. Stage I Collective monologue, 56 4. Stage HA, First type Association with the action of others, 58 5. Stage UA, Second type Collaboration in action or in non vi CONTENTS abstract thought, 60 7. Stage I IB, First type Quarrelling, 65 8. Stage IIu, Second type Primi tive argument, 68 9, Stage IIlB Genuine argument, 7010, Conclusions, 73. CHAPTER III UNDERSTANDING AND VERBAL EXPLANATION IJEWEEN CHILDREN OF THE SAME AGE BETWEEN THE YEARS OF SIX AND EIGHT. 76 i. The method of experiment, 792. Parcelling out the material, 86 3. Numerical results, 944, Ego-centrism in the explanations given by one child to another, 99 5. The ideas of order and cause in the expositions given by the explainers, 1076. Thefactors of understanding, 119 7. Conclusion. The question of stages and the effort towards objectivity in the accounts given by children to one another, 124. CHAPTER IV SOME PECULIARITIES OF VERBAL UNDER STANDING IN THE CHILD BETWEEN THE AGES OF NINE AND ELEVEN 127 7. Verbal syncretism, 131 2, Syncretism of reasoning, 136 3. The need for justification at any price, 1454, Syncretism of understanding, 1505. Conclusion, 157. CHAPTER V THE QUESTIONS OF A CHILD OF SIX . . 1 62 I. f Whys 164 I. Principal types of whys, 166 2. Whys of causa explanation. Introduction and classification by material 171 3. Structure of the whys of explanation 1804. Whys of motivation 1885. a Whys of justification, 1 191 - 6, Conclusions, 197. LUJNIJiJNIb vn II. Questions not expressed under the form why . 199 7. Classification of Dels questions not expressed under the form, why, 199 8. Questions of causal explanation, 202 9. Questions of reality and history, 207 10. Ques tions about human actions and questions about rules, 214 ii. Questions of classification and calculation, 216. III. Conclusions 217 12. Statistical results, 217 13. The decline of precaus ality, 223 14. Conclusion. Categories of thought or logical functions in the child of seven, 227. APPENDIX 239 INDEX 245 PREFACE THE importance of this remarkable work deserves to be doubly emphasized, for its novelty consists both in the results obtained and in the method by which they have been reached. How does the child think How does he speak What are the characteristics of his judgment and of his reasoning For half a century the answer has been sought to these questions which are those which we meet with at the very threshold of child psychology. Ifphilosophers and biologists have bent their interest upon the soul of the child, it is because of the initial surprise they experienced at his logic and speech. In proof of this, we need only recall the words of Taine, of Darwin and of Egger, which are among the first recorded in the science of child logic. I cannot give a list here of all the works that have appeared since that period those of Preyer and of Sully, of P...

Although originally published in France in 1951 this English translation was not published until 1975. The book supplements the authors' previous publications on the development of thought in the child and is the result of two preoccupations: how thought that is in the process of formation acts to assimilate those aspects of experience that cannot be assimilated deductively - for example, the randomly mixed; and the necessity of discovering how the mental processes work in the totality of spontaneous and experimental searchings that make up what is called the problem of 'induction'. Induction is a sifting of our experiences to determine what depends on regularity, what on law, and what on chance. The authors examine the formation of the physical aspects of the notion of chance; they study groups of random subjects and of 'special' subjects; and they analyse the development of combining operations which contributes to determining the relationship between chance, probability, and the operating mechanisms of the mind.

Originally published in English in 1976, the book draws on and extends our knowledge of the process of learning. The subject of the study is the general stage in a child's development that comes between his successful performance of an activity without knowing how he did it - that is, what he had to do in order to succeed - and the times when he becomes aware of what went into that action. The book reports the results of experiments conducted at the Centre of Genetic Epistemology. Children, ranging in age between four and adolescence, were asked to perform such tasks as walking on all fours, playing tiddlywinks, building a ramp for a toy car. They were then asked to explain how they had performed the task, and in some cases, to instruct the interviewer. Their answers show a number of surprising inaccuracies in the child's ability to grasp the nature of what he has done. Taking a broad view of his results, Piaget shows that they reveal several stages in the gradual development of the child's conceptualization of his actions. In analysing each stage, Piaget argues that the child's concept of his own action cannot be considered a simple matter of 'enlightenment', but must actively be reconstructed from his experience. This view has always been at the core of Piaget's work, and a new area of the child's mental world is here given definitive treatment.

This book was first published in 1969.

This book was first published in 1979.

This book was first published in 1969.

This book was first published in 1970.

Routledge is now re-issuing this prestigious series of 204 volumes originally published between 1910 and 1965. The titles include works by key figures such asC.G. Jung, Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, Otto Rank, James Hillman, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney and Susan Isaacs. Each volume is available on its own, as part of a themed mini-set, or as part of a specially-priced 204-volume set. A brochure listing each title in the "International Library of Psychology" series is available upon request.
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Routledge is now re-issuing this prestigious series of 204 volumes originally published between 1910 and 1965. The titles include works by key figures such asC.G. Jung, Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, Otto Rank, James Hillman, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney and Susan Isaacs. Each volume is available on its own, as part of a themed mini-set, or as part of a specially-priced 204-volume set. A brochure listing each title in the "International Library of Psychology" series is available upon request.

Jean Piaget was one of the most salient and inspirational figures in psychological and educational research this century. He was prolific, authoring or editing over eighty books and numerous journal papers which have spawned a huge and fertile continuation of his research over the decades. A major component of any course on children's psychological development and a research tradition that is expanding, scholars need access to the original texts rather than relying on secondhand accounts. "Jean Piaget: Selected Works" is a chance to acquire key original texts, most of which have been previously unavailable for several years.

Jean Piaget was one of the most salient and inspirational figures in psychological and educational research this century. He was prolific, authoring or editing over eighty books and numerous journal papers which have spawned a huge and fertile continuation of his research over the decades. A major component of any course on children's psychological development and a research tradition that is expanding, scholars need access to the original texts rather than relying on secondhand accounts. "Jean Piaget: Selected Works" is a chance to acquire key original texts, most of which have been previously unavailable for several years.

Jean Piaget was one of the most salient and inspirational figures in psychological and educational research this century. He was prolific, authoring or editing over eighty books and numerous journal papers which have spawned a huge and fertile continuation of his research over the decades. A major component of any course on children's psychological development and a research tradition that is expanding, scholars need access to the original texts rather than relying on secondhand accounts. "Jean Piaget: Selected Works" is a chance to acquire key original texts, most of which have been previously unavailable for several years.

Jean Piaget was one of the most salient and inspirational figures in psychological and educational research this century. He was prolific, authoring or editing over eighty books and numerous journal papers which have spawned a huge and fertile continuation of his research over the decades. A major component of any course on children's psychological development and a research tradition that is expanding, scholars need access to the original texts rather than relying on secondhand accounts. Jean Piaget: Selected Works is a chance to acquire key original texts, most of which have been previously unavailable for several years.

Jean Piaget was one of the most salient and inspirational figures in psychological and educational research this century. He was prolific, authoring or editing over eighty books and numerous journal papers which have spawned a huge and fertile continuation of his research over the decades. A major component of any course on children's psychological development and a research tradition that is expanding, scholars need access to the original texts rather than relying on secondhand accounts. "Jean Piaget: Selected Works" is a chance to acquire key original texts, most of which have been previously unavailable for several years.

Jean Piaget was one of the most salient and inspirational figures in psychological and educational research this century. He was prolific, authoring or editing over eighty books and numerous journal papers which have spawned a huge and fertile continuation of his research over the decades. A major component of any course on children's psychological development and a research tradition that is expanding, scholars need access to the original texts rather than relying on secondhand accounts." Jean Piaget: Selected Works" is a chance to acquire key original texts, most of which have been previously unavailable for several years.

Jean Piaget was one of the most salient and inspirational figures in psychological and educational research this century. He was prolific, authoring or editing over eighty books and numerous journal papers which have spawned a huge and fertile continuation of his research over the decades. A major component of any course on children's psychological development and a research tradition that is expanding, scholars need access to the original texts rather than relying on secondhand accounts. "Jean Piaget: Selected Works" is a chance to acquire key original texts, most of which have been previously unavailable for several years.

Originally published in English in 1971, structuralism was an increasingly important method of analysis in disciplines as diverse as mathematics, physics, biology, psychology, linguistics, sociology, anthropology and philosophy. Piaget here offers both a definitive introduction to the method and a brilliant critique of the principal structuralist positions. He explains and evaluates the work of the main people at work in the field - Claude Levi-Strauss, Michel Foucault, Talcott Parsons, Noam Chomsky - and concludes that structuralism has a rich and fruitful future ahead of it. An indispensable work for serious students and working scholars in almost every field, the book is also an important addition to Piaget's life-long study of the relationship of language and thought.

Despite dissent in many quarters, Piaget's epistemology and the developmental psychology derived from it remain the most powerful theories in either field. From the beginning, Piaget's fundamental epistemological notion was that all knowledge is rooted in action, and for a long time, he identified action with transformation. What is known is that which remains constant under transformatory action. This book represents a fundamental reformulation of that point of view. Alongside transformatory schemes, Piaget now presents evidence that nontransformatory actions -- comparisons that create morphisms and categories among diverse situations constitute a necessary and complementary instrument of knowledge. This work aims to elucidate that insight experimentally and theoretically and to understand the developmental interaction of comparing and transforming as knowledge is constructed. This first English translation of Piaget's work includes studies of children's understanding of geometric forms, machines, and abstract concepts. It contains a clear statement of his mature position on continuity with biology as well as with the history of ideas.

This book, the last one written by Piaget, presents a new line of empirical studies based on a revised formulation of his theory of the development of logical reasoning. The amended theory overcomes many problems and criticisms of his earlier formulations by providing a fresh explanation for the origin of mental operations and mental organization based on the concept of meaning. It also offers a more elegant vision of the continuity in mental development from birth to adulthood. As the final revision of Piaget's theory -- and one that opens up new areas of inquiry -- this book calls for a reinterpretation of his earlier work -- a task which will occupy scholars for decades to come.

First published in English in 1970, the first chapter of the book is concerned with conditioned reactions. Jean Francois le Ny discusses ways in which conditioned reactions are acquired and the laws governing their function. The second contributor, Gerard de Montpellier, looks at different types of learning. The varying processes involved in both animal and human learning are considered, together with some general factors and mechanisms of learning. The third section of the book by Genevieve Oleron deals with the phenomenon of transfer. Among the topics included are the determination of transfer effects, transfer in perceptual-motor activities and explanations of transfer. In the final chapter, Cesar Flores examines memory, forgetting and reminiscence. The discussion covers methodology, the influence of material, the role of practice, the part played by attitudes, motivation and emotive reactions in the memory process, as well as the importance of organisation of memory tasks on the part of the subject.

This translation of the French Recherches sur l'abstraction reflechissante (1977), make available in English Piaget's only treatise on reflecting abstraction - a process he came to attribute considerable importance to in his later thinking and which he believed to be responsible for many of the advances that take place in human development, especially our understanding of mathematics. Rich with empirical research on reflecting abstraction at work in the thinking of 4 to 12 year olds, the studies in this volume examine its role in many contexts of cognitive development such as: reasoning about mathematics; forming analogies; putting objects in order by size and comparing the resulting series; and navigating through a wire maze. His theoretical discussions explore the relationships between reflecting abstraction and other central processes in his later theory, such as generalization, becoming conscious, and equilibration, as the differentiation of possibilities and their integration into necessities. These discussions indicate which aspects of his later theorizing were settled and which require further thought and investigation. Studies in Reflecting Abstraction will be of interest to developmental and cognitive psychologists, educationalists, philosophers and anyone who seeks to understand human knowledge and its development.

Over a period of six decades, Jean Piaget conducted a program of naturalistic research that has profoundly affected our understanding of child development.

Originally published in English in 1971, structuralism was an increasingly important method of analysis in disciplines as diverse as mathematics, physics, biology, psychology, linguistics, sociology, anthropology and philosophy. Piaget here offers both a definitive introduction to the method and a brilliant critique of the principal structuralist positions. He explains and evaluates the work of the main people at work in the field - Claude Levi-Strauss, Michel Foucault, Talcott Parsons, Noam Chomsky - and concludes that structuralism has a rich and fruitful future ahead of it. An indispensable work for serious students and working scholars in almost every field, the book is also an important addition to Piaget's life-long study of the relationship of language and thought.