Jean Piaget | Biography, Theory, & Facts

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class="md-content"> <div class="md-article-container template-desktop"> <div class="infinite-scroll-container article last"> <article class="article-content container-lg qa-content px-0 pt-0 pb-40 py-lg-20 content " data-topic-id="459096"> <div class="grid gx-0"> <div class="col-auto"> <div class="topic-left-rail md-article-drawer position-relative d-flex border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Piaget">Jean Piaget</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em 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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Piaget/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="qf-title font-weight-bold font-14 mb-10 text-center"> Quick Facts</div> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Born: </dt> <dd>August 9, 1896, <a href="/place/Neuchatel-Switzerland">Neuchâtel</a>, <a href="/place/Switzerland">Switzerland</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Died: </dt> <dd>September 16, 1980, <a href="/place/Geneva-Switzerland">Geneva</a> (aged 84)</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Subjects Of Study: </dt> <dd><a href="/science/child-development-process">child development</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/concrete-operational-stage">concrete operational stage</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/developmental-psychology">developmental psychology</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/formal-operational-stage">formal operational stage</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/preoperational-stage">preoperational stage</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/sensorimotor-stage">sensorimotor stage</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/knowledge">knowledge</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Jean-Piaget"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>What did Jean Piaget study?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Jean Piaget studied <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/zoology\">zoology<\/a> (doctorate, 1918) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/philosophy\">philosophy<\/a> at the University of Neuch\u00E2tel, Switzerland, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/psychology\">psychology<\/a> at the University of Z\u00FCrich (1919) and in Paris under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Pierre-Janet\">Pierre Janet<\/a> and Th\u00E9odore Simon, among others (1919\u201321)." } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>Where did Jean Piaget work?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Jean Piaget served as director of studies at the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute in Geneva (1921\u201325; codirector after 1933) and held professorships at the University of Neuch\u00E2tel (1925\u201329) and the University of Geneva (1929\u201371; emeritus 1971\u201380). He held professorships at the University of Lausanne (1938\u201351) and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Universities-of-Paris-I-XIII\">Sorbonne<\/a> (1952\u201363)." } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>What did Jean Piaget write?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "A prolific author, Jean Piaget wrote scores of important works, including <em>The Language and Thought of the Child <\/em>(1923), <em>Judgment and Reasoning in the Child <\/em>(1924), and <em>The Origins of Intelligence in Children<\/em> (1948)." } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>Why is Jean Piaget famous?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Jean Piaget pioneered the study of children\u2019s intellectual development. He argued that children\u2019s understanding of the world progresses through four stages: sensorimotor development and self-awareness; representational thought, including by means of language; classification of objects by their similarities and differences and the emergence of elementary logical abilities; and advanced reasoning, including manipulation of abstract ideas." } } ] } </script> <div class="top-questions qa-accordion d-flex flex-column module-spacing"><div class="font-weight-bold font-14 mb-5"> Top Questions </div><div id="intent-accordion" class="md-intent-accordion"><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="1"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>What did Jean Piaget study?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>Jean Piaget studied <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/zoology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">zoology</a> (doctorate, 1918) and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">philosophy</a> at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/psychology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">psychology</a> at the University of Zürich (1919) and in Paris under <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pierre-Janet" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pierre Janet</a> and Théodore Simon, among others (1919–21).</p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="2"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>Where did Jean Piaget work?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>Jean Piaget served as director of studies at the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute in Geneva (1921–25; codirector after 1933) and held professorships at the University of Neuchâtel (1925–29) and the University of Geneva (1929–71; emeritus 1971–80). He held professorships at the University of Lausanne (1938–51) and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Universities-of-Paris-I-XIII" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Sorbonne</a> (1952–63).</p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="3"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>What did Jean Piaget write?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>A prolific author, Jean Piaget wrote scores of important works, including <em>The Language and Thought of the Child </em>(1923), <em>Judgment and Reasoning in the Child </em>(1924), and <em>The Origins of Intelligence in Children</em> (1948).</p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="4"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>Why is Jean Piaget famous?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>Jean Piaget pioneered the study of children’s intellectual development. He argued that children’s understanding of the world progresses through four stages: sensorimotor development and self-awareness; representational thought, including by means of language; classification of objects by their similarities and differences and the emergence of elementary logical abilities; and advanced reasoning, including manipulation of abstract ideas.</p></div></div></div><button class="show-more-button js-toggle-top-questions btn btn-unstyled font-14 d-flex pr-10 rounded-sm"><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></button></div></div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref179718"></span>Jean Piaget</strong> (born August 9, 1896, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Neuchatel-Switzerland" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Neuchâtel</a>, Switzerland—died September 16, 1980, Geneva) was a Swiss psychologist who was the first to make a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="systematic" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/systematic" data-type="EB">systematic</a> study of the acquisition of understanding in children. He is thought by many to have been the major figure in 20th-century <span id="ref1047293"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/developmental-psychology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">developmental psychology</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Piaget’s early interests were in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/zoology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">zoology</a>; as a youth he published an article on his observations of an albino sparrow, and by 15 his several publications on mollusks had gained him a reputation among European zoologists. At the University of Neuchâtel, he studied zoology and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">philosophy</a>, receiving his doctorate in the former in 1918. Soon afterward, however, he became interested in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/psychology" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">psychology</a>, combining his biological training with his interest in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/epistemology" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">epistemology</a>. He first went to Zürich, where he studied under <span id="ref839164"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carl-Jung" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Carl Jung</a> and <span id="ref839166"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eugen-Bleuler" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Eugen Bleuler</a>, and he then began two years of study at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1919.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In Paris Piaget <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="devised" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/devised" data-type="EB">devised</a> and administered reading tests to schoolchildren and became interested in the types of errors they made, leading him to explore the reasoning process in these young children. By 1921 he had begun to publish his findings; the same year brought him back to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Switzerland" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Switzerland</a>, where he was appointed director of the Institut J.J. Rousseau in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Geneva-Switzerland" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Geneva</a>. In 1925–29 he was a professor at the University of Neuchâtel, and in 1929 he joined the faculty of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-Geneva" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">University of Geneva</a> as professor of child psychology, remaining there until his <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/death" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">death</a>. In 1955 he established the <span id="ref179719"></span>International Centre of Genetic Epistemology at Geneva and became its director. His interests included scientific thought, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sociology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">sociology</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/experimental-psychology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">experimental psychology</a>. In more than 50 books and monographs over his long career, Piaget continued to develop the theme he had first discovered in Paris, that the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/mind" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">mind</a> of the <span id="ref179720"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/child-psychology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">child</a> evolves through a series of set stages to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/adulthood" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">adulthood</a>.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/introduction-to-psychology-quiz" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/36/152936-131-641469F1/Magnetic-resonance-imaging-types-abnormalities.jpg" alt="magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). brain. brain scanning. A MRI of a human head back and side view. The MRI is a three-dimensional diagnostic imaging technique used to visualize inside the body without the need for X-rays or other radiation. Health care" class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Introduction to Psychology Quiz</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Piaget saw the child as constantly creating and re-creating his own model of reality, achieving mental growth by <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="integrating" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/integrating" data-type="MW">integrating</a> simpler concepts into higher-level concepts at each stage. He argued for a “<span id="ref179721"></span>genetic epistemology,” a timetable established by nature for the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/biological-development" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">development</a> of the child’s ability to think, and he traced four stages in that development. He described the child during the first two years of life as being in a <span id="ref179722"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/sensorimotor-stage" class="md-crosslink ">sensorimotor stage</a>, chiefly concerned with mastering his own innate physical reflexes and extending them into pleasurable or interesting actions. During the same period, the child first becomes aware of himself as a separate physical entity and then realizes that the objects around him also have a separate and permanent existence. In the second, or <span id="ref179723"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/preoperational-stage" class="md-crosslink ">preoperational</a>, stage, roughly from age two to age six or seven, the child learns to manipulate his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="environment" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/environment" data-type="MW">environment</a> symbolically through inner representations, or thoughts, about the external world. During this stage he learns to represent objects by words and to manipulate the words mentally, just as he earlier manipulated the physical objects themselves. In the third, or <span id="ref179724"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/concrete-operational-stage" class="md-crosslink ">concrete operational</a>, stage, from age 7 to age 11 or 12, occur the beginning of logic in the child’s thought processes and the beginning of the classification of objects by their similarities and differences. During this period the child also begins to grasp concepts of time and number. The fourth stage, the period of <span id="ref179725"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/formal-operational-stage" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">formal</a> operations, begins at age 12 and extends into adulthood. It is characterized by an orderliness of thinking and a mastery of logical thought, allowing a more flexible kind of mental experimentation. The child learns in this final stage to manipulate abstract ideas, make <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="hypotheses" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypotheses" data-type="MW">hypotheses</a>, and see the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="implications" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/implications" data-type="MW">implications</a> of his own thinking and that of others.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Piaget’s concept of these developmental stages caused a reevaluation of older ideas of the child, of learning, and of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/education" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">education</a>. If the development of certain thought processes was on a genetically determined timetable, simple reinforcement was not sufficient to teach concepts; the child’s mental development would have to be at the proper stage to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="assimilate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assimilate" data-type="MW">assimilate</a> those concepts. Thus, the teacher became not a transmitter of knowledge but a guide to the child’s own discovery of the world.</p><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Piaget reached his conclusions about <span id="ref179726"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/child-development-process" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">child development</a> through his observations of and conversations with his own children, as well as others. He asked them ingenious and revealing questions about simple problems he had devised, and then he formed a picture of their way of viewing the world by analyzing their mistaken responses.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Among Piaget’s major works available in English are <em>Le Langage et la pensée chez l’enfant</em> (1923; <em>The Language and Thought of the Child</em>), <em>Jugement et le raisonnement chez l’enfant</em> (1924; <em>Judgment and Reasoning in the Child</em>), and <em>La Naissance de l’intelligence chez l’enfant</em> (1948; <em>The Origins of Intelligence in Children</em>). He also wrote a series of books dealing separately with children’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conceptions" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conceptions" data-type="MW">conceptions</a> of time, space, physical <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/causation" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">causality</a>, movement and speed, and the world in general.</p><div class="module-spacing"> <DIV class="marketing-INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION marketing-content" data-marketing-id="INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION"><style> .student-promo-banner-wrapper { container-type: inline-size; margin-bottom: 15px; } @container (min-width: 475px) { .student-promo-banner { flex-direction: row; } .student-promo-banner-img-wrapper { margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 10px; justify-content: flex-start; } .student-promo-banner-text-wrapper { text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; } .student-promo-banner-button-wrapper { margin-right: 0; } }</style> <div class="student-promo-banner-wrapper"> <div class="student-promo-banner d-flex flex-column align-items-center bg-blue rounded p-20"> <div class="student-promo-banner-img-wrapper mb-20 mr-0 d-flex justify-content-center"> <img class="rounded" style="max-width: 100px; 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Jean Piaget | Biography, Theory, & Facts | Britannica