Jean Piaget
Pioneer of developmental psychology
Most quoted
"The child who defines a lie as 'a naughty word' knows perfectly well that lying consists of not speaking the truth. He is not, therefore, mistaking one thing for another; he is simply identifying them one with another by what seems to us a quaint extension of the word lie."
— from The Moral Judgment of the Child, 1932
"The more the schemata are differentiated, the smaller the gap between the new and the familiar becomes, so that novelty, instead of constituting an annoyance avoided by the subject, becomes a problem and invites searching."
— from The Origins of Intelligence in Children, 1936
"Knowledge is not a copy of reality. To know an object, to know an event, is not simply to look at it and record it in a mental image or even to make a perceptual copy of it. To know an object is to act on it."
— from Speech at UNESCO, 'Science of Education and the Psychology of the Child', 1964
All quotes by Jean Piaget (326)
The goal of intellectual education is not to know how to repeat or retain ready-made truths, but to learn to master the methods of truth.
The child's conception of the world is a continuous process of assimilation and accommodation.
Children pose problems that are often more profound than those of adults.
The child is a little scientist, constantly experimenting and constructing theories about the world.
The most powerful learning comes from direct experience and interaction with the environment.
Each stage of development is characterized by a distinct way of thinking and understanding the world.
The role of the teacher is to create situations where the child can discover for himself.
The child's errors are not simply mistakes, but windows into their thinking processes.
True understanding is achieved when one can explain something in one's own words.
The development of moral reasoning is a gradual process, moving from heteronomy to autonomy.
The child's world is not a simplified version of the adult world, but a world with its own unique structure and logic.
The construction of knowledge is a social as well as an individual process.
The greatest challenge for education is to help children become independent thinkers.
The child's spontaneous activity is the key to their intellectual development.
To teach is to learn twice.
The essence of intelligence is to understand and to invent.
Children need freedom to explore and discover.
The development of language is intimately linked to the development of thought.
The child's curiosity is a powerful engine for learning.
Education, for most people, means trying to lead the child to resemble the typical adult of his society.
Contemporaries of Jean Piaget
Other Psychologys born within 50 years of Jean Piaget (1896–1980).