Jean Piaget (Psychology Archives, University of Akron)

Together with Sigmund Freud and B. F. Skinner, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was one of the three most influential psychologists of the twentieth century. Among developmental psychologists he has had no equal or close second as to the volume, scope, and impact of his work. Yet he thought of his psychological work primarily as a tool for the creation of a new science, genetic epistemology—a new synthesis of logic, philosophy, history of science, biology, and psychology.

Life and Oeuvre

Piaget was born on August 9, 1896, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and died in Geneva, on September 17, 1980. His father, Arthur Piaget, was a historian. Jean's first publication, a paragraph about sighting an albino sparrow, appeared in 1907, when he was 11 years old. He was active until the end of his life, and posthumous monographs continued to appear until 1990. The total oeuvre...