Erik Erickson
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Introduction:
Jean Piagets legacy is one that has affected a wide disparity of disciplines. Commonly acknowledged as one of the foremost psychologists of the 20th century, certainly the premiere child developmental psychologist, Piaget preferred to be referred to as a genetic epistemologist. This is because he identified child psychology as being limited to merely the study of the child, whereas his main focus was the study of the origins, characteristics, and limitations of knowledge, usually as seen in the development in children. It has been said of him that “he approached questions up until then exclusively philosophical, in a resolutely empirical manner, and made epistemology (the study of knowledge), into a science separate from philosophy, but related to all of the human sciences.” (Gruber and Voneche, 18)
Developmental psychology is what his renown is based upon, yet Piagets interests were much more widespread. He is characterized as a “zoologist by training, an epistemologist by vocation, and a logician by method.” (Munari, 311) This is in part due to the fact that before achieving prominence in the field of child psychology, Piaget immersed himself in various other fields, such as philosophy, logic, politics, and the sciences. He was very much an interdisciplinary thinker, utilizing what he learned in one arena, in the others. Unlike many of the other prototypes of Howard Gardeners (1993) model, Piaget was able to achieve a respectable level of success in these endeavors, publishing various novels and research papers. Although it is uncertain whether he would have been able to achieve “genius” level in any of these undertakings, it seems to demonstrate his multi-talented personality.
Childhood and Family Background:
Jean Piaget was born August 9, 1896 in the small town of Neuchatel, Switzerland. Although this only marginally places him in the 19th century, he was greatly influenced by the great thinkers of that period, especially their views on evolutionary development. Because of them, Piaget was very interested in the mechanisms of biological adaption, and in the analysis of another form of adaption– scientific thought. It is important though to remember that at that time, the field of psychology was strongly related to the areas of philosophy, physics, physiology, and religion. Psychology itself was less than a century old when Piaget began his studies of it in 1921, which meant that psychology was still in a state of enormous change.
Jean Piaget was the oldest of three children, and the only boy. He grew up in an environment conductive to learning, because although the city of Neuchatel was not very large, during his youth it experienced a sudden surge in educational institutions. Among these, was his future university. Piaget came from a middle-class family, with parents that were considered rather unconventional. His father was a highly respected historian, whose opinions at times were thought to be controversial. Piaget was greatly influenced by him, especially by his belief in the value of systematic work, even in the small matters. His relationship with his mother was more difficult. In many ways she was a warm person, with strong convictions, and an interest in social reform. It is inferred however that she had a rather neurotic temperament, something which had a detrimental affect upon the childhood of the three Piaget children. Although Piaget never states this outright, it appears that he early on found an escape for himself in the reliable hobby of science. From the age of ten, he worked after hours as an assistant for Paul Godet, the director of the Neuchatel Museum of Natural History. It was here that he was first introduced to the process of scientific study; specifically, the classification of land and fresh water mollusks. This is what initially sparked his interest toward the study of zoology.
Adolescence:
As an adolescent Piaget was a member of the Club of the Friends of Nature, in which exploration of nature, both physically and intellectually, was strongly encouraged. They wrote papers, and published them in their magazine, as well as having many well-known scientists give speeches to their club. Piaget published his first official scientific paper on the subject of the albino sparrow, a remarkable feat considering that he was only fifteen at the time. Gradually, he became convinced that the scientific approach was the only valid means of gaining access to knowledge, of which he remained a firm believer throughout his life.
During Piagets adolescence, he went through a period of philosophical and spiritual crisis. He had difficulty separating religion from science, as the two were strongly linked according to the custom of the day. However, one can not consider this period of searching a waste, as it was productive in its own rights, and laid a basis for much of his later work. By 1918, at the age of 22, Piaget received his doctorate of science from the university of Neuchatel. By that point, he had published scores of articles on malacological taxonomy, several essays on social reform, and his autobiographical and philosophical novel “Recherche”.
Marginality:
Piaget was rather uncertain where he wanted to go from there. Zoology no longer satisfied him, and in fact, after receiving his doctorate he never again wrote a paper on mollusks. Piaget is usually identified with the city of Geneva, as that is where he lived for most of his adult life, and yet in actuality he first spent a few years in Paris. This was instrumental in guiding him towards his later path in life, and as such, to a certain extent satisfies the definition of marginality as given by Gardener. It was only when he travelled to another country, that through these new experiences he was able to discover his own interest in the question of how people go about learning.
The Learning Period:
While in Paris, Piaget worked as an assistant to Binet while the latter was developing his intelligence test. He spent considerable time with children in hospitals, where he conducted various tests measuring intelligence. Instead of merely noting the responses given by the children to the test, Piaget became interested in the how and why of the answers. More specifically, he was fascinated by the thought processes revealed by the children in attempting to solve the test problems.
The children favored being tested by Piaget in preference to anyone else, because he had an easy and informal manner, and really seemed interested in their responses. His behavior