ABSTRACT
The name most associated with developmental psychology, indeed in popular accounts almost synonymous with it, is still that of Jean Piaget. This is notwithstanding the rise of interest in Vygotskyan approaches within the discipline, and various subsequent syntheses and reformulations. This focus of this chapter, therefore, will be on why and how Piaget's work has come to occupy this position, with some contrasts and connections made to the position accorded to Vygotsky. We follow through some of the classic debates and criticisms, attending to key theorists and commentators.
