ABSTRACT
J. Piagetian theory exerted a great influence on the early work of the American cognitive psychologist Jerome S. Bruner, following his visit to Geneva in 1956. This reflected the emphasis from the cognitive revolution of the 1950's concerning the generativeness of knowledge: knowledge is not a store-house. Learning is most often figuring out how to use what is already known in order to go beyond what is currently being thought - and this involves knowing something structural about what is being contemplated - how it is put together. Increasingly throughout life there is recourse to the symbolic mode of representation of thought. The emphasis is that representation is based upon an abstract, arbitrary and flexible system of thought. Language provides an opportunity for acquiring knowledge in a form compatible with the rules of abstract thought. For Jerome S. Bruner culture is essential for humankind because it is a means of transmitting the accumulated knowledge of earlier generations.
