ABSTRACT
Jean Piaget was born in the Swiss university community of Neuchatel in 1896. His mother was intelligent and religious and his father was a historian with a special interest in medieval literature. Thus, by repeated assimilations and accommodations, the cognitive system gradually evolves and provides the child with an increasingly accurate view of the nature of things. The ability to deal logically with abstractions becomes possible in this stage, but whether it is exercised depends in part on cultural and educational factors. The focus of this research in cognition has shifted gradually from the comparative study of performance on particular tasks to research on the transformation of thinking as individuals engage in various sociocultural activities. Jean Piaget has given developmental psychology a rich and complex body of work, work that has provided, and continues to provide, valuable material that sparks our thinking and has formed the basis of many fruitful careers in the field.
