ABSTRACT
Piaget's interactionism and constructivism purported to explain true novelty in cognitive functioning. The term interactionism is commonly used in psychology to denote a focus on social interactions. Interactionism thus appears as a legitimation of the insistence on stressing the nonuniversal, the individual differences, and the cultural influences, whereas the formal properties of interaction tend to be neglected. In contrast, Piaget's constructivism is based on a formal analysis of the dynamics of interactions. Because of the role it gives to interactions, Piaget's constructivist theory of developmental process can be seen as an embryonic dynamic systems theory. Piaget recognized the importance of dynamic systems: It is important to recall at the outset that by a cognitive equilibrium mean something quite different from mechanical equilibrium. However, against nativists it can be argued that dynamic systems theory has shown that emergence through interactions is possible, and against socio-interactionists it should be pointed out that social interaction is addressed and acknowledged by Piaget.
