ABSTRACT
In this chapter we continue the presentation of theories associated with organicism. The previous chapter began with some background ideas relevant to this viewpoint, including Gestalt psychology, functionalism, the search for meaning, and general systems theory. In introducing here the field of thinking broadly referred to as ‘constructivism’, we add some further background ideas, including the philosophical notion of the ‘world of ideas’, George Kelly’s theory and the psychological construct of ‘cognition’. We then address in particular the theoretical contributions of Piaget, Maccoby and Bruner, and also consider the significant contributions that ‘connectionism’ and ‘theory of mind’ are making to our theorizing about human development.
