ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the results of a cross-cultural study carried out along Piagetian lines. The basic epistemological and developmental concern of this theory is to understand the processes of acquiring knowledge, a concern which is relevant to cross-cultural research. A comparison is made between groups of subjects living in two distinct cultural environments with regard to the acquisition of different concepts. Cross-cultural research in cognitive development should attempt to study the acquisition of certain concepts which are fundamental for scientific knowledge. Jean Piaget’s theory attempts to explain the final stage of the cognitive functions through the study of their origins and development, and consequently requires a special method of exploration. The chapter analyses the development of the notions in unschooled children from 6 to 13 years of age, and in illiterate adults between 35 and 50 years of age.
