Piaget versus Vygotsky: Similarities and Differences
This paper will explore the ideas of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Exploring their philosophies and how they impact us today. The two scholarly articles show similarities and differences of their works and explore what they each mean. Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are two of the most influential philosophers in the field of cognitive development. Although people think they are very similar, they are actually different in many situations. Basic ideas of cognitive development they share but there are huge differences in certain stages of their ideas. There is also a huge difference in the idea of Autonomy and heteronomous.
Piaget and Vygotsky summary Jean Piaget splits his theory up into
The main difference one can see in their theories is that Piaget is very individualistic when it comes to learning and that Vygotsky is very group oriented. Vygotsky believes in dialogues that, “we socially interact and communicate with others to learn the cultural values of our society.” (Woolfolk, 2004, pg. 2) Vygotsky was a believer in social interaction to help learn. Vygotsky also believed in scaffolding. Scaffolding is a way of learning. Someone provides the learner with clues and hints that helps them with problem solving. This is different from Piaget because it is in that group setting. Lastly there is a zone of Proximity that Vygotsky believes in. This goes along with his group aspect of learning. He believes that one learns better through life interactions. (Woolfolk,
After reading the article, the main difference that this author is trying to stress is that Piaget claims that the cognitive development is mainly formed by autonomous action while Vygotsky puts an emphasis on heteronomous. The author makes this claim and backs it up with this quote, “The Piagetian subject is, ultimately, the main constructor of, or responsible for, all his or her actions, operations, and social interactions (see Piaget, 1970a, p. 15). Contrary to this, the Vygotskian subject’s activity is always referred to an action or operation which initially represents an external, not internal, activity or operation (seeVygotsky, 1978, p. 56).” (Lorenco, 2012) In this quote, it’s clear that this is a huge difference. There were a few more examples of this argument in the article but it comes back to the main difference, which is, Piaget, with his belief in autonomy and Vygotsky, with his belief in external representation through the
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are two of the most well known cognitive psychologists who addressed cognitive development and learning among children and youths. While there are similarities, contrasts do exist between the two theories, and those contrasts are vital to the comprehension and application of the theories, especially in an educational setting.
I cannot say I completely believe in just one of these Psychologist, but rather agree with many of their ideas. In particular I agree with Piaget and Vygotsky more than others. I think a child’s learning is about more than just social development, but also developmental age. Jean Piaget research is truly fascinating and a foundation in child learning for many. At first I thought his theory was a little odd, but after hearing more about it and applying his theory myself and to people I know, I knew Piaget was right. I believe that a child’s cognitive development is a process but that not all steps are completed prior to adulthood. I myself have seen adults and even myself be in a place of being stuck because I had not yet fully developed a stage of cognitive development. I believe this happens more so than we realize and that many people do not associate the feeling of being stuck with skipping or missing a step of cognitive development. Piaget theory said that a person will complete all of the steps of development by the end of their life, they may just skip or be stuck in one before completing development. I also believe in Vygotsky theory of cognitive development associated with social development. There are things that stick out about Vygotsky to me that have made me feel his research and study are accurate. When you look at the lives of children they act, talk, and interact just like the people around them. Children copy adults as Vygotsky referred to as the more knowledgeable other, as they see them with greater knowledge than themselves. When you study other cultures and how children are raised you see a pattern of how children grow up to be like their example, the more knowledge other. I believe Vygotsky made a lot of good points in his research by showing how cognition is related to social development. Both Piaget and Vygotsky are
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky were developmental psychologists interested in the origins and processes of cognitive development. These two psychologists disagreed sharply on the role that private speech played in one’s cognitive development. Vygotsky called this private speech while Piaget called it egocentric speech.
Gredler, M. (2012). Understanding Vygotsky for the Classroom: Is It Too Late?. Educational Psychology Review, 24(1), 113-131. doi:10.
The stages are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The phase that applies to these children at the age of 4 years old is the preoperational stage, which covers approximately ages 2 to 7 years old. During this stage, “ preschool children use symbols to represent their earlier sensorimotor discoveries,” (Berk, 2010) and the use of language. In this preoperational stage, children do not yet understand concrete logic, and cannot mentally manipulate information . Piaget and Vygotsky had different ways to explain cognitive development. Piaget’s roots were in biology and the evolutionary adaptation of humans, and Vygotsky in theory that focus on how people transform their world rather than adapt to it (Vianna, 2006). Vygotsky focused on the importance on the psychosocial aspect of cognitive development. Piaget believed cognition was a result of the of the child 's maturity. Vygotsky felt that learning was only as strong and powerful as the environment surrounding the child. Piaget’s felt that one stage of devlopment must be completed prior to moving forward, whereas Vygotsky’s cognitive development perspective has little dependence on time, but more emphasize on social
Jean Piaget was one of the most prominent researchers of the 20th century in the field of psychology and human development. He concentrated his attention on the biological influences on the psychological portrait of the person and developmental stages. Piaget pointed out that the development of a person passes through certain stages; each stage can be characterized by specific features. He argued that learning about the world was possible through personal experience. However, his inspiration of developing the idea of cognitive growth and changes of people came while researching child behavior. Moreover, it is important to note that his research was based on the observation of behavior of his own three children (Berlin, Zeanah & Lieberman, 2008).
Methods and approaches to teaching have been greatly influenced by the research of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Both have contributed to the field of education by offering explanations for children's cognitive learning styles and abilities. While Piaget and Vygotsky may differ on how they view cognitive development in children, both offer educators good suggestions on how to teach certain material in a developmentally appropriate manner.
Piaget’s theory is developed from the idea that the child constructs their knowledge individually whereas Vygotsky argued that children develop tools of learning by communicating with more knowledgeable others (O. Lourenco 2012). Piaget suggested that children develop through a series of four stages in their thinking – the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages each of which causes broad changes in the child’s intelligence structure and their logic (reference). These four structures are mental operations which are applied to anything in the child’s world these mental operations are referred to as schemas which grow and change from one stage to the next (book). Vygotsky had very different idea on this subject although they both agreed that the child is the active constructor of their own knowledge
Both Piaget and Vygotsky agreed that children's cognitive development took place in stages. (Jarvis, Chandler 2001 P.149). However they were distinguished by different styles of thinking. Piaget was the first t reveal that children reason and think differently at different periods in their lives. He believed that all children progress through four different and very distinct stages of cognitive development. This theory is known as Piaget’s Stage Theory because it deals with four stages of development, which are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. (Ginsburg, Opper 1979 P. 26).
The organismic view of human nature is based on a living system rather than a machine (Miller, 2011). It sees humans as an active and organized whole that is constantly changing. The organismic view in Piaget’s theory can be seen through his stages of development. As children progress through each stage they gain new knowledge, hence the constant change. The contextualist view is based on how any one behavior has meaning and can only be explained through a social-historical context (Miller, 2011). The contextualist view in Vygotsky’s theory is seen through the emphasis of culture on the development of children. Although Piaget and Vygotsky had different worldviews they both used a wholistic approach and believed that children were active beings. Piaget emphasized the whole as a sum of its parts (Miller, 2011). He believed that an individual could only be understood by looking at them as a whole, rather than their parts alone. Vygotsky not only emphasized the whole rather than its parts, but also believed that the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” (Miller, 2011). He believed that human nature could only be understood through a cultural context in order to have meaning. Once the
The main similarities between the two theories are development perspective, a dialectical approach, non-reductionist view, a non-dualistic thesis, an emphasis on action, a primacy of processes over external contents or outcomes, and a focus on qualitative changes over the quantitative changes. The first similarity between the two theories is the dialectical approach (Lourenco, 2012). The next paragraph will discuss two of the main similarities of Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories including the development perspective and a dialectical
Even though Piaget didn’t believe in the significance of inputs that could be acquired from the environment, but yet Vygotsky was very confident that children that children where very acknowledgeable of the inputs from their environment around them. Piaget’s cognitive development theory has four stages to it. His first stage was the sensorimotor stages which happens from birth until a child is two years old. This stages infants rely solely on their reflexes like rooting and sucking. Preoperational stage is the 2nd stage and it happen from the age of 2years old up until a child is 7 years of age, and during this stage children feel as if everyone thinks like they do. His 3rd stage is known as the concrete operational stage, that occurs when children are 7-11 years of age and during this stage children will start to feel a lot of improvement in their thinking. Piaget’s last stage was known as the formal operational stage, and at this stage children are able to understand and recognize symbols, and master abstract thinking. Children are also have the ability to solve intricate problems on their own. And even in contrast, Vygotsky assumed that there are no set of phases. And even in contrast Vygotsky thought that there was no set of phrase for children. But he felt that private speech was way more essential to the aid for children when they are thinking about an issue they are having/ going through. Private speech can be internalized sooner or later, but it’s something that never goes away. Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky didn’t think that the development could be detached from social context while children can create knowledge and lead their
...ed to these two theories. Piaget’s theory seems to focus more heavily on nature since every child has to go through the processes that he describes. Kohlberg views the person as able to actively interact with his or her environment. While the individual cannot fully change the environment, the environment can fully mold the individual. A person’s actions are the result of his or her feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and experiences and thus Kohlberg’s theory stresses the importance of the element of nurture. The two theories are similar in that both believe that the stages of development are hierarchical in that later stages of development build on earlier ones. Furthermore, both theorists believed that the stages of development imply qualitative differences in children’s thinking and ways of solving problems (Bissell). Thus, these two theories have both similarities and differences in the way in which they describe human development.
The Critique of Piaget's Theories Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) was a constructivist theorist. He saw children as constructing their own world, playing an active part in their own development. Piaget’s insight opened up a new window into the inner working of the mind and as a result he carried out some remarkable studies on children that had a powerful influence on theories of child thought. This essay is going to explain the main features and principles of the Piagetian theory and then provide criticism against this theory. Cognitive development refers to way in which a person’s style of thinking changes with age.
Jean Piaget is a Switzerland psychologist and biologist who understand children’s intellectual development. Piaget is the first to study cognitive development. He developed the four stages of cognitive development: the sensori-motor stage, preoperational stage, the concrete operational and the formal operational stage. Piaget curiosity was how children cogitate and developed. As they get mature and have the experience, children’s will get knowledgeable. He suggested that children develop schemas so they can present the world. Children’s extend their schemas through the operation of accommodation and assimilation.