The Child's Conception of Physical Causality by Jean Piaget

by Jean Piaget

Encounters with the physical world are filled with miraculous puzzles--wind appears from somewhere, heavy objects float on oceans, yet smaller objects go to the bottom. As adults, instead of confronting a whole world, we are reduced to driving from one parking garage to another. The Child's Conception of Physical Causality, part of the very beginning of the ground-breaking work of the Swiss naturalist Jean Piaget, is filled with creative experimental ideas for probing the most sophisticated ways of thinking in children. The strength of his research is evident in this collection of empirical data, systematically organized by tasks that illuminate how things work. His data are remarkably rich. He had no grand theoretical aims, yet the book's simple power cannot be ignored. His great contribution to developmental psychology was his "clinical method"--a tactic that integrated relevant aspects of naturalistic experiment, interview & observation. Thru this systematic inquiry, we gain insight into children's thinking. Reading him will encourage readers to think about the unity of psychological phenomena & their theoretical underpinnings. His wealth of creative experimental ideas probes into the most sophisticated ways of thinking in children. Technologies change, yet the creative curiosity of children remains basically unhindered by the consumer society. His data preserve the reality of the original phenomena. As such, this work will provide a wealth of information for developmental psychologists & those involved in the field of experimental science.

Genres: Psychology, Education

Paperback

First published December 1, 1930

About the author

Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980) was a Swiss philosopher, natural scientist and developmental theorist, well known for his work studying children, his theory of cognitive development, and his epistemological view called "genetic epistemology." In 1955, he created the International Centre for Genetic Epistemology in Geneva and directed it until his death in 1980. According to Ernst von Glasersfeld, Jean Piaget was "the great pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing."

Reviews

[James F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as Piaget's first two books were essentially one book in two volumes, so his third book (The Child's Conception of the World) and this fourth book are essentially one book; he ends this, as he did the second book, with a "Summary and Conclusions" of both volumes. In The Child's Conception of the World he described the child's ideas of the world and nature in general; in this one, he goes into detail on a few specific areas.

Section I on Movement describes experiments/observations of children concerning air and wind, the clouds and sun and moon, and water currents, and ends with a theoretical account of children's ideas of "force" (élan) which introduces the ideas of "assimilation" and "imitation" which will become central in his later work (according to the introduction.) Section II is on floating boats, the level of water when things are put into it, and shadows. Section III is on children's explanations of machinery, especially bicycles and toy steam engines.

Section IV is the summary and conclusions to both volumes, and also deals with "imitation" and "assimilation" and discusses the relationship of his work to various philosophers' and psychologists' ideas from Maine de Biran to M.E. Meyerson (a philosopher of science who is -- unfortunately in my opinion -- rarely read today.) I wish I had read this book, particularly the conclusions, back when I was studying epistemology and philosophy of science in college.

[Xenia Costiuc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Give insight into how Children make their choices, how they perceive the world in different stages of development.