Jean Piaget, Edited and translated by Robert L. Campbell (Clemson University, USA)

This translation of the French Recherches sur l’abstraction reflechissante (1977), makes available in English Piaget’s only treatise on reflecting abstraction — a process he came to attribute considerable importance to in his later thinking and which he believed to be responsible for many of the advances that take place in human development, especially our understanding of mathematics.

Rich with empirical research on reflecting abstraction at work in the thinking of 4 to 12 year olds, the studies in this volume examine its role in many contexts of cognitive development such as: reasoning about mathematics; forming analogies; putting objects in order by size and comparing the resulting series; and navigating through a wire maze. His theoretical discussions explore the relationships between reflecting abstraction and other central processes in his later theory, such as generalization, becoming conscious, and equilibration, as well as the differentiation of possibilities and their integration into necessities. These discussions indicate which aspects of his later theorizing were settled and which require further thought and investigation.

Studies in Reflecting Abstraction will be of interest to developmental and cognitive psychologists, educationalists, philosophers and anyone who seeks to understand human knowledge and its development.

Contents:

• Robert L. Campbell, Introduction: Reflecting Abstraction in Context
• Part 1: The Abstraction of Logico-arithmetic Relations. Preface: Logico-arithmetical or Algebraic Abstraction. Abstraction, Differentiation, and Integration in the Use of Elementary Arithmetic Operations. The Construction of Common Multiples. The Inversion of Arithmetic Operations. Abstraction and Generalization during Transfers of Units. Problems of Class Inclusion and Logical Implication. The Formation of Analogies. From Concrete Forms of the Klein Group to the INRC Group.
• Part 2: The Abstraction of Order. Additive and Exponential Series. Conditions on Reading off Complex Additive Series. Ordering Practical Activity. Changes in Ordering or Necessary Backtracking. Conclusions of Part 2.
• Part 3: The Abstraction of Spatial Relationships. Relations between the Surface Area and the Perimeter of Rectangles. The Movements of a Suspended Projectile. Diagonals. The Displacement of a Reference Point in a System of Cyclic Movements. Abstraction from Displacements and from their Coordinations. Rotations and Translations. The Rotation of a Bar around a Pivot during the Sensorimotor Period. Conclusions of Part 3.
• General Conclusions: I. Projection. II. The Creation of Novelties Specific to Reflecting Abstraction. III. Equilibration, the Source of Novelties, and Relationships between the Intensions and Extensions of Structures. IV. Empirical and Reflecting Abstraction.

ISBN 1-84169-157-7 December 2000 336pp.

See also: A review of this book by Les Smith

Edited and translated by
Anastasia Tryphon, Jacques Vonèche
(Jean Piaget Archives, Geneva, Switzerland)

For fifty years Bärbel Inhelder (1913 – 1997) was the research companion of Jean Piaget. In this unique volume, published in her honour, leading international researchers examine the various aspects of her work and ideas and her contribution to developmental psychology.

Following an initial chapter establishing Inhelder’s stature as an independent researcher in her own right, the various research topics that she explored are reviewed and discussed with specific reference to her own perspective and in the chronological order in which she approached them. While the book explores Inhelder’s work with her more famous colleague, it also highlights areas of research in which her ideas were at variance with those of Piaget, such as mental imagery, and areas in which her innovations have not been fully recognised, such as her discovery of the formal operations stage – an event usually attributed to Piaget – and her introduction of longitudinal studies in the field of cognitive development. Her research, viewpoint and contribution in other fields such as mental retardation, learning, and cross-cultural issues in development are also discussed. The final chapter, written by Inhelder herself, deals with experimental reasoning in children and adolescents, and provides a glimpse of her creativity.

Working with Piaget will be of great interest to developmental, social, and educational psychologists.

• J. Vonèche, Bärbel Inhelder’s Contributions to Psychology.
• J.-L. Paour, From Structural Diagnosis to Functional Diagnosis of Reasoning: A Dynamic Conception of Mental Retardation.
• M. Chandler, Perspective Taking in the Aftermath of Theory – Theory and the Collapse of the Social Role-Taking Literature.
• T. Bond, Building a Theory of Formal Operational Thinking: Inhelder’s Psychology Meets Piaget’s Epistemology.
• W. Edelstein, E. Schroder, The Impact of Social Structure on Development: An Analysis of Individual Differences in Cognition.
• E. Schroder, W. Edelstein, The Impact of Developmental Change and Social Constraints on Cognition: The Example of Syllogistic Reasoning.
• J. Vonèche, Mental Imagery: From Inhelder’s Ideas to Neuro-cognitive Models.
• P. Bryant, Learning in Geneva: The Contribution by Bärbel Inhelder and her Colleagues.
• E. von Glasersfeld, Scheme Theory as a Key to the Learning Paradox.
• P. Greenfield, Culture and Universals: A Tribute to Bärbel Inhelder.
• T. Brown, Bärbel Inhelder and the Fall of Valhalla.
• B. Inhelder, The Experimental Approaches of Children and Adolescents.

ISBN 0-86377-621-3 December 2000 240pp.

“The Cambridge Companion to Piaget brings together a superb editorial team who brilliantly explicate the relationship between Piaget’s epistemological framework and his empirical work, while simultaneously placing Piaget’s work in the context of modern psychology. The chapters provide fresh insights into Piagetian thinking about a range of domains of development and periods of the life course. The Cambridge Companion to Piaget also provides readers who have only read Piaget’s work in translation with missing links and points out oversights in translation. All of this is done in an accessible and rigorous style characteristic of the editors’ prior scholarship. This remarkable volume will become a classic that every developmentalist – whether student or scholar – will want to use as the source on Piagetian thinking.”
– Nancy Budwig, Clark University and Past President, Jean Piaget Society

“This book is a wonderfully detailed and comprehensive volume about the writings, theories, and programs of research by the founder of genetic epistemology (the origins of knowledge), Professor Jean Piaget, whose books and articles provided the groundwork for developmental psychology and developmental science as empirically robust and theoretically rich fields of inquiry.”
– Melanie Killen, University of Maryland and co-editor of the Handbook of Moral Development

“….On the whole, even those chapters dealing with theoretically difficult aspects of Piaget’s epistemology are well explained and clear. This makes this volume both an essential addition to the scholar’s bookshelf as well as an ideal source of readings on Piaget’s ideas for the advance student. Make no mistake: The picture of a young Piaget on the book cover sends the message that his developmental theory continues to be among the most comprehensive to date and that great many possibilities remain to be generated by his groundbreaking ideas.”
–Dr. Diane Poulin-Dubois, Concordia University, Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne

In February 1980, Gilbert Voyat interviewed Jean Piaget with contributions from Bärbel Inhelder. The interview was filmed and the film was intended for use in Inhelder’s presentation at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society.The interview has been translated into English by Les Smith (www.les-smith.net). As Les notes in his introduction:

“The interview has a dual importance. One is biographical: it was Piaget’s final interview, supplementing several others (Piaget, 1968a, 1970, 1972, 1972/1981, 1973, 1973/1981, 1977/1980) and complementing his final paper (1980/2006). The other is theoretical: its focus was on the relationships between the concepts and their applications that were central to his constructivist studies, notably during the last decade of his work (see Table 1 of Piaget, 1980/2006). These concepts have received scant attention, and two reasons for this may be noticed. Their relationships are complex and their interpretation difficult. One merit of the interview is its capacity to clarify and to facilitate their better comprehension. In the interview, Voyat’s questions were penetrating, leading Piaget to provide accessible answers about the links between many of his main constructs. The other reason is that Piaget continued to re-analyse them right to the end. In a Postface, Piaget noted that he had delineated a “general skeleton that was more or less obvious but still full of missing parts” (1976, p. 223), and no doubt that was why he regarded himself to be “one of the chief revisionists of Piaget” (1970/1983, p. 103).”