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The Language and Thought of the Child
This book is for anyone who has ever wondered how a child develops language, thought, and knowledge. Before this classic appeared, little was known of the way children think. In 1923, however, Jean Piaget, the most important developmental psychologist of the twentieth century, took the psychological world by storm with The Language and Thought of the Child . Applying for the first time the insights of social psychology and psychoanalysis to the observation of children, he uncovered the ways in which a child actively constructs his or her understanding of the world through language. The book has since been a source of inspiration and guidance to generations of parents and teachers. While its conclusions remain contentious to this very day, few can deny the huge debt we owe to this pioneering work in our continuing attempts to understand the minds of the child.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1923
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About the author
Jean Piaget
261 books678 followersJean 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."
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January 2, 2009At least i know that the conversations that i have in my head are adult "play" and not early warning signs of schizophrenia...
May 19, 2022
The Language and Thought of the Child is a translation of Piaget's first important work from 1923, which was the first of a two-part study of "child logic" (I'm now following up with the second part), based on investigations Piaget and his fellow-teachers carried out at the Institut Jean-Jaques Rousseau, a teacher-training institute in Geneva with an attached school (the "Maison des Petits") for children under nine years of age. The school was international and the students came from various parts of Europe and had somewhat different upbringings, although I'm not sure how diverse they actually were. Piaget himself admits that his studies were based on a very small number of children and would need to be tested against a larger sample before arriving at any certain conclusions; he is merely trying to arrive at some hypotheses for further research.
The book investigates the thought of the child as expressed in language. It begins in the first study/chapter by classifying the actual functional uses of language on the basis of the spontaneous speech of two six-year-old boys, Pie and Lev. He classifies the functions as Repetition or "Echolalia" (i.e. repeating sounds and words, the way a baby does when learning language -- only 1-3% by the age of the two boys), Monologue (talking to oneself, without addressing it to others), and Collective Monologue (a child talking about himself and what he is doing, ostensibly addressed to others but not really expecting anyone to be listening or to respond), the three types which Piaget refers to collectively as "ego-centric" uses of language; and Adaptive Information which is addressed to specific others, either not about themselves or in collaboration, and intended to be understood and provoke a response, that is actually communication, which he refers to as "socialized" use of language. He calculates a measure he calls the Coefficient of Ego-centricity, which is the ratio of the sentences of the first three types to the total number of sentences; the coefficients for the two boys are .43 and .47, or in other words almost half their speech is not really communication. He also points out that nearly all the Adapted Information consists of purely factual statements. His hypothesis based on this study is that language begins entirely at the ego-centric stage and only begins to become socialized gradually between about the ages of four through six, becoming predominantly socialized during the seventh year. He also suggests that ego-centric language represents a stage of ego-centric thought in which the child reasons to himself without communicating his thought to others, and in a non-discursive or "syncretistic" way based on entire gestalts and dreamlike symbolism rather than analysis of particular details. (He also refers to this as "autistic" thought, which is confusing since it has nothing to do with the modern use of the word "autistic".)
The second study/chapter was carried out in one classroom recording the speech of children from about 3 1/2 to seven; it checked the classifications from the first chapter, and went a bit beyond. In this study, which deals with spontaneous conversations rather than individual sentences, he ignores the first two types and begins with Collective Monologues, which he calls Stage I; he then divides the Adapted Information into Stage II, non-abstract discussions and primitive arguments (itself subdivided into IIA and IIB first type and IIA and IIB second type) and Stage III with abstract discussions and genuine arguments. Study/chapter three studies conversations among children between six and eight from the opposite viewpoint not of expression but of understanding; it is based on experiments with having children explain stories and mechanical devices to each other and then having the recipients in turn explain them to the experimenter. Chapter/study four was another experiment about understanding of proverbs. These three chapters give rise to more detailed hypotheses about ego-centric thought; among the observations is that children before seven have no concept of chance but assume that everything can be explained (in a kind of animist fashion where everything is explained by motives and purposes), and that adults know everything and can explain everything.
One point which Piaget makes in these discussions is that children talking to each other almost never ask questions beginning with "Why?". At first sight, this seems to be very odd, because we all know that children of that age drive people crazy with their constant Why this and Why that, but apparently they only ask Why questions of adults or much older children, never of each other. The last and longest chapter studies one boy, Del, over a few months from six and a half to just over seven years old and records and classifies all the Why questions he asked one teacher (over 1500 questions). Piaget shows that at the beginning the assumption was that everything could be explained in what he calls Precausality, that is an undifferentiated mode of explanation starting from animist psychological explanations with explanations of causality and justification not clearly divided out, while by the end Precausality has largely disappeared and causal and justificatory explanations are clearly separated. He has also begun to be skeptical of grown-up omniscience. One of the most interesting things in the book was when the investigator asked the just-over-seven-year-old Del the same questions Del himself had asked six months earlier (Del didn't know they were his questions) and he thought they were silly and didn't understand some of them, but those he answered he answered just the way an adult would.
The over-all conclusion is that after slow and gradual progress from four through six, the ego-centric child-logic is rapidly replaced by adult logic between the ages of seven and eight. Of course, as Piaget recognizes, the interest is in the stages and their explanations and relative order, and not in the ages which are only statistical averages based on a small sample with much individual variability (for example Lev, who is examined at six and again at seven, was apparently six months to a year ahead of the average.) A very interesting book; many of the same subjects touched upon here are dealt with at length in his later books (to judge by the titles), and I'm left wondering how much of this has stood the test of time after about a hundred years.
The book investigates the thought of the child as expressed in language. It begins in the first study/chapter by classifying the actual functional uses of language on the basis of the spontaneous speech of two six-year-old boys, Pie and Lev. He classifies the functions as Repetition or "Echolalia" (i.e. repeating sounds and words, the way a baby does when learning language -- only 1-3% by the age of the two boys), Monologue (talking to oneself, without addressing it to others), and Collective Monologue (a child talking about himself and what he is doing, ostensibly addressed to others but not really expecting anyone to be listening or to respond), the three types which Piaget refers to collectively as "ego-centric" uses of language; and Adaptive Information which is addressed to specific others, either not about themselves or in collaboration, and intended to be understood and provoke a response, that is actually communication, which he refers to as "socialized" use of language. He calculates a measure he calls the Coefficient of Ego-centricity, which is the ratio of the sentences of the first three types to the total number of sentences; the coefficients for the two boys are .43 and .47, or in other words almost half their speech is not really communication. He also points out that nearly all the Adapted Information consists of purely factual statements. His hypothesis based on this study is that language begins entirely at the ego-centric stage and only begins to become socialized gradually between about the ages of four through six, becoming predominantly socialized during the seventh year. He also suggests that ego-centric language represents a stage of ego-centric thought in which the child reasons to himself without communicating his thought to others, and in a non-discursive or "syncretistic" way based on entire gestalts and dreamlike symbolism rather than analysis of particular details. (He also refers to this as "autistic" thought, which is confusing since it has nothing to do with the modern use of the word "autistic".)
The second study/chapter was carried out in one classroom recording the speech of children from about 3 1/2 to seven; it checked the classifications from the first chapter, and went a bit beyond. In this study, which deals with spontaneous conversations rather than individual sentences, he ignores the first two types and begins with Collective Monologues, which he calls Stage I; he then divides the Adapted Information into Stage II, non-abstract discussions and primitive arguments (itself subdivided into IIA and IIB first type and IIA and IIB second type) and Stage III with abstract discussions and genuine arguments. Study/chapter three studies conversations among children between six and eight from the opposite viewpoint not of expression but of understanding; it is based on experiments with having children explain stories and mechanical devices to each other and then having the recipients in turn explain them to the experimenter. Chapter/study four was another experiment about understanding of proverbs. These three chapters give rise to more detailed hypotheses about ego-centric thought; among the observations is that children before seven have no concept of chance but assume that everything can be explained (in a kind of animist fashion where everything is explained by motives and purposes), and that adults know everything and can explain everything.
One point which Piaget makes in these discussions is that children talking to each other almost never ask questions beginning with "Why?". At first sight, this seems to be very odd, because we all know that children of that age drive people crazy with their constant Why this and Why that, but apparently they only ask Why questions of adults or much older children, never of each other. The last and longest chapter studies one boy, Del, over a few months from six and a half to just over seven years old and records and classifies all the Why questions he asked one teacher (over 1500 questions). Piaget shows that at the beginning the assumption was that everything could be explained in what he calls Precausality, that is an undifferentiated mode of explanation starting from animist psychological explanations with explanations of causality and justification not clearly divided out, while by the end Precausality has largely disappeared and causal and justificatory explanations are clearly separated. He has also begun to be skeptical of grown-up omniscience. One of the most interesting things in the book was when the investigator asked the just-over-seven-year-old Del the same questions Del himself had asked six months earlier (Del didn't know they were his questions) and he thought they were silly and didn't understand some of them, but those he answered he answered just the way an adult would.
The over-all conclusion is that after slow and gradual progress from four through six, the ego-centric child-logic is rapidly replaced by adult logic between the ages of seven and eight. Of course, as Piaget recognizes, the interest is in the stages and their explanations and relative order, and not in the ages which are only statistical averages based on a small sample with much individual variability (for example Lev, who is examined at six and again at seven, was apparently six months to a year ahead of the average.) A very interesting book; many of the same subjects touched upon here are dealt with at length in his later books (to judge by the titles), and I'm left wondering how much of this has stood the test of time after about a hundred years.
October 9, 2020
Despite being outdated, I thoroughly enjoyed reading and getting to grips with 1930’s psycho/cognitive linguistics and the developmental research on child language acquisition.
I will, however, want to read this book again after reading a few journals/articles/books on modern research as an interesting comparison.
I could follow this book: but, I definitely needed to be in the right frame of mind.
I will, however, want to read this book again after reading a few journals/articles/books on modern research as an interesting comparison.
I could follow this book: but, I definitely needed to be in the right frame of mind.
May 21, 2021
I probably will never be able to interact with kids the way I have been doing so far, nor will I ever be able to refrain from contemplating the underlying structure of cognitive development and its subtle implications. Yet one instinctively knows I think, that only the reading of Piaget's other works along with this one could yield sufficient level of comprehension of his theories and understanding, so it would be a genuine error to view this book as the ultimate, final Piagedian thought.
November 14, 2011
classic
contains the basic layout of Piaget's theory including many of the experiments presented in college courses
contains the basic layout of Piaget's theory including many of the experiments presented in college courses
May 10, 2017
3 1/2 stars
January 31, 2019
Un classique et certainement une des fondations de notre compréhension des enfants et de leur relation au langage, donc importante lecture. Mais très détaillé et écrit d'une façon qui semble répéter encore et encore les mêmes principes, donc l'impression de relire beaucoup la même chose.
Aussi l'auteur répète plusieurs fois que ses expériences ne sont pas de bonnes expériences mais pour autant en tire des conclusions...
Aussi l'auteur répète plusieurs fois que ses expériences ne sont pas de bonnes expériences mais pour autant en tire des conclusions...
January 25, 2024
M. Piaget uses the same syncretic methode as he is searching in his study. His theory conceptions are minimal, but get enriched by the conclusions, which are hardly covered by the findings, he himself admit. But together, as a whole, the result is very convincing, delightful!
October 3, 2018
It was interesting to see how a zoologist approached language in the classroom through creating a taxonomy.
December 20, 2019
Useful, a classic.
January 5, 2025
"Vaiko kalba ir mąstymas" by Jean Piaget is a groundbreaking exploration into the cognitive development of children. Piaget delves into how children perceive and interact with the world, emphasizing that their thought processes are fundamentally different from those of adults. The book is rich with observations and experiments that illustrate the stages of cognitive growth, from the pre-linguistic phase to the development of logical thinking. Piaget's insights have had a profound impact on educational practices, highlighting the importance of nurturing a child's natural curiosity and encouraging active learning. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the intricate workings of a child's mind.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews