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The Cambridge Companion to Piaget, by Ulrich Müller, Jeremy I. M. Carpendale, and Leslie Smith (Eds.). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2009, 440 Pages (ISBN 978-0-521-72719-8, US $29.99 Paperback; ISBN 978-0-521-89858-4, US $95.00 Hardcover)
DOI: i0.1037/a0022280
In the 30th anniversary year of Piaget' s death, Müller, Carpendale, and Smith propose a much-needed comprehensive introduction to the key aspects of this legendary psychologist's work. While there have been several monographs available on Piaget' s theory, they tend to focus on either Piaget' s theoretical or empirical work. The current authors have solicited 18 individually solid chapters that survey both the theoretical and epistemological aspects of Piaget' s work and elaborate on the relations between empirical research and epistemological issues. The volume covers a large territory, spanning from the personal and historical contexts that shaped Piaget's intellectual growth to brief introductions of Piaget's empirical work on cognitive development in infancy, childhood, and adolescence. It follows up with current neo-Piagetian models of cognitive development.
The reader who wishes to understand how the sociocultural and intellectual context influenced the formation of Piaget's theory, as well as the factors that facilitated or hindered the reception of his ideas, will have access to two chapters discussing such themes. In their chapter, Bennour and Vonèche show how Piaget's creativity was grounded in a new synthesis based on oppositions (e.g., Darwin vs. Lamarck; Binet vs. Claparède). Hsueh shows how the social, political, and economic climate in the United States influenced the reception of Piaget's work. The three chapters on Piaget's theory of cognitive development (see Müller for infancy; Bibok, Müller and Carpendale for childhood; and Moshman for adolescence) might be of limited interest to most readers for several reasons. First, there currently exists more in-depth coverage of this material in textbooks on cognitive development. Second, while these chapters offer a detailed, descriptive approach, a more critical perspective may be of more value. For example, the chapter by Müller on infancy addresses, in a few pages, some of the criticisms addressed to Piaget's theory of infant development, such as underestimating infants' abilities and ignoring the role played by social interactions. With regard to the latter, simply stating that Piaget acknowledged the importance of social interactions falls short of recognising that the most significant current...