Looking at The Resemblance and The Contrasting Theories Between Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky
Abigail Wood
Submitted as: AZA2455 Piaget and Vygotsky Comparison Essay
Due Date: 15th April
Tutor: Cayla Claire Sebba
Class: Friday 08:00-10:00
Word Count:
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are known to be the leading theorists in developmental psychology. Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories have a big impact on psychological and educational development. In the field of developmental science it’s been proposed that the abilities of children and the occurring change is very significant ( Shaffer & Kipp, 2002). Both theorists have focused on child development where Piaget’s takes a constructivist approach, Vygotsky’s approach to development is
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Both Piaget and Vygotsky have adopted a non-reductionist view, this meaning that they don’t look at the finer details, they would rather look at the broader aspects of the details. Dialectical approach is one of the other similarities that these theorists share. Dialectical approach is where people or children continue a interaction among distinct, Piaget’s approach is through assimilation (handling a fresh situation but by using the same methods) or accommodation (the same technique does not apply with the new surroundings it has to be changed). According to McLeod (2009) Vygotsky then focuses on internalization/externalization. The theories both adopt a developmental perspective (Lourenco, 2012). People still have to relate physically and socially with one another, meaning that Vygotsky and Piaget has a resemblance in the non-dualist notion …show more content…
They certainly have made a massive impact with today’s psychologists, and research regarding the understanding of how so many of us function and cope with different situations. As stated above Vygotsky was brilliant with his theory about Social Development with children. While Piaget was the first psychologist to discover that children think differently to adults and started the theory with Cognitive child development. As Lourenco (2012) has noted that the differences between Piaget and Vygotsky should not be simplified nor minimised, the reason being that as a result “some fundamental differences between the two theories are related to their respective underlying philosophy, social influence on development, nature of the process of development, and the universality of cognitive structures” (Lourenco,