2.3 Scientific evaluation of Piaget

• Falsifiable and interesting claims
• Rich theoretical framework
• Striking findings

Limitations

• Theoretical: Does he really explain development?

  If you ask: “How does assimilation accommodation really work to transform from one stage to another?”… no clear answer

• Methodological: limitations of Q&A with children
  • Children are not very verbal, sensitive to task demands (say things to please emperimenter)
  • They don’t know the working of their mind

• Factual: what do infants and children really know? Children are smarter than you think.