The Figurative and the Operative in Piagetian Psychology

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the important distinction, which is much less well known than the Piagetian stages. It describes a detailed discussion of figurative and operative processes. The chapter discusses the distinction between the figurative and the operative is placed in perspective by describing other well-known conceptions of development from infancy. It describes some implications of the distinction between the figurative and the operative for psychological theory and practice. Russian psychologists have also emphasized the role of language in the development of higher-order mental processes. In Russia, however, the theory of development is much more visibly tied to political ideology than is true in the United States. The internalization theory of development is clearly an important one that holds true in some domains. It is also true that the concept of internalization as a kind of quantitative miniaturization of response will hold for some but certainly not for all processes of internalization.