The New Structuralism in Cognitive Development: Theory and Research on Individual Pathways (Hardcover)

This publication describes the development of structural theory beyond Piaget, with particlular emphasis on the problem of individual differences. In Piaget's structural system, individual differences were regulated to a residual category. If the structural approach is to remain viable, however, such differences must be moved to centre stage. If there is one universal truth about human cognitive development, it is that it is extremely diverse: far more so than Piaget's theory would lead one to believe. Each of the chapters in the present volume provides data which illustrate and support this claim. In a clear and striking fashion, each chapter demonstrates that different children move along different developmental pathways, and are energized to different degrees by different developmental processes. Finally, each chapter considers the implications of these data for our general theory of the human mind, its structure and its growth. The volume concludes with a penetrating analysis of how the classic structural model must be modified, if it is to remain viable in the modern era.