title: The Origins of Intellect: Piaget's Theory
author: Jr. John L. Phillips
description: Here is a self-contained general summary of Piaget's theory, written at a relatively non-technical level. It is suitable for use in a variety of courses in psychology and education and child psychology.
zlib_text: EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
  22
  Piaget’s Early Theory of the Role of Language 
  in Intellectual Development: A Comment 
  on DeVries’s Account of Piaget’s Social Theory
  by Joe Becker and Maria Varelas
  Piaget saw social interaction as the key to how we overcome the
  instability of the symbols we each individually construct. In the
  essay cited, Piaget (1945/1995a) does write about the ﬂuctuation
  of the symbolism of individual images. However, Piaget also
  clearly considers that language plays a crucial role in overcoming
  this ﬂuctuation: This point is missing from DeVries’s account.
  Here is the relevant passage from Piaget’s essay:
  Complete reversibility presupposes symbolism, because it is only
  by reference to the possible evocation of absent objects that the as-
  similation of things to action schemes and the accommodation of
  action schemes to things reach permanent equilibrium and thus
  constitute a reversible mechanism. The symbolism of individual
  images ﬂuctuates far too much to lead to this res