Re: A Favor...
Ellice A Forman (ellice+ who-is-at pitt.edu)
Wed, 4 Feb 1998 12:44:59 -0500 (EST)
Mary,
Here's where I'd look for a bird's eye view of the cross cultural
literature on Piaget's stages: Segall, Dasen, Berry, & Poortinga (1990).
Human Behavior in Global Perspective: An introduction to cross-cultural
psychology. NY:Pergamon. In Chapter 7 they review "Theories of Human
Development"--both Witkin's and Piaget's. I assume Pierre Dasen wrote the
Piaget section since he's an expert on cross cultural studies of Piaget's
theory. They focus on concrete and formal operations in this chapter
(after concluding that the sensorimotor stages are probably universal for
as much logical reasons as empirical support). Obviously, formal
operations aren't universal (nor did Piaget claim they would be). So that
leaves the interesting questions about concrete operations (decalage,
invariant sequence, necessary and sufficient experiences, etc.).
This source should complement those provided by others--LCHC, Donaldson,
etc.
Ellice Forman
Dept of Psychology in Education
University of Pittsburgh