Jerome Bruner died on June 5 at the age of 100 at his home in Manhattan, New York. Bruner was one of the most important psychologists of our era, his legacy deepened the knowledge of psychology in the fields of human perception, child development, learning, and cognitive science.
Life of Jerome Bruner
Jerome Bruner, from a wealthy Jewish family, was born on October 15, 1915 in New York. Bruner was born blind due to deep cataracts, but at the age of two he underwent a surgical procedure that restored his vision. Throughout his life, he recognized that fact guided his work on perception and thought.
deepened the knowledge of psychology in the fields of human perception, child development, learning and cognitive science
Bruner graduated in psychology in 1937 from Duke University and earned his doctorate in 1941 from Harvard University. After earning his degree, he entered the ranks of the United States Army to serve as a psychologist in France during World War II. In 1945, after the war ended, he returned to the United States to work as a psychology professor at Harvard. During 1960 and 1972, Bruner served as director of the Center for Cognitive Studies. In 1972 he decided to leave Harvard to accept the position of professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, in England, until 1980. After years of work he returned to the United States to work at New York University as a professor of psychology.
Throughout his life Bruner received important recognitions from Yale University, Columbia and other houses of Higher Studies around the world.
Jerome Bruner’s contributions to cognitive science and education
Dr. Bruner paved the way for cognitive science because of his dissatisfaction with behaviorism. For Bruner, behaviorism ignored many mental dimensions that highlight the complexity of people and that the mind is not a passive machine that only reacts to stimuli. One of the investigations that marked his life was the one he carried out in 1947 with which he discovered that low-income children perceived a coin larger than it was – according to Bruner this meant that desires can not only distort thoughts, but also the physical dimensions of objects. This finding demonstrated that motives, instincts and intentions intervene in the mind that could shape people’s understanding and perception.
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One of his most important contributions in the field of education was that of the “spiral curriculum”, which consists of teachers introducing different topics in the first years of schooling and with language appropriate for their age, and in the following years The same themes are seen again but with greater depth and complexity. Today this idea is taken for granted in all Western educational systems, but in the 1960s it marked a revolution.
One of his most important contributions in the field of education was that of the “spiral curriculum.”
In an interview with The New York TimesHoward Gardner, father of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, recognized the importance of Bruner’s work:
“He was the psychologist of possibilities,” and added: “he was the most important thinker in the educational field since John Dewey – today there is no other like him.”
Bruner is an example to follow for all psychologists and students. Psychology needs men and women who not only criticize the deficiencies of current models but also investigate and enrich psychology, just as Bruner did throughout his life.
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