Adolescent thinking.

Abstract

The 1958 publication in North America of Inhelder and Piaget's classic work, The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence (following its 1955 publication in France as "De la logique de l'enfant à la logique de l'adolescent: Essai sur la construction des structures opératoires formelles") is widely recognized as having launched the systematic study of adolescent cognitive development. The introduction to an English-language audience of a comprehensive model for understanding the cognitive transition from childhood to adolescence inspired a generation of researchers to undertake intensive investigations. The echoes reverberate still, even though direct assessment of Piaget's theoretical claims regarding formal operations has become less frequent (Bond, 1998; Keating, 1990a; Moshman, 1998).