Vygotsky, Piaget, and Bandura: Perspectives on the Relations between the Social World and Cognitive Development

In this article we examine the theories of Vygotsky, Piaget, and Bandura as they deal with the relation between the social world and cognitive development. The prevailing belief is that these theories are quite different from each other. We consider a number of factors that contribute to this belief. One is the easy categorization afforded by current 'world views' in psychology – root conceptualizations of the nature of development that are believed to be incompatible. A second factor is that although the theories are far more complex than much of the empirical work based on them, researchers have concentrated on relatively narrow aspects of each theory, in the process magnifying differences between them. We conclude that although the theories have more in common than simple categorizations in much of the research literature suggests, some basic differences nonetheless exist in each theorist's conceptualization of the relations between social and individual factors in development.