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Psychology and Mental Health

Children’s mental health

Cognitive psychology

Developmental psychology

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Learning

Psychology and Mental Health

Bruner, Jerome

by Lillian J. Breckenridge

Born: October 1, 1915, in New York, New York

Identity: American developmental and educational psychologist

Type of psychology: Cognition

Fields of study: Cognitive development; infancy and childhood

Bruner has contributed to the fields of cultural psychology and psychological anthropology. His constructivist theory forms the general framework for instruction based on the study of cognition.

Life

Jerome Bruner was born in New York City in 1915 and completed his undergraduate degree at Duke University in 1937. He interrupted his educational plans to become involved with survey research during World War II. He then completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1947, staying on as a member of the Harvard faculty for the next twenty-seven years. He became a research professor of psychology at New York University, where he also became a senior research fellow in law. He has received honorary doctorates from numerous universities, including Yale University. He was the cofounder and director of the Center for Cognitive Studies while at Harvard. He is also recognized as one of the founders of the federally funded Head Start preschool program for children from low-income families. During the 1960’s, he was instrumental in the creation of Man, A Course of Study (MACOS), an elementary school science curriculum based on anthropology that was funded by the National Science Foundation.

In 1987, the American Psychological Association identified Bruner as one of the outstanding contributors to the field of educational psychology since 1960. His major thesis is that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based on their current knowledge. In The Process of Education (1960), Bruner introduced his basic concept that any student is capable of learning anything if properly taught. For this to be possible, the instructor must translate information to be learned into a format appropriate to the learner’s current understanding. He envisioned a spiral curriculum that made it possible for the student to continually build on what had already been learned.

Bruner advocated a social-interactionist approach to language development as an alternative to the nativist theory. He theorized that parents and teachers play a role in constructing what he called a language acquisition support system (LASS).

Bruner’s meaning-centered approach to psychology has focused on the role that culture plays in learning and cognition. His work on narrative inquiry places attention on the potential of stories to give meaning to people’s lives.

Sources for Further Study

1 

Bakhurst, David, and Stuart G. Shanker, eds. Jerome Bruner: Language, Culture, Self. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2001. Essays by Bruner and other psychologists on Bruner’s concepts. Issues addressed in essays are reexamined by Bruner in a final chapter.

2 

Bruner, Jerome. In Search of Mind: Essays in Autobiography. New York: Harper & Row, 1983. Essays in which the psychologist traces his life from childhood to adulthood.

3 

Olson, David. Jerome Bruner: The Cognitive Revolution in Educational Theory. New York: Continuum, 2007. A critical look at Bruner’s work that examines how it was received and how it was implemented.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Breckenridge, Lillian J. "Bruner, Jerome." Psychology and Mental Health, edited by Nancy A. Piotrowski, Salem Press, 2009. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Psychology_1090.
APA 7th
Breckenridge, L. J. (2009). Bruner, Jerome. In N. A. Piotrowski (Ed.), Psychology and Mental Health. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Breckenridge, Lillian J. "Bruner, Jerome." Edited by Nancy A. Piotrowski. Psychology and Mental Health. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2009. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.