Bruner, Jerome S. (1915–)

Jerome Seymour Bruner was born in New York on October 1, 1915. Though visually impaired at birth, Bruner not only gained use of his sight but also provided great insight on the human thought processes and the acquisition of knowledge to the branch of science known as cognitive psychology. His career as a psychologist began at Harvard University in 1945. Bruner's early research involved the concept of human perception. These investigations sparked a desire for further explorations into the way humans process information. In 1957, following the Russian launching of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, Bruner was drawn into the American education debates and appointed to science curriculum reform committees. His influential book, The Process of Education, published in 1960, emerged from his committee work, and he became a curriculum innovator. His research on infant cognition led to the beginning of preschool education in the United States and Great Britain. To date, Bruner has written 30 books and over 400 articles and has received several awards for his professional achievements.

Bruner's education, obtained at Duke University and Harvard University, afforded him the opportunity to study under William McDougall, Donald Adams, Karl Zener, Gordon Allport, Edwin Boring, Henry A. Murray, and many others. Bruner took his mentors' ideas and created his own theories on the acquisition of knowledge. Upon returning to Harvard as a lecturer in psychology in 1945, Bruner's early studies on perception formed a psychological movement referred to as the New Look, a methodology for analyzing perceptions. His initial research findings that an individual's perceptions are shaped to conform to their previous experiences and knowledge led him to further explore the way people process information. From these explorations came his 1956 volume, A Study in Thinking, and the development of an interdisciplinary research center focusing on cognition. In 1961, the Center for Cognitive Studies was established at Harvard University. At this center, Bruner worked with Jean Piaget and Alexander Luria, a student of Lev Vygotsky, both of whose work was incorporated in his theory on cognitive development.

Bruner's work on child development drew the interest of government officials. He developed friendships with presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. He was appointed to the National Academy of Sciences Curriculum Reform Committee in 1959. Bruner summarized the theories and conclusions of this committee in The Process of Education. In this volume, Bruner hypothesized that any curriculum could be taught effectively to any child at any stage in his or her development. In his view, the traditional mastery of isolated facts was useless and should be replaced by a curriculum prioritized by the social and cultural aspects of the times. Bruner's education work led to his appointment to the Educational Panel of the President's Science Advisory Committee.

As part of the curriculum reform movement of 1960, Bruner assisted in the development of the federally funded social studies curriculum project Man: A Course of Study. This curriculum project made use of the spiral curriculum in which concepts were presented and returned to at later stages in the child's development.

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