27 Facts About Jerome Bruner

Jerome Seymour Bruner was an American psychologist who made significant contributions to human cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology.

Jerome Bruner received a BA in 1937 from Duke University and a PhD from Harvard University in 1941.

Jerome Bruner taught and did research at Harvard University, the University of Oxford, and New York University.

Jerome Bruner was born blind on October 1,1915, in New York City, to Herman and Rose Jerome Bruner, who were Polish Jewish immigrants.

Jerome Bruner received a bachelor's of arts degree in psychology, in 1937 from Duke University, and went on to earn a master's degree in psychology in 1939 and then a doctorate in psychology in 1941 from Harvard University.

In 1945, Jerome Bruner returned to Harvard as a psychology professor and was heavily involved in research relating to cognitive psychology and educational psychology.

In 1972, Jerome Bruner left Harvard to teach at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Jerome Bruner returned to the United States in 1980, to continue his research in developmental psychology.

In 1991, Jerome Bruner joined the faculty at New York University, where he taught primarily in the School of Law.

Jerome Bruner turned 100 in October 2015 and died on June 5,2016.

Jerome Bruner is one of the pioneers of cognitive psychology in the United States, which began through his own early research on sensation and perception as being active, rather than passive processes.

In 1947, Jerome Bruner published his study Value and Need as Organizing Factors in Perception, in which children from advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds were asked to estimate the size of coins or wooden disks the size of American pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and half-dollars.

In 1956, Jerome Bruner published the book A Study of Thinking, which formally initiated the study of cognitive psychology.

Jerome Bruner coined the term "scaffolding" to describe an instructional process in which the instructor provides carefully programmed guidance, reducing the amount of assistance as the student progresses through task learning.

Jerome Bruner's learning theory suggests that it is efficacious, when faced with new material, to follow a progression from enactive to iconic to symbolic representation; this holds true even for adult learners.

Jerome Bruner believes learning should be spurred by interest in the material rather than tests or punishment, since one learns best when one finds the acquired knowledge appealing.

Jerome Bruner wanted to create an educational environment that would focus on what was uniquely human about human beings, how humans got that way and how humans could become more so.

In 1966, Jerome Bruner published another book relevant to education, Towards a Theory of Instruction, and then in 1973, another book, The Relevance of Education.

Finally, in 1996, in The Culture of Education, Jerome Bruner reassessed the state of educational practices three decades after he had begun his educational research.

Jerome Bruner was credited with helping found the Head Start early childcare program.

Jerome Bruner was deeply impressed by his 1995 visit to the preschools of Reggio Emilia and has established a collaborative relationship with them to improve educational systems internationally.

In 1972, Jerome Bruner was appointed Watts Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, where he remained until 1980.

Jerome Bruner emphasized that children learn language in order to communicate, and, at the same time, they learn the linguistic code.

At Oxford Jerome Bruner worked with a large group of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to understand how young children manage to crack the linguistic code, among them Alison Garton, Alison Gopnik, Magda Kalmar, Alan Leslie, Andrew Meltzoff, Anat Ninio, Roy Pea, Susan Sugarman, Michael Scaife, Marian Sigman, Kathy Sylva and many others.

Much emphasis was placed on employing the then-revolutionary method of videotaped home-observations, Jerome Bruner showing the way to a new wave of researchers to get out of the laboratory and take on the complexities of naturally occurring events in a child's life.

In 1980, Jerome Bruner returned to the United States, taking up the position of professor at the New School for Social Research in New York City in 1981.

In 1991, Jerome Bruner arrived at NYU as a visiting professor to do research and to found the Colloquium on the Theory of Legal Practice.