Jerome Seymour Bruner (1915–2016) was an American psychologist whose pioneering work in cognitive psychology and education reshaped understanding of learning and perception. His theories on constructivism and culture’s role in cognition had a lasting impact on educational practices.
Born in New York City, Bruner was blind at birth due to cataracts, but an operation at age two restored his vision. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke (1937) and a PhD in psychology from Harvard (1941.) During World War II, he worked in psychological warfare research before returning to Harvard, where he became a leading cognitive psychology figure. His research challenged behaviorist theories, advocating active learning and scaffolding—concepts central to modern education. He also taught at Oxford and New York University.
His influential works include The Process of Education (1960,) introducing the “spiral curriculum,” and Toward a Theory of Instruction (1966,) emphasizing discovery learning. Acts of Meaning (1990) explored culture’s role in thought, while Making Stories: Law, Literature, and Life (2002) examined narrative psychology.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Jerome Bruner
We are only now on the threshold of knowing the range of the educability of man-the perfectibility of man. We have never addressed ourselves to this problem before.
—Jerome Bruner
Topics: Education
Telling others about oneself is…no simple matter. It depends on what we think they think we ought to be like
—Jerome Bruner
Topics: Identity
You’re more likely to act yourself into feeling than feel yourself into action. So act! Whatever it is you know you should do, do it.
—Jerome Bruner
Topics: Action, Attitude
The shrewd guess, the fertile hypothesis, the courageous leap to a tentative conclusion—these are the most valuable coin of the thinker at work.
—Jerome Bruner
Topics: Instincts, Reason
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