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Developmental Psychology
There are three main theories of development that I shall discuss in this assignment, 'Cognitive', the main theorist being, 'Piaget', (1896 - 1980), The, 'Psychosocial Theory', 'Erikson', (1902 - 1994), and, The 'Psychosexual', of, 'Freud', (1856 - 1939).
Cognitive Psychology draws the comparison between the human mind and a computer, suggesting that we like the computer process the information we acquire from around us and then react accordingly. Hearnshaw, (1987), claims that Cognitive Psychology is both one of the oldest and also one of the newest parts of Psychology, cited in ?T. Malim?, (1994). Information is collected through our senses i.e. vision, touch, smell etc and then processed through our brain. Cognitive Psychologists largely seek explanations of Cognitive development, memory, attention, artificial intelligence, perception and social cognition. The methods used are usually Laboratory experiments under controlled circumstances i.e. memory tests, and, Case studies.
Piaget, (J), (1896-1980), carried out case studies on his own children to study the stages of cognitive development. Piaget concluded that the child was an organism which adapts to the environment, he also studied with the opinion that all children went through the same set stages of development and that there were no individual differences.
Piagets? Stages of Development: -
The Sensorimotor stage, (0-2): - Early in the sensorimotor stage the child is entirely egocentric, everything is an extension to the self, they can?t distinguish themselves from their environment. The child has no concept of past or future all it is aware of is the here and now. The child relies entirely on it?s senses i.e. sight, hearing, touch. It is believed by Cognitive Psychologists that ?.. ?To begin with, a baby will rely on in-built behaviours for sucking, crawling and watching? as cited in Moonie, N, (1995). A child does not understand that an object does not cease to exist when it is out of sight. However, in contradiction, Bower & Wishart, (1972), used infrared cameras to see what the child does when an object disappears. The child is shown a bottle in the light, when the child reaches to grasp the bottle the lights are turned out. Bower & Wishart recorded that the child continued to reach for the bottle for up to 1.5minutes after the lights are turned out. Another point made by Piaget is that not only does the child look for an object, which is hidden, but also the child will not look for it even if part of it is showing.
Cognitive development focuses on the person’s ability to intellect, perceive and process information. (35589) defined the cognitive ability as the process in which people learn, think and use language; it is the progression of their mental capacity from being irrational to rational (35589). Piaget and Vygotsky are two cognitive theorists whom were interested in the cognitive development of a person across their life span and its relation with social and environmental factors. Piaget is the most known cognitive theorist who affected the world of psychology greatly, and was a great influence to many psychologists out there; however his main intention was the innate maturity process and, unlike Vygotsky, he underestimated the role of language and social interaction and his theory wasn’t useful in the teaching field. However, both theorists believed that a person goes through a sequential process during their development. They were also both aware that one gains knowledge through experience and not through passive learning.
Jean Piaget was a developmental psychologist that studied how children flourish and the process of how they learn. Throughout his study he followed many children and performed many test trying to provide facts and proof on how children learn best. Through many trial and errors Piaget came up with the stages of cognitive development which he broke down into four sub-stages. These stages are:
Piaget’s mother, Rebecca Jackson, was very intelligent and kind, but had a rather neurotic temper that made his family life very rough. Her mental health attributed to his early interest and studies of psychology. Piaget became an active scholar at the age of ten when he published his first paper. He received his PhD. in science from the University of Neuchatel by the age of twenty two. He started out studying mollusk and then began to study his own children as they grew up. He planned to study children for only five years, but it ended up taking thirty years to complete his studies. After studying children for many years, he identified that all children went through four stages
A well-known psychologist, Jean Piaget is most famous for his work in child development. In his theory of cognitive development, Piaget presents four stages of mental development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Piaget explains the adaptation processes that allow transition from one stage to the next. He also emphasizes the role of schemas as a basic unit of knowledge.
For this assignment I have chosen Jean Piaget’s cognitive development theory and Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development theory.
Piaget (1896–1980) came up with a theory called cognitive development, which occurs in four stages in every child's emotional development. The first two stages are from birth until the child reaches his or her seventh year of life where they will become aware of its environment by visual, touch and sound. During the third and fourth stage, which is the concrete and formal operations, the child will typically ask questions to better understand the complexions of things surrounding the child and to satisfy their curiosity and exploring mind. Children at these stages usually step out of their comfort zones and experiment new things. They develop different perspectives (Patient Teaching, Loose Leaf Library Springhouse Corporation, 1990). Here is where they are likely to display disobedience towards their parents or caregivers, usually people that are closest to them.
He developed his own laboratory and spent years recording children’s intellectual growth. Jean wanted to find out how children develop through various stages of thinking. This led to the development of Piaget four important stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor stage (birth to age two), preoperational stage (age two to seven), concrete-operational stage (ages seven to twelve), and formal-operational stage (ages eleven to twelve, and thereafter).
Jean Piaget was one of the most prominent researchers of the 20th century in the field of psychology and human development. He concentrated his attention on the biological influences on the psychological portrait of the person and developmental stages. Piaget pointed out that the development of a person passes through certain stages; each stage can be characterized by specific features. He argued that learning about the world was possible through personal experience. However, his inspiration of developing the idea of cognitive growth and changes of people came while researching child behavior. Moreover, it is important to note that his research was based on the observation of behavior of his own three children (Berlin, Zeanah & Lieberman, 2008).
Wood, K. "Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development," in M. Orey Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology, 2001.
This approach has become the stimulus for a number of similar theories which share the same assumptions on psychological development, yet differ in detail. (Gross, R, 2007) Erik Erikson, a neo-freudian himself accepted Freud’s theory but whereas the psychodynamic approach focuses on five main stages of development until adulthood, Erikson theorised that development is lifelong and continues throughout life until death. (Psychology for A Level 2000)
Jean Piaget is a Switzerland psychologist and biologist who understand children’s intellectual development. Piaget is the first to study cognitive development. He developed the four stages of cognitive development: the sensori-motor stage, preoperational stage, the concrete operational and the formal operational stage. Piaget curiosity was how children cogitate and developed. As they get mature and have the experience, children’s will get knowledgeable. He suggested that children develop schemas so they can present the world. Children’s extend their schemas through the operation of accommodation and assimilation.
“The influence of Piaget’s ideas in developmental psychology has been enormous. He changed how people viewed the child’s world and their methods of studying children. He was an inspiration to many who came after and took up his ideas. Piaget's ideas have generated a huge amount of research which has increased our understanding of cognitive development.” (McLeod 2009). Piaget purposed that we move through stages of cognitive development. He noticed that children showed different characteristics throughout their childhood development. The four stages of development are The Sensorimotor stage, The Preoperational Stage, The Concrete operational stage and The Formal operational stage.
Both Piaget and Vygotsky agreed that children's cognitive development took place in stages. (Jarvis, Chandler 2001 P.149). However they were distinguished by different styles of thinking. Piaget was the first t reveal that children reason and think differently at different periods in their lives. He believed that all children progress through four different and very distinct stages of cognitive development. This theory is known as Piaget’s Stage Theory because it deals with four stages of development, which are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. (Ginsburg, Opper 1979 P. 26).
Jean Piaget’s stages of cognitive development suggests that children have four different stages of mental development. The main concept of Jean Piaget’s theory is that he believes in children being scientists by experimenting with things and making observations with their senses. This approach emphasizes how children’s ability to make sense of their immediate everyday surroundings. Piaget also proposed that children be perceived to four stages based on maturation and experiences.
When comparing the work of Sigmund Freud and Jean Piaget two things come to mind, they both had a lasting and profound impact on the field of psychology and both received a great amount of criticism regarding their theories. Freud is considered the founder of psychoanalysis, which is based on childhood development and psychosexual stages. Piaget was the top developmentalist of the 1960s and 1970s. His theory of cognitive development was as well studied as Freud's theory of psychosexual development was a generation before. While they both had many criticisms of their work, both Freud and Piaget influenced their respective fields of psychology so much that today their thoughts and concepts are still studied and referenced everyday. Freud’s theories have revolutionized how we think. The impact Piaget has had on developmental psychology has guided social norms of human development and education. This essay will compare and contrast the theories of Freud and Piaget.