Cognitive Development, Normative And Social Development

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A person grows and develops continually over their lifespan. Cognitive development is the growth and transformation in intellectual processes involved in thinking, reasoning and understanding, whereas social development is gaining knowledge and learning skills to interact with others in a positive manner. Theorists have diverse views of how children between the ages 2-5 learn throughout this early childhood stage nonetheless most agree that children with normative cognitive and social development will have strong foundations for transition to the next stage. Nurses must have a deep knowledge of a child’s developmental stage to provide the best age appropriate holistic care possible. This discussion explores predictable cognitive and social …show more content…

Self-criticism and guilt are also common at this age, as the child feels that they may not fulfil expectations of those they value, especially if initiative is dismissed or discouraged (Hill, Hall & Glew, 2017). Erikson’s theory states that ‘purpose’ is the virtue that comes from a balance between the initiative and guilt (McLeod, 2017). Early childhood is a time when children venture away from their parents for longer periods of time often attending day care or preschool as is Jack in this scenario. Children at this stage of development enjoy social interaction, ’playing with’ rather than playing next to peers, the cooperation and companionship they learn during this play will be of benefit to them when they enter the realms of school and adolescence. Paulus (2015) explains that during this development stage children some children are also developing empathy and can understand when someone is hurt and will often comfort them. The theory of Erikson views social influences, skills and attitudes as crucial to the developing child to understand themselves as members of society. Social development is an essential element to the growing child and can be negatively or positively affected by many

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