Piaget and Gardner: Comparing Theories on Intellectual Development
A controversial topic in child development is why children behave, feel, and think the way they do. Some theorists believe that development is purely influenced by biology, others believe that it is purely the environment, and others believe it is a combination of both. Intelligence has been an influential topic in developmental psychology, with no one knowing how to truly define intelligence. In the cases of Jean Piaget and Howard Gardner, they believe intelligence is developed from a combination of both environmental and biological factors. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences can be compared in many ways. Applications
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He believed that there are seven intelligences. The first is logical mathematical intelligence, which he believes it derives from the ability to find patterns, logically think, and reason (Brualdi, 1998). Linguistic intelligence is the ability to manipulate language to be able to express oneself in different contexts (Winn, 1990). Spatial intelligence is the ability to create and change mental images to solve problems. The advanced ability to create musical and be able to distinguish things like pitch and tone is musical intelligence. Being able to use one’s brain to coordinate movements is bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (Winn, 1990). Interpersonal intelligence has to do with understanding the intentions and emotions of others and intrapersonal intelligence is being able to one’s own feelings (Brualdi, 1998). Gardner also held a belief that children are born with certain intelligences and can develop others more fully as they learn and …show more content…
Piaget is a stage theorist and Gardner is not. Gardner also never developed any biological stages like Piaget did, and mainly focused on intellect. Gardner would argue that some cultures value one intelligence over another, therefore may not allow children to develop their musical intelligence. Piaget, however, would say that music is not an intelligence, it is an activity one does that can stimulate brain activity and one must understand physical and logical-mathematical knowledge to be able to play an instrument efficiently. Piaget argues that it is because of a child’s values, feelings, interests, drives, and tendencies motivate a child to learn more about something they find affectivity in, resulting in more intelligence in that subject area (Wadsworth, 1996, p. 146). Piaget believes that cognition and affectivity cannot exist without each other in the sense of intelligence, while Gardner believes that if a child is good at something, they will naturally show interest in the subject and want to perfect their skills in the subject. He also believes that strength in one intelligence means there must be weakness in another. However, all skills can be built upon, some just are more biologically inclined to develop one or two intelligences more effectively than the others. Piaget believes all intelligences are developed in stages, but some people never can grasp certain concepts. Gardner
Social and environmental variables affect cognitive development. Cognitive development focuses on the person’s ability to intellectually, 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 who are 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.
During middle-to-late childhood, growth and development begins to slow down a bit. However, while the development may not be as rapid as it may have been in previous stages, it is more consistent and steady. The development that occurs during this stage begins to incorporate the skills learned in previous years, and the skills gained during this time are more applicable to real world situations. Cognitive development, intellectual development, and disabilities are key aspects to consider during this time.
Piaget is most commonly recognised for his work in forming a theory explaining how children’s thinking evolves to become more complex with age (Passer & Smith, 2012). For more than fifty years, Piaget researched the area of child thought processes, proposing a step-wise sequence of child mental development involving four distinct stages (Passer & Smith, 2012, p. 422). According to Passer and Smith (2012), a core belief of Piaget’s was that “cognitive development results from an interaction of the brain’s biological maturation and personal experiences” (p. 422). Piaget’s research has since received considerable attention and debate as to its validity. Many assessments of his work detail a greater level of criticism than praise; this criticism presumably being in place to support recent scientific discoveries and assist in the evolution of particular elements of his theories to what is regarded as relevant today (Flavell, 1996). Despite those who doubt his work, many sympathetic theorists (labelled neo-Piagetians) have opted to adopt and
Howard Gardner’s theory contains eight main multiple intelligence. As the years have progressed there have taken one out and is left with the main seven. These seven are: Linguistic, Mathematical, Spatial, bodily, Musical, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. These are found in everyone; however, each person will excel in one or two. Once teachers can determine what intelligence the students will exceed on and teach to their strengths the student will learn much more.
clearly. Therefore, much about what experts know about mental and cognitive development is based on the careful observation of developmental theorists and their theories, such as Piaget's theory of cognitive development, which we discussed.
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.
Jean Piaget was a theorist which “who” focused on people’s “children’s” mental processes (Rathus, S., & Longmuir, S., 2011, p.10). Piaget developed (words missing) how children differentiate and mentally show(tense) the world and how there , thinking , logic , and problem solving ability is developed (Rathus, S., & Longmuir, S., 2011 , p.10). Piaget analyzed that children’s cognitive processes develop in an orderly sequence or series (Rathus, S., & Longmuir, S., 2011 , p.11) . But each stage show how children understand the world around them. – sentence fragment; should be joined to the previous sentence. Every child goes through the same development”al” steps but some are more advance(d) than others . Piaget described four stages of child
Which is defined as the study of the acquisition, modification, and growth of abstract ideas and the abilities as on the basis of an inherited or biological substrate, an intelligent functioning that makes the growth of abstract thought possible. Piaget obtained his theories by questioning the children about their thinking and from directly observing them. He was more interested in how they arrived at their answers and less interested in whether the children would answer correctly. Piaget viewed intelligence as an extension of biological adaptation that has a logical structure. One of the central points of his theories was of epigenesis. This is that growth and development occur in a series of stages, each of which is built on the successful mastery of the previous stage.
The main aim of his research was to show the differences between the children’s and adults’ way of thinking. It means that different factors influence the way of thinking of people at different stages of development. Piaget focused attention on the fact that children actually have a rather basic mental structure that is based on knowledge and experience that is formed in a particular way. He argued that cognitive development is a process that takes long period of time and can be influenced by huge amount of different internal and external factors.
Piaget’s stage theory of cognitive development demonstrates a child’s cognitive ability through a series of observational studies of simple tests. According to Piaget, a child’s mental structure, which is genetically inherited and evolved, is the basis for all other learning and knowledge. Piaget’s
Jean Piaget’s cognitive development theory is focused on the belief that development precedes learning, specifically upon individual development of one’s knowledge through independent learning and experiences (Lourenco, 2012). Piaget’s theory discusses how an individual’s surroundings affect their development resulting in a series of changes in the understandings of their environment.
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.
This is an essay about the different theories of intelligence; it will discuss which theory is best at determining intelligence in my opinion. The information provided will help describe the pros and cons of each of the theories being used to define intelligence, explain why is it important to assess children’s intelligence, and discuss the type of intelligence I possess. The different theories of intelligence are complex and understanding the elements of each can help an individual choose the one that they believe is the best for determining intelligence. Comparing the positive and the negative elements of each theory of intelligence will allow an individual to see both sides of the theory and the flaws that may be twisted
In 1983, Howard Gardner a Harvard professor proposed the theory that individual can have multiple ways of learning and processing information. The multiple intelligences consist of 9 different ways and these include: verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, existential, musical, naturalistic, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Every individual has a different amount of each intelligence but each intelligence is at a varying level. With the help of a multiple intelligences assessment, I found that my top three multiple intelligences are Intrapersonal, logical, and interpersonal. Within his research Gardner says that “Intrapersonal intelligence refers to people’s ability to recognize and assess those same characteristics
Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard, introduced his theory of multiple intelligences in 1983. Multiple intelligence’s is a theory about the brain that says human beings are born with single intelligence that cannot be changed, and is measurable by a psychologist. Gardner believes that there are eight different intelligences in humans. The eight are verbal linguistic, visual spatial, bodily kinesthetic, mathematical logic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. Understanding these intelligence’s will help us to design our classroom and curriculum in a way that will appeal to all of our students. We might also be able to curve discipline problems by reaching a student in a different way. One that will make more sense to them and more enjoyable. We can include all of the intelligences in lessons to accommodate all of the students’ different learning styles at once. By reaching each students intelligence we can assume that a student will perform better which, could mean students retaining more important information. A students learning style can also help lead them into a more appropriate career direction. As a teacher you can also learn your own personal learning style or intelligence to help improve the way you learn and teach.