Theories of Development: Cognitive Theory and Behaviorism

Off the five developmental theories, I would like to describe and explain two grand theories, Cognitive theory and Behaviorism.

The main concepts of cognitive theory focuses on the developmental process of thinking and how this process affects our actions, attitudes, beliefs and assumptions through a life span. Jean Piaget, Swiss biologist and proponent of cognitive theory, developed a general thesis of cognitive theory; he divided the developmental process of thinking into four stages. He said “the way people think changes with age as their brains mature and their experiences challenge their past assumptions” (Berger, 8th edition, 2009)” . In my opinion, we use and apply the main concepts of the cognitive theory in everyday life, such as family relationships, friendships, partnerships, and work relationships. I personally believe, I would never succeed as a person, partner, student, or later as a social worker without the main concepts of cognitive theory. I want to share an example of cognitive theory from my own personal experiences, and subsequently how my experiences challenged my past assumptions. As a kid, I met very few children in special needs. I never understood them and they never wanted to play with me, or my friends. Because of these experiences I assumed, and believed that kids in special needs were stupid, useless and a waste of time. After I graduated High School, I really started to think about the next steps in my life. I did not know what I wanted to do, and I did not have the required education to start a new job. Therefore, I enrolled in a college with a major in Social studies. During my studies, I met many adults and kids in special needs. They were different and “special” but they were definitely no...

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...sychoanalytic theory is also very important because it partly focuses on the past experiences, especially childhood experiences that usually form adult personality and behavior. I just disagree with Freud’s belief that human behavior was motivated by unconscious conflicts that were almost always sexual or aggressive in nature. Sociocultural theory focuses on culture and social factors that influence human development, but it is very limited because it ignores the rest of the factors that form and affect our development through the lifespan. Epigenetic theory focuses on genes and genetic predisposition, which is very important because genes always affect our development, but is limited because it ignores nurture issues. I would personally choose and use concepts of all five of these theories to examine a problem and consequently find a solution to solve a problem.