Introduction Dan Lee is a 24-year-old pre-med student, who is visiting the university counseling center because of challenges he is facing related to his acceptance to medical school. Some of the issues are emotional and some involve conflicts with loved ones. I will expand more upon this case in the pages to follow. The Driving Force Of Dan’s Behavior I see both cognition and emotion as the driving forces of Dan’s behavior as he struggles with earning admission to medical school. They both include multiple factors that are impacting Dan’s experience with getting into medical school. Cognitive According to Hutchison (2015), “Cognition can be defined as our conscious or preconscious thinking processes-the mental activities of which we are …show more content…
It proposes that the capacity for reasoning develops in four sequential and interconnecting stages throughout infancy to adulthood. Some main pieces of the theory are schema, assimilation, and accommodation. Hutchison (2015) describes the schema as “an internalized representation of the world or an ingrained and systematic pattern of thought, action, and problem solving (p. 119). Dan has developed a certain schema throughout his life, which includes his beliefs that people should reach for high-success, respect and obey authority, and men are responsible for the women. Assimilation occurs when an individual reacts to an experience based on prevailing schemata (Hutchison, 2015). Accommodation happens when a person adjusts his or her schemata to a new situation in which the old schemata could not relate. After observing Dan’s case, I can see that he is assimilating to every situation and struggles with accommodating to a new situation that does not fit his existing schemata. When Dan’s friends and family present ideas that oppose his schemata, he seems to become frustrated, anxious, and sad. Dan’s lack of accommodation is creating conflict in his
... cognitive acts, more generally, any mental acts, are not isolated particulars, coming or going in the stream of consciousness without any interconnections. As they are ESSENTIALLY related to one another, they display a teleological coherence and corresponding connections ... And on these connections, which present an intelligible unity a great deal depends.
These stages are important to Kohlberg’s four most general beliefs. One of Kohlberg’s first assertions is that people advance through these stages in an invariant sequence. Advancement through these stages occurs in order from 1 - 6, with no stages skipped, and there is no regression. Kohlberg’s second assertion is that people cannot comprehend reasoning more than one stage ahead of their current stage. Kohlberg also believes that people are attracted to higher stage reasoning because it is more adequate, and finally, stage movement is motivated by cognitive disequilibrium.
My interest in pursuing a doctorate degree in counseling psychology has been influenced by a combination of life experiences and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Though the path which has led me to this destination is complex, the journey has provided me with the clarity and insight necessary to understand human behavior from a holistic perspective. As I approach the completion of my masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, I am faced with the unsettling realization that I have more questions than I do answers. This has fueled my innate desire and motivation to continue challenging myself by attaining a doctorate degree from the University of North Texas.
To understand how we are able to become such complex and multifaceted individuals, we must grasp the idea of cognitive development. Cognitive development is defined as “the ability to think and reason” (University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, 2006). The two main contributors of this topic within psychology, are Piaget and Vygotsky. They are also both the main competitors in terms of contrasting theories, however, do still have many similarities between them. Piaget’s main theories include stages of development; sensorimotor (senses, reflexes and object permanence) preoperational egocentric speech, use of
In the affective domain, Erickson´s Theory Initiative vs. Guilt (pp.40-42) explains how the child is motivated by social challenges, becoming more confident. In Nayali´s case this theory is evident. The subject is trying to interact with her new environment accepting new challenges and getting use to new customs such as the new language. Another theorist in the affective domain named Abraham Maslow (p.42) established the theory of needs. “Self-Actualization is the need to become all that one can be” Chaplin & Krawiek (2010). The subject is experiencing many changes in her life but the final result is to become like she used to be before her move to a new life. On the other hand in the Cognitive Domain, Piaget theory of cognitive development (pp.45-47) has 5 structures. The subject is clearly passing for two of this structures one is Disequilibration that is caused for the new situation she is living and Assimilation when she is trying to adapt to new situations. In Vygotsky´s theory Zone of proximal development (ZPD) (p.47) the subject is in stage 4, developing the skills that she needs to be integrated at her new life, skills such as language and changes in her environment. In the Psychomotor Domain, Sears and Bandura (pp.55-56) established the Social Learning Theory. The subject is learning how to adapt to new rules and behaviors. Gesell’s Theory (pp.49-50) is also present in the subject as she developed the milestones in time and with no apparent difficulties. The subject’s problems are conditioned for changes in her life and the way she has to accommodate to new rules, customs, and
In the beginning, she uses a scenario which she experienced before of a student discussing the probability of heads and tails of a coin. The student is sure about their knowledge but then gets confused about their knowledge to finally reach a more complex clarity (3-5). By using this example, Lipson brings a visual aspect to the paper where the reader can actually picture real life situation. After explaining the example, Lipson immediately introduces Piaget’s terms of “assimilation” and “accommodation” to strengthen her claim by supporting it with a professional’s definition. Here while Lipson defines Piaget’s assimilation as “the incorporation of experience into already existing cognitive structures” while also showing in which lines this can be seen in her student-teacher example (6). She then defines accommodation, as the phase when the cognitive structure changes to adapt to the environmental demands. The reader can this way relate clarity to assimilation, and confusion to accommodation phase which are already defined by a developmental biologist making it more convincing. After tackling the example in depth, to target the visual stimulus in the readers, Lipson creates a diagram of learning which includes “Initial State, Resistance, Disruption, Reorganization” and “Final State” where she analyzes the students’ behaviors and teachers’ reactions to make her abstract argument a more tangible one (8). This helps the reader to simplify the idea given in the text, but also connect it to real life by the example reactions given by the students and teachers in every phase (8). Finally, Lipson criticizes her diagram by saying that “It doesn’t describe every learning experience. (10)” In this way, she gets the chance of replying a possible criticism which results in an increased trust from the reader. After
There are three basic components to Piaget’s Cognitive Theory: Schemas; Equilibration, Assimilation, Accommodation; and the Stages of Development. Schemas are defined as the basic building block of intelligent behavior. An example of a schema includes a child understanding what a dog is by reading a picture book. Assimilation is the act of using an existing schema to develop a new object or situation. Accommodation is what happens when a schema doesn’t work. Equilibration is the force which moves development along. The order in which the phases are introduce in the following order: Assimilation, Equilibration, a New Situation, Disequilibrium, Accommodation,
Piaget (1952, see Wadsworth 2004), Piaget viewed the intellectual growth as a process of adaptation to the world through the operations of assimilation and accommodation. Using schemas, assimilation is dealing with a new situation. When schemas do not work, accommodation is the needs to be change of a new situation. When working with a child who is nice and kind with respectful showing good behaviors to others in the class. Someday their behaviors change by disobeying the teachers rules a mean to other kids. As a teacher they notice that it is something out of their character because it is not something you would of expect from that child with the changes in their
In the first stage, children will undergo the process of assimilation where they will be using their existing schema to handle a new situation or something new when felt. In the second stage, they will go through the accommodation process in which if their existing schema does not work, it will be ‘upgraded’ or changed with newly acquired knowledge. During the third stage of adaptation process, they will go through the stage of equilibration when external pressure from knowledge acquire is being used to modify prior knowledge. This only happens when children are able to allow their existing schemas to handle new information through the first process, assimilation. The last of Piaget’s theory is the stages of development. We will look at the first two stages which are the sensorimotor and preoperational stages. During the stage of sensorimotor which happens during the first two years from birth, they will undergo a key feature of knowing and having object permanence that also means that if a particular object was hidden or covered by a cloth, he or she will be able to actively search for it. The preoperational stage takes place from two years of age till they are of seven years old. During this stage, children will be building up their incidents or encounters through adaptation and slowly move on to the next stage of the development as they are not able to
According to Hutchison (2015), “Cognition is our conscious or preconscious thinking process” (p.118). Dan learned cognition through many stages throughout his life, based on how he reacts to many situations. “Emotion can be distinguished between primary (specific reactions with survival value for the human species) and secondary (are more variable among people and are socially acquired). Jean Piaget ‘s cognitive development theory, and the physiological theories of emotion are very influential in the case study.
Once the child becomes accommodated with this change, he/she can try to adjust to the stimulus. Since the structure has changed, the stimulus becomes eagerly adapted (Wadsworth, 1975, p. 16). They are both shown in two early childhood activities: play which is assimilation and imitation which is accommodation (Lefrancios, 2012). The development of both assimilation and accommodation, is what evolves the infant’s inaccurate schemata into a more mature schema over the years (Wadsworth, 1975, p. 16). The last of Piaget’s four basic perceptions is equilibrium. This is the balance between assimilation and accommodation. When disequilibrium (the imbalance between assimilation and accommodation) happens, cognitively, it provides motivation for the adolescent to seek equilibrium; when this happens it furthers assimilation or accommodation. Equilibrium’s relevance to a particular stimulus can be temporary, but it still remains important (Wadsworth, 1975, p.
Social interaction takes place mainly to move a young child away from egocentricism. In addition, Piaget stated that a child either held the mental structure for conservation, for example, or he did not. And also as part of their cognitive development, children develop schemes, which are mental representations of people, objects, or principles. These schemes can be changed or altered through what Piaget called assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the information we already know. Accommodation involves adapting one's existing knowledge to what is perceived. Disequilibrium occurs when new knowledge does not fit with one's accumulated knowledge. When one reaches what Piaget called equilibrium, assimilation and accommodation have occurred to create a new stage of development.
Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development describes his belief that children try to actively make sense of the world rather than simply absorbing knowledge as previously thought. Piaget’s theory claims that as children grow and develop they experience four different cognitive stages of life. As a child grows through each stage they not only learn new information but the way he or she thinks also changes. “In other words, each new stage represents a fundamental shift in how the child thinks and understands the world” (Hockenbury, page 368).The first stage of Piaget’s theory, known as the sensorimotor stage, begins at birth and continues on until about age 2. As the name suggest, this stage is when children begin to discover
According to this developmental framework, preschool children are realists, who equate believing with knowing. In other words, young children believe that everyone perceives the same thing, and all perceptions match external reality. By around age 4, however, children learn that some beliefs can be wrong. At this stage, called absolutism, children learn that two people’s beliefs can differ, but only because one person is right and the other is wrong. By adolescence, most people recognize that even experts can disagree on certain topics. At this point, many descend into multiplism (or complete relativism), where everything is subjective, no beliefs can be judged, and all opinions are equally right. By adulthood, many people will have learned to tolerate some uncertainty, while still maintaining that there can be better or worse opinions to the extent that they are supported with reason and evidence (evaluative epistemology). Kuhn and Dean argue that there is very little that needs to be done to encourage children to progress through the first three stages; rather, it is progression to the fourth stage that requires some instructional
Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, and Erik Erikson have all determined stages of development which explain how people act and think at different points in their lives. Piaget’s theory determines that there are four stages of cognitive development, consisting of the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. Each of these has an approximate age range and set of characteristics that explain a person’s general cognitive ability at any given age. According to Kohlberg, preconventional morality, conventional morality, and postconventional morality are the three changes in moral reasoning that a person will experience throughout their lifetime. Erikson’s theory focuses on psychosocial