Exploring Child Development Theories: Unraveling the Pathways of Growth and Learning
Theories of Child Development
*Theory of Cognitive Development by Piglet: Concept, Stages and Implications with special reference to Indian context*
The core idea of Piaget’s theory is that children develop by acting as “little scientists” who explore and interact with their world to understand people, objects, and concepts. They do this naturally, even without the help of an adult.
This article explains Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development, key concepts, and how people can use them to help children learn and develop.
*Piaget’s Stages*
This table and the following sections outline Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development:
Stage | Age | Key information |
The sensorimotor stage | 0–2 years | Infants start to build an understanding of the world through their senses by touching, grasping, watching, and listening. Infants develop object permanence (see below). |
The preoperational stage | 2–7 years | Children develop language and abstract thought. Children begin to use symbolic play (“playing pretend”), draw pictures, and talk about things that happened in the past. |
The concrete operational stage | 7–11 years | Children learn logical concrete (physical) rules about objects, such as height, weight, and volume. Children learn conservation, the idea that an object, such as water or modeling clay, remains the same even when its appearance changes. |
The formal operational stage | 11+ | Children learn logical rules to understand abstract concepts and solve problems. |
*1. The Sensorimotor Stage (birth to 2 years)*
Babies will use their senses to explore the environment.
From birth to 2 years of age, infants begin to understand the world around them by using their senses and bodily movements. Experts call this the sensorimotor stage.
At first, babies use their basic reflex movements, such as sucking and waving their arms, to explore their environment. They also use their senses of sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing.
As a little scientist, they gather information from these experiences and learn how to differentiate between people, objects, textures, sights, and how different situations make them feel.
It "extends from birth to the acquisition of language". In this stage, infants progressively construct knowledge and understanding of the world by coordinating experiences (such as vision and hearing) from physical interactions with objects (such as grasping, sucking, and stepping). Infants gain knowledge of the world from the physical actions they perform within it. They progress from reflexive, instinctual action at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought toward the end of the stage.
*Object Permanence*
The most advanced cognitive achievement a child reaches during this stage is object permanence. Object permanence refers to when an infant understands that an object still exists, even when they are not able to see, smell, touch, or hear it.
Object permanence is important because it means that the infant has developed the ability to form a mental image, or representation, of an object rather than merely reacting to what they experience in their immediate environment.
*2. The Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years)*
In the preoperational stage, a child builds on object permanence and continues to develop abstract ways of thinking. This includes developing sophisticated language skills and using words and behaviors to represent objects or events that they experienced in the past.
The child displays five key behaviors during this period:
*· Imitation. This is where a child can mimic someone’s behavior even when the person they are imitating is no longer in front of them. *
*· Symbolic play. A child starts to use objects as symbols, projecting the properties of one object onto another; for example, pretending a stick is a sword, checkers being snacks, pieces of paper being plates, and a box being a table. Their observations of symbols exemplify the idea of play with the absence of the actual objects involved.*
*· Drawing. Drawing involves both imitation and symbolic play. It begins as scribbles and develops into more accurate abstract representations of objects and people. *
*· Mental imagery. The child can picture many objects in their minds. They may ask the names of objects often to secure these associations in their mind. *
*· Verbal evocation of events. The child can use language to describe and represent events, people, or objects from their past. *
The Pre-operational Stage is split into two sub stages: the symbolic function sub stage, and the intuitive thought sub stage.
*Symbolic function sub stage*
At about two to four years of age, children cannot yet manipulate and transform information in a logical way. However, they now can think in images and symbols. Other examples of mental abilities are language and pretend play. It is when children are able to understand, represent, remember, and picture objects in their mind without having the object in front of them. Symbolic play is when children develop imaginary friends or role-play with friends. Children's play becomes more social and they assign roles to each other. Some examples of symbolic play include playing house, or having a tea party.
The type of symbolic play in which children engage is connected with their level of creativity and ability to connect with others. Additionally, the quality of their symbolic play can have consequences on their later development. For example, young children whose symbolic play is of a violent nature tend to exhibit less pro-social behavior and are more likely to display anti-social tendencies in later years.
In this stage, there are still limitations, such as egocentrism and pre-causal thinking.
*Intuitive thought sub stage*
Between the ages of 4 and 7, children tend to become very curious and ask many questions of "why?" and "how come?", beginning the use of primitive reasoning. There is an emergence in the interest of reasoning and wanting to know why things are the way they are. Piaget called it the "intuitive sub stage" because children realize they have a vast amount of knowledge, but they are unaware of how they acquired it. Centration, conservation, irreversibility, class inclusion, and transitive inference are all characteristics of preoperative thought.
*Centration is the act of focusing all attention on one characteristic or dimension of a situation, whilst disregarding all others. * Conservation is the awareness that altering a substance's appearance does not change its basic properties. Children at this stage are unaware of conservation and exhibit centration. Both centration and conservation can be more easily understood once familiarized with Piaget's most famous experimental task.
In this task, a child is presented with two identical beakers containing the same amount of liquid. The child usually notes that the beakers do contain the same amount of liquid. When one of the beakers is poured into a taller and thinner container, children who are younger than seven or eight years old typically say that the two beakers no longer contain the same amount of liquid, and that the taller container holds the larger quantity (centration), without taking into consideration the fact that both beakers were previously noted to contain the same amount of liquid. Due to superficial changes, the child was unable to comprehend that the properties of the substances continued to remain the same (conservation).
*Irreversibility is a concept developed in this stage which is closely related to the ideas of centration and conservation. Irreversibility refers to when children are unable to mentally reverse a sequence of events. In the same beaker situation, the child does not realize that, if the sequence of events was reversed and the water from the tall beaker was poured back into its original beaker, then the same amount of water would exist. Another example of children's reliance on visual representations is their misunderstanding of "less than" or "more than". When two rows containing equal numbers of blocks are placed in front of a child, one row spread farther apart than the other, the child will think that the row spread farther contains more blocks.
*Class inclusion refers to a kind of conceptual thinking that children in the preoperational stage cannot yet grasp. Children's inability to focus on two aspects of a situation at once inhibits them from understanding the principle that one category or class can contain several different subcategories or classes. For example, a four-year-old girl may be shown a picture of eight dogs and three cats. The girl knows what cats and dogs are, and she is aware that they are both animals. However, when asked, "Are there more dogs or animals?" she is likely to answer "more dogs". This is due to her difficulty focusing on the two subclasses and the larger class all at the same time. She may have been able to view the dogs as dogs or animals, but struggled when trying to classify them as both, simultaneously. Similar to this is concept relating to intuitive thought, known as "transitive inference".
*Transitive inference is using previous knowledge to determine the missing piece, using basic logic. Children in the preoperational stage lack this logic. An example of transitive inference would be when a child is presented with the information "A" is greater than "B" and "B" is greater than "C". This child may have difficulty here understanding that "A" is also greater than "C".
*Egocentrism*
During the preoperational stage, the child is egocentric. This means they only understand the world from their perspective and struggle to see other peoples’ points of view.
Egocentrism can be seen in an experiment performed by Piaget and Swiss developmental psychologist Bärbel Inhelder, known as the three mountain problem. In this experiment, three views of a mountain are shown to the child, who is asked what a travelling doll would see at the various angles. The child will consistently describe what they can see from the position from which they are seated, regardless of the angle from which they are asked to take the doll's perspective. Egocentrism would also cause a child to believe, "I like Sesame Street, so Daddy must like Sesame Street, too."
Similar to preoperational children's egocentric thinking is their structuring of a cause and effect relationships. Piaget coined the term "pre-causal thinking" to describe the way in which preoperational children use their own existing ideas or views, like in egocentrism, to explain cause-and-effect relationships. Three main concepts of causality as displayed by children in the preoperational stage include: animism, artificialism and transductive reasoning.
*Animism is the belief that inanimate objects are capable of actions and have lifelike qualities. An example could be a child believing that the sidewalk was mad and made them fall down, or that the stars twinkle in the sky because they are happy.
*Artificialism refers to the belief that environmental characteristics can be attributed to human actions or interventions. For example, a child might say that it is windy outside because someone is blowing very hard, or the clouds are white because someone painted them that colour. Finally, pre-causal thinking is categorized by transductive reasoning.
*Transductive reasoning is when a child fails to understand the true relationships between cause and effect. Unlike deductive or inductive reasoning (general to specific, or specific to general), transductive reasoning refers to when a child reasons from specific to specific, drawing a relationship between two separate events that are otherwise unrelated. For example, if a child hears the dog bark and then a balloon popped, the child would conclude that because the dog barked, the balloon popped.
*3. The concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years)*
The concrete operational stage is another major turning point in a child’s cognitive development. The child builds on and masters abstract thought. They become less egocentric and more rational.
During this stage, the child acquires the ability to develop and apply logical, concrete rules to objects (but not to abstract concepts — this comes in the formal operational stage).
This includes a better ability to classify objects into groups and subgroups, the ability to understand logical orders, such as height and weight, and an understanding of conservation.
*Conservation*
Conservation is the understanding that an object can change in size, volume, or appearance, but remain the same object.
For example, the appearance of water changes when someone pours it from a short, wide glass into a tall, narrow bottle, but the water itself does not change. The child now understands this.
At this stage (middle childhood and preadolescence), the children undergo a transition where the child learns rules such as conservation. Piaget determined that children are able to incorporate inductive reasoning.
Inductive reasoning involves drawing inferences from observations in order to make a generalization. In contrast, children struggle with deductive reasoning, which involves using a generalized principle in order to try to predict the outcome of an event. Children in this stage commonly experience difficulties with figuring out logic in their heads. For example, a child will understand that "A is more than B" and "B is more than C". However, when asked "is A more than C?” the child might not be able to logically figure the question out mentally. Another example, a child might be able to recognize that his or her dog is a Labrador, that a Labrador is a dog, and that a dog is an animal, and draw conclusions from the information available, as well as apply all these processes to hypothetical situations.
Two other important processes in the concrete operational stage are logic and the elimination of egocentrism.
During this stage, the child acquires the ability to view things from another individual's perspective, even if they think that perspective is incorrect. For instance, show a child a comic in which Jane puts a doll under a box, leaves the room, and then Melissa moves the doll to a drawer, and Jane comes back. A child in the concrete operations stage will say that Jane will still think it's under the box even though the child knows it is in the drawer.
Children in this stage can; however, only solve problems that apply to actual (concrete) objects or events, and not abstract concepts or hypothetical tasks. Understanding and knowing how to use full common sense has not yet been completely adapted.
Adolescents begin to think more as a scientist thinks, devising plans to solve problems and systematically test opinions. They use hypothetical-deductive reasoning, which means that they develop hypothesis or best guesses, and systematically deduce, or conclude, which is the best path to follow in solving the problem. During this stage the adolescent is able to understand love, logical proofs and values. During this stage the young person begins to entertain possibilities for the future and is fascinated with what they can be.
Adolescents also are changing cognitively by the way that they think about social matters. This happens by heightening self-consciousness and giving adolescents an idea of who they are through their personal uniqueness and invincibility.
Adolescent egocentrism can be dissected into two types of social thinking: imaginary audience and personal fable. Imaginary audience consists of an adolescent believing that others are watching them and the things they do. Personal fable consists of believing that you are exceptional in some way. These types of social thinking begin in the concrete stage but carry on to the formal operational stage of development.
*Testing for Concrete Operations*
Piagetian tests are well known and practiced to test for concrete operations. The most prevalent tests are those for conservation. There are some important aspects that the experimenter must take into account when performing experiments with these children.
One example of an experiment for testing conservation is the water level task. An experimenter will have two glasses that are of the same size, fill them to the same level with liquid, and make sure the child understands that both of the glasses have the same amount of water in them. Then, the experimenter will pour the liquid from one of the small glasses into a tall, thin glass. The experimenter will then ask the child if the taller glass has more liquid, less liquid, or the same amount of liquid. The child will then give his answer. There are three keys for the experimenter to keep in mind with this experiment. These are justification, number of times asking, and word choice.
*· Justification: After the child has answered the question being posed, the experimenter must ask why the child gave that answer. This is important because the answers they give can help the experimenter to assess the child's developmental age.
*· Number of times asking: Some argue that a child’s answers can be influenced by the number of times an experimenter asks them about the amount of water in the glasses. For example, a child is asked about the amount of liquid in the first set of glasses and then asked once again after the water is moved into a different sized glass. Some children will doubt their original answer and say something they would not have said if they did not doubt their first answer.
*· Word choice: The phrasing that the experimenter uses may affect how the child answers. If, in the liquid and glass example, the experimenter asks, "Which of these glasses has more liquid?", the child may think that his thoughts of them being the same is wrong because the adult is saying that one must have more. Alternatively, if the experimenter asks, "Are these equal?", then the child is more likely to say that they are, because the experimenter is implying that they are.
*Classification :-*
*· As children’s experiences and vocabularies grow, they build schemata and are able to organize objects in many different ways. They also understand classification hierarchies and can arrange objects into a variety of classes and subclasses.
*· Identity: One feature of concrete operational thought is the understanding that objects have qualities that do not change even if the object is altered in some way. For instance, mass of an object does not change by rearranging it. A piece of chalk is still chalk even when the piece is broken in two.
*· Reversibility: The child learns that some things that have been changed can be returned to their original state. Water can be frozen and then thawed to become liquid again; however, eggs cannot be unscrambled. Children use reversibility a lot in mathematical problems such as: 2 + 3 = 5 and 5 – 3 = 2.
*· Conservation: Concrete operational children can understand conservation and know that changing one quality (in this example, height or water level) can be compensated for by changes in another quality (width). Consequently, they understand that there is the same amount of water in each container, although one is taller and narrower and the other is shorter and wider.
*· Decentration: Concrete operational children no longer focus on only one dimension of any object (such as the height of the glass). Children can start to consider the changes in other dimensions too (such as the width of the glass). Decentration allows for conservation to occur.
*· Seriation: Arranging items along a quantitative dimension, such as length or weight, in a methodical way is now demonstrated by the concrete operational child. For example, they can logically arrange a series of different-sized sticks in order by length.
*· These new cognitive skills increase the child’s understanding of the physical world. However, according to Piaget, they still cannot think in abstract ways. Additionally, they do not think in systematic scientific ways. For example, most children under age twelve would not be able to come up with the variables that influence the period that a pendulum takes to complete its arc. Even if they were given weights they could attach to strings in order to do this experiment, they would not be able to draw a clear conclusion.
*4. The formal operational stage (11 to adult)*
During the formal operational stage, children learn to use logic and create theories.
In the formal operational stage, which is the final stage of cognitive development, (adolescence and into adulthood, roughly ages 12 to adulthood): a child learns more sophisticated rules of logic. They can use logical roles to understand abstract concepts and solve problems.
The child can now use their existing knowledge to create new theories about the world and make predictions about what will happen in the future.
Piaget stated that "hypothetico-deductive reasoning" becomes important during the formal operational stage. This type of thinking involves hypothetical "what-if" situations that are not always rooted in reality, i.e. counterfactual thinking. It is often required in science and mathematics.
· Abstract thought emerges during the formal operational stage. Children tend to think very concretely and specifically in earlier stages, and begin to consider possible outcomes and consequences of actions.
· Metacognition, the capacity for "thinking about thinking" that allows adolescents and adults to reason about their thought processes and monitor them.
· Problem-solving is demonstrated when children use trial-and-error to solve problems. The ability to systematically solve a problem in a logical and methodical way emerges.
Children in primary school years mostly use inductive reasoning, but adolescents start to use deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning is when children draw general conclusions from personal experiences and specific facts. Adolescents learn how to use deductive reasoning by applying logic to create specific conclusions from abstract concepts. This capability results from their capacity to think hypothetically.
"However, research has shown that not all persons in all cultures reach formal operations, and most people do not use formal operations in all aspects of their lives".
*Experiments*
Piaget and his colleagues conducted several experiments to assess formal operational thought.
In one of the experiments, Piaget evaluated the cognitive capabilities of children of different ages through the use of a scale and varying weights. The task was to balance the scale by hooking weights on the ends of the scale. To successfully complete the task, the children must use formal operational thought to realize that the distance of the weights from the center and the heaviness of the weights both affected the balance. A heavier weight has to be placed closer to the centre of the scale, and a lighter weight has to be placed farther from the centre, so that the two weights balance each other. While 3- to 5- year olds could not at all comprehend the concept of balancing, children by the age of 7 could balance the scale by placing the same weights on both ends, but they failed to realize the importance of the location. By age 10, children could think about location but failed to use logic and instead used trial-and-error. Finally, by age 13 and 14, in early adolescence, some children more clearly understood the relationship between weight and distance and could successfully implement their hypothesis.
*Four stages of development*
In his theory of cognitive development, Jean Piaget proposed that humans progress through four developmental stages:
Piaget divided the sensorimotor stage into six sub-stages".
# | Sub-Stage | Age | Description |
1 | Simple reflexes | Birth–6 weeks | "Coordination of sensation and action through reflexive behaviors". Three primary reflexes are described by Piaget: sucking of objects in the mouth, following moving or interesting objects with the eyes, and closing of the hand when an object makes contact with the palm (palmar grasp). Over the first six weeks of life, these reflexes begin to become voluntary actions. For example, the palmar reflex becomes intentional grasping. |
2 | First habits and primary circular reactions phase | 6 weeks–4 months | "Coordination of sensation and two types of schema: habits (reflex) and primary circular reactions (reproduction of an event that initially occurred by chance). The main focus is still on the infant's body". As an example of this type of reaction, an infant might repeat the motion of passing their hand before their face. Also at this phase, passive reactions, caused by classical or operant conditioning, can begin. |
3 | Secondary circular reactions phase | 4-8 months | Development of habits. "Infants become more object-oriented, moving beyond self-preoccupation; repeat actions that bring interesting or pleasurable results". This stage is associated primarily with the development of coordination between vision and prehension. Three new abilities occur at this stage: intentional grasping for a desired object, secondary circular reactions, and differentiations between ends and means. At this stage, infants will intentionally grasp the air in the direction of a desired object, often to the amusement of friends and family. Secondary circular reactions, or the repetition of an action involving an external object begin; for example, moving a switch to turn on a light repeatedly. The differentiation between means and ends also occurs. This is perhaps one of the most important stages of a child's growth as it signifies the dawn of logic. |
4 | Coordination of secondary circular reactions stages | 8-12 months | "Coordination of vision and touch—hand-eye coordination; coordination of schemas and intentionality". This stage is associated primarily with the development of logic and the coordination between means and ends. This is an extremely important stage of development, holding what Piaget calls the "first proper intelligence". Also, this stage marks the beginning of goal orientation, the deliberate planning of steps to meet an objective. |
5 | Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity | 12-18 months | "Infants become intrigued by the many properties of objects and by the many things they can make happen to objects; they experiment with new behavior". This stage is associated primarily with the discovery of new means to meet goals. Piaget describes the child at this juncture as the "young scientist," conducting pseudo-experiments to discover new methods of meeting challenges. |
6 | Internalization of schemas | 18-24 months | "Infants develop the ability to use primitive symbols and form enduring mental representations". This stage is associated primarily with the beginnings of insight, or true creativity. This marks the passage into the preoperational stage. |
*The stages and causation*
Piaget sees children's conception of causation as a march from "primitive" conceptions of cause to those of a more scientific, rigorous, and mechanical nature. These primitive concepts are characterized as supernatural, with a decidedly non-natural or non-mechanical tone. Piaget has as his most basic assumption that babies are phenomenists. That is, their knowledge "consists of assimilating things to schemas" from their own action such that they appear, from the child's point of view, "to have qualities which, in fact, stem from the organism". Consequently, these "subjective conceptions," so prevalent during Piaget's first stage of development, are dashed upon discovering deeper empirical truths.
Piaget gives the example of a child believing that the moon and stars follow him on a night walk. Upon learning that such is the case for his friends, he must separate his self from the object, resulting in a theory that the moon is immobile, or moves independently of other agents.
The second stage, from around three to eight years of age, is characterized by a mix of this type of magical, animistic, or "non-natural" conceptions of causation and mechanical or "naturalistic" causation. This conjunction of natural and non-natural causal explanations supposedly stems from experience itself, though Piaget does not make much of an attempt to describe the nature of the differences in conception. In his interviews with children, he asked questions specifically about natural phenomena, such as: "What makes clouds move?", "What makes the stars move?", "Why do rivers flow?" The nature of all the answers given, Piaget says, is such that these objects must perform their actions to "fulfill their obligations towards men". He calls this "moral explanation".
*Practical applications of Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development*
Parents can use Piaget's theory in many ways to support their child's growth. Teachers can also use Piaget's theory to help their students. For example, recent studies have shown that children in the same grade and of the same age perform differently on tasks measuring basic addition and subtraction accuracy. Children in the preoperational and concrete operational levels of cognitive development perform arithmetic operations (such as addition and subtraction) with similar accuracy; however, children in the concrete operational level have been able to perform both addition problems and subtraction problems with overall greater precision. Teachers can use Piaget’s theory to see where each child in their class stands with each subject by discussing the syllabus with their students and the students’ parents.
The stages of cognitive growth of a person differ from another. Cognitive development or thinking is an active process from the beginning to the end of life. Intellectual advancement happens because people at every age and developmental period look for cognitive equilibrium. To achieve this balance, the easiest way is to understand the new experiences through the lens of the pre existing ideas. Infants learn that new objects can be grabbed in the same way of familiar objects, and adults explain the day's headlines as evidence for their existing worldview.
However, the application of standardized Piagetian theory and procedures in different societies established widely varying results that lead some to speculate not only that some cultures produce more cognitive development than others but that without specific kinds of cultural experience, but also formal schooling, development might cease at certain level, such as concrete operational level. A procedure was done following methods developed in Geneva (i.e. water level task). Participants were presented with two beakers of equal circumference and height, filled with equal amounts of water. The water from one beaker was transferred into another with taller and smaller circumference. The children and young adults from non-literate societies of a given age were more likely to think that the taller, thinner beaker had more water in it. On the other hand, an experiment on the effects of modifying testing procedures to match local cultural produced a different pattern of results. In the revised procedures, the participants explained in their own language and indicated that while the water was now "more", the quantity was the same. Piaget's water level task has also been applied to the elderly by Formann and results showed an age-associated non-linear decline of performance.
Important concepts
The following sections will explain several important aspects of cognitive development that Piaget proposes as a part of his theory.
*Schema*
Piaget was the first to include the idea of a schema into a theory of cognitive development. A schema is a category of knowledge, or a mental template, that a child puts together to understand the world. A schema is a product of the child’s experiences and can represent objects, events, or concepts.
For example, a child can develop the schema of a dog. At first, the word “dog” only refers to the first dog they meet, but over time, the word comes to represent all dogs. When a child is putting this schema together, they may call every furry, four-legged animal a dog before they master the category.
In addition to creating new schemas, children can adapt their existing schemas based on new experiences.
As a child ages, they form more schemas and adapt existing schemas to allow them a greater understanding of the world. In this sense, schemas are a way of structuring acquired knowledge.
* Two key concepts related to schemas are assimilation and accommodation *:
* · Assimilation is where a child uses a pre-existing schema to understand a new object or situation. It occurs when humans are faced with new or unfamiliar information and refer to previously learned information in order to make sense of it.
* · Accommodation is where a child adapts a pre-existing schema to fit a new experience or object. This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation. This process is more mentally challenging than assimilation. Accommodation is imperative because it is how people will continue to interpret new concepts, schemas, frameworks, and more. *
*Equilibration*
Equilibration motivates a child to continue through the stages of cognitive development.
When a child experiences assimilation, their world view is inaccurate, and they are in a state of disequilibrium. This motivates the child to accommodate new information, to reach a state of equilibrium.
*Challenges to Piaget’s stage theory*
Piaget made many significant contributions to how people think about child development with his theory. However, it is not without criticisms, such as:
*· There is inconsistent evidence for these four stages across different children.
*· Evidence suggests that children can perform certain cognitive tasks at a younger age than Piaget suggests is possible.
*· Piaget’s theory does not account for other influences on cognitive development, such as social and cultural influences.
*· Piaget does not specify which psychological processes drive these developmental changes.
Piaget's theory has been said to undervalue the influence that culture has on cognitive development. Piaget demonstrates that a child goes through several stages of cognitive development and come to conclusions on his own, however, a child's socio-cultural environment plays an important part in their cognitive development. Social interaction teaches the child about the world and helps them develop through the cognitive stages, which Piaget neglected to consider.
More recent work from a newer dynamic systems approach has strongly challenged some of the basic presumptions of the "core knowledge" school that Piaget suggested. Dynamic systems approaches harken to modern neuroscientific research that was not available to Piaget when he was constructing his theory. This brought new light into research in psychology in which new techniques such as brain imaging provided new understanding to cognitive development. One important finding is that domain-specific knowledge is constructed as children develop and integrate knowledge. This enables the domain to improve the accuracy of the knowledge as well as organization of memories. However, this suggests more of a "smooth integration" of learning and development than either Piaget, or his neo-nativist critics, had envisioned. Additionally, some psychologists, such as Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner, thought differently from Piaget, suggesting that language was more important for cognition development than Piaget implied.
*How to use Piaget’s theory*
Interaction with other children will help a child’s development.
Piaget’s theory centers on the idea that children, as little scientists, need to explore, interact with, and experiment in order to gain the information they need to understand their world.
Caregivers and educators can put Piaget’s theory into practice by providing plenty of opportunities for children to explore their environment. This includes letting them learn by trial and error and by experimenting with their environment.
In the early stages, people can help a child learn better by giving them new and interesting toys to play with and answering the questions they ask about the world. Providing challenging new objects and situations can create disequilibrium, which encourages the child to learn to reach equilibrium.
In later stages, word puzzles, problem-solving tasks, and logic puzzles will help their cognitive development.
Allowing a child to interact with other children may also help enhance their learning, especially those of a similar or slightly higher developmental stage to their own.
Summary
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development had a significant impact on how people understand childhood development today. Piaget suggests that children go through four distinct stages of cognitive development from birth to adulthood.
Each stage includes certain milestones where the child demonstrates a more sophisticated understanding of the world. Piaget believes that development occurs through a continuous drive to expand and adapt schemas, or understandings about the world. However, some people have criticized Piaget’s theory.
People can also explore other theories of cognitive development, such as Vygotsky and Montessori theories.
*Theory of Social and Emotional Development by Erikson: Concept, Stages and Implications with special reference to Indian context*
KEY POINTS
o During each of Erikson’s eight development stages, two conflicting ideas must be resolved successfully in order for a person to become a confident and contributing member of society. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy.
o Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development include trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame/doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair.
o Erikson also expanded upon Freud’s stages by discussing the cultural implications of development; certain cultures may need to resolve the stages in different ways based upon their cultural and survival needs.
TERMS
· autonomy: Self-government; freedom to act or function independently.
· psychosocial: Having both psychological and social aspects.
Erikson’s Theory
Erik Erikson (1902–1994) was a stage theorist who took Freud’s controversial theory of psychosexual development and modified it into an eight-stage as a psychosocial theory of development. Erikson emphasized that the ego makes positive contributions to development by mastering attitudes, ideas, and skills at each stage of development. This mastery helps children grow into successful, contributing members of society. During each of Erikson’s eight stages, there is a psychological conflict that must be successfully overcome in order for a child to develop into a healthy, well-adjusted adult.
*Stages Of Psychosocial Development*
*1.Trust vs. Mistrust*
From birth to 12 months of age, infants must learn that adults can be trusted. This occurs when adults meet a child’s basic needs for survival. Infants are dependent upon their caregivers, so caregivers who are responsive and sensitive to their infant’s needs help their baby to develop a sense of trust; their baby will see the world as a safe, predictable place. Unresponsive caregivers who do not meet their baby’s needs can engender feelings of anxiety, fear, and mistrust; their baby may see the world as unpredictable. If infants are treated cruelly or their needs are not met appropriately, they will likely to grow up with a sense of mistrust for people in the world.
*2. Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt*
As toddlers (ages 1–3 years) begin to explore their world, they learn that they can control their actions and act on their environment to get results. They begin to show clear preferences for certain elements of the environment, such as food, toys, and clothing. A toddler’s main task is to resolve the issue of autonomy vs. shame and doubt by working to establish independence. This is the “me do it” stage. For example, we might observe a budding sense of autonomy in a 2-year-old child who wants to choose her clothes and dress herself. Although her outfits might not be appropriate for the situation, her input in such basic decisions has an effect on her sense of independence. If denied the opportunity to act on her environment, she may begin to doubt her abilities, which could lead to low self-esteem and feelings of shame.
*3. Initiative vs. Guilt*
Once children reach the preschool stage (ages 3–6 years), they are capable of initiating activities and asserting control over their world through social interactions and play. According to Erikson, preschool children must resolve the task of initiative vs. guilt. By learning to plan and achieve goals while interacting with others, preschool children can master this task. Initiative, a sense of ambition and responsibility, occurs when parents allow a child to explore within limits and then support the child’s choice. These children will develop self-confidence and feel a sense of purpose. Those who are unsuccessful at this stage—with their initiative misfiring or stifled by over-controlling parents—may develop feelings of guilt.
*4. Industry vs. Inferiority*
During the elementary school stage (ages 6–12), children face the task of industry vs. inferiority. Children begin to compare themselves with their peers to see how they measure up. They either develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their schoolwork, sports, social activities, and family life, or they feel inferior and inadequate because they feel that they don’t measure up. If children do not learn to get along with others or have negative experiences at home or with peers, an inferiority complex might develop into adolescence and adulthood.
*5. Identity vs. Role Confusion*
In adolescence (ages 12–18), children face the task of identity vs. role confusion. According to Erikson, an adolescent’s main task is developing a sense of self. Adolescents struggle with questions such as “Who am I?” and “What do I want to do with my life?” Along the way, most adolescents try on many different selves to see which ones fit; they explore various roles and ideas, set goals, and attempt to discover their “adult” selves. Adolescents who are successful at this stage have a strong sense of identity and are able to remain true to their beliefs and values in the face of problems and other people’s perspectives. When adolescents are apathetic, do not make a conscious search for identity, or are pressured to conform to their parents’ ideas for the future, they may develop a weak sense of self and experience role confusion. They will be unsure of their identity and confused about the future. Teenagers who struggle to adopt a positive role will likely struggle to “find” themselves as adults.
*6. Intimacy vs. Isolation*
People in early adulthood (20s through early 40s) are concerned with intimacy vs. isolation. After we have developed a sense of self in adolescence, we are ready to share our life with others. However, if other stages have not been successfully resolved, young adults may have trouble developing and maintaining successful relationships with others. Erikson said that we must have a strong sense of self before we can develop successful intimate relationships. Adults who do not develop a positive self-concept in adolescence may experience feelings of loneliness and emotional isolation.
*7. Generativity vs. Stagnation*
When people reach their 40s, they enter the time known as middle adulthood, which extends to the mid-60s. The social task of middle adulthood is generativity vs. stagnation. Generativity involves finding your life’s work and contributing to the development of others through activities such as volunteering, mentoring, and raising children. During this stage, middle-aged adults begin contributing to the next generation, often through childbirth and caring for others; they also engage in meaningful and productive work which contributes positively to society. Those who do not master this task may experience stagnation and feel as though they are not leaving a mark on the world in a meaningful way; they may have little connection with others and little interest in productivity and self-improvement.
*8. Integrity vs. Despair*
From the mid-60s to the end of life, we are in the period of development known as late adulthood. Erikson’s task at this stage is called integrity vs. despair. He said that people in late adulthood reflect on their lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction or a sense of failure. People who feel proud of their accomplishments feel a sense of integrity, and they can look back on their lives with few regrets. However, people who are not successful at this stage may feel as if their life has been wasted. They focus on what “would have,” “should have,” and “could have” been. They face the end of their lives with feelings of bitterness, depression, and despair.
*Implications of theory*
You as teachers play a vital role in influencing the child’s psychosocial development; hence you should know many things about children and about your students in particular. You need to understand that each student learns in his or her own way, at his or her rate and in his or her time. You need to identify that this process of learning is based on social, physical and personal factors.
You must know where each student ranks in his or her achievement of developmental tasks. If a student is found to be below expected developmental level, then you can discuss the child’s needs with the parents, other teachers, and school personnel. You need to set specific objectives and goals for each lesson, keeping in mind the developmental needs of all students. You can plan appropriate strategies to assist the child where needed. Let us have a look at such instances.
· Allow the child to play with various natural, simple materials, and role-playing for the expression of fantasy and imagination.
· Games, stories and songs also stimulate the imagination of the child. Not only young children benefit from stories, but adolescents also play roles in their own and other people’s stories in order to understand where they fit into the world around.
· Real-life activities like serving food, chopping vegetables or making chapattis, prepare children for participation in the community around them.
· Child-directed activities where the child chooses his or her activity and repeats it as often as they want must be encouraged. This serves as an opportunity for the child to show initiative and take responsibility. Ridiculing, making fun of the child's imagination and subtle or overt expectation can inhibit the natural sense of initiative. Also, the child's initiative can be distorted by linking it to reward and performance. Lying should also be dealt with sensitivity at this age, as children tend to create imaginative stories which may not be similar to lying. Discouraging initiative by encouraging guilt or shame may lead to a repressed child, or to one who does things using cunning tricks.
Erikson’s psychosocial theory is a very powerful way for building self-awareness and for improving oneself, as it helps to understand a person’s learning according to his or her personal differences. Hence, it is an integral part of the academics because it helps in teaching and helping others.
One of the strengths of psychosocial theory is that it provides a broad framework from which to view development throughout the entire lifespan. It also allows us to emphasize the social nature of human beings and the important influence that social relationships have on development.
As such Erikson's theory is useful for teaching, parenting, self-awareness, managing and coaching, dealing with conflict, and generally for understanding self and others.
Erikson's model of psychosocial development is a very significant, highly regarded and meaningful concept.
· Life is a series of lessons and challenges which help us to grow. Erikson's wonderful theory helps to tell us why.
· The theory is helpful for child development and adults too.
Erik Erikson first published his eight-stage theory of human development in his 1950 book Childhood and Society. The chapter featuring the model was titled 'The Eight Ages of Man'.
The word 'psychosocial' is Erikson's term, effectively from the words psychological (mind) and social (relationships).
· Erikson believed that his psychosocial principle is genetically inevitable in shaping human development. It occurs in all people.
· He also referred to his theory as 'epigenesis' and the 'epigenetic principle', which signified the concept's relevance to evolution (past and future) and genetics.
Erikson explained his use of the word 'epigenesis' thus: "...epi can mean 'above' in space as well as 'before' in time and in connection with genesis can well represent the space-time nature of all development..."
In Erikson's theory, Epigenetic therefore does not refer to individual genetic make-up and its influence on individual development. This was not central to Erikson's ideas.
· Erikson, like Freud, was largely concerned with how personality and behaviour are influenced after birth - not before birth - and especially during childhood. In the 'nature v nurture' (genes v experience) debate, Erikson was firmly focused on nurture and experience.
· Erikson's psychosocial theory is very powerful for self-awareness and improvement, and for teaching and helping others.
While Erikson's model emphasises the sequential significance of the eight character-forming crisis stages, the concept also asserts that humans continue to change and develop throughout their lives, and that personality is not exclusively formed during early childhood years. This is a helpful and optimistic idea, and many believe it is realistic too. It is certainly a view that greatly assists encouraging oneself and others to see the future as an opportunity for positive change and development, instead of looking back with blame and regret.
The better that people come through each crisis, the better they will tend to deal with what lies ahead, but this is not to say that all is lost and never to be recovered if a person has had a negative experience during any particular crisis stage. Lessons can be revisited successfully when they recur, if we recognise and welcome them.
Everyone can change and grow, no matter what has gone before. And as ever, understanding why we are like we are - gaining meaningful self-awareness - is always a useful and important step forward. Erikson's theory, along with many other concepts featured on this website, helps to enable this meaningful understanding and personal growth.
Erikson's psychosocial theory should be taught to everyone - especially to school children, teachers and parents - it's certainly accessible enough, and would greatly assist all people of all ages to understand the connections between life experiences and human behaviour - and particularly how grown-ups can help rather than hinder children's development into rounded emotionally mature people.
Erikson was keen to improve the way children and young people are taught and nurtured, and it would be appropriate for his ideas to be more widely known and used in day-to-day life, beyond the clinical and counselling professions.
*Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development : Concept, Stages and Implications with special reference to Indian context*
*Kohlberg’s stages of moral development*
Kohlberg identified three levels of moral reasoning: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional. Each level is associated with increasingly complex stages of moral development.
*Level 1: Pre-conventional*
Throughout the pre-conventional level, a child’s sense of morality is externally controlled. Children accept and believe the rules of authority figures, such as parents and teachers. A child with pre-conventional morality has not yet adopted or internalized society’s conventions regarding what is right or wrong, but instead focuses largely on external consequences that certain actions may bring.
*Stage 1: Obedience-and-Punishment Orientation*
Stage 1 focuses on the child’s desire to obey rules and avoid being punished. For example, an action is perceived as morally wrong because the perpetrator is punished; the worse the punishment for the act is, the more “bad” the act is perceived to be.
*Stage 2: Instrumental Orientation*
Stage 2 expresses the “what’s in it for me?” position, in which right behavior is defined by whatever the individual believes to be in their best interest. Stage two reasoning shows a limited interest in the needs of others, only to the point where it might further the individual’s own interests. As a result, concern for others is not based on loyalty or intrinsic respect, but rather a “you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours” mentality. An example would be when a child is asked by his parents to do a chore. The child asks “what’s in it for me?” and the parents offer the child an incentive by giving him an allowance.
*Level 2: Conventional*
Throughout the conventional level, a child’s sense of morality is tied to personal and societal relationships. Children continue to accept the rules of authority figures, but this is now due to their belief that this is necessary to ensure positive relationships and societal order. Adherence to rules and conventions is somewhat rigid during these stages, and a rule’s appropriateness or fairness is seldom questioned.
*Stage 3: Good Boy, Nice Girl Orientation*
In stage 3, children want the approval of others and act in ways to avoid disapproval. Emphasis is placed on good behavior and people being “nice” to others.
*Stage 4: Law-and-Order Orientation*
In stage 4, the child blindly accepts rules and convention because of their importance in maintaining a functioning society. Rules are seen as being the same for everyone, and obeying rules by doing what one is “supposed” to do is seen as valuable and important. Moral reasoning in stage four is beyond the need for individual approval exhibited in stage three. If one person violates a law, perhaps everyone would—thus there is an obligation and a duty to uphold laws and rules. Most active members of society remain at stage four, where morality is still predominantly dictated by an outside force.
*Level 3: Post-conventional*
Throughout the post-conventional level, a person’s sense of morality is defined in terms of more abstract principles and values. People now believe that some laws are unjust and should be changed or eliminated. This level is marked by a growing realization that individuals are separate entities from society and that individuals may disobey rules inconsistent with their own principles. Post-conventional moralists live by their own ethical principles—principles that typically include such basic human rights as life, liberty, and justice—and view rules as useful but changeable mechanisms, rather than absolute dictates that must be obeyed without question because post-conventional individuals elevate their own moral evaluation of a situation over social conventions. Their behavior, especially at stage six, can sometimes be confused with that of those at the pre-conventional level. Some theorists have speculated that many people may never reach this level of abstract moral reasoning.
*Stage 5: Social-Contract Orientation*
In stage 5, the world is viewed as holding different opinions, rights, and values. Such perspectives should be mutually respected as unique to each person or community. Laws are regarded as social contracts rather than rigid edicts. Those that do not promote the general welfare should be changed when necessary to meet the greatest good for the greatest number of people. This is
achieved through majority decision and inevitable compromise. Democratic government is theoretically based on stage five reasoning.
*Stage 6: Universal-Ethical-Principle Orientation*
In stage 6, moral reasoning is based on abstract reasoning using universal ethical principles. Generally, the chosen principles are abstract rather than concrete and focus on ideas such as equality, dignity, or respect. Laws are valid only insofar as they are grounded in justice, and a commitment to justice carries with it an obligation to disobey unjust laws. People choose the ethical principles they want to follow, and if they violate those principles, they feel guilty. In this way, the individual acts because it is morally right to do so (and not because he or she wants to avoid punishment), it is in their best interest, it is expected, it is legal, or it is previously agreed upon. Although Kohlberg insisted that stage six exists, he found it difficult to identify individuals who consistently operated at that level.
*Critiques Of Kohlberg’s Theory*
Kohlberg has been criticized for his assertion that women seem to be deficient in their moral reasoning abilities when compared to men. Carol Gilligan (1982), a research assistant of Kohlberg, criticized her former mentor’s theory because it was based so narrowly on research using white, upper-class men and boys. She argued that women are not deficient in their moral reasoning and instead proposed that males and females reason differently: girls and women focus more on staying connected and maintaining interpersonal relationships.
Kohlberg’s theory has been criticized for emphasizing justice to the exclusion of other values, with the result that it may not adequately address the arguments of those who value other moral aspects of actions. Similarly, critics argue that Kohlberg’s stages are culturally biased—that the highest stages in particular reflect a westernized ideal of justice based on individualistic thought. This is biased against those that live in non-Western societies that place less emphasis on individualism.
Another criticism of Kohlberg’s theory is that people frequently demonstrate significant inconsistency in their moral judgements. This often occurs in moral dilemmas involving drinking and driving or business situations where participants have been shown to reason at a lower developmental stage, typically using more self-interest driven reasoning (i.e., stage two) than authority and social order obedience driven reasoning (i.e., stage four). Critics argue that Kohlberg’s theory cannot account for such inconsistencies.
· A "sentential" stage, said to occur before the early preoperational stage, has been proposed by Fischer, Biggs and Biggs, Commons, and Richards.
· Jerome Bruner has expressed views on cognitive development in a "pragmatic orientation" in which humans actively use knowledge for practical applications, such as problem solving and understanding reality.
*· Lawrence Kohlberg's theory on moral development can be applied to the classroom where rules, standards, and consequences are concerned. The theory tracks an individual's level of moral reasoning by assigning him to one of six stages, where the first stage is a basic submission to authority and the last is universal ethics for all. As an educator, consider where your students' personal development lies in terms of Kohlberg's six stages. Then work toward achieving optimal moral character along the lines of Kohlberg's level six "Universal Principles" for a positive and constructive learning environment.
*· Students at stage one behave appropriately to avoid punishment. At stage two, students behave to earn rewards. By stage three, students start thinking about other people and caring about their expectations. Give students the opportunity to help create a classroom code of conduct. In this way, they will become responsible for the rules that they set and follow them accordingly, rather than blindly agreeing to standards set by school administrators or other authorities.
*· Allow for a written self evaluation as part of any disciplinary consequence. It does not have to be lengthy, but it should provide the student with adequate time to review their own reasoning for misbehavior and to come up with a solution for the future. This type of action relates to Kohlberg's fourth stage of morality, in which individuals do their part to maintain order by reflecting on the impact of their words and actions.
*· Plan group projects where students work together toward the understanding of curriculum instead of sitting back and listening to the teacher talk at them. Group activities encourage engagement. Responsibility for learning is placed squarely onto the students, facilitating adherence to the classroom goal of educational enrichment. Collaborative learning supports Kohlberg's fifth morality stage, which relates to upholding a social contract.
*· Make time for role play, whether it be related to the curriculum or used as a problem solving tool. By acting or seeing situations through the eyes of others, students gain a more broad understanding of what is taking place. This helps them to make decisions based not on themselves, but on a commitment to the group. Similarly, they have advanced to Kohlberg's sixth stage, in which the needs of every person in society are worth considering. In a classroom, a brief skit or scenario can help students focus on making sure everyone is involved and engaged in learning.
Social – Constructivist Theory (Vygostky & Bandura) : Concept, Nature & Educational Implications
* Social Constructivism: Vygotsky’s Theory *
* Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding *
* Thought and Speech *
* Implications for Education *
* VYGOTSKY’S INFLUENCE ON EDUCATION *
* Contrasting Piaget and Vygotsky *
** KEEP VISITING THE BLOG FOR UPDATE ON FOLLOWING**
Developmental psychology theories
Piaget's theory of child development
Vygotsky's theory of child development
Erikson's stages of psychosocial development
Behavioral theories of child development
Cognitive development in children
Social-emotional development theories
Attachment theory
Nature vs. nurture in child development
Ecological systems theory
Socio-cultural perspectives on child development
Zone of proximal development
Psychoanalytic theories of child development
Critical periods in child development
Theory of cognitive development by Piaget
Four stages of development
Sensorimotor stage
Object permanence
Preoperational stage
Mental imagery
Conservation
Concrete operational stage
Schema
Formal operational stage
Theory of Social & Emotional development by Erik Erikson
Stages of psychosocial development
Kohlberg's theory of Moral development
Stages of Moral development
This Hard work will be rewarded. Keep working , success is ahead.
ReplyDelete