The article authored by Cherry (2017), titled Child Development Theories and Examples evaluates children behavior at different stages. The author uses qualitative research to examine theories by different scholars such as Piaget’s cognitive development theory and Bowlby’s attachment theory (Cherry, 2017). The extensively studies theories linked with cognitive child development while scrutinizing contribution of various factors such as behavior and environment in shaping infants growth. The study offers insightful revelation on social learning theories that are acquired by children through learning and modeling (Lubke, McArtor, Boomsma, & Bartels, 2018). The scholarly material cuts across the latest psychological theories that integrate multiple perspectives such as genetics and environment in demystifying child development.
Child development theories mainly explain how children change and grow over the course of childhood. The approaches focus on life aspects such as social, emotional, cognitive, and emotional growth. The theories provide a framework for thinking about human growth and development. It is important to note that child development has changed over the years, hence the need to study various developmental stages and theories. It allows the learners to be aware of the various changes that happen at different stages of growth and appreciate the cognitive, emotional, physical, social, and educational growth that a child passes through (Shute, 2015). On this paper, we summarize an article, "Child Development Theories and Examples," discuss a psychological theory that applies to cognitive growth and the relationship between the two, and give a personal reaction to the article.
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The cognitive theory is concerned with the development of a person’s thought processes. The theory majors on how the thought processes influence how we understand and interact with the world. Theorist Piaget’s cognitive development theory seeks to describe and explain the development of the thought processes and mental state. In this theory, Piaget described the steps and the sequences of a children’s intellectual development. The steps are as follow:
The sensorimotor stage: the stage between birth and age two where the infant’s knowledge of the world is limited to their sensory perceptions and motor activities. In this stage, the child’s behaviors are limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli.
The preoperational stage: age between two and six where a child learns the use of language. At this stage, children are yet to understand the concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information and cannot take the point of view of other people.
The concrete operational stage: the stage between seven and eleven where children gain a better understanding of mental operations. They begin to think logically about concrete events but have difficulties understanding abstract and hypothetical concepts.
The formal operational stage: the period between twelve and adulthood where people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts. Skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning.
There is a direct relationship between the Piaget’s cognitive development theory and the psychological aspect of a child's growth. This can be seen in the way a child develops their cognitive features as their psychology develops. Hence, one cannot develop in the retardation of the other. The children who have stunted growth rates suffer from disorders that well relate to their failed cognitive growth.
The article offers insights that enhances my knowledge in child development. The exploration of various child development theories provides exciting learning experience that is critical in understanding human development and behavior. For instance, Bandura social learning theory equips me with comprehension of how observation plays a critical role in development of child behaviors. I like the comparison of different child development theories by the author. The comparison provides diverse perspectives of understanding children growth stages. However, I did not like the structure of the article. The author does not provide summative conclusion. The scholar does not also reveal how the article contributes to the existing body of knowledge. Either, the article does not recommend areas of further studies. The article discusses the developmental stages of a child to their respective adulthood. We note that children do not just grow but follow the same stages as discussed above and that explains the way they behave as they do. Moreover, the article enlightens on why different children behave differently at different ages, according to their cognitive stage. However, the article does not give the developmental changes in bias to the gender. The author has not guided on how different boys develop from girls in any stage of life. Thus, we cannot definitely tell the way boys develop as opposed to girls and the other way round.
References
Cherry, K. (2017). Child Development Theories and Examples. Some Key Ideas About How Children Grow and Develop. Verywellmind. Retrieved from , https://www.verywellmind.com/child-development-theories-2795068
Lubke, G. H., McArtor, D. B., Boomsma, D. I., & Bartels, M. (2018). Genetic and environmental contributions to the development of childhood aggression. Developmental Psychology , 54 (1), 39-50.
Shute, R. H., & Slee, P. T. (2015). Child development: Theories and critical perspectives . Routledge.
