Piaget’s cognitive stage theory recognizes childhood cognitive development taking place in successive stages. The minds of children are assumed to advance rationally. Piaget argues that a child gets to pass through the phase of random movements, trial, and error, post-trial error before they learn to explain issues from a logical point of view. Erikson agrees with Piaget since he believes that cognitive development in children follows a sequence before children mature mentally. Both Piaget and Erikson talk of symbolism in their theories. However, the concept of metaphor adopted by children is different according to the two theorists. Piaget acknowledges that children’s cognitive development through symbolizing numbers is purely mental. Erikson, on the other hand, claims that symbolism in children is entirely supported by the feelings and emotions of the heart (Baron-Cohen et al., 2013). Children’s use of plastic to test on blood pressure in play performance is a way of exploring their anxiety towards the hospital arena.
Skinner’s behaviorist theory contradicts with Piaget’s concept since Skinner fails to acknowledge the unfolding of stages in childhood cognitive development. According to Skinner, cognitive development occurs following the consequences of a child’s actions. Both theorists, however, agree that praises accorded to children by adults is destructive to their cognitive development. Children tend to try their best to impress adults to receive more compliments. Similar to Erikson’s theory, Vygotsky’s ideology revolves around culture and its effect on childhood cognitive development. Vygotsky socio-cultural theory and the Piaget theory agree on allowing children to explore the world on their own (File, 2012). Exploration trains a child to develop concepts and get perception concerning life. Piaget, for instance, argues that children should get provided with a rich environment that enables them to explore as much as they can. In support of Piaget, Vygotsky states that children should explore and get adult intervention only where necessary
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Theoretical Approaches to Cognitive Development in Childhood
Piaget’s Approach
Piaget is a believer in cognitive stage development. According to Piaget, children develop intelligence through the construction of imaginations in their mind concerning the surroundings. Biological maturation is what helps a child to acquire cognitive development. Throughout his studies, Piaget had no interest in explaining how children get to master numbering and spelling but rather how the concept of an estimate, quantity as well as justice got build in their minds. Children get to think more accurately compared to adults. Piaget mentions that children’s brains get structured in a way that allows learning and knowledge to occur in subsequent steps. Piaget’s stage development theory approaches cognitive development in four significant steps (File, 2012).
Newborn babies display random movements to indicate essential intelligence development. Most children begin to mumble words or display motions in their mouths. The second stage of cognitive development as per Piaget is the trial and error stage. Children try out puzzles, standing on their feet while holding on to chairs and tables. This stage gets considered vital since children get to learn a lot of things. After trying out almost everything that strikes their minds, children get to do tasks without necessarily trying them out (Engel et al., 2011). The fourth stage of cognitive development comes in during the early stage of adolescence when children can explain events through ideas in their minds.
Erikson’s psychoanalytical Approach
Erikson argued that cognitive development happens in an organized manner. Each psychological stage comes with challenges that impact either positively or negatively on a child. According to Erikson, trust and mistrust is an issue that contributes to the cognitive development of a child. Young children get to trust people around them if they get responded to accordingly in a manner that is reliable, readily available and consistent. Infants will lose trust in their caregivers if at all their needs are dealt with rudely. According to Erikson, autonomy is crucial to cognitive development in childhood (McLeod, 2011). As children grow, they realize their potential in doing things such as picking their toys, serving themselves water and a general sense of independence. Parents should, therefore, take note of their children’s will to participate in activities such as bathing otherwise children could protest by crying defensively. Initiative and guilt aid in cognitive childhood development. Children in the playgrounds or at school learn to associate with each other. At this stage, children tend to initiate games and conversations with their friends. At the age of between 5 and 12, the issue of industry vs. inferiority sets in every child’s mind. Teachers and peers begin to influence the cognitive development of the child.
Skinner’s Behaviorist Approach
According to Skinner, cognitive development in childhood is a result of lessons learned from mistakes. There exists a relationship between behavior and consequence felt by children. Skinner is a strong believer in behavior. Skinner refers behaviorist theory as operant conditioning since it analyses causes of an event and the outcome (McLeod, 2011). Children getting rewards for behaviors displayed get reinforcement to carry on with the behaviors. Punishment, however, is an indication to children to shun certain acts.
Le Vygotsky Social-cultural Development Theory Approach
Vygotsky approach emphasizes social interaction. According to this theorist, cognitive development best happens when a child gets to socialize with their environment. Social-cultural development first gets to occur on a common ground involving people and later on an individual level in mind (McLeod, 2011). Actual social interactions of children with parents and teachers aid in cognitive advancement. With adequate attention, logical mentality and concept formation, children get to boost their intellect. Other than children developing on their own, adult supervision and group interactions play a role in childhood cognitive development. Vygotsky also considers language as an essential aspect of cognitive development in childhood. Words spoken to children by adults help children get insight on some objects in life while learning to embrace inner speech.
Annie’s Cognitive Development
Being an average child, Annie is bound to go through successive steps while gaining cognitive development. Between birth and two years of age, Annie gets to know that certain objects exist. At this stage, the child starts to acquire cognition following the visual motor recognition. With time, Annie begins to symbolize things. The child represents numbers using fingers. Also, during this time, the toddler constantly tries fixing puzzles and engaging in other activities that revolve around cognitive development. At 11 years, Annie would have managed to make reasonable explanations (Laranjo et al., 2008). Piaget’s theory urges Annie’s parents to concentrate on the process of mental development other than the results. Also, the girl’s parents get to understand that Annie desires alone time to explore her surrounding before they can offer help.
Erikson’s psychoanalytical theory recognizes that Annie’s cognitive development is majorly through her emotions. While growing up, Annie would get to play with dolls. Dolls tend to create pictures in the child’s mind thus enabling her to symbolize objects particularly humans. Annie like any other child expects her parents to respond to her cries and needs at all times. How she gets treated will determine if she will trust them or lose hope concerning life (McLeod, 2011). This theory enlightens, Annie’s parents on the essence of the anal stage in their daughter’s cognitive development. Annie’s parents need to embrace autonomy by allowing the child to pick her toys, try to fit her shoes as well as fitting clothes to avoid cases of the doubt by the child later in her childhood.
According to Skinner’s theory, Annie’s cognitive development is likely to be influenced by exposure to the environment. Annie will get to imitate the behaviors of her parents while she grows up. Annie’s cognitive development will rely on the kind of actions she gets to indulge. Unlike previous theories, the child does not develop in stages but instead based on behaviors adopted. Annie’s parents are therefore advised to monitor their child. The reward and punishing of her behaviors help in cognitive development. Also, the parents need to learn that beating up Annie is never the proper form of punishment since this will instill rebellion in her. The Vygotsky concept indicates that Annie is a social being and her cognitive development will take place if she gets to interact with other people in society. Annie is expected to explore the world on her own and only seek help where necessary. Annie’s parents, therefore, get advised to allow their girl space to interact with fellow kids as well as adults (File, 2012). Social interaction boosts cognitive development. Further, the parents should learn to identify moments where they can offer assistance to Annie.
Role of society and Family in Annie’s Cognitive Development
Culture profoundly affects cognitive development during Annie’s childhood. As she grows up, Annie gets to value her parents’ cultural beliefs in regards to life. The culture of cooking certain meals, dressing gets instilled on Annie’s mind throughout her period of cognitive development. Psychosocial factors are bound to influence Annie’s cognitive development. As the child grows, she gets to experience the advancement of autonomy, the creation of identity as well as future orientation (File, 2012). High-quality care offered to Annie in child care centers is likely to impact positively on her cognitive development. The child gets to learn to trust adults in the child care institutions since she feels her needs get well attended.
Location of Annie’s parental home is very significant in shaping her cognitive development. The nearness of her home to a good recreational facility and school is of benefit to Annie. While growing, Annie gets to socialize with other children in the playground and within the school environment (McLeod, 2011). Also, the girl’s contact with teachers in school will allow her to seek any performance help in activities that appear complex to handle. Positive social views are good for any child like Annie who is still undergoing cognitive development. Annie’s cognitive development gets determined by the social networks surrounding her. Positive social links cultivate positive mental development in Annie. Children do copy what happens around them. Annie, therefore, will get to imitate activities of the adults and peers within her social circle. Annie’s social relationship with her parents also affects her cognitive development to a great extent.
References
Baron-Cohen, S., Tager-Flusberg, H., & Lombardo, M. (Eds.). (2013). Understanding other minds: Perspectives from developmental social neuroscience . Oxford University Press.
Engel, S. M., Wetmur, J., Chen, J., Zhu, C., Barr, D. B., Canfield, R. L., & Wolff, M. S. (2011). Prenatal exposure to organophosphates, paraoxonase 1, and cognitive development in childhood. Environmental health perspectives , 119 (8), 1182.
File, N. (2012). The relationship between child development and early childhood curriculum. In Curriculum in Early Childhood Education (pp. 43-55). Routledge.
Laranjo, J., Bernier, A., & Meins, E. (2008). Associations between maternal mind-mindedness and infant attachment security: Investigating the mediating role of maternal sensitivity. Infant Behavior and Development , 31 (4), 688-695.
McLeod, S. A. (2011). Bandura-social learning theory. Retrieved from .
