Emotional development of a child entails developing own experiences, expressing themselves, learning how to manage different emotions and being able to create constructive relationships with others. Therefore, during infancy, children tend to express themselves before they fully understand what they are doing. As they grow, they develop the ability to relate these emotions with those of others and hence create relationships with their peers, family members, teachers and the community around them. Continuous emotional development through childhood leads to positive behavior development hence a child can create better relationships with other people. Children’s positive emotional development depends on the positive behavior instilled in them by the people around them. They determine whether a child will develop positive or negative emotions (Social-Emotional Development Domain, n.d).
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are psychologists that have made paramount contribution in the field of psychology. They have developed theories to explain the learning abilities and styles of children based on their cognitive development. They have given educators or teachers good suggestions on how to disseminate information according to the age of the child. Despite each having tremendous contribution and support towards developmental psychology, they differ on other views. At the same time, there are similarities that exist in their cognitive theories (Sample, 2010). This paper will discuss in detail the differences and similarities that exist between the cognitive theories explained by the two psychological theorists and the emotional development.
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According to Jean Piaget, cognitive development from infancy through childhood occurs in four stages that follow each other chronologically. During these stages, the child develops emotionally, socially, intellectually and physically. The first stage of cognitive development is known as ‘sensorimotor’ (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2008). The stage occurs when the child is zero to two years. The child develops its own world where it discovers things through movement and senses. Before the child completes two years, he or she is able to understand that a certain object exists even when it cannot be seen. Additionally, there is understanding that performing one action leads to another also happening. Jean Piaget concludes that in this stage, a child is able to go back and perform an activity but cannot go back in their thoughts.
The second stage of Jean’s developmental theory is ‘preoperational stage’ (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2008). It takes place between the ages of two and seven. At this time, the child is not able to perform mental activities properly as discussed by Jean. They are not able to start and complete an activity perfectly. At the same time, they cannot let one person complete an action as they wait but would rather do it together. Furthermore, they think the quantity of an item remains the same whether it has been used up or not; the principle of conservation according to Jean. The third stage is ‘concrete operations’ stage which takes place from7 to 11 years. It involves learning through action or practical. It is at this stage that children tend to acquire more skills as compared to the first and second stage. There are three processes of reasoning that are acquired at this point; ‘compensation, identity and reversibility’ (Sample, 2010). A child can note the difference between tow objects and hence group them according to their characteristics.
The last stage of cognitive development according to Jean is ‘formal operations’ (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2008) which takes place from the age of 11 through adulthood. Not all people who go through this stage according to Jean and for those who complete it, they have high abilities of thought. Jean says that proper completion of this stage gives one the ability to think critically, be a better problem solver, have good decision making and communication skills. Piaget gives teachers suggestions on how to teach children of different ages. Between the ages of two and seven, a teacher will need to use more of illustrations and verbal language. The children also need to be involved in more practical sessions as compared to theory lessons.
The other developmental psychologist who developed cognitive theory was Lev Vygotsky. His theory was known as the ‘socio-cultural theory of development’ (Woolfolk, 2004). The theory gave a different view as compared to that of Jean. Lev stated in his theory that children learn through their everyday social interactions which contradicts with Jean’s that states that children learn based on the surrounding environment. Lev continued and said that we get to learn more when we talk to each other or when we communicate with each other through the various modes of communication. One gets to learn the culture of the other person by interacting with that person. As an individual learns, it becomes easier for her or him to have better skills when it comes to decision making and problem solving because they can apply the knowledge acquired earlier.
The other principle developed by Lev is ‘Scaffolding’ (Woolfolk, 2004). The principle states that a child or a student needs to be provided with skills for problem solving for or him to be better equipped when a problem or challenge occurs. Piaget stated that a child has no ability to think and needs to be at a certain age before the skills are acquired but as for Lev, the skill can be nurtured from a younger age as the child grows so that when they are older, they are in a position to solve any other problem or make a proper decision. Language development is another aspect that is important to Lev. He states that a person’s culture can be easily understood based on the kind of language they speak or the most common phrases in that language. A child also needs to know how to speak privately, that is, communicate with the inner self. According to Jean, development of this kind of speech is egocentric and children at the age of seven are not egocentric.
For an individual to a good problem solver, they have got to learn the skill through different tools which Lev refers to as ‘cultural tools’ (Woolfolk, 2004). These tools are the print and mass media. Utilization of the tools at an early age makes it easier for the child to use the tools in future. On the other hand, Piaget and Lev agree that a child becomes a better problem solver and decision maker through learning. At the same time, the two disagree on the same because Lev states that a child has the ability to solve any kind of problem provided they had earlier been guided on how to do it. The other view that the two psychologists disagree on is the process of learning. Jean says a learner should be able to find answers to questions with little assistance from the educators. On the other hand, Lev states that a learner needs a lot of guidance, especially in the classroom for her or him to identify the right answers (Sample, 2010).
Application of Lev’s views in teaching would create a very active learning experience. Learners are able to learn and acquire a lot of knowledge through the guidance of their educator. It also provides the learner with an opportunity to learn and discover more tools. Children learn on how to use the computers and how to learn from each other. Learning from each other is very important because a child internalizes more information. The major difference in the theories of Jean and Lev is that, Jean stated that children learn more as they grow, discovering new things and getting to know one another. As per Lev, culture and language development are very important when it comes to cognitive development (Sample, 2010).
In conclusion, Piaget and Lev contributed significantly to the field of psychology through their cognitive development theories. The major similarity is that they both agreed on the fact that through the development of a child, they develop problem solving skills, have a better ability to make decisions and think critically. Additionally, with or with less guidance, children need an older individual to take them through each stage so they get to develop better cognitively.
References
Kail, V. R. & Cavanaugh, C. J. (2008). Human Development: A Life-Span View. Wadsworth Publishing Company
Sample, I. (2010). Comparing Piaget and Vygotsky. Educational Psychology . Retrieved May 23, 2017 from http://www2.education.uiowa.edu/html/eportfolio/tep/07p075folder/Piaget_Vygotsky.htm
Woolfolk, A. (2004). Educational Psychology. (9th ed). Boston: Allyn and Bacon
Social-Emotional Development Domain. (n.d). Retrieved June 3, 2017 from http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/itf09socemodev.asp
