Cognitive Development By Jean Piaget And The Theory Of Child Development

Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development proposes that the developmental process of a child is the result of their brains maturity, their nervous system, and environmental factors. He believes the foundation of a child's ability to learn is through discovery learning (Gordon & Browne, 2016). Piaget suggests that a child’s logic of thinking is different from that of an adults. Children’s cognitive performance is directly related to the stage of development that they are in currently. Additionally, these stages are divided into sub-stages to provide greater insight into a child’s cognitive growth process. The initial stages of development is considered a difficult point to try to determine a child’s developmental

Known to be a discontinuous form of cognitive development that goes through a set of stages. Piaget’s developmental theory takes’ only one course of development but, is well-assumed that it is universal. The influence of nature and nurture is found to be in

Jean Piaget is a key figure for development, focusing on cognitive constructivism – that being that we must learn from experience and development, building on knowledge that has already been developed. The strengths and weaknesses of Piaget 's cognitive development theory will be discussed.

Jean Piaget, was a trained biologist who was employed at the Binet Institute, where his main job was to develop a French version of an intelligence test. Piaget was very interested in the reason why children would give wrong answers to questions which called for some type of logical thinking. It was believed by Piaget that these wrong answers showed some very drastic differences between the way children and adults both thought ( McLeod, 2015), this is where his theory of Cognitive Development came in, Piaget’s work is described as being the origins of thinking or genetic epistemology (McLeod, 2015), Genetics is where one studies the origins of something. Epistemology discusses the categories of thinking, basically, it shows the properties of structural intelligence. Piaget’s Cognitive Development theory branched off into three different branches, the first one being Schema, the Adaption Process that allow transitions from one stage to another, and finally the four Stages of Development

On the other hand, Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner have also offered theories about cognitive development for foundation year children. First, Piaget mainly approved on the interaction between the child and his environment. He believed the child can only learn when regularly interacting with his environment through “making mistakes and then learning from them” (Eddy, 2010). He saw the child as the only scientist who learns from his own experiences. Whilst, Bruner saw that young children are able to learn mathematics by exploring and discovering on their own. As well as, through interacting creatively with well-informed adults and peers who can offer

Just like Sigmund Freud, Erikson believed in the significance of early childhood. However, he believed that an individual’s personality development occurs over the individual’s entire course of life. In the early 1960s, Erik Erikson proposed a theory that provided a description of eight different stages of human development (Scheck, 2014). According to him, in each phase, individuals face new challenges and the outcome of the stage depends on how individuals handle the encountered challenges (Scheck, 2014). The stages are named based on the possible outcomes.

The field of child development has been greatly influenced by Jean Piaget’s cognitive-development theory. According to this theory, as a child’s brain develops and their knowledge increases they transition through four cognitive developmental stages, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.

According to Piaget (1957), cognitive development was a continuous restructuring of mental processes due to varied situations and experiencing the world and maturing biologically. His view of cognitive development would have us look inside a child’s head and glimpse the inborn process of change that thinking goes through. “He was mainly interested in the biological influences on “how we come to know’” (Huitt and Hummel, 2003). Piaget’s views helps us to have appropriate expectations about children’s mental abilities during different periods of development, especially in terms of logical-mathematical intelligence, and that it was our ability as humans to think abstractly that differentiated us (Science and Cognitive Development). There are three elements of Piaget’s cognitive development theory: schemas, the adaptation process and stages of development. Schemas are basically mental templates of knowledge that individuals use to help make sense of the world around them. The adaptation process which allows for the transition from one stage to another, including assimilation, accommodation and equilibrium and the stages of development in which each child must pass through.

Cognitive developmental theory is founded on the idea that children gain knowledge by exploring and influencing the world that is all around them. According to Mossler (2014) “After many years of observing the mental limitations of children, including his own, Piaget came to the conclusion that children of

Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development has both similarities and differences. Both Piaget and Vygotsky's theories of cognitive development offers explanations for a child’s cognitive learning styles and abilities. Their theories on cognitive development focus on the emphasis of children’s development.

Since the 20th century, the development of psychology is constantly expanding. Erikson and Piaget are two of the ealier well known theorist, both being significant in the field. Their belief 's are outlined in Piaget 's Cognitive Development Theory and Erikson 's Psychosocial Development Theory. These theories, both similar and different, have a certain significance as the stages are outlined.Erikson and Piaget were similar in their careers and made huge progressions in child development and education. With the same goals in my, their theories still had many key distinctions. Erikson used broad life points to identify his stages. His theory concentrated on the entire development process in life through eight stages. His belief was that the environment interacts with a person, which influences their development. The progression of stages depend on how one handles encounters of crisis and success. Erikson believed the ego develops as it solves social problems. Piaget 's theory of cognitive development is based on a person 's thought process. The infancy through adolescence, broken down emphasizes earlier stages prior to age twelve. These two psychologists differ on the aspect of time, only slightly overlapping in the infant years.

Jean Piaget is considered to be very influential in the field of developmental psychology. Piaget had many influences in his life which ultimately led him to create the Theory of Cognitive Development. His theory has multiple stages and components. The research done in the early 1900’s is still used today in many schools and homes. People from various cultures use his theory when it comes to child development. Although there are criticisms and alternatives to his theory, it is still largely used today around the world.

Erikson continued the theory of the id, ego, and superego. However, unlike Freud, Erikson believed that personality development cannot be explained or identified solely based on sexuality. He believed that society and culture also influence psychosocial development. According to Erikson, we are innately born with certain personality traits and, then our environment and upbringing continue to mold us. Each stage of development builds upon the previous and makes the way for the stages to come. Each stage would have a “crisis” or a developmental hurdle to jump, but it is our ego’s job to find a solution to further development. In his theory there are eight stages. The outcome for each stage does not have to be permanent, and can be changed by what we may experience in future stages of life.

Erik Erikson is a well-known psychologist one of his most well-known theories is the stages of psychological development. With Erikson’s theory he takes on the idea that social events or situations will affect a person’s personality throughout one’s life rather than just when they are developing in their childhood. His big idea was about identity and how a person develops their identity, with this is where he came up with the identity crisis and the eight stages of development. The eight stages are trust verse mistrust, autonomy verses shame and doubt, initiative verse guilt, industry verses inferiority, identity verses role confusion, intimacy verses isolation, generatively verses stagnation, and ego integrity verses despair shape us as individuals and are a guideline to follow.

Jean Piaget, a cognitivist, believed children progressed through a series of four key stages of cognitive development. These four major stages, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational, are marked by shifts in how people understand the world. Although the stages correspond with an approximate age, Piaget’s stages are flexible in that if the child is ready they can reach a stage. Jean Piaget developed the Piagetian cognitive development theory. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development proposes that a child’s intellect, or cognitive ability, progresses through four distinct stages. The emergence of new abilities and ways of processing information characterize each stage. Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of mental development. His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge, but also on understanding the nature of intelligence.