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David Pelzer's A Child Called It

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Introduction
This paper evaluates how David Pelzer develops in his memoir, A Child Called “It”. Pelzer is evaluated using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model, Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model demonstrates how Pelzer’s environment impacted his development greatly. Pelzer is greatly influenced through others by how they treat him. Throughout this memoir, Pelzer is in the concrete operations stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. The reader is also able to see Pelzer’s development from preconventional morality to conventional morality using Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning.
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model
Bronfenbrenner’s …show more content…

The first of the four stages, sensorimotor, occurs from birth to the time the child is two years old. The preoperational stage begins when the child is about two years old and continues until the child is seven. The next stage, and also the stage in which Pelzer is in during a greater part of this memoir, is the concrete operational stage. This stage continues until the child is roughly eleven years old. The final stage lasts into adulthood. This stage is called formal …show more content…

The reader sees the development in Pelzer from an innocent child to a young, traumatized teen. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model illustrated how Pelzer’s environment impacted his development as a child. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development shows why Pelzer reacted as he did to the abuse as he moved from the preconventional stage to the conventional stage. The final theory, Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning, also helped explain why Pelzer did not speak out against his mother as he endured the

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