Psychology Paper and Self Reflection

The sensorimotor stage infants develop their schemas through sensory and motor activities. Followed by the preoperational stage where children begin to think symbolically using words, to represent concepts. Next concrete operational stage children display many important thinking skills, like ability to think logically. Finally, formal operational stage young adolescences formulate their operations by abstract and hypothetical thinking. Piaget’s theory provides ample and insightful perspectives, so it remains the central factor of contemporary

Piaget’s theory was introduced by Jean Piaget who established four periods of cognitive development. The four stages are; Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, and Formal operational. The sensorimotor is the first stage and begins when the child is born and proceeds until the age of two years. The second stage is the preoperational stage and begins with the child is two years old and continues until the child reaches six years of age. The concrete stage is the third stage and begins when the child is six years old and proceeds until the age of 11 years old. The formal operational stage is the fourth stage and

There is a lot of pressure growing up in a small town where everyone knows you. My mom raised me to alway express myself and to be open minded in life. In the small town I grew up in, everyone knew you and news spread fast. Because of this I tried being like others, instead of being true to myself like I was always told me. After letting go of the ridiculous idea that I have to be like others, I now have no problem letting my real self be seen and showing others that they can also be themselves.

Jean Piaget is another influential theorist who is known for his development of cognitive theory. This theory focuses on the development of an individuals thought processes along with how these thought processes influence the understanding and interaction with the world. Detailed observational studies of cognition in children, Piaget proposed that cognitive development occurs throughout four stages. The first stage is the sensorimotor stage: from birth to the age of two. This stage is where the child experiences his or her world through senses and movement. A child begins to understand that one action can cause another action. The second stage is the pre-operational stage, from two to seven years old. At this stage, a child is aware of the separation from the environment around them. They are able to represent things with words and images while using intuitive rather than logical reasoning. The third stage is concrete operations: from the ages of seven to eleven. This is a period in which a child will begin to

Piaget identified four stages of cognitive development from infancy to adulthood. During the sensorimotor stage (birth to two years), an infant experiences the world in terms of sensory information and motor activities. In the preoperational stage (two to seven years), children can think in mental images, but they sometimes think in ways that are illogical by adult standards. The concrete operational stage (seven to eleven years) is marked by increased ability to reason logically, except for abstract reasoning. In the formal operational stage (eleven years on), an individual uses full adult logic and understands abstract concepts.

During the preoperational stage, a child starts to learn how to communicate by the use of symbols. They are now able to use a more simple form of logical comphrendsion. This stage last from when a child is 2 years of age, all the way up to the age of 6. Another stage in Piaget’s developmental theory is the concrete operational stage. This stage consist of a child being able to rationalize simple “what if” types of questions. At this age children start thinking more logically. They are now capable of performing a variety of mental operations and thoughts using concrete concepts.

Between each milestone existed an adaptation phase in which the child is able to apply what they already know to what they will need to know for future stages. There are four stages of Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory which consist of sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The sensorimotor stage occurs from birth to 2 years of age and is characterized by the infant beginning to explore the world and tying together sensory information with motor skills while acquiring an understanding of objects continuing to exist, even when not present (object permanence). In the preoperational stage, occurring between 2 and 7 years, the child begins to develop language skills through use of symbols such as words and images and views themselves as being the center of everything (egocentrism). Illogical thinking is still evident. In the concrete operational phase, lasting from 7 to 11 years, the child’s reasoning becomes increasingly more logical and he or she begins to understand the idea of conservation after change in

Throughout ones life, their brain and way of thinking is constantly changing. Jean Piaget is a developmental scientist who studies how a persons thinking may change over time (Calvillo, 2014). There are four stages of stages of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development which include sensorimotor, pre operational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The first stage is sensorimotor which occurs from birth too two years of age. During this stage, the brain realizes there are certain consequences for their actions such as hearing a sound when squeezing a rubber duck. Also they began to to suck on things due to their development of motor skills. Another big part of this stage is object permanence which is when babies start to understand things exist even when they cannot see them. The second stage of cognitive development is pre operational which occurs from the years of two to seven. In this stage, children began to use their language with a purpose star to use their words with a purpose because they can distinguish the names by shapes or colors. Though they can do this, they can still not thing logically or put themselves in someone else's shoes.

In Piaget’s studies, he lists four stages that children go through in development. Starting at birth, a child goes through sensorimotor development. Sensorimotor development is often found through schemes that are based largely on behaviors and perceptions (Ormrod, 2012, p. 153). Throughout this stage, a child will acquire objects permanence and symbolic thought. Words spoken by those around the child begin to have a meaning such as milk, eat, or toy. Children begin experimenting with activities by touching objects, throwing toys, and sticking items in their mouth that is around them. The preoperational stage often emerges around the age of two. This change occurs while children are rapidly developing language and the symbolic thought it enables. Children during this stage can now think and talk about things beyond their immediate experiences. Language and intuitive thought are both acquired abilities during this stage. The vocabulary grows along with the grammatical structure of sentences. The thought processes begin to be based on intuition. For example, a two year old may remember touching a hot iron in the past so they realize when seeing the iron again, they do not need to touch it. They know the iron is hot without being able to grasp the concept of cause and effect in any situation. Between the ages of six and seven, a child goes through the concrete operational

The second stage within Piaget’s theory is known as the pre-operational stage, which covers children aged 2 - 7 years old. Doherty and Hughes (2014:39) describe this as being where children obtain major and minor motor skills, which will help them go through and control the world around them. This includes gross motor skills, such as running, and fine motor skills, such as drawing. Ault (1977:47), from the University of Utah, wrote about Piaget’s work, and said that one of the main components of the pre-operational stage is the development of symbolic functioning. This is known as the capability to make one thing embody something else which is not present. This can vary from highly concrete to highly abstract. An example that is given by Ault (1977:47) is about a

While completing the readings for this reflection paper, I found myself thinking just how important it is to obtain knowledge of one's history. I believe it is essential as it allows one to develop a more profound understanding and appreciation of each other as well as their work. Wilhelm Wundt was a very renowned human being affectionately credited as the founder of psychology as a science. He was quite inspirational, possessed an inquisitive mind, and believed in proving phenomena using experiments. It therefore comes as no surprise that he was the first to establish a formal experimental laboratory in the field of psychology. This accomplishment, of course, was primarily influenced by Hermon von Helmholtz and Gustav Fechner through their research on the measurement of reaction time and the idea of psychology as an experimental psychology respectively. Wundt's research was done through introspection a term more formally described as an experimental self-observation in which individuals own thoughts and feelings are carefully examined objectively.

I am now approaching the conclusion of my college career and starting to adjust to work life. This is a period of self-reflection and an attempt to put everything I learned into perspective. During this period of my life, I have been constantly thinking and contemplating my future. I feel very anxious yet nervous during this time while I am adjusting to this new stage of my life. When I was in High school my life was very structured, because I could be very dependent on peoples help and I obviously still lived with my family. When I went to college, I had to break away from that feeling of dependency and start the adjusting to adulthood. In college there was more responsibility and I started to become more independent. This was a crucial step in my life but choosing a career is going to be an even bigger step. It is a bigger step because; I have to start structuring my career goals and family goal for the future. At this moment all I can think about is my career, and how I can I keep improving myself for work life.

Is how aggressive an individual is determined only by his or her genes? Whether psychological and behavioral traits are purely determined by genetics, solely influenced by socialization, or a combination of both has been a highly debated topic within the field of psychology known as the “nature-nurture issue.” Today, although still disputed, a good number of psychologists and other scientists concur that genetics and the environment mutually influence and intermingle with one another (Myers, 2015). We can partially credit this fizzling-out of the nature-nurture debate to the discoveries made in twin studies. Twin studies are used to help delineate the genetic components of behavior and the socially and culturally influenced components (Myers, 2015). This type of study enables researchers to examine the extent to which genetics and environment have an effect on the development of traits and behavior. For example, in lecture, we learned that a common and natural experiment used in twin studies is to examine a set of twins who grew up in the same household and a set twins who grew up in separate households (K.W. Brown, personal communication, August 29, 2017).

As a psychology major, this introductory psychology class enhanced me both in knowledge as well as love for the field of psychology. I honestly feel that this class has set a firm foundation for my future pursuits in psychology. The concepts we learned, such as groupthink, sensory deprivation, and the like, have not only increased my depth of knowledge, but also awakened a childlike excitement that I have not felt in a long time. The excitement of not only learning something new, but also gaining perspective on the wonders of the human mind has only made me more resolved in my pursuit of a career in psychology. I have always thought the brain was the greatest organ in the human body, and this class has affirmed that belief.

The first stage of Piaget’s development theory is the sensorimotor stage which takes place in children most commonly 0 to 2 years old. In this stage, thought is developed through direct physical interactions with the environment. Three major cognitive leaps in this stage are the development of early schemes, the development of goal-oriented behavior, and the development of object permanence. During the early stages, infants are only aware of what is immediately in front of them. They focus on what they