Cognitive Development According to Piaget

Jean Piaget’s cognitive development theory is the most famous one proposed in the last century. Piaget suggested four cognitive development stages in children. Piaget believed that all children had the same cognitive development sequence and that the quality of their cognitive abilities changed as they moved from one stage to the other (Sigelman and Rider, 2012).

The first cognitive development stage- the sensorimotor- manifests from birth up to 2 years and is characterized by object permanence (objects being in the environment despite not being seen or felt by other senses) and deferred imitation; the ability to repeat an action observed earlier on (Bremner, 2010). Infants use sensor activity to try and understand objects (Moreno, 2010). The second (preoperational) stage starts from 2-7 years. An infant can use words and symbols as a way of understanding their physical environment. They cannot reason logically (Ciccarelli et al., 2012) and are limited by animism in that they cannot differentiate inanimate from animate objects- to them everything around them is living. If you are looking for psychology dissertation help, understanding these developmental stages is crucial for exploring childhood cognitive growth. In the third- concrete operational- stage (7-11 years), children show an understanding of concert things, can classify things, and can solve difficult problems (Bjorklund, 2012). Towards age 11-15, children get to the last (formal operational) stage where their understanding and thinking grows tremendously (Feldman, 2013). They can reason logically and handle problems like math (Pastorino and Doyle-Portillo, 2013).

To effectively communicate with children, a person must understand these stages and a child as an investigator who will react by reflex in their infancy and more complexly at later stages. In his theory, Piaget identifies accommodation and assimilation as the two processes in interaction. In accommodation, a child can incorporate new environmental experiences and adapt them to the environment’s cognitive demands. In assimilation, they integrate new experiences into existing ones. For children in the preoperational stage, adults are encouraged to talk to them a lot, read to them, teach rhymes and sing songs. The children should also be taught to listen and given time to talk.

Since children at the concrete operation level show conservation and an eagerness to learn, they should be given more concrete materials, allowed to investigate the many relations of a variable, and to talk more often. Communicators should also encourage them through various reinforcement methods. Children in the formal operational stage tend to be curious and should be encouraged to find answers to various problems on their own. By understanding Piaget’s theory, communicators will consider the interests, needs, urges, and concerns of children and diversify their contents to meet their needs and interests through the various development stages. The objectives of the communication must, therefore, reflect the child’s cognitive stage. The methods and materials used to communicate must be appropriate and effective for the given stage. When communicators understand these cognitive development stages, they will be able to use this hierarchy to comprehend why children reason, act and think as they do, and help them grasp intellectual processes at the right stage by developing content that is appropriate for them at each stage. Through comprehension of this theory a communicator will know that, for example, the attention span and intellectual capability of a child in the preoperational stage are not as high as that of a child in the concrete operational or formal operation stages.

Understanding this theory will help communicators understand; that at different stages children have different attention and comprehension abilities, why children think and act as they do at different stages, and will help them teach children various processes at the correct stage. This theory emphasizes on understanding the child’s environment and designing communication. That should be based on their readiness and need to pass to them the content which they are ready for, and avoid teaching them things they are not ready for or miss the right opportunity to do so. That way, communicators and educators will be able to better enhance the learning abilities of children who are slower than their peers at grasping content for their level by providing them with rich environmental experiences rather than trying to accelerate them to catch up with others. They can also carry out a diagnosis to examine the child’s comprehension ability level and develop personalized instructions for the child to optimally challenge and stimulate the. This facilitates real learning as a result of the equilibrium in content and stage, as opposed to the superficial learning that would result if the child was accelerated. This equilibrium is thought to be the force that pushes a child from one stage to the next and its understanding will guide the interactions with children. The real learning, in turn, will be able to adapt to new situations.

The cognitive development theory emphasizes o the importance of experiences to a child’s development and suggests that these experiences are what facilitate assimilation and accommodation. Communicators will understand that despite a child’s involvement in an activity today, the child may need some more experiences to facilitate a future change in their schemes (Piaget, 1994). It is these increased experiences and the more information or clarifications the give the child that enable assimilation to occur. Therefore, a communicator or adult in his interactions with a child should not expect the child to immediately change their behavior or respond soon after they have provided them with information, but should rather let the children ‘do their thing’. They should also not rush to give children answers, but learn to allow them the time to accommodate.

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The theory suggests that communicators should understand that not all children cognitive capabilities develop fast, and they should note any progress, however little. They will also learn to allow children to incubate ideas before they can act on them and cautions against assuming that the child has learnt just by being given facts (Piaget, 1994). The general implication of this theory on communication is that of social interaction in which learning should be child-oriented by focusing on their aptitudes, interests, capacities, and developmental stage needs.

REFERENCES

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Bjorklund, D. F. (2012). Children’s Thinking: Cognitive Development and Individual Differences. Belmont, USA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Bremner, J. G. (2010). Cognitive Development: Knowledge of the Physical World. In J. G. Bremner & T.D. Wachs (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Infant Development. Malden: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Butler-Bowdon, T. (2007). 50 Psychology Classics. London: Nicholas Brealey.

Cacioppo, J. T., & Freberg, L. A. (2013). Discovering Psychology The Science of Mind. USA: Wadsworth.

Ciccarelli, S. K., & Whith, J. N. (2012). Psychology. United States of: Pearson Education.

Feldman, R. t S. (2013). Essentials of Understanding Psychology. USA: McGraw-Hill.

Hockenbury, D. H., & Hockenbury, S. E. (2011). Discovering Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers.

Kail, R. V. (2012). Children and Their Development. United States of America: Pearson Education, Inc.

Piaget J (1994). Cognitive Development in children: Piaget Development and Learning, J. Res. In Sci. Teaching, 1964, 2: 176- 186.

Sigelman, C. K., & Rider, E. A. (2012). Life-Span Human development. Belmont, USA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

The attachment theory by John Bowlby suggests that a strong attachment to a key mother figure or primary caregiver is crucial to the early development of a child, adding that a relationship exists between the quality of care given and the child’s emotional status (Fonagy, Gergely and Jurist, 2018). The theory highlights the important relationship between attachment and development, citing that a strong attachment to their caregiver gives children a form of security and stability. That makes them eager, adventurous, and open to new experiences. Those children without similar attachments spent a lot of energy looking for stability and security, and are more fearful and unwilling to seek new experiences.

Children with strong attachments to their caregivers will have their important needs met, will be able to better observe and experience their environment and therefore, develop well. Through this theory, social workers and caregivers can understand that their role to the children attached to them changes with time as per the needs of the child (Bretherton, 2010, p. 759). In the early years, their major role is to provide support, security, and stability, while in later years they will need to be available to continually help the child as they get to interact with the outside environment (Van der Horst, 2011).

It sets motherly love and attachment as emotional, instead of physiological, reaction that may not change significantly once established (Herman, 2012). Attachment of children to their caregivers in the early years influenced their responses to stress and various situations later on in life, and children formed different behaviors towards their attachment figures. Some formed behaviors that sought to keep them closer to their attached caregivers, such as by crying or clinging, while some behaviors sought to keep this distance, for example by smiling. Caregivers should be able to assess their sensitivity and responsiveness, as well as the quality of the care they gave to the children by evaluating the techniques and behaviors children used to attain proximity to them.

The attachment theory investigated the effects that resulted when primary caregivers separated from the children (Fraley, 2010) and help caregivers and social workers understand the behaviors of the children in their care. It found that when children reacted to separation from caregivers in different ways that were aimed at promoting their survival and wellbeing (Bowlby, 1991). Once children learn how to walk or move around, and are confident that their caregivers are a secure anchor, they will always go back to the caregivers for reassurance, safety, and comfort. In his observations of how the separation of caregivers from the children impacted on them, Bowlby (1973/1991) concluded that children exhibited a predictable pattern of behaviors that included distress, despair, and detachment, which he suggested were meant to ensure their survival. He goes ahead to note that even the most secure of children showed distressed as a result of extended periods of separation. Some, when separated from their caregivers or parents, tended to remain secure as a result of the knowledge that they would soon be back, and while some were distressed and anxious, they got comfort but also tried to penalize the caregivers when they returned. As a result of their attachment, the children tend to call for the attention of their caregivers should they find themselves in stressful or unfamiliar situations.

However, Bowlby’s observation and in his joint work with Robertson (1956) on how caregivers’ separation from children negatively impacted them also found that children learnt or tended to become more tolerant of longer or frequent separations. Therefore, there are some children who, over time, did not seem bothered by the departure of their caregivers nor were they moved by their return. Moreover, there are some cases of children who exhibited behavioral patterns and actions that were unpredictable.

The types and levels of attachment children have with their caregivers also directly affect the relationships they have when they grow up (Firestone, 2013). Children are usually given to seek closeness with their caregivers, and when they gain it they tend to evaluate their caretakers’ trustworthiness and capacity to provide and care for them, and also if they deserve their caregivers’ love and care. These views that infants or children form of themselves and others (the caregivers) grow into a complex internal working model. These internal working models guide their ideas of what they should expect from those close to them, and determine people’s behaviors even in later stages of their lifespan. Love and support from their caregivers make children secure, while tenuous inconsistent attachments make their relationships feel anxious. Secure children tend to relate well and play with others, trust, see things from other people’s perspectives and find others supportive, while tenuous attachments will make them resistant, unable to ask for help, antisocial, and unable to satisfactorily relate with others. In relationships, the behaviors exhibited by a person will influence and be impacted by other people’s attachment tendencies (Holmes, 2017, p. 46).

The types and styles of attachment also affect how one feels and responds to grief, trauma, or loss. Bowlby identifies four stages when grieving. In the shock and numbness stage, one may find the loss unreal and may be unable to express their feelings. In the yearning and searching stage, feels the void and may try to fill it with something or someone though they still strongly identify with the deceased. In the despair and disorganization phase, they feel hopeless, angry, and question a lot but understand that things cannot return to as they were. In the reorganization and recovery stage, they start to rebuild and refocus their lives as the grief recedes.

The theory proposes that in caring for children, social workers, caregivers, and parents should holistically consider the children’s environment, experiences, families, and the behaviors of the children. This theory helps parents and caregivers by underscoring the importance of their relationships with their children, and as these attachment types are instinctual in the whole lifespan, they can better understand their children’s behavior.

Bowlby, J., 2005. A secure base; Clinical applications of attachment theory (Vol. 393). Taylor and Francis

Bretherton, I., 1992. The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental psychology, 28(5), p.759.

Firestone, L., 2013. How your attachment style impacts your relationship. Psychology Today.

Fonagy, P., Gergely, G. and Jurist, E.L. eds., 2018. Affect regulation, mentalization, and the development of the self. Routledge.

Fraley, R.C., 2010. A brief overview of adult attachment theory and research. Internal Psychology University of Illinois.

Holmes, J., 2017. Attachment theory. The Wiley‐Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, p. 46

Van der Horst, F.C., 2011. John Bowlby-From psychoanalysis to ethology: Unravelling the roots of attachment theory. John Wiley & Sons.

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