Influence of Social Interactions on Childrens Cognitive Development - Case Study Example

INFLUENCES OF SOCIAL INTERACTIONS IN CHILDREN’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT Cognitive Development is the transformation of a child’s undifferentiated, unspecialized cognitive abilities into the adult’s conceptual competence and problem solving skill. (Marcy Driscoll, 1994: Quoted in Pam Silverthorn, 1999) INTRODUCTION: The focus of the present study is on the Constructivist Theory of child development. Several theories have been articulated on cognitive development, and researches have been made on different aspects of development in children; three of which have most significant influence on the kindergarten teaching methods. These theories include Maturationist, Environmentalist and Constructivists ones. These three schools of thoughts have different views and ideas on child development. Piaget and Vygotsky are the pioneers and representatives of the Constructivist school of thought. Both of them have similarities and dissimilarities in their views. Before discussing the three aspects of child development, it is necessary to define cognitive psychology. In the words of Anderson: Cognitive psychology attempts to understand the nature of human intelligence and how people think. The study of cognitive psychology is motivated by scientific curiosity, by the desire for practical applications, and by the need to provide a foundation for other fields of social science. (Anderson, 1990:1) Cognitive development refers to the growth of mental processes as well as ability to think and perceive. It also discusses how a child learns by his innate mental capabilities and from society. The Swiss biologist Jean Piaget and Russian psychologist Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky were the theorists to advance the constructivist theory of Cognitive development in children. According to which the cognitive development starts in children with their interaction with the environment and people around them. It is necessary for a child’s development, according to them, that he must interact with other individuals of society. The theory is different from the Maturationist school of thought. The Maturationist theorists believe that the cognitive development is a biological process, and all the healthy (normal) children get it as long as they grow physically. The theorists including Arnold Gessel and others believe that the cognitive development occur naturally and automatically. DeCos has quoted their views in these words: School readiness, according to maturationists, is a state at which all healthy young children arrive when they can perform tasks such as reciting the alphabet and counting; these tasks are required for learning more complex tasks such as reading and arithmetic. (DeCos, 1997) On the other hand, constructivists are of the view that development in children is not the outcome of biological process only; rather it is their interaction with the other members of society which play the vital role in the learning process. Parents, teachers and peer groups help the children in learning language, counting and seeking basic knowledge and information about the things in their surroundings. Constructivists believe young children initiate most of the activities required for learning and development. Because active interaction with the environment and people are necessary for learning and development, constructivists believe that children are ready for school when they can initiate many of the interactions they have with the environment and people around them. (Hunt, 1969: quoted in www.pathways Home.com) Constructivists’ views are also different from the views of Environmentalist perspective. Environmentalists believe that it is the environment that forms and develops the behaviours of human beings. All the learning process is dependent of environment and surroundings of children. And learning is, according to them, a reaction to the environment. Many environmentalist-influenced educators and parents believe that young children learn best by rote activities, such as reciting the alphabet over and over, copying letters, and tracing numbers. (Quoted in learningandteaching.com) Piaget is one of the greatest researchers who worked on cognitive development. His research was based on the innate ability of learning in humans. He views that the ability of doing abstract symbolic reasoning distinguishes humans from animals. Human have the abilities to symbolize the abstract things around them, which animal are unable to do. Piaget was also keen to observe how a child’s mind perceive and learn from the outer world. During his researches on children, he came to know that young children’s reply vary to that of the older ones. He conducted researches on child psychology and defined the stages of development in children. According to him, there are four stages in children for the development of the basic cognitive competencies. These stages include: i) sensory motor stage, (from birth to 2 years) ii) preoperational stage, (from 2 years to 6/7 years), iii) concrete operational stage, (from 6/7 t0 11/12 years of age) and iv) formal operational stage (from 11/12 years to adulthood). He further describes that major intellectual changes during childhood. In his words: “There are two basic classes of explanation for why children perform better on various intellectual tasks as they get order: One is that they think better and the other is that they know better.”(Piaget: 1952, quoted in Anderson, 1990:412) Piaget has also clarified his point of view by using the terms adaptation, assimilation and accommodation. Adaptation refers to the moulding oneself to the world by assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is said to be the way of absorbing material from one’s environment, while accommodation is the difference made to ones mind or concepts by the process of assimilation.   According to him, child not only learns from the outer world, but also he has natural mental capabilities to behave on specific occasions. As Vygotsky also belongs to the constructivist school of thought so, his ideas are often compared with those of Piaget. He differs to some extent from Piaget in respect of cognitive theory and states that it is social interaction that influences cognitive development in children and biological developments can be made only by interacting with the individuals. Though both Piaget and Vygotsky are the representative of same perspective, they also contain some differences in their views. Piaget has divided the development process into four periods, while Vygotsky emphatically lays stress upon the fact that the development should be analysed rather obtained. Further, he has declared human psychology a cultural phenomenon. Also, development can only be obtained from culture, not from isolation. He denied any natural or pre-cultural form. There are two types of Constructivism i.e. i) Cognitive Constructivism and ii) Social Constructivism. The former was launched by Piaget and the later by Vygotsky. Cognitive constructivism consists of two parts, i.e. ages and stages in which Piaget has defined four stages of development with reference to some different spans of child’s life. It also reveals how cognitive development takes place in children at some specific age. Piaget outlined several principles for building cognitive structures. During all development stages, the child experiences his or her environment using whatever mental maps he or she has constructed so far. If the experience is a repeated one, it fits easily--or is assimilated--into the childs cognitive structure so that he or she maintains mental "equilibrium." If the experience is different or new, the child loses equilibrium, and alters his or her cognitive structure to accommodate the new conditions. This way, the child erects more and more adequate cognitive structures. (Quoted in Funderstanding.com) The second part of Piaget’s articulation consists of development theory that is in support of his statement that a child can learn many things including arithmetic and alphabets etc because of his innate abilities, and it is not possible to teach and give him information, which he absorbs and acquires naturally. On the contrary, Vygotsky is of the opinion that cognitive development is dependent of culture rather nature; and it is culture from where an individual seeks development of mind and behaves out of the learned behaviour from society. Vygotsky lays stress upon the significant role of culture and society n respect of mental development. He opines that a child’s intellect grows due to his interaction with culture and society. All the thinking and knowledge child obtains is acquired while interactions with his surroundings. Zaidi has also emphasised on the role of culture on individuals in a society. In his words: The majority of young perverts has been found indulged in deviation because they learn these ways from their peer groups, hostel-fellows and class-mates. An overwhelming majority of the respondents had very slight interest in homosexuality, exhibitionism and voyeurism, but they got involved in one or more of these perversions as they observed it in their culture and environment. (Zaidi, 2004: 31) Vygotsky’s theory is focused on the very reality that a child learns through problem solving experiences with the help of others; and it is very hard for him to learn new knowledge without seeking aid of his fellow beings, parents, siblings, teachers and class-mates. Elizbeth M. Riddle has called this phenomenon as the Zone of Proximal Development. (Riddle, 1999). Standard discussions of the difference between Vygotsky and Piaget place a crucial difference in the proximal locus of cognitive development. According to the canonical story, for Piaget, individual children construct knowledge through their actions on the world: (Quoted in Funderstanding,con) Further, Vygotsky suggests clustered work space for the learning process, as it would, according to him, provide a better opportunity of interaction and thus learning consequently. Piaget and Vygotsky share many points in their research works. Both have the common idea that children seek knowledge and learn information from physical environment, and classroom. It is also common in the theories of both that household activities cause the mental growth of children. But there are also differences in their researches. Piaget has explained the cognitive development process into ages and stages; on the other hand Vygotsky has not mentioned any age distinction in his theory. He emphasises on ontogenetic transformation from elementary biological reactions to higher, conscious psychological phenomenon. The changes in children are the outcome of the experiences of interactions with the cultural elements. Piaget views motivation as an important factor of mental growth, while Vygotsky believes in the transmission of knowledge from culture and society. An infant enters the world lacking most basic cognitive competencies and passes through a series of stages in which the child develops more and more adequate bases for representing the world and reasoning about it. (Piaget, 1969. Quoted in Anderson, 1990: 399) The Constructivist Theory of Development won great applause and world wide fame especially in 1950’s and 1960’s. And the kindergartens all over the world followed the instructions drawn in the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky. REFERENCES Anderson, J. R. (1990) Cognitive Psychology And Its Implications. Third Edition, W.H. Freeman & Company, New York. Allyn, and Bacon, (2006) Educational Psychology, Theory and Practice, Volume I, Chapter 2 Piaget, J (1952) The Origin of Intelligence in Children, International University Press, NY. Silverthorn, Pam (1999) Jean Piaget’s Theory of Development www.learningandteaching.info www.Funderstanding.com Zaidi, Mujtaba Haider (2005) Biological, Sociological and Psychological Causes of Perversion in Youth----An unpublished thesis submitted to University of the Punjab, New Campus Lahore. Read More