Psychological Theories of Development - Essay Example

Patient Scenario Using psychological theories of development, how can you explain : (a) the behaviors of Jane which have resulted in such glowing reports from the Health Visitor – The theories which puts light on the condition of Jane are the Theory of Cognitive Development given by Jean Piaget and Erikson’s theory of Social Development. Generally, cognitive development refers to the changes that occur in an individual’s cognitive structures, abilities, and processes. His theory concerned the growth of intelligence, which for Piaget meant the ability to more accurately represent the world, and perform logical operations on representations of concepts grounded in the world Piaget believed children’s schemes, or logical mental structures, change with age and are initially action-based (sensorimotor) and later move to a mental (operational) level. (Driscoll, 1994). Behavior (adaptation to the environment) is controlled through mental organizations called schemes that the individual uses to represent the world and designate action. Piaget described two processes used by the individual in its attempt to adapt to the environment: assimilation and accommodation. Both of these processes are used throughout life as the person increasingly adapts to the environment in a more complex manner. Assimilation is the process of using or transforming the environment so that it can be placed in preexisting cognitive structures. Accommodation is the process of changing cognitive structures in order to accept something from the environment. Both processes are used simultaneously and alternately throughout life. Here in Jane’s case assimilation would be her reaction of not allowing her nanny to leave her alone at school. Jane wants her nanny to be there with her so that she does not feel isolated or aloof in this new environment. Similarly accommodation in this case would be changing her behavior to adopt this new environment i.e., getting use to this new atmosphere around her. According to Piaget, development is driven by the process of equilibration and he further suggested equilibration taken place in three phases. First, children are satisfied with their mode of thought and therefore are in a state of equilibrium. Then, they become aware of the shortcomings in their existing thinking and are dissatisfied (i.e., are in a state of disequilibration and experience cognitive conflict). Last, they adopt a more sophisticated mode of thought that eliminates the shortcomings of the old one (i.e., reach a more stable equilibrium. In his theory of cognitive development, Piaget identifies four stages : -> Sensorimotor stage -> Preoperational stage -> Concrete operational stage and -> Formal operational stage. As Jane is only two years old, we will be considering here only the first two stages. As per Piaget a child in the sensorimotor stage primarily explores the world through senses rather than through mental operations. He has subcategorized this stage into six different stages. When Jane was in the fourth stage (nine months old ) an extremely important stage of development termed as “first proper intelligence” a nanny was assigned to look after her. Also, this stage and the rest of the stages marks the beginning of goal orientation the deliberate planning of steps to meet an objective.Then comes the preoperational stage – according to Piaget this stage occurs in the children ranging from two years to seven years old. Jane is still in the beginning of this stage but when her medical reports would be considered it could be clearly understood that she reflects all the actions of the children in this stage.This could possibly be one of the reason of her glowing reports. Similarly , when we consider the Eriksons theory of social development for this scenario same results are depicted. Erikson laid down eight stages of development in his theory. He says Our progress through each stage is in part determined by our success, or lack of success, in all the previous stages. A little like the unfolding of a rose bud, each petal opens up at a certain time, in a certain order, which nature, through its genetics, has determined. If we interfere in the natural order of development by pulling a petal forward prematurely or out of order, we ruin the development of the entire flower. Erikson had made it abundantly clear that a child’s parents influence his or her development dramatically and vice versa. Although Erikson laid down eight stages , considering the given scenario we will be discussing only the first two stages. Developmental Stage Age Conflict Challenge Positive Resolution I.  Infancy Birth-2 years Trust v. Mistrust Develop confidence while being dependent Hope II.  Toddler 2-3 years Autonomy v. Shame  Adjust to social rules Will .The first stage infancy or the oral-sensory stage, is approximately the first year or year and a half of life. The task is to develop trust without completely eliminating the capacity for mistrust. If mom and dad can give the newborn a degree of familiarity, consistency, and continuity, then the child will develop the feeling that the world -- especially the social world -- is a safe place to be, that people are reliable and loving. Through the parents' responses, the child also learns to trust his or her own body and the biological urges that go with it. If the parents are unreliable and inadequate, if they reject the infant or harm it, if other interests cause both parents to turn away from the infants needs to satisfy their own instead, and then the infant will develop mistrust. He or she will be apprehensive and suspicious around people. This could be taken as a hint in Jane’s case because Jane’s parents could not give in full time to Jane. Her mother is a local school teacher and father barrister working in the city. Though they made an attempt to nurture her well by assigning a nanny and also by spending their weekends with her, still there was a thin line of gap which started developing between them. Her parents might have realized this and started spending more time with her and this resulted in a good and fruitful outcome. Jane’s parents have achieved the proper balance and thus Jane have developed the virtue hope, the strong belief that, even when things are not going well, they will work out well in the end. Then comes the second stage of Erikson’s theory. The second stage is the anal-muscular stage of early childhood, from about eighteen months to three or four years old. The task is to achieve a degree of autonomy while minimizing shame and doubt. If mom and dad (in Jane’s case it is the nanny that comes into picture here) permit the child, now a toddler, to explore and manipulate his or her environment, the child will develop a sense of autonomy or independence. The parents should not discourage the child, but neither should they push. A balance is required. Indeed a good balanced was being formulated in the case of Jane and due to this Jane have developed both self-control and self-esteem. Now looking at this two theories of development and putting in Jane’s scenario, we have clearly marked out the reason why the behaviors of Jane which have resulted in such glowing reports from the Health Visitor. b) Jane’s reaction on the first day, and later, her settling-in at the play-school? Now that we have understood the patients scenario , it would be much easier to understand her reactions and behavior. On her first day at play-school, she refused to stay and she demonstrated that in no uncertain terms. On subsequent days, the nanny stayed at the play-school with her for varying lengths of time until there were no adverse feelings demonstrated by Jane. There could be more than one reason for such behavior of Jane and this could possibly be clarified and understood by the theories of development which we have already discussed to resolve the reason behind Jane’s glowing reports form Health Visitor. Here the Eriksons theory of social development could put in major light. As we have already seen only first two stages of Eriksons theory have to be considered as Jane is only two years old. Erikson’s view is that the social environment combined with biological maturation provides each individual with a set of “crises” that must be resolved. The individual is provided with a "sensitive period" in which to successfully resolve each crisis before a new crisis is presented. The results of the resolution, whether successful or not, are carried forward to the next crisis and provide the foundation for its resolution. Erikson in his theory have mentioned about the challenges which one faces when we move along to different stages. These challenges , their impact and their realizations plays a major part in making the behavior or attitude of an individual. This is the reason why this theory is also sometimes referred to as socio-emotional theory. The first stage of infancy is the stage whereby the infant faces a conflict between trust and mistrust. The challenge is to develop confidence in the child while being dependent as the child beliefs firmly that the environment can be counted on to meet his or her basic psychological and social needs. During the first stage the child lets mother out of sight without anxiety and rage might be because she has become an inner certainty as well as an outer predictability. The balance of trust with mistrust depends largely on the quality of maternal relationships. Jane did not meet this challenge successfully, there could be a lot many reasons for this such as her mother being away for long hours, she being alone without any siblings and many such things. Although she was care taken by nanny still she could not feel that maternal touch and because of this the conflict between trust and mistrust inside her could not be resolved. And so this was one of the reason for her demonstrating a different attitude and refusing to stay at her play-school at the very first day. Similarly if we consider Piagets theory of cognitive development at this point we get down to a similar conclusion. Piaget was able to demonstrate that towards the end of the second year a qualitatively quite new kind of psychological functioning occurs. Intuitive thought - occurs when the child is able to believe in something without knowing why she or he believes it. This stage is very crucial in the development process because the concept of trust and mistrust seems to be conflicting in a childs mind and so did happen with Jane. Further considering the second stage of Eriksons theory. In this stage the conflict is between autonomy and shame and the challenge is to adjust social rules. During this stage the child's energies are directed toward the development of physical skills, the child learns control but may develop shame and doubt if not handled well. According to Erikson, self control and self confidence begin to develop at this stage. Children can do more on their own. A parent's level of protectiveness will influence the child's ability to achieve autonomy. If a parent is not reinforcing, the child will feel shameful and will learn to doubt his or her abilities. If parents do not maintain a reassuring, confident attitude and do not reinforce the child's efforts to master basic motor and cognitive skills, children may begin to feel shame; they may learn to doubt their abilities to manage the world on their own terms. Children who experience too much doubt at this stage will lack confidence in their own powers throughout life. Though this may not directly relate to the Jane’s case but still these factors do play an important role in every toddler’s life and also this helps us in understanding her case fully. Theory of Social Development by L.Vygotsky can also put a good light on Jane’s case scenario. The major theme of Vygotsky's theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. Vygotsky (1978) states: "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (inter psychological) and then inside the child (intra psychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals." Thus we see there have been zero percent level of social interaction in Jane initially and because of this she did not leave her nanny at the play school on the first day and then her nanny stayed at the play-school with her for varying lengths of time until there were no adverse feelings demonstrated by Jane. CONCLUSION: Jane’s cognitive and social behaviors far exceed those expected of children of her age. This may be due to large number of reasons and factors. These reasons can be clearly understood by using the different psychological theories of development. In this case we have used the three theories – Piagets Cognitive development theory , Eriksons theory of social development and L.Vygotsky’s theory of development. Using these theories we deprived the clear picture on the behaviors of Jane which have resulted in such glowing reports from the Health Visitor and her reaction on the first day, and later, her settling-in at the play-school. REFERENCES : -> Driscoll, Marcy Perkins (1994). Psychology of learning for instruction. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. -> Satterly D (1987). Piaget and Education in RL Gregory (ed.) The Oxford Companion to the Mind Oxford, Oxford University Press. -> Donaldson M (1984) Children’s Minds London Fontana ->Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press -> Lerner Richard M. (2001). Concepts and Theories of Human Development. -> Salkind Neil J. (2004).An Introduction to Theories of Human Development. -> Garton Alison F. (2000).Exploring Cognitive Development. Blackwell Publishing. -> www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/Areas/ Developmental/CogDev-Child/index.htm -> www.psychologypress.com/brochures/2005cogdev.pdf Read More