Cognitive and Moral Developmental Theories - Research Paper Example

This implies that how children think and their logic of things is different if not inferior to how adults think of the same. This theory, though practical, is quite costly and time consuming. Vygotsky unlike Piaget was more concerned with the child’s interaction with their surrounding culture and society. He encourages the use of discussion to enhance communication and learning. However, this method runs the risk of students delegating all their assignments to one member. Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory is a continuation of Piaget’s research on moral development.

His study is based on people’s reaction to social dilemmas which translate their moral development levels. However, this study was biased against women and that is why it is only used as a guide in the society. Examining Cognitive and Moral Developmental Theories: Their Strengths and Limits Theories are essential to the psychology profession, as they inform practice, research and trends. In psychology, there are two general developmental theories that seek to bring understanding of human development: the classical and contemporary developmental theories (Scarr, 1992).

Under each, different theorists have analyzed different constructs, for example, intelligence, morals and cognition. Of interest to this paper are the classical cognitive and moral development theories. . This paper will discuss the strengths and limitations of three classical theories on cognitive development. These theories are by theorists Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky and Lawrence Kohlberg. Discussion Piaget’s theory mainly focuses on how knowledge grows. He discovered that knowledge grows with time as individuals make additional logic out of reality (Demick, 2000).

He divides stages of cognitive development into four. First is the Sensor Motor stage from birth to two years. Here, the child builds concepts of reality and how they work based on physical interaction with the environment. Anything out of their sight is considered as nonexistent. Second is the pre-operational stage between (two and seven years) where the child still needs physical situations for them to conceptualize things. Third is the operations stage which is between seven and eleven years.

Through physical experience, the child can conceptualize and create logical structures to explain their physical experiences. It is also possible for them to solve problems theoretically. Fourth is the formal operations stage from eleven to fifteen years where the child can think and reason like an adult (Kuhn, 2008). Piaget’s theory includes single and group based spontaneous experimentations that build the student’s understanding based on their experiences. This makes them alert in the classroom and their surroundings, enabling them to correct, instruct and motivate themselves.

Incorporation of mental activities, for example, drills in the curriculum enables learners to develop ideas on their own. Also, dialogue among students makes the learning process automatic, enjoyable and facilitates personal discovery. In as much as the method seems beneficial, it is extremely costly, and time consuming to set