CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER SUMMARY
WHAT ARE SOME VIEWS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT?
Human development includes physical, cognitive, personal, social, and moral
development.
Most developmental psychologist believes nature and nature combine to influence
development. Continuous theories of development focus on social experiments that a
chilled goes through, whereas discontinuous theories emphasize inborn factors rather
than environmental influence. Development can be significantly affected by heredity,
ability, exceptionality, personality, chilled rearing, culture, and the total environment.
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky proposed theories of cognitive development. Erik
Erikson’s theory of psychological development and Piaget’s and Lawrence
Kohlberg’s theories of moral development also describe important aspects of
development.
HOW DID PIAGET VIEW COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT?
Piaget postulated four stages of cognitive development through which people progress
between birth and young adulthood. People adjust their schemes for dealing with the
world through assimilation and accommodation. Piaget’s developmental stages
include the sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years of age), the preoperational stage (2to 7
years of age), and the concrete operational stage (ages 7 to 11). During the formal
operational stage (age 11 to adulthood), young people develop the ability to deal with
hypothetical situations and to monitor their own thinking.
HOW IS PIAFET’S WORK VIEWED TODAY？
Piaget’s theory has been criticized fir relying exclusively on broad, fixed, sequential
stages through which all children progress and underestimating children’s abilities. In
contrast, neo-Piagetian theories place grater emphasis on social and environmental
influences on cognitive development. Nevertheless, Piaget’s theory has important
implications for education. Piagetian principles are embedded in the curriculum and in
effective teaching practices, and Piaget-influenced concepts such as cognitive
constructivism and developmentally appropriate instruction guide education reform.
HOW DID VYGOSKY VIEW COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Vygosky viewed cognitive development as an outgrowth of social development
through interaction with others and the environment .Assisted learning takes place in
children’s zones of proximal development, where they can do new tasks that are
within their capabilities only with a teacher’s or peer’s assistance. Children internalize
learning, develop self-regulation, and solve problems through vocal or silent private
speech. Teachers provide interactional contexts, such as cooperative learning groups,
and scaffolding.
HOW DID ERIKSON VIEW PERSONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT?
Erikson proposed eight stages of psychosocial development, each dominated by a
particular psychosocial crisis precipitated through interaction with the social
environment. In stage I, trust versus mistrust, the goal is to develop a sense of trust
through interacton with caretakers. In stage II, autonomy versus doubt (18 months to
age 3 ), children have a dual desire to hold on and to let go. In stage III initiative
versus guilt (3 to 6 years of age ), children elaborate their sense of self through
exploration of environment. Children enter school during Stage IV, industry versus
inferiority (6 to 12 years of age)，when academic success or failure is central. In Stage
V, identity versus role confusion (12 to 18 years), adolescents turn from family to
peer group and begin their searches for partners and careers. Adulthood brings Stage
VI (intimacy versus isolation),Stage VII(generativity versus self-absorption ), and
Stage VIII (integrity versus despair).
WHAT ARE SOME THEORIES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT?
According to Piaget, children develop heteronomous morality (obedience to authority
through moral realism ) by around age 6 and later advance to autonomous morality
(rational morality based on moral principles ). Kohlberg’s 5 stages of moral reasoning
reflect childen’s responses to moral dilemmas. In Stage 1 and 2 (the preconventional
level) children obey rules set down by others while maximizing self-interest. In Stage
3 and 4 (the conventional level) the individual adopts rules, believes in law and orders,
and seeks the approval of others. In Stage 5 and 6 (the postconventional level), people
define their own values in terms of abstract ethical principles they have chosen to
follow.
Critics point out that Kohlberg’s study was based only on male subjects. Studies
suggest that their may be little connection between what children say and their actual
moral behavior.
*KEY TERMS
*accommodation 31
*adaptation 31
assimilation 31
autonomous morality 54
centration 33
class inclusion 37
cognitive development 30
concrete operational stage 36
conservation 33
constructivism 33
continuous theory of development 29
conventional level of morality 56
development 28
developmentally appropriate education 41
discontinuous theories of development 29
egocentric 36
equilibration 31
formal operational stage 39
heteronomous morality 54
inferred reality 37
moral dilemmans 54
objects permanence 33
postconventional level of morality 56
perconventional stage 33
private speech 44
psychosocial crisis 49
psychosocial theory 49
reflexes 33
reversibility 33
scaffolding 44
schemes 30
self-regulation 44
sensor motor stage 33
seriation 37
sign systems 43
transitivity 37
zone of proximal development 44