Cognitive Development can be explained as the emergence of thought processes beginning from infancy to childhood to adolescence to adulthood. The aim of this essay is to focus on Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories of cognitive development. Jean Piaget is a Swiss developmental psychologist who is known for his epistemological studies. On the other hand, Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky, a Soviet psychologist best known for his theory known as the Cultural-Historical theory. Both Vygotsky and Piaget were particularly interested in Cognitive Development in children. Piaget’s theory of development consists of four phases. The sensorimotor, the pre-operational stage, the concrete operational stage and the formal operational stage (Piaget, 1952). In the Sensorimotor stage which is the age of zero to two years, the infant’s knowledge of their environment developed through their senses, experiences and physical movements. Physical development increases the chances of the infant to develop new intellectual abilities. In the Pre-operational stage which is the age between two to seven years, understanding and reasoning is expressed by the use of symbols and language and imagination is developed, but reasoning is illogical and egocentrism prevails. The child develops object permanence (Woolfolk, A., 2004). In the Concrete operational stage which is from age seven to eleven years, intelligence is denoted by through logical manipulation of concrete objects and here …show more content…
They had many differences and also a few similarities in their outlooks. Their theories are of great importance and are used in researches to validate their views. It is true that both society and the individuals’ themselves work together to develop. Individualism and influences of environment create a complete individual. Both Piaget and Vygotsky were great psychologists and their work is greatly valued till
Piaget has stages of development whereas Vygotsky does not, however they both discussed how infants develop a sense of control in their environment. Piaget’s discussed this in the first stage of development, the sensorimotor intelligence stage where infants will develop “increasingly complex motor and sensory schemes in which allow them to organize and exercise some control over their environment” (Newman and Newman, 2015 p.35). Vygotsky discussed an infant’s development to control a part of their environment through learning to gesture at objects and internalizing these gestures when their goal is met (Newman & Newman, 2015). Both theorists discussed the importance of language development and importantly egocentric speech. While both theorists thought differently on the pathway for egocentric speech, both agreed that egocentric speech helps children with problem solving (Newman & Newman, 2015).
According to Vygotsky, the basis for learning lies within social interaction and communication. It is when a child is able to communicate, either verbally or non-verbally, that they understand the world around them through copying and internalizing new concepts. An example of this is what Vygotsky called cooperative or collaborative dialogue, when a “more knowledgeable other” assists the learner with a task. Although it sounds like a relatively basic idea, other psychologists at the time, notably Piaget, placed the source of learning within the person and not related to the people around them. As Orlando Lourenco illustrated in the article “Piaget and Vygotsky: Many resemblances, and a crucial difference,” the key difference between the two leading psychologists of the early twentieth century was the importance of the surroundings of the child.
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development states four stages of cognitive development. During the first Sensorimotor Stage which Piaget
Jean Piaget, known for his interest in the Epistemology in children is seen as the pioneer of Developmental Psychology. Piaget 's Cognitive development theory led to a great deal of research work in the field of educational philosophy . But in the discipline of Psychology, every theory has been faced with a counter theory or an alternative. So is the case with Piaget 's theory. Lev Vygotsky, a soviet psychologist came up with the socio-cultural theory, which is another strong theory emphasizing child development and is seen as a major counter theory to Piaget 's work (Saul McLeod, 2004).
He described four stages, Sensorimotor Stage, Pre-operational Stage, Concrete Operational Stage and Formal Operational Stage, beginning in infancy and ending in adulthood. According to Piaget, we use the cognitive abilities we have at each stage to construct meaning drawn from our own environment (Ornstein and Scarpaci, 2012). He believed that there are two ways to approach constructivist theory: the developmental and the environment. The developmental theory of cognition describes the structures of knowledge as pre-logical, concrete and abstract operations (Ornstein and Scarpaci, 2012). According to Piaget, children learn concepts through different stages of cognitive development, this occurs before learning occurs and concepts are internalised (Ornstein and Scarpaci, 2012).
Vygotsky believed that cognitive development was limited at any age and based on social development. He took everything into consideration, how the child is raised, their culture, and also how they learn to think. His theories stress over the necessary role of social interaction in cognitive development, Vygotsky argued with Piaget’s and strongly believed that social learning comes before development.
Also, they both had some interest in philosophy. Their views help enhance the similarities and differences providing in their theories. The first theorist introduced is Piaget and his theory was based on “the understanding of how children and adolescents think and learn” (198). The second theorist introduced is Vygotsky and his theory was influenced by Karl Marx’s proposal “that historical changes in society have significant impact on how people think and behave” (215).
Looking at The Resemblance and The Contrasting Theories Between Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky Abigail Wood Submitted as: AZA2455 Piaget and Vygotsky Comparison Essay Due Date: 15th April Tutor: Cayla Claire Sebba Class: Friday 08:00-10:00 Word Count: Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are known to be the leading theorists in developmental psychology. Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories have a big impact on psychological and educational development. In the field of developmental science it’s been proposed that the abilities of children and the occurring change is very significant ( Shaffer & Kipp, 2002).
The famous Swiss developmental psychologist, Jean Piaget in his theory also become our main source of theory to study about child development and changed the way we think about how children develop. His theory was important because he saw children as an active participants in their own learning. Between the four stages that have been stated in this Piaget theory, it is important to know which are the main stage that playing a crucial role because from there we know which one is shaping the most of development of a child. 1.1 The influence of nature versus nurture on child development.
One of the most well known theories in cognitive development is Piaget 's theory. The psychologist Jean Piaget theorized that as children 's minds development, they pass through distinct stages marked by transitions in understanding followed by stability. Piaget describes four different stages of development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operation, and formal operations. Each stage describes the thinking patterns of a child depending on his or her age. In order to compare the thinking processes of a three-year old and a nine-year old using Piaget 's theory, you must compare two sequential stages of cognitive development: preoperational and concrete operations.
Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist of the early Twentieth century. He was an intellectual contemporary of Piaget, however a meeting
By the time children reach middle childhood they have been exposed to a number of different social interactions with other children and adults. Children begin to grow in their cognitive development as they obtain different ways of thinking through older people with more knowledge. It is said that Vygotsky had a greater advantage over Piaget as he worked in a period of great social upheaval that put different social and ethnic groups into the same educational focus as explained by Kozulin (2003). The development of children’s higher mental process is said to depend on the interaction with people and the environment, therefore a child is exposed to higher processes which lead to an increase in cognitive development as Vygotsky’s theory is founded on real contact and interaction. As stated by Lloyd and Fernyhough (1999) children arrive at knowledge of the world through activity.
Throughout the year we have learned about many different theorists who have done a great but also horrible job at explaining adolescent/ young adult development. In this paper I will be talking about Freud and Piaget, and how I think that Piaget was the better theorist than Freud when it comes to talking about development. I will also be talking about the similarities and difference between the two. For starters, what are their specific steps of development? Jean Piaget used observations of his own children to develop the four stages that we know he created today.
In this essay I will address Piagetian Theory, the cognitive performance of children from age seven to eleven, (the concrete operational period), and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development. This essay will begin by analysing Piagetian Theory. Cognitive development cannot
He has been advanced in the timing that Piaget has created, but it is good to know how infants learn through stages and that they are all individuals and learn at their own pace. Piaget has done something great by discovering these stages of cognitive development that can almost give parents and educators a map of what is happening in a child’s mind as they are growing up. In the video, Inside a Child’s Brain by David Eagleman (2015) it talks about how you become who you are by what is removed from the brain, after the age of 2 the neurons in the brain slow down. The links that you do not use in those first years of age in your brain you lose as you grow (The Brain). The video shows how important the first two years of age are in a child’s life while the sensorimotor stage is