Running Head: THEORIES OF PSYCHOLSOCIAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 1

Theories of Psychosocial and Cognitive Development

Melinda Chapple
Educational Psychology
Dr. Bilz
June 17, 2014








THEORIES OF PSYCHOLSOCIAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2

Abstract
Eriksons psychosocial development is broken into eight different stages ranging from birth to
old age. The principle behind the development is based on the resolution of each stage and
having more positive resolutions than negative resolutions. These stages can be utilized in the
classroom to help students develop in a positive environment. Piagets cognitive development is
based on the concept of children learning and building on experiences. As the child builds more
experience they begin to use the information learned to build advanced concepts for handling
future situations. This concept can be used in the classroom when teaching skills that have
multiple steps master the full concept. Vygotskys cognitive development is based on how social
and cultural influence. The concept of development for students is learned from social and
cultural experiences and learned behavior from peers, older children, and adults. Students learn
through empirical and theoretical learning.


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Introduction
Erikson, Piaget, and Vygotsky have differing theories of psychosocial and cognitive
development in education. Each theory has weaknesses and strengths and can be beneficial in a
learning environment. The different theories can be used in the classroom separately or together
when teaching to create a learning environment with personal development as well as cognitive
development. Erikson's psychosocial development explains the positive and negative experiences
in development (Snowman, McCown, & Biehler, 2012). While Piagets cognitive development
discusses how children build on their experiences to be able to understand and use advanced
concepts (Snowman, McCown, & Biehler, 2012). Vygotskys cognitive development is based on
how social and cultural experiences influence the development process. This concept includes
learned behavior and knowledge through experience and through scientific processes passed
down from an adult (Snowman, McCown, & Biehler, 2012). These 3 concepts vary in many
ways but all can be used in the classroom to promote successful learning.
Erikson
Eriksons theory of psychosocial development is based on positive and negative
behaviors at different ages in developmental stages. The developmental stages begin at birth and
continue to old age. For a person to be successful they must have more positive qualities than
negative qualities and the ability to adapt to the next stage is dependent on how well the previous
stage is resolved. There are eight stages of development which are divided by different age
ranges.
Birth to one year infants learn trust versus mistrust, this is based on the care provided to
the basic needs of the infant. If the infant's needs are met than he or she learns to trust the world,
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however if the needs are not met than he or she mistrusts the world they live in. At 2 to 3 years
old children enter the stage of autonomy versus shame and doubt. At this point the child has
learned to either trust or mistrust and now is beginning to be more independent and complete
tasks they are capable of doing on their own. If a child is allowed to be independent, he or she
will build on these skills and will have a positive resolution, however if the child is not allowed
to complete tasks and express his or her independence than self-doubt becomes the negative
resolution to this stage. The next state of initiative versus guilt, for ages 4 and 5 year olds, is a
more advanced stage of developing independence and having the confidence to ask questions
and feel the questions are important a positive resolution will develop. When a child is made to
feel inadequate and their questions are bothersome they develop a sense of guilt (Snowman,
McCown, & Biehler, 2012).
Next in, the ages 6 to 11 children are learning the positive effects of their
accomplishments and completed tasks. This stage of development is called industry versus
inferiority. Children are learning they will receive recognition for achievements, resulting in a
feeling of industry. Those children who are unsuccessful or are treated as a bother develop a
feeling of inferiority and lack of self-worth. From ages 12 to 18 adolescents are determines their
place in society. The identity versus role confusion stage of development gives adolescents the
opportunity to further develop their identity and role in society. If adolescents have had more
positive resolutions in the previous stages, they are more likely to develop a positive identity. If
adolescents have had more negative resolutions in the previous stages they are less likely to have
a favorable outcome in determining their identity and role in society (Snowman, McCown, &
Biehler, 2012).
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As adolescents enter into young adulthood, they are faced with the developmental stage
called intimacy versus isolation. Developing strong relationships with others and being
committed to those relationships despite the cost shows intimacy. Middle age development stage
is called generativity versus stagnation means to make a conscious effort to guide and teach the
next generation instead of being stagnate and self-centered. The final stage of development is
integrity versus despair in old age. If a person has had more positive resolutions throughout the
other stages they will feel accomplished and happy with the life they have lived. If a person has
more negative resolutions, they may feel despair to have another opportunity to make changes in
the past development (Snowman, McCown, & Biehler, 2012).
Teachers can provide activities for students to help create more positive resolutions for
the students. When helping students develop initiative, teachers can work with students as a
group to help explain and develop skills students will need to complete task individually. For
example, teaching math facts should start with more simple problems and gradually become
more advanced. This will give students the opportunity to learn at their own pace and build on
their skills to feel a sense of industry. When students are learning to read, they can be given a list
to record book titles, authors, and date read. The student could be required to take a test or quiz
on each book. Once the student has completed the set number of books for that level they are
rewarded by being moved to the next level of books. Once the years goal has been met then the
student may receive an award or recognition. If the classroom management is based on a chart to
display behavior, the student could be rewarded after receiving a specified number of favorable
behavior stars. These activities help to promote completion of tasks and success in the classroom.
Piaget
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Just as the biological process of digestion transforms food into a form that the body can
use, so intellectual processes transform experiences into a form that the child can use in dealing
with new situations (Snowman, McCown, & Biehler, 2012). Organization refers to the ability to
sort experiences into related lists to use in future situations. These categories of experiences are
called schemes and can be both behavioral and cognitive. When a child experiences a new
scheme that does not fit in an existing category they must learn to adjust or adapt. Adaptation is
when the child either adjusts the scheme to fit the experience, called accommodation, or
adjusting the experience to fit into a scheme, called assimilation. The basic concept is organizing
experiences to be used in future situations.
Equilibration means the tendency to organize schemes to allow better understanding of
experiences (Snowman, McCown, & Biehler, 2012). This leads to disequilibration, having an
experience or scheme that does not fit any of the knowledge the child has already obtained. To
solve the disequilibration problem, the child must use problem solving to create equilibration.
This concept is called constructivism, using problem solving to create new knowledge. Piaget
has developed four stages of cognitive development based on this concept.
The first stage of development is called the sensorimotor stage. This stage takes place
from infancy to age 2. Children begin to learn through sensory and motor activities, with the
understanding of object permanence occurring between 4-8 months. The development of
schemes becomes more mental as the child advances to the next stage. The preoperational stage,
ages two years old to seven years old, is the stage of learning symbols. The children in the stage
struggle with seeing different perspectives or views, seeing more than one characteristic, and
seeing a process go from start to finish then reverse from finish to start. During this stage
students begin to overcome these struggles. The concrete operational stage is the group of
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children from age seven years old to eleven years old. Children develop the ability to see
concepts and understand different perspectives, more than one characteristic, and seeing process
go forward and reverse. Ages eleven years old and beyond represents the formal operational
stage of development. It is during this stage children master the ability to use advanced concepts
and mentally process information to determine the outcome of a situation.
In the classroom, Piagets cognitive development could be used when teaching different
skills. Such as teaching math facts to students, students would first learn to count and recognize
the numbers and their order. Next students would learn to add small numbers together and then
larger numbers. Once this task has been mastered, students will begin learning subtraction and
continue to build until they can use math concepts to solve problems. Another way this theory is
used in the classroom is teaching the alphabet and spelling. Once the students learn the letters
and theirs sounds, they will then learn the different rules of the special letters and letter pairs.
Students learn to put letters together to build words. As students build their spelling skills they
develop concepts of using words to communicate both socially and academically.
Vygotsky
Vygotskys theory of cognitive development is based on how development is affected by
social and cultural experiences. Psychological tools like speech, writing, numbers, formulas, and
rules are passed along from generation to generation in a culture through social interaction with
parents, teachers, and others of the same culture. Children learn through a process called
mediation, meaning a behavior or knowledge that is transformed to mean the same to an adult as
it does a child. Preschool age children learn through spontaneous concepts. These concepts are a
product of their environment and experiences with interact with peer, older children, and adults.
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School age children learn through scientific concepts when there is a structured learning
environment and intentional learning through guided cognitive development (text
book).Empirical learning refers to learning through experience and characteristics to form
concepts. Theoretical learning, on the other hand, involves using psychological tools to learn
scientific concepts (Snowman, McCown, & Biehler, 2012). The skills developed through
theoretical learning are eventually strengthened and the student is able to apply the concepts to
other situations. The idea is that individuals learn best when working together with others
during joint collaboration, and it is through such collaborative endeavors with more skilled
persons that learners learn and internalize new concepts, psychological tools, and skills
(Shabani, Khatib, & Ebadi, 2010). Every student has a zone of proximal development, meaning
they can perform at a specific level above their own with the hints and leading questions. When
the student performs at levels about their own each additional level will determine the zone of
proximal development. For example, if a student is 8 years old and is able to complete a problem
for a 14 year old, the students zone of proximal development is 6. Teaching by using questions,
leading, hinting, prompting, labels, and modeling is considered scaffolding. This is the process of
building support for the student to master skills. Once the skill is mastered the scaffolding is
removed and no longer used.
Scaffolding could be used in the classroom when a new concept is introduced. When the
concept of addition is introduced, the teacher could ask the students questions. For example, if
the teacher holds up 2 apples in his/her right hand and 1 apple in his/her left hand, the questions
would be how many apples total am I holding? Then the teacher could prompt the students to
could the number of apples as a group. The students could use their own models to add blocks
together to master the skill of addition. Once the students begin to master the concept of addition,
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they would be encouraged to perform the math calculation without the aid of blocks or counting
objects. Teaching the letter of the week is another way scaffolding can be used. At the beginning
of the week, the letter would be introduced. The class would work together to for a list of words
that start with the weeks letter. The teacher would use prompting, questioning, and suggestions
to form the list. As the week progresses, the teacher would use less and less prompting and
questioning as the students form the list of words. By the end of the week, the students would
receive no assistance when forming a list of words.
Compare and Contrast
Piaget and Vygotsky have similar concepts of cognitive development but there are a few
differences. Both concepts of cognitive development are influenced by experiences and building
on the skills learned to become more advanced thinkers. The process in how they both function
varies from each other.
Piaget and Vygotsky both use the idea of using experiences to learn and develop concepts
for future use in problem solving. Piaget has the development broken into stages by age of
development while Vygotsky does not use specific stages. In the early development, Piaget and
Vygotsky agree that experiences are used to develop more advanced thinking. Two strengths are
they use experiences and organize them to use in future situations. They also both have the
perspective of early learning being products of activities and experiences. Piaget calls them
schemes while Vygotsky calls them social and cultural knowledge. Another strength is as the
development continues, they both use psychological tools, Vygotsky, and constructivism, Piaget,
to further their thinking and master concepts for advanced thinking. Both use the processes of
questioning, reflecting, and discussing in cognitive developing. A strength for Vygotskys theory
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is when students can learn from the experiences when working with a more intellectually diverse
group about how to apply concepts when they are the one helping to teach others. When
students master completion of projects or activities in a group, the internalization of knowledge
occurs for each individual at a different rate according to their own experience. Vygotsky
believed that internalization occurs more effectively when there is social interaction (Powell &
Kalina, 2009). If a gifted student is tutoring a student who is academically challenged, they can
learn how to apply the concepts in different ways as well as social development with cognitive
development.
A weakness for Piagets theory is underestimating the cognitive development abilities of
children and over estimates the cognitive development of adolescents. The recent research shows
that preschool age children are more advanced than Piaget gave them credit (Snowman,
McCown, & Biehler, 2012). Also not all adolescents have mastered the formal operational stage
by the end of high school or adolescence. This could have a direct influence on their success rate
in college and future workplace performance. A weakness for Vygotskys theory could be
enabling a student with teacher attention. If a student is trying to get attention from the teacher,
they may continue to request the help of a teacher and pretend they are not able to master the
concept being taught.
Conclusion
In the classroom, Erikson, Piaget, and Vygotsky all offer theories that are beneficial to
cognitive development. Eriksons theory can be used to help students develop cognitively and
personally in the classroom. Students can learn from both positive and negative experiences to
develop further. Teachers should strive to create more positive experiences and lessons than
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negative experiences so they can successful progress through the stages. Piagets theories can be
used by helping students organize their schemes and developing the ability to assimilate and
accommodate their experiences. As students develop through the stages of learning, they are
building upon previous experiences and knowledge. This is an important theory in teaching
students a basic skill such as the alphabet recognition and sounds of letter to spelling and
reading. As the students learn these schemes they are mastering the concept of reading and the
importance of being able to read for future success. Vygotskys theory can be used when
teaching student about problem solving. Teachers can introduce a new subject to students by
prompting, questioning, giving suggestions, or modeling examples. As students develop the
concept more and more, they will get less prompting, modeling, or leading. Once they have
mastered the concept, they would not receive any guidance from an advanced person. All of
these theories can be used in the classroom to create a diverse learning environment.












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Reference List
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Shabani, K., Khatib, M., & Ebadi, S. (2010). Vygotsky's zone of proximal development:
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Snowman, J., McCown, R., & Biehler, R. (2012). Psychology applied to teaching. (13 ed.).
Belmont: Wadsworth.