Psychology 101-1227
Professor Lopez
Developmental Narrative During childhood, many children go through a process that develops as they progress and see how things work around their surroundings. According to Piaget's, one aspect is that we go through stages at how children process in cognitive development. One concept of this would be schemas that children make at a young age. This is like a unit in which one fits certain characteristic for this one schema. For example, like a dog could be the schema, and learning that a dog must have 4 legs, a tail, and it barks. This works but over time, there would be some confusion when the child learns and associates these characteristics to the schema. An example of this, is when I was small, I went to the pet store and was looking at different animals. A snake did not fit my description as an animal since it was not furry and did not have any legs. I had to assimilate to the snake and recognize that it is an animal. That animals did not have legs and that they are not always furry. My schema is more adapter and I have a better sense of what an animal is. Also, an important thing is that a parent reassures that it is an animal. A parent plays an important role when it comes to children and figuring out what fits into their schemas. They play a crucial part of the cognitive process. Piaget also included that children go through 4 stages in their lives. This includes sensorimotor, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage. In one concept is that once we get through one stage, we move to the next. For preoperational stage, this includes that our thinking at this stage is still immature and that we learn a bit. Children at this stage had an egocentrism in which our way is the right way and everyone else is wrong. Some people might have a hard time overcoming this obstacle. Another is that children limit beliefs that appearances are real. An example, is when I was small, I believed in Santa Claus, he comes with gifts. I would write a letter to Santa because of all the movies that have Santa on them. He went into every house in the world in one night and as little kids, most people believe in it. I came to realize that Santa was not real when I was a bit older. Kids believe in many things like superheroes and actually believe that they do fly and fight bad people. Vygotsky suggested that culture and cultural differences happen in the development of the child, something very different from what Piaget suggested since his theory was more universal. Cultures tell a child how to think is what Vygotsky would say. He proposed the zone of proximal development. An examples of this is when I was younger and was learning how to ride a bike, my dad would help me by getting behind and having training wheels. One day, he took off the training wheels and I told myself that it was easy. I fell off the bike when trying to ride the bike without the training wheels. Maslow is about the hiercharchy of needs and that it applies to everyone, even children. Some children need a parent to go through attachments. Parents are important because they provide the basic needs to the child like water and food. Also, they provide comfort for the child which is necessary, the sense of belongingness An example is that when I was small, I was in the mall and I got lost from my mom. I started crying and could not find them. I noticed that it is not always safe and wandering around leads to knowing that anything can happen. This can also be an example of Erikson's psychosocial stages, and that one was about initiative versus guilt. The child begins to act on the world and realizes there is more to this world. When I was found by my parents, I was really embarrassed and that I should have never done that in the first place and explore and wander off. In adolescence, we shift through what we want to do and venture out on our own and become a bit more independent from people. For many