Naturalistic Observation This paper is going to describe the behavioral and cognitive traits that can be inferred from that behavior of a two year old child that I observed in the park as she was playing with her mother. The child that I observed is a girl, has blonde hair and is physically well-developed for her age. She is around two, weighs approximately twenty (20) pounds and is about two (2) feet tall.
Physical Development When it comes to the stage of cognitive development in terms of Piaget’s theory, the girl was quite certainly at the preoperational stage. According to Piaget, at this stage children begin to develop symbolic modes of thinking, and even though their logic is often faulty, it is enough to satisfy …show more content…
Instead, it seems that these theories simply rely on different sets of data. For instance, in determining the stage of cognitive development, I had to examine whether the child is able to speak a language, while in the case of psychosexual theory, I needed to see if the child still wears diapers. Therefore, it seems that these theories simply explain different aspects of development even though the general conclusions that they reach aspire to explain the entire developmental process by means of the theoretical mechanisms that they use. One could, perhaps, try to explain cognitive development in light of the psychosexual theory, or conversely, but, in my view, that would not make for a very sound and elegant theory.
My opinion about what I observed and the application of the theories of development In my opinion, Piaget’s cognitive development theories and Erikson’s psychosexual theories help me to identify if there is something off-development in any child and I would conclude by saying that these theories are quite accurate in explaining and predicting development in their domains despite the flaws they might have, and being acquainted with them is quite useful for anyone who aspires at raising or working with children. References
Berk, L. (2009). Development Throughout the Lifespan. London: