Question

Outline how cognitive developmental theories are important to the study of human development. Who are some of the important contributors to this theory and how their contributions were important. -- This needs to be in essay form.

Answer 1

Cognitive development is a process in which mental re arrangement happens through experience and age. For example everyone has a set of beliefs about something and then through exposure and experience they learn new things which helps them to adjust their initial beliefs.

Human development is an ongoing process which has both predictable patterns and individual Variation in multiple aspects. Theories of Human Development give us reference points to explain what we see and how we understand the human process.

A study of multiple Cognitive development studies help us to analyse and understand the various aspects of human development. Each theory looks into a certain aspect of the human development and a combination will help us to understand human development in a complete manner.

There are many theories which have been around, some refuted what was said before, and some based their own theory taking into account what was already there, taking it to the next level.

Jean Piaget is one of the most influential figures in the study of cognitive development. He developed his cognitive-developmental theory based on the idea that children actively construct knowledge as they explore and manipulate the world around them. His theory of four stages of cognitive development, first presented in the mid-20th century, is one of the most famous and widely-accepted theories in child cognitive development to this day.

John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth were two prominent researchers who advanced the theory of attachment as related to human development.

John Bowlby conceived of four stages of attachment that begin during infancy: pre-attachment, attachment-in-the-making, clear-cut attachment, and formation of reciprocal relationships.

Ainsworth identified three types of attachment that a child could possibly demonstrate: secure, avoidant, and resistant. Her colleague Mary Main later identified a fourth type, called disorganized attachment.

Sigmund Freud ‘s theory of psychosexual development is based on the idea that parents play a crucial role in managing their children’s sexual and aggressive drives during the first few years of life to foster their proper development. Freud’s structural model posits that personality consists of three interworking parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The five stages of Freud’s psychosexual theory of development include the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages

Erik Erikson was a stage theorist who took Freud’s controversial theory of psychosexual development and modified it as a psychosocial theory. Erikson emphasized that the ego makes positive contributions to development by mastering attitudes, ideas, and skills at each stage of development. This mastery helps children grow into successful, contributing members of society. During each of Erikson’s eight stages, there is a psychological conflict that must be successfully overcome in order for a child to develop into a healthy, well-adjusted adult. Lawrence Kohlberg expanded on the earlier work of cognitive theorist Jean Piaget to explain the moral development of children, which he believed follows a series of stages.

Kohlberg defined three levels of moral development: pre-conventional, conventional, and post conventional. Each level has two distinct stages. During the pre-conventional level, a child’s sense of morality is externally controlled. During the conventional level, an individual’s sense of morality is tied to personal and societal relationships. Children continue to accept the rules of authority figures, but this is now because they believe that this is necessary to ensure positive relationships and societal order. During the post-conventional level, a person’s sense of morality is defined in terms of more abstract principles and values. People now believe that some laws are unjust and should be changed or eliminated.