Introduction
Cognitive development in my view may be described simply as the process how an individual changes how they think. This change in how the person thinks may come in different perspectives, from how the person processes information, to how the person perceives other things in life and this change will always tend to increase as the person increases in age and experiences various things over time . This change or rather advancement, how I am able to understand, may be really dependent on my experiences, the knowledge that I have been able to learn in class and life in general. Therefore, this research paper will dwell on the cognitive development that I have undergone throughout my life.
I would be lying if I openly say that the way I now think, is exactly the same way I perceived life when in kindergarten or even junior high. This is due to the fact that at that point in time, I whatever mattered to me, the various experiences that I have been through and further the knowledge that I had already garnered about life in general, I will tend to think that it was limited to games and friends. But over time, it developed to the way I think at the moment. Researchers over the years have been able to come up with the different stages in this form of development.
Stages of Development
Jean Piaget is said to play a vital role in the development of cognitive development and went ahead to develop the theory of cognitive development. In this theory, he went ahead to stipulate the various stages that an individual develops cognitively. These stages were said to be majorly influenced by the person’s age at that particular moment. These stages were;
Sensorimotor Stage
This Stage as per Piaget is a stage where the person takes things as they are, no reasoning no logic no critic whatsoever of whatever may have led to the action. From his evaluation, he proposed that this stage is mostly evident amongst the children before 2 years and below. However, this action may be relative. For example, at this, stage in life, the child knows that when they open the fridge door the light will always come on. This was a ‘phenomenon’ that really amazed me at that age.
As per Piaget, this development is then divided further into 6 stages which will then explain the different ways that learning may occur and at what exact age . These ages are;
Birth-1 month: At this point in time, the child will always develop reflexes and these reflexes play a major role in knowledge and skill development in the child. These will include actions such as suckling or grasping of objects. As per Piaget, the students at this stage will always tend not to understand whatever changes are occurring in terms of the action they have performed, but due to reflexes, they are able to perform it effectively.
1-4 months: This stage of development as per Piaget mainly depended on the child repeating certain behaviors and these actions overtime may be entrenched in their lives. This simple explanation may be able to explain the reason that I suckled my thumb. As per the theory, the child is getting more adaptive to his or environment and develops various skills all due to the repetition of the same action (Smith et al, 2016). As per the theory, this may be the first stage that the child may be able to spot a difference in his or environment and develop ways that they will be able to use their earlier developed skills to effectively relate to this new issue that has come in their midst. They had earlier learnt how to grasp, through assimilation the child will realize that this hand is able to take things to his or her mouth and in no time, they will be trying to fit everything into their mouths, be it buttons, be it cellphones. The most amazing thing about this stage in time is that the child will always tend to have a smaller amount of reasoning that will help him or her try to adapt into the actions they perform. This was referred to as the Accommodation stage.
5-8 Months: At this point in time, the child will be fully aware of the happenings that occur around him or her. This understanding, will always be due to them differentiating whatever is pleasant to them and the actions that he or she must do in order for it to happen. I am told that I was always fascinated with the issue of the bulb going on. It went to the extent that my parents would always take me to the switch due to the fact that I was always amazed by this action.
8-12 months: At this point in time, the child will always learn how to react to some actions when they perform a particular action. This explains the issue of children always hitting things around the house and when they become successful drummers, then the issue of ‘they started playing when they had not even reached 1 year.
18-24 months: This point in time the child has effectively understood his or her environment and once they understand the environment, they will always tend to perform certain activities that they may have seen older people in the society perform. For example, at this stage, the child will be able to know that a certain machine or sound is mainly made by a certain thing or action. For example, during the times that the child is playing, you would be able to hear him honking as they play with their toy cars.
Preoperational Stage
Piaget proposed that this is a stage that normally occurs when the child is between 2 years to 7 years and at this stage, the child has complete understanding of their environment. At this stage, their actions will in most instances not be governed by logic and reasoning, but rather, they will always tend to be governed by factors, such as ego or they let things fall in place (Ormrod, 2013).
This is the stage that one may hear his or her child, refer to a doll as my baby and ensures that they treat it in a right manner, in order not to upset them and the likes. However, in real life, whatever is being referred to may either be a toy, doll or others even have an imaginary friend. As per the theory, the child will develop various traits and actions such as pretending and better understanding of various symbols (Smith et al, 2016). I remember this is the time in my life when one twitches his or her lips, it was a form of disrespect and would normally lead to fights. So by this point, I was able to have already understood the environment as required and the skills whether they were learnt through continuous actions or due to reflexes.
Concrete Operational Stage
This stage is believed to manifest itself from 7 years up to when the child is about 13 years. This is the stage where the child does actions due to the fact that his or her friends are doing. I can remember that this was the age that I pressured my parents to buy me a larger bicycle due to the reason that one of my friends had been bought a larger bicycle and in no time, each and every friend of mine had bought an adult bicycle. At this stage in time, it is believed that the child has really developed the skill of communication. This is the age that I remember we had already developed our own slang and further how we perceived things in the society. As per this theory, it is evident that the child at this stage in life will always be able to reason and hence they will then be able to know how they pass messages amongst the different people in around them. Be it their parents, teachers or even their peers.
This is the stage that last throughout the individual’s adolescent years to his or her adult life. At this stage the person’s perspective of life is a more detailed one, and they may always tend to be more specific of what they want. At this stage, it is believed, that the person will always tend to always want to set goals and try to achieve them in the process. I believe this is the point I am in at the moment. I have an ideal view of life, but I clearly know that in the process I will meet various barriers that may tend to sway me away from whatever I hope to have in my ideal life. This may include drop in my GPA, relationships not working out and plans continuously crumbling. However, at this stage, it is clear that one understands the difference of reality and idealism, due to the knowledge that I have been able to get over time and experiences that have come my way, be it personal experiences or experiences of the others around me(Balleine, 2016).
Conclusion
In conclusion, above clearly shows the various developments that have occurred in my life pertaining to my state of reasoning and perception of the factors in life. These developments have been able to explain various happenings in my life, from being fascinated by the light bulb, to understanding the function of this light bulb down to the issue of understanding what makes it light. So these stages that were discussed by Jean Piaget have been able to adequately address the various changes in how I perceive things.
Reference
Balleine, B. W. (2016). The Cognitive Control of Goal-Directed Action: How Predictive Learning Affects Choice. In Advances in Cognitive Neurodynamics (V) (pp. 27-33).Springer Singapore.
Groome, e. a. (2014). An Introduction to Cognitive Psychology. New York: Psychology Press.
Ormrod, J. E. (2013). Educational Psychology: Pearson New International Edition: Developing Learners. Pearson Higher Ed.
Smith, S. J., Farra, S., Ulrich, D. L., Hodgson, E., Nicely, S., &Matcham, W. (2016). Learning and Retention Using Virtual Reality in a Decontamination Simulation. Nursing Education Perspectives, 37(4), 210-214.
Thorsten, P., & Olsson, H. (2012). Type of Learning Task impacts Performance and Strategy Selection in Decision Making. Cognitive Psychology, 207-240.
