Cognitive Development: Vygotsky vs Piaget

Vygotsky and Piaget have different ideas on cognitive development. It is interesting to note that Vygotsky’s theory was described as “thinks afresh according to how he saw things at the time”; whereas Piaget’s theory was always consistent.

Vygotsky emphasised much on ‘nonspontaneous’ concepts. He was concerned about dynamics of development, which has an influence on the cognitive learning of children in applicable issues as primacy of social processes of learning. This was also pointed out by Wong, who stated that human thought processes were mainly influenced by their interactions with the social, historical and cultural environments. In comparison, Piaget’s theory was built on with the statics of development and emphasised more on ‘spontaneous’ concept, which means that the influence of the environment is not much taken into consideration. In addition, Vygotskian’s theory focused on individuals whereas Piaget’s focused on the population as a whole.

The zone of proximal development (ZPD) concept as Vygotsky suggested is practically useful. In his clinical interview with 10-year-old children, the prediction of their unassisted score on the Binet test of intelligence is not as good as ZPD score with regard to their school achievement after two years. Therefore, it was believed that ZPD is a better predictor tool of potential achievement than the child’s IQ score.

In short, Vygotsky’s theory may not be as popular as Piaget’s theory; the work of each seemed to be complementary to each other’s work. In order to get a complete picture in the work of improve schooling, Vygotsky would have needed Piaget’s descriptions of development. On the other hand, if Piaget needed to modify his intuitions about collaborative learning among peers, he would have needed the theory of Vygotsky.

Reference:
Shayer, M. (2003). Not just Piaget; not just Vygotsky, and certainly not Vygotsky as alternative to Piaget. Learning and Instruction, 13, 465-485.

Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of development

Discuss how Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of development has made a contribution to the field of human development. Specifically refer to research that has made use of Bronfenbrenner’s framework.

Traditionally, psychology has developed more tools for analysing individual than tools for analysing behaviour in environment context (Pervin & Lewis, 1978, as cited in Sugarman, 2001). It was usually either focus on people or environment as the locus of the developmental psychology essential. For example, there is endless debate about which factor is more important in the question of nature vs nurture (Sugarman, 2001).

Bronfenbrenner’s (1986) bioecological systems theory suggests that human development can only be understood within the various systems in which a person is surrounded. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s perspective, Chang and Fine (2007) examined mothers’ perceptions of parenting stress. It was stated that mothers’ capacity for adjustment is influenced by not only within themselves but also between people, i.e. by their children and their ecological context. The result revealed that maternal personal resources (i.e., self-efficacy and maternal depression) are important in predicting the stress experienced by low-income young mothers. Besides, maternal personal resources, child characteristics, and contextual influences explained differences between the chronically high and decreasing factors. More specifically, positive correlations were reported between difficult child temperament and parenting stress. Therefore, it was concluded that interventions programs are needed to assess maternal, child, and contextual in order to give/provide better attention to the unique needs of young mothers (Chang and Fine, 2007).

Lohman and Billings (2008) employed bioecological theory to examine protective and risk factors associated with rates of sexual related behaviors among adolescent boys from poor background. Based on the macro bioecological theory, the development of adolescents are influenced by various faceted environmental systems. Align with this, the characteristics of three microsystems: the family, school, and neighborhood, and also behaviors of adolescents were included in the study. As supported by bioecological perspective, individual behaviors, school functioning, and the family environment were key predictors of these sexual behaviors. Adolescents’ academic achievement and parental monitoring served as important protectors in influencing early risky sexual behaviors and initial sexual experience by preventing the negative behaviours, e.g., drug-alcohol use and school problems (Lohman and Billings, 2008).

On the other hand, Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory can also be used to outline the complex environmental processes that influence social support received by pregnant adolescents. The article identified macrosystem, mesosystem and microsystem in the pregnant adolescent’s context. For example, the microsystem includes stable characteristics of the adolescent that she brings to the negotiation of social support. This includes her personality, social and communication skills, age, level of stress and health. It was suggested that the bioecological model can also be used to guide mental health assessment of pregnant adolescents. Social support is a powerful strength in preventing negative outcomes among pregnant adolescents, and can be derived from several sources in the environment (Logsdon & Gennaro, 2008).

In short, the contribution of the Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory lies in demonstrating the interaction of individuals and environmental factors. Meanwhile, the theoreotical model of bioecological system continues to be the ideal framework with a high degree of explanatory power in developmental psychology.

References:

Bergen, D. (2008). Human development: traditional and contemporary theories. Pearson Education, New Jersey.

Chang, Y., & Fine, M. A. (2008). Modeling parenting stress trajectories among low-income young mothers across the child’s second and third years: Factors accounting for stability and change. Journal of Family Psychology, 21, 584–594.

Lerner, R. M. (1995). Developing individuals within changing contexts: Implications of developmental contextualism for human development research, policy and programs. In T. A. Kinderman & J. Valsiner (Eds.) Development of personcontext relations. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlaum Associates.

Logsdon, M. C., & Gennaro, S. (2008). Bioecological model for guiding social support research and interventions with pregnant adolescents. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 26, 327-339.

Lohman, B.J., & Billings, A. (2008). Protective and risk factors associated with adolescent boy’s early sexual debut and risky sexual behaviours. Journal of Youth Adolescence, 37, 723-735.

Sugarman, L. (2001). Life-spam development; Frameworks, accounts and strategies. (2nd ed.). New York: Psychology Press.

Attachment in the Dual Working/Single Parent Family

Discuss the implications of Bowlby’s and Ainsworth’s attachment stages in relation to the reality of the dual working parent or single parent family.

In his pioneer work with attachment theory, Bowlby believed that attachment behaviour in infants, such as crying and searching, were adaptive responses to separation from with a primary attachment figure. The primary caregiver provided care, support and protection, which is essential for infants to survive. This is relation to the evolutionary theory, where infant who develop attachment would enjoy a higher rate of survival. Mary Ainsworth further extended the theory, and classified with several attachment styles, including secure, anxious-resistant, and avoidant (Fraley, 2004).

Attachment style is known to be linked with emotional, behavioural and psychological functioning throughout the lifespan. Thus, it is believed that security of attachment affects modulation of arousal and attention, impacts quality of environmental exploration, and may be an essential stimulus for development of certain brain regions (Lianne, 2001).

In modern days, family structure has commonly changed into dual working parent. In Singapore, dual working parent are getting working long hours or required to travel overseas frequently. As a result, parents are not considered as the primary caregiver to the children as they rarely spend time with their parents. Instead, the children are attached with other adults, including maids, grandparents, or rely on childcare providers. It is doubtful about the range of
societal options for successfully sharing the task of bringing up children. In such case, secured attachment may less likely to occur for the children and they are possibly develop anxious-resistant or avoidant attachment. Belsky and Braungart (1991, as cited in Bretherton, 1992) showed an increased risk of insecure attachment if day care begins in the first year and is extensive in duration.

There was an interesting study supported the importance of attachment bond. Wendie and Coleman (2001) examined whether children who likely reduced access to parental resources were inclined to develop stronger attachment bond with a dog, compared with children who have greater access. Single-parent families and 2-parent families were compared based on the 12 years old children’s level of attachment to their family dog. The result revealed that children in single-parent families had significantly higher levels of attachment to dogs than children in 2-parent families.

Lianne (2001) investigated the effects of attachment disruption on cognitive functioning and academic success in adolescents. The data used in the research included demographic variables that possibly linked with attachment disruptions (separation from primary caregiver for more than six months, parental divorce, single parent home, adoption, birth outside the United States, and multiple moves), a measure of cognitive ability and student grades. The result demonstrated that attachment disruptions were small but significant effect on cognitive ability and grades.

From the studies above, we may conclude that attachment theories are playing crucial roles in the children development. Secure attachment is essential for children to develop positive mindset throughout their life.

References:

Fraley, R. C. (2004). A brief overview of adult attachment theory and research. Retrieved August 14, 2008 from http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~rcfraley/attachment.htm

Bretherton, I. (1992). The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology, 28, 759-775.

Lianne , L. C. (2001). The effects of attachment disruptions on cognitive ability and academic success in adolescents. Dissertation Abstracts International, 61, 10B.

Wendie1, B., & Coleman, G. J. (2001). Child-companion animal attachment bonds in single and two-parent families. Anthrozoös, 14, 216-223.