The following is a short comparison between these two Cognitive-Developmental Theories. I really like ecological systems theory, since it brings up a big aspect our surroundings. I truly do believe that we are influenced by the people around us, even from a young age. I know personally, alcohol was a huge influence in my home. I remember being 5 years old, and running to the cooler or the fridge to grab my parents a beer. It is something that I took with me into my early adulthood and even late adolescent years. I found that drinking more than one beer in a sitting is considered to be an excess amount of beer. That is something that seemed foreign to me, since if you didn’t drink a whole 12-pack, then you weren’t drinking. I soon found out on my own that it isn’t normal to drink beer every night like I seen growing up. So next time you feel something is normalized in your life, you may need to think about it a little bit more, because sometimes what was normal to us as kids, is completely different for ourselves. Try not to be influenced, be the influencer as a good image, especially for our younger generation.
Please contrast two developmental theories – Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory and a second theory of your choice that has been covered this semester. Identify your theory choice by listing it in the table. Contrast the theories by filling out each cell of the table.
| Theory | Piaget | Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory |
| Main Characteristics of Theory | Cognitive-Development of a child through their earlier years, where they actively acquire knowledge as they progress into and manipulate the world (Berk, 2020). | Ecological Theory was centered on a child’s complex relationships within multiple levels of their environment and surroundings (Berk, 2020). |
| Domain of focus (physical, cognitive, social/emotional, or combination of several domains) | Cognitive, with a touch of emotional. | Combination of physical and cognition |
| Continuous or Discontinuous Development? | Discontinuous | Continuous |
| Stance on Influence of Nature and Nurture? | Nurture | It is based of nature, with nurture being a more complex aspect |
| Example of Theory Concept applied to child development (cite textbook information/research findings to support your ideas) | An example of Piaget’s theory would be learning from their mistakes and not doing them again (Berk, 2020). Placing their hand on their mothers curling iron and burning their hand. Doing this action will teach them that this is something not to touch in the future. | An example would be the amount of people a child meets throughout their early childhood years. Whether those interactions are more or less complex. Meeting a bad individual, may cause the child to long for that attention (Berk, 2020). |
| Two Strengths of Theory | A child can progress into the world with an acquired knowledge of common mistakes. They can begin centering their knowledge around certain likes that they can carry into the future. | It can be gauged throughout there whole early life. And can learn from other people’s mistakes. |
| Two Weaknesses of Theory | If the child has lived a sheltered life, they won’t be able to learn from mistakes. Problem-solving can begin to be diminished into adolescents, causing impulsivity (Berk, 2020). | The child can learn to emulate an individual that they meet, which may not be a good influence. A child can begin learning bad habits from other complex individuals. |
1) If you had to choose a theory that completely describes child and adolescent development, which of the two theories from the contrast above would you choose or would you select certain components of several theories? Explain your choice.
I would select certain components of several different theories, since there is logic pertaining to being diverse. Having a diverse upbringing from different positive aspects of different theories, can enhance physical, cognitive, and emotional/social development. Taking a little bit of cognition and applying it into a child’s life as they meet new individuals, they can assess things better. Having a heightened cognitive ability with Piaget’s theory, Bronfenbrenner’s theory can begin bringing them closer to the complexity of relationships.
2) What aspects of your theory (or theories) make it more attractive than the others?
The main aspect that makes these theories attractive than single ones, is again, the diversity of the child’s development. Their cognitive, emotional/social, and physical development can all be enhanced into late adolescents and early adulthood years. Stemming a little bit of all theories together can develop a child into a great individual as they age.
3) Does your theory describe development from infancy through adolescence completely? If yes, would you consider your theory the ideal child development theory? If no, what else would need to be added to your theory to completely describe child and adolescent development?
These theories do stem from infancy all the way to adolescent years, which would be considered an ideal developmental theory. The only thing that would need to be considered, is the child itself. One child may be different than the other, even in an immediate family. So understanding each case is going to be different, you can begin to adapt to the child’s certain needs.
-Cyral I Callender III
References Berk, L. E. (2020). Infants, Children, and Adolescents (9th Edition). Pearson Education (US). https://purdueuniversityglobal.vitalsource.com/books/9780135494271
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