Ashley Pittman

June 18, 2014

Educational Psychology


Abstract
This paper contains information on Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. It
explains Erikson, Piaget and Vygotskys psychosocial development. It briefly describes the main
the conflicts of ages 5-18 and gives examples of some of the activities one would use in any
classroom to help students develop initiative, industry, and/or identity. It briefly describe the
stages of Piagets cognitive development. Also, briefly describes the cultural and social
influences on cognitive development through Vygotsky.

Erikson: Psychosocial development
Psychosocial development is the development of the personality, and the acquisition of
social attitudes and skills, from infancy through maturity. Lets take a look through the stages of
Erik Eriksons psychosocial development from ages five through eighteen. The stage Initiative
vs. Guilt is defined by children ages three to five. In this stage, a child is particularly livelier and
quickly developing. It is during this time, when the children start to become more social and
interact with the other children at school. Children start planning activities, share those activities
with other children, and make up games to play. When this happens, children tend to develop a
sense of initiative, they start to become more secure about their ability to lead and make
decisions. If this is squashed for the child, either through criticism or control, the child then starts
to develop a sense of guilt. Although some guilt is necessary to reinforce desired behaviors, too
much guilt can make the child slow to interact with others and could crush their creativity. It is
at this stage when children will begin to ask many questions as their thirst for knowledge grows
(McLeod, 2008).
The next stage is Industry vs. Inferiority. During this stage, children are starting to learn
how to read and write, do sums, and make things on their own. During this stage, teachers start to
make a big impact on the childrens lives. Children start to realize what groups are and how they
will become a major source of the childs self-esteem. Children then begin to take pride in their
accomplishments. When children are encouraged and reassured for their initiative, it is then
when they begin to feel confident in their ability to achieve goals. If this initiative is not
encouraged, the child then begins to feel inferior and starts doubting their own abilities and may
not reach his or her potential. If a child does not master a specific skill, they start to feel that
society is becoming demanding, that they have to be athletic or popular to fit in. It is during this
time that the child might develop a sense of inferiority. Some failure may be necessary so that
the child can develop some modesty, yet, a balance between competence and modesty is
necessary. In this stage, success will lead to the virtue of competence (McLeod, 2008).
Next, the stage is Identity vs. Role Confusion. This is the stage when a child is going
through the transition from childhood to adulthood, and is the most important stage. Children are
becoming more independent, and starting to think about their future and what it is they want to
do with their lives. During this stage is when adolescent will reexamine his or her identity and try
to find out who he or she is. Erikson suggests that two identities are involved: the sexual and the
occupational. Erikson claims that a child may feel uncomfortable about their body for a while
until they can adapt and grow into the changes. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of
fidelity. Being able to commit to oneself defines fidelity. This is the period where he or she starts
to explore their options. When one starts to think I dont know what I want to be when I grow
up is when a child is failing to establish a sense of identity with society, which can lead to role
confusion. Role confusion is defined as a child getting mixed feelings about themselves, or their
place in society. In response to role confusion, a child may begin to experiment with different
lifestyles such as work and education. Trying to pressure a child into doing something, or being
someone they do not want to be can lead to rebellion. Which could lead to negativity in the child,
and feelings of unhappiness (McLeod, 2008).
In my classroom, there are many activities I would do to help students develop initiative,
industry, and/or identity. One activity that I would do every day or possibly every week would be
to have a leader. For one whole week one of my students would get to be the leader, they would
be the line leader the Pledge of Allegiance leader, and would be my helper for the whole entire
week. One day they would bring in something for show and tell, something that describes them,
or something the shows what they like to do in their spare time. One day they could bring in
pictures of themselves and their family and explain them to us and who the people are in the
pictures. I think this is a good activity because it lets that child be independent and reminds them
of who they are.
Piaget: Cognitive Development
According to Piaget, there are two major principles that guide intellectual growth and
biological development: adaptation and organizations. For an individual to survive in an
environment, they have to adapt to physical and mental stimuli. Assimilation and
accommodation are both a part of the adaptation process. Piaget believed that in order for human
beings to process mental structures, they had to assimilate external events and convert them to fit
their mental structures. Piagets second principle, organization, refers to the nature of these
adaptive mental structures. He suggests that the mind is organized in complex and integrated
ways. The easiest way would be the schema, which is a mental representation of some physical
or mental action that can be performed on an object, event, or phenomenon (Wood, Smith,
Grossniklaus, 2012).
Piagets stages of cognitive development include: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete
operational, formal operational. The first stage, sensorimotor begins at birth and last till about
eighteen months two years of age. Infants cannot predicts reaction, and knowledge is limited at
this stage. Infants must constantly experiment and learn through trial and error (Wood, Smith,
Grossniklaus, 2012).
The second stage, preoperational, usually occurs during the period between toddlers
(eighteen-twenty-four months) and early childhood (seven years). This is the stage where
children start to talk and remember things, and have a sense of imagination. In this stage,
children start to play make believe such as dress up and making up stories. Children start to
understand and express relationships between the past and future (Wood, Smith, Grossniklaus,
2012).
The next stage, concrete operational, typically develops between ages of seven years to
eleven years. Intellectual development in this stage is demonstrated through the use of logical
and systematic manipulation of symbols, which are related to concrete objects. Thinking
becomes less egocentric with increased awareness of external events, and involves concrete
references. The last stage, formal operational, is the period from adolescent through adulthood.
Teens and adults used symbols related to abstract concepts and can think about multiple
variables in systematic ways. They can form hypotheses, and think about abstract relationship
and concepts (Wood, Smith, Grossniklaus, 2012).
Vygotsky: Cognitive Development
Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development
of cognition. Vygotsky strongly believed that community plays a central role in the process of
"making meaning." Vygotsky was one who believed that young children are curious and
involved in their own leaning and the discovery and development of new understandings. The
important learning of a child comes from social interaction, according to Vygotsky (McLeod,
2007).
Vygotsky has two main principles that discuss his theories on cognitive development.
The first would be the More Knowledgeable Other, which is pretty self-explanatory. It refers to
someone with a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a
particular task, process, or concept. The second principle is the Zone of Proximal Development.
This important concept relates to the difference in when a child can achieve independently and
what the child can achieve with guidance and encouragement (McLeod, 2007).
Some activities that I would use in my classroom that refer to Vygotskys Zone of
Proximal development would include group work, letting my students work together in groups
and seeing how well they do, this would let me know how well they work in groups, and who
likes to take charge and do the work, or who likes to sit back and let everyone else do it. Also,
making the students work independently is something I would do a lot because students need to
learn how to figure things out and how to do things on their own. It is a big part of figuring out
who they are going to become.
There are many different theories that relate to cognitive and psychosocial development.
Erikson, Piaget and Vygotsky all have wonderful theories that make since and are interesting to
learn about, although they are quite different and do not agree on a lot of information, they are
still interesting and very useful for information.

References
McLeod, S. A. (2007). Lev Vygotsky. Retrieved from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
McLeod, S. A. (2008). Erik Erikson. Retrieved from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html
Wood, Kay C., Smith, Halan, and Grossniklaus, Daurice. "Piaget's Stages."
Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and Technology., 13 July 2012. Web. 01
July, 2014.