Modern ideas about the biological and social relations in children’s development are based mainly on Vygotsky’s positions. The scientist emphasized the unity of hereditary and social factors in the process of maturity (Martin, 2021). Heredity plays a role in the formation of all mental functions of the child, but its influence is uneven. Elementary functions (beginning with sensation and perception) are caused by more general causes than higher functions (voluntary memory, logical thinking, speech). The latter is a product of human cultural and historical evolution, and hereditary factors play the role of prerequisites rather than determinants of children’s development.
On the other hand, the environment, too, is always involved in development. No sign of child development, including lower mental functions, is purely hereditary. Thus, the relative importance of genetic factors strengthens, weakens, or sometimes is pushed aside. For example, in speech development, the importance of hereditary prerequisites decreases early and sharply, and the child’s ability to talk advances under the direct influence of the social environment (Martin, 2021). However, in the development of psychosexuality, the role of genetic factors expands in adolescence.
According to this theory, kids go beyond imitation when they begin to explore the world around them on their own. For example, babies develop when they touch the things around them – their parents’ faces, toys, and cribs. They are actively learning about the world while they are very immature. However, all of these early experiences significantly determine what their cognitive abilities will be in the future. The older children get the wider their opportunities to learn about the world around them become.
It is also necessary to analyze how Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget interpreted issues of child intelligence. According to Piaget, the central core of mental development is intellect (Ansorge, 2020). The child develops and forms an increasingly adequate schema of the situation — and in this way, actively interacts with the environment and adapts to it. During this process, the child gradually begins to understand some of the laws that operate in the world of things and people. Piaget thought that each stage of development is characterized by typical thinking errors.
In infancy, the senses and movements help the child discover the world around them. Children begin to see the connection between their actions and the consequences. A toddler’s thinking is egocentric from two to three years of age (Ansorge, 2020). It is difficult for a child to understand that someone else has a different point of view from their own. Between the ages of 7 and 11, a child can not only use symbols but also manipulate them on a logical level (Ansorge, 2020). After age twelve, concrete and abstract thinking becomes available to children (Ansorge, 2020). A teenager no longer needs a connection to real physical objects or actual events in order to think.
Information processing theory differs from the concept proposed by Jean Piaget in that it treats development as a continuous process rather than something that occurs in stages. The essence of this concept is that children do not simply react to information received from outside — they are capable of processing it. The mind is perceived as a kind of computer working in a specific sequence (Ganly, 2019). This metaphor has helped psychologists explain the various processes in which the brain is involved. Attention and perception can be compared to entering information into a computer, and memory is like a storage space for data.
The ability to handle cognitive load varies from person to person and from moment to moment, depending on a person’s cognitive abilities and the amount of information being processed. In addition, familiar and frequently repeated information does not require as much cognitive capacity and is easier to process. For example, riding a bicycle or driving a car will require minimal cognitive load if these tasks have been performed multiple times. Finally, people pay more attention to the information they consider important to increase the likelihood of processing the data. For instance, when students prepare for a test, they are more likely to pay attention to those aspects that will likely be on the test. In this way, children go beyond imitation when they process information independently; they classify objects and select the important and not important. This is an ongoing process, so it is difficult to pick any particular example since children perform such tasks throughout their lives.
Pretend play implies a mismatch between real and imagined situations. It assumes the presence of some or other manifestations of imagination. The play has been denoted by researchers as a process in which the child develops (Taylor, 2021). Accordingly, when children show imagination in play, they actively participate in their individual growth. An example of when a child goes beyond imitation is kids change the rules of a game during the process itself. It can also happen when they suddenly start making up roles they have never seen before. Here children’s ability to actively rethink reality is manifested, and thus they mature while playing. A variety of cognitive theories explain in different ways how toddlers develop, but what is common is the autonomy and activity that is required of them.
References
Ansorge, R. (2020). Piaget stages of development. WebMD.
Ganly, S. (2019). The information processing theory and its effect on children and learning. Medium.
Martin, E. (2021). Pioneers: Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Early Years Educator. Web.
Taylor, M. (2021). How to encourage pretend play in babies and toddlers. What to Expect.