Abstract
This paper offers a preliminary discussion of the domain of cognitive development, including its definition, the overview of the most influential theories, and the suggestions for future research on the topic. The paper briefly characterizes Piaget’s, Vygotsky’s, and neo-Piagetian theories, explains the personal interest of the researcher in the topic, and dwells on the possible outcomes of future research.
Introduction
For future research, the domain of cognitive development is proposed. Cognitive abilities and skills are concerned with knowledge “management,” that is, its acquisition and use (Shaffer & Kipp, 2013). The development of human cognitive abilities has been studied within the field of developmental psychology, and for the time being, there exist several theories that attempt to describe and explain the process. For this research, the domain was chosen out of personal interest towards the development of cognitive abilities and skills and in an attempt to gather and synthesize the information that is known or supposed to be known about this domain of human development.
Cognitive Development Theories
Piaget’s Theory
Piaget was the one to found this domain of developmental psychology (Shaffer & Kipp, 2013; White, Livesey, & Hayes, 2012). Piaget’s theory was developed through experimentation and observation (Harris & Westermann, 2015, p. 73), and the result involved a detailed description and explanation of four stages of cognitive development (“sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational”) as well as the specific cognitive abilities that characterized the stages (White et al., 2012, p. 171). These stages and their descriptions offer an insight into my current expectations concerning the evolution of the domain throughout the stages of development.
Piaget’s theory has emphasized significant areas of cognitive development, which has spurred research in the area, and some of these studies were aimed at the theory’s expansion and improvement while others sought to offer new explanations for the phenomenon.
Neo-Piagetian Approaches
Neo-Piagetian approaches and theories do not have to be linked to Piaget’s theory or to be based on it; rather, they are all founded on the idea that cognitive development involves multiple stages (White et al., 2012). An example is Fisher’s skill theory, which suggests three tiers (sensorimotor, representational, abstract) of four skill complexity levels. The levels designate the maximum complexity of a task that a person can perform during a stage of development, and this complexity is also tied to the general changes in the cognitive ability (White et al., 2012, p. 174). The existence of neo-Piagetian approaches shows that Piaget’s theory created a framework for similar theory development.
Vygotsky and Sociocultural Context
Apart from the theories that bear an apparent similarity to Piaget’s theory, completely different theories have also been proposed in the domain of cognitive development. In particular, while Piaget was mostly interested in the stages of development, Vygotsky searched for the factors that affect it. Vygotsky’s theory emphasizes the socio-cultural environment of a child, their social interactions, and playing as the factors of cognitive development (Harris & Westermann, 2015, p. 31).
Vygotsky introduced the terms of the zone of proximal development, which indicates the complexity of tasks that a child can perform if he or she is provided with the skilful help of a partner (a tutor, a parent), and scaffolding, which is the “social collaboration that fosters cognitive growth” (Shaffer & Kipp, 2013, p. 233). This theory appears to complement Piaget’s theory due to its focus on the environment as well as the child.
Conclusion
From the preliminary research of the currently existing theories, it can be concluded that the domain of cognitive development has been studied vigorously, which has resulted in a variety of approaches that can be proved to complement each other. It might be suggested that the study of these theories would allow synthesizing the knowledge and, possibly, generating a comprehensive picture of cognitive development as seen by the modern science.
References
Harris, M., & Westermann, G.A. (2015). A student’s guide to developmental psychology [EBSCOhost version].
Shaffer, D. & Kipp, K. (2013). Developmental psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
White, F., Livesey, D., & Hayes, B. (2012). Developmental Psychology: From Infancy to Development. New York, NY: Pearson Higher Education.