Introduction
Both Erickson’s and Piaget’s developmental theories agree that a child’s development occurs through a sequential transition. Erickson gives eight stages that explain the transition of a child’s development; on the other hand, Piaget gives four. The two theories may be different, but they both show that each stage has hurdles that the child must conquer. What sets the two apart is the impact of these hurdles on the child’s development (Cohen & Waite-Stupiansky, 2017). At 35 months, Kim is expected to have achieved several milestones according to both theories. For example, Kim should be able to walk independently, communicate and play with her peers. However, there is a delay in her milestones because of the illness, cerebral palsy, which has affected both her cognitive and emotional development (ECTA Center, 2014). According to both theories, cognitive and emotional development are dependent on the physical exploration of the environment.
Similarities
Kim is a 35-month-old child who lives with her parents and an elder sister with whom she enjoys playing. From how her family is set up, there are many aspects borrowed from both Erikson’s and Piaget’s theories that explain her positive progress so far. Both theories promote the idea that the success or failure of these developmental stages is greatly influenced by external factors that include familial, social, and environmental circumstances. Children’s inspiration and personalities are built by nurture rather than nature. The first stage in Erickson’s theory is trust versus mistrust. This stage focuses on developing a sense of trust based on consistent parenting or mistrust based on inconsistent parenting (Demetriou et al., 2018). If the child receives quality and consistent parenting, which incorporates whole nurturing and expressing love and warmth, a sense of hope is developed, which in turn sustains the development of ego identity.
The modern society isolates great parenting to the nuclear parents, completely disregarding the importance of their individual contributions. While parents are important for the development of a child, it is more important to incorporate other people, especially when a child has special needs (Carducci et al., 2020). The people the family chooses to let in should be trusted individuals such as the grandparents, who would be as loving, caring, and understanding to the child. Mr. and Mrs. Doe have included their parents in taking care of Kim. This way, the family creates a greater opportunity for Kim to receive nurturing, loving attention and care from not one, but more sources. The parents are involved in her daily routine and encourage her to play activities (ECTA Center, 2014). Constantly talking to her and involving her in the family routines such as screen time and having her at the dining table during breakfast, has played a major role in increasing her vocabulary, belief in herself to stand and walk for a few minutes. Research from Lauruschkus et al., (2017) indicates that children with cerebral palsy, and remain physically inactive achieve way fewer milestones than what Kim has achieved this far. The idea of taking her to school will be fundamental in engaging her in more physical activities that will encourage her to do more.
Piaget attributes the fast acquisition of knowledge to the sensory experiences and manipulation of objects that a child does. He further states that encouraging children to interact with the environment more causes cognitive development that involves a great deal of growth (Cohen & Waite-Stupiansky, 2017). These children are not only able to perform physical activities such as walking, sitting and crawling but can also communicate through words and body language. Kim has been exposed to an environment where she interacts with other children and adults, plays, and communicates with them. She is thus able to use 2-3 word phrases, respond to yes or no questions, sing along to simple rhymes, sit independently, can stand and walk when supported, and identify and uses toys functionally.
Therefore, the similarities in the first stage of both Erickson’s and Piaget’s theories are tied to availing the external resources to the child to enable her to achieve her full potential. The full potential may not be similar in all instances; in this case, the milestones Kim has achieved with cerebral palsy cannot be compared to those of a normal child. However, they are more compared to other children with cerebral palsy who remain physically inactive and have inconsistent parents. From Erickson’s arguments, an infant takes in the external world during the first six months of life (Chung, 2018). When the children receive excessive stimulation, they tune out as a form of defense and it delays or makes it impossible to integrate the experiences for cognitive and affective growth. A sense of mistrust from inconsistent mothering or fathering results in a child feeling unsafe in the world and cannot trusting their own feelings, thus, delaying or preventing of cognitive development. Similarly, Piaget’s first stage the sensorimotor, indicates that the child utilizes their inborn skills and abilities such as grasping, listening, looking, and sucking, to discover their environment, how it works and how it exists separately from themselves. It is only through interaction with the outside forces that they can accomplish this.
From Erickson’s stages of development, Kim is in her second stage, autonomy vs shame and doubt moving to the third stage. In this stage, the child begins to develop a sense of control over their bodies and the ability to choose what they do and do not like. For example, Kim is undergoing potty training to help her ease herself into the right places. When she fails to communicate in time and soils herself, she cries out of frustration (ECTA Center, 2014). Also, new food has to be introduced to her in bits and gradually over between one to two weeks, otherwise, she will reject it. She knows what she wants to wear and her mother allows her to choose her outfits occasionally (ECTA Center, 214). When playing with her sister or friends and they do not understand what she needs, she begins to cry as well.
Being able to control her bodily functions and effectively communicate her choice of food, clothing, or toys gives Kim a sense of control and independence; these help develop her feelings of autonomy. On the other hand, failing in these activities leaves her feeling ashamed and in self-doubt. These feelings are overcome when her mother encourages and praises her because it motivates her to want to try again next time. Successful completion of this stage leaves a child more confident, secure, and with the will to act with intention.
Differences
Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development are based on the idea that there is a task or challenge that must be conquered for one to succeed in the next developmental stage. In other words, the success of one stage determines whether or not one succeeds in the next one. In Kim’s case, for instance, if she had left stage one with mistrust and hopelessness, then she would not have achieved the milestones she did in the second one, however small they may appear. Erikson remains optimistic in his views and encourages his audience to focus on the strengths of each of the eight stages to resolve and realize the virtues he has outlined.
On the other hand, Piaget focuses his theory on cognition instead of emotions. Unlike Erikson, Piaget’s theory is fully age-dependent and the achievements or failures of the previous stage have little to do with the success next one (Chung, 2018). He believes in creating experiences in each stage that are built over from the previous stage but are not fully dependent. While the foundation of Kim’s language development was laid at the sensorimotor stage, it is at the preoperational stage that she realizes the emergence of language. What affects the failure or success of growth at a particular stage is how the child interacts with the environment.
Conclusion
According to Erickson’s theory, the successful completion of one stage equips children with psychological strengths that serve them in the next life stages. Kim completed the first stage at two years, with trust, hope, and belief in herself to help her deal with the conflicts of the second stage. She is now thriving at the autonomy versus shame and doubt stage with much ease, and if all factors remain constant, she will succeed in the third one too. Piaget’s theory attributes her development to the freedom her family affords her to freely interact with her environment. She expresses herself and learns to differentiate herself from the environment because she understands the external influences. However, these two theories combined have illustrated the individual need for Kim to interact with her environment. If her parents and the other adults around her create a safe and loving environment for her to thrive, then normal cognitive and psychosocial development will occur. When viewing the issue from this perspective, it is easier to understand how cerebral palsy and other kinds of disabilities affect psychosocial development. This in turn, makes it harder for cognitive development to occur at every stage of the child.
References
Carducci, B. J., Nave, C. S., Fabio, D. A., Mio, J. S., Riggio, R. E., Saklofske, D. H., & Stough, C. (2020). The Wiley Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences, Set (The Wiley Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences, 4 Volumes) (4 Volumes ed.). Wiley.
Chung, D. (2018). The Eight Stages of Psychosocial Protective Development: Developmental Psychology. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 08(06), 369–398. Web.
Cohen, L. E., & Waite-Stupiansky, S. (2017). Theories of Early Childhood Education: Developmental, Behaviorist, and Critical (1st ed.). Routledge.
Demetriou, A., Shayer, M., & Efklides, A. (2018). Neo-Piagetian Theories of Cognitive Development: Implications and Applications for Education (Psychology Library Editions: Cognitive Science) (1st ed.). Routledge.
ECTA Center. (2014). Example Case Study: “Kim” at 35 Months of Age. Ectacenter.Org. Web.
Lauruschkus, K., Hallström, I., Westbom, L., Tornberg, S., & Nordmark, E. (2017). Participation in physical activities for children with cerebral palsy: feasibility and effectiveness of physical activity on prescription. Archives of Physiotherapy, 7(1). Web.