Three Different Stages of the Childhood( -Piaget-Vygotski-Erickson)

Piaget's  Preoperational Stage

His studies demostrate that children first stage  in the sensorimotor stage that children explore the world with sensations, perceptions with physical movements and actions. Moreover, the preoperational stage, which is the second one, children begin to represent the world with words, images and drawings. Their concepts are stable and they begin to reason more. This is what I recall from my younger brother when he was 4 years: he questioned my father about almost everything, and my parents did not understand why he was so curious about his sorrounding. They explained him some things, but I can bet those ansewrs were not enough for his mind. 

• I was wondering why Piaget thought it was a good name "Preoperational Stage"...and does it have a purpose on children's life?

It does in fact have a purpose for chidren, because after they were able to reprensent their thoughts in actions, but now they can do it mentally as well. Preoperational Thought is the ability to reconstruct what was physically to do it mentally. This can be divided into two substages: the symbolic function substage and the intuitive thought substage. 

What I can think is my grandma! 

The first one, the symbolic function substage, occurs between the ages of 2 and 4. Young children gain the ability to represent an object that is not present (mentally). If someone ask a 2 years old child to draw his family, you would expect to see faces, but not in this stage. They scribble to represent a person, a car, a bike, the sky, etc. I really like this stage a lot! You can see that they do not draw concrete facts, but scribble designs allow them to get a better idea of their thoughts. Althought, children make great progress in this stage, they still have limitations, two of them are: Egocentrism and animism. 

Egocentrism is the limitation to distinguish between one's own perspective and someone else's perspective. This was initially studied by Piaget and his coleguees to study how the child reacted when asked to select from a series of photos the one photo that reflects the dolls's view. Children in the preoperational stage pick yp their own view rather than the doll's view.

Children uses toys to say to parents questions: Mom, the doll doesn't want to make pi like me"  

Animism, is the belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and capable of action. So, a young children would say something like:" The turtle does not like me", "That tree pushed me and I fell down, mom". As a child, I used to think that my doll would sleep with me and because I was the mom, I was supposed to feed her with my "milk"! My mom just encouraged me to play and did not say anything negative to my pretencious play. I believe that girls play to be mom because they want to be "mom" and to have "babies" because of the social interaction that we had as a babies with our mom.

The Intuitive Thought Substage is the second substage of preoperational thought, occurs between 4 to 7 years of age. In this substage, children begin to thought, reason and want to know the answers to all questions. Like, "What taste does our tongue has daddy?", "Why does it rain?", "Why my little brother is on my mom's belly?"...This ideas are simple and lack of logic as you see. Salvadorian parents have to be cautious about the kind of answers they give to children. They also believe firmly in these responses, like unbreakeable rules. Though, this child is not very good at reasonig like adults are. He also does not understand that:"Tomorrow his aunty is coming to visit him". Also, something that stroke me, was the fact that some children cannot answer quesions with "What if..." in any reliable way. I asked this same kind of question to my niece (6 years old), but I added: "What if you were about to be hit by a car?" and she responded: "I would run and put myself out the road". Even thought she responded logically, the "run" is not a reliable answer.


Vygotskys's  Theory 
Vygotsky (1896-1934) stated that children contruct their learning throught social interaction with others. Their congnitve development depends on the tools provided by the society and their minds are shaped by the cultural context in which they live in. (Gredler, 2008; Holzman,2009).
I think that what he wanted to point was that children also learn with peers in their social context, that is the school, the church, any place where they were immersed. And also Vygostky's belief in the importance of social influences is reflected in his concept of ZPD (Zone of proximal development).

The concept is defined as the rage of task that are too difficult for the child to master alone but that can be learned with guidance of more- skilled children. 

Scaffolding: means changing the level of support. If someone is learning a task, well a more-skilled peer can guide the other student this addjust the amount of guidance to fir the child's performance. This happens in our English classrooms (or so I think) teachers let an advance learner to help the otehr student, and results are fantastic. Tutoring, creating a conversation club (with more advanced students).

Erik Erikson Psychosocial Development

Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development is one of the best-known theories of personality in psychology. Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages. Erikson's theory describes the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan. That is why it is so important how children spent their life in the context they live in.  One of the main elements of Erikson's psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego identity. Ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction. According to Erikson, our ego identity is constantly changing due to new experiences and information we acquire in our daily interactions with others. 

When psychologists talk about identity, they are referring to all of the beliefs, ideals, and values that help shape and guide a person's behavior. The formation of identity is something that begins in childhood and becomes particularly important during adolescence, but it is a process that continues throughout life. Our personal identity gives each of us an integrated and cohesive sense of self that endures and continues to grow as we age.

In addition to ego identity, Erikson also believed that a sense of competence motivates behaviors and actions. Each stage in Erikson's theory is concerned with becoming competent in an area of life. If the stage is handled well, the person will feel a sense of mastery, which is sometimes referred to as ego strength or ego quality. If the stage is managed poorly, the person will emerge with a sense of inadequacy.

In each stage, Erikson believed people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. In Erikson's view, these conflicts are centered on either developing a psychological quality or failing to develop that quality. During these times, the potential for personal growth is high, but so is the potential for failure.

The first stage: Trust and Mistrust 

The need to deal with mixed feelings about oneself is at the core of the third crisis of personality development to identify Erik Erikson: trust and mistrust. The conflict arises from the increasingly meaningless of purpose that makes the child to make plans and activities, and growing qualms you may have with respect to such plans. For example: If a child successfully develops trust, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world. Caregivers who are inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting contribute to feelings of mistrust in the children they care for. Failure to develop trust will result in fear and a belief that the world is inconsistent and unpredictable.  Of course, no child is going to develop a sense of 100 percent trust or 100 percent doubt. Erikson believed that successful development was all about striking a balance between the two opposing sides. When this happens, children acquire hope, which Erikson described as an openness to experience tempered by some wariness that danger may be present. 

 Second stage: Autonomy versus shame and doubt is the second stage of Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. This stage occurs between the ages of 18 months to approximately age two to three years. According to Erikson, children at this stage are focused on developing a greater sense of self-control. Gaining a sense of personal control over the world is important at this stage of development.An example of this is going to toilet  and even the toilet training plays a major role; learning to control one’s body functions leads to a feeling of control and a sense of independence. Other important events include gaining more control over food choices, toy preferences and clothing selection.

Children who successfully complete this stage feel secure and confident, while those who do not are left with a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt. Children ask themselves: "Will I be able to put this on?" "Will I be able to control my own body and not to make pi in my bed?" Of course they like to demonstrate that they are able to do what they want. However, if they fail they feel ashmed. 

I read a blog from a mom, this is the link if you want to read it through: http://mybabyedgar.weebly.com/3/post/2012/09/stage-three-initiative-vs-guilt.html 

I just notice this part, that helped me get into this stage more: "Between 3-5 years old my baby has learned the basics of life. He now knows our basic routine and knows how to get ready by himself, even though I still have to set his clothes for him. He tries to act all grown up by eating with a fork or spoon instead of with his fingers. He no longer needs me to help him to eat. He knows from right and wrong and what he should and shouldn't do. He is able to eat almost the same food I eat. For example, he can eat junk food now but not that much. He still eats three times a day with me and we try to keep it like that".  

The fact that a 3 years-old boy select his shoes or clothe demonstrate that he is in this stage. I see that it is very important to understand them and also to help them feel confortable with what they want or desire. 

Initiative versus Guilt: This stage occurs during the preschool years, between the ages of three and five. During the initiative versus guilt stage, children begin to declare their power and control over the world through directing play and other social interaction. 

 I recall that my mom used to made fun of me when I did not do anything right, for example (I was 5) sweeping. She pushed so hard that I make an effort to sweep like the way she did it. I reflect now and I said that she should have helped me how to do that first. Since that moment I felt terribly ashamed of myself and scared to get done another chore. I read that children are immersed in different context and they begin plan activities, facing challenges, etc. It becomes important to understand what role are the parents playing in this stage. Those parents that discourage their children, these children may feel ashamed or themselves and become dependent upon the help of others. Parents and teachers have to be aware of this feature of not embarrasing children just because...children may be threaten.  

The second part will be in a new entry! :) 

See you!