Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development Essay Example

Developmental psychology is a branch of psychology that focuses on, you guessed it, development! But what does that mean? Well, the word development refers to maturation, evolution, and growth while the word psychology is the study of the mind. Combined, developmental psychology is the study of the mind as it develops and evolves. This is crucial to understand since this report will address a theory of developmental psychology that relates to a child's cognitive growth as they mature.

Although there are many ideas on how children develop, I will only be concentrating on Piaget's theory of cognitive development and studying the effects that good or poor parenting choices have on a child as they mature. This theory will pay particular attention to the area of the mind that regulates learning, comprehension, and reasoning at different stages of development.

Since I did not have a child to raise on my own, I observed a fictional character named Riley from the movie Inside Out (Docter, 2015). This movie is a great depiction of Piaget’s theory as it pertains to the emotional and intellectual development of the mind as Riley grows up. Piaget's theory, in the words of Dr. Saul McLeod, is not only about information acquisition but also about how a kid develops and builds a mental model of the world around them (McLeod, 2018). According to this idea, there are four stages with individual milestones: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Regardless of culture or upbringing, Piaget claims that the phases he identified occur in the same order for everyone. This is true even though not everyone progresses through the stages at the same rate or with the assurance that they would all be reached. The movie opens with Riley being born, who is initially very happy. However, after a few short moments, she begins to cry, which may have been caused by overstimulation and may be observed as a basic reflex, indicating Riley is in the sensorimotor stage. The development of object permanence, or the capacity to recognize an object's existence even when it is not visible, was not entirely made clear during this period but is now obvious. The following sequence of events in the film depict a happy, healthy existence with both parents being equally involved. Riley's transition into the second stage of development, known as preoperational development, becomes clear in these scenes as she starts to think and use her imagination.  A few examples would be when Riley starts pretending to play around the house as if the floor was lava when in reality it is just a regular living room floor or when she is messing around in the bathtub pretending to be a diver. There was even a scene about her drawing cartoons on the walls of the house. These instances back up Piaget’s theory that, during the second stage, kids would start imitating other people's behaviors and engaging in symbolic play. In addition, Riley had quite an imagination growing up and even had an imaginary friend named Bing Bong which was a combination of everything she loved ranging from cotton candy to elephants which is an indication of a child exhibiting a more developed object permanence and a better concept of abstract ideas. 

Riley is eleven years old for the majority of the film, which is when her parents decide to relocate from Minnesota to San Francisco. It is safe to assume Riley had a perfectly happy life up until this point and had a strong bond with both her parents and friends, but with the relocation she found it difficult to cope with the changes such as not making new friends and no longer being on the local hockey team, amongst other things that had a negative effect on her emotions. Seeing how Riley is only a preteen old she was most likely to be experiencing a dilemma related to Piaget’s third stage, the concrete operational stage; this can be seen through her struggles to be happy with the relocation and the eventual decision she makes to run away back to Minnesota as she seemingly makes a connection that she needs to be back in her hometown because that is where she was happy. This a fantastic illustration of the concrete operational stage because this is when children start to have logical thoughts though not for abstract things or more complex ideas. Riley, however, starts to develop more complex connections as she runs away back to Minnesota and discovers how much she loves her parents and that everything she enjoyed in Minnesota can also be achieved in San Francisco. Piaget's fourth and final stage of cognitive development occurs as Riley now has the ability to make sense of the environment through planning and hypothetical thought, as well as through improved problem-solving and emotion management. Riley's happiness eventually returned, and it was equally gratifying to see that she had come to terms with the range of emotions and sentiments that she may and will experience throughout her life.

It is safe to claim that Riley's cognitive growth is consistent with Piaget's hypothesis. Despite the fact that Piaget's theory is genuine, I have to agree with Dr. Saul Mcleod that it has certain weaknesses, such as the fact that it emphasizes development rather than actual learning and that there is no true measure of the complexity of the concepts being exhibited (McLeod, 2018). For instance, I feel that the fact a child is using their imagination is a great milestone, but the depth and sophistication of their imagination should also be taken into account. Nevertheless, I think Piaget's theory of cognitive development is an excellent framework for what to anticipate and watch out for as a child develops because it can offer some explanations for unexpected behavior but shouldn't be the only thing to pay attention to.