Developing Child

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1 Developing Child When we’re born, we don’t necessarily know how to think about the world around us. It’s through varied experiences, challenges, and problems that we face as we grow up that allow us to learn how to navigate and understand our surroundings. We’re constantly asked to adapt to new problems and learn new skills, which we do via multiple adaptation process stages from infancy to adulthood. Taking a closer look at children going through the early stages of this adaptation process allows us to pinpoint and identify trends and patterns, critical to understanding cognitive development as a whole. With that said, for my study of child development I’m choosing to follow my 12-year-old little sister, Kiarra. Kiarra Gabrielle Beasley was born on October 13, 2009, and is currently 12 years old. Kiarra is the youngest of 3, and her and I are 7 years apart. My two sisters and I are all interested in different hobbies; while I’m passionate about running, our middle sister is interested in coding, Kiarra is a very successful actress. She started acting at the age of 8, and since then has been in music videos for J. Cole (a renowned American rapper), commercials for Subaru and other well-known brands, and – as of recently – played a star role in a movie currently streaming on Lifetime called “Swim Instructor Nightmare”. Kiarra is a very advanced pre-teen for her age, and though I’m curious to see just how developed she is in terms of cognitive testing, it’s important to first identify the theories and ideologies of psychologists that are key to her cognitive analysis. Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist and cognitive theorist that believed children naturally go about exploring their surroundings in order to gain understanding, like small scientists. Piaget used this ideology to determine the distinct developmental stages that children undergo to learn language, reasoning, and memory. Furthermore, Piaget believed that cognitive development consisted of four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. As part of his theory was the idea of a schema, “a category of knowledge, or mental template, that the child develops to understand the world; a product of the child’s experiences” (Sherrel, 2021). In essence, a schema is a mental concept that allows one to interpret information in the world. Further, schemas fit into different categories of life, and

2 the heart of cognitive development is the formation of small, average, or large schemas. Schemas are closely related to two cognitive states of mind; equilibrium, where the schema fits the scenario well, and disequilibrium, where schemas must be assimilated or accommodated due to the fact that new information contradicts the previous idea of what the schema defines. According to Piaget, cognitive development was also extremely focused around equilibration, the process by which the mind of a child reverts to the mental state of equilibrium by addressing different cognitive schema conflicts at each stage of development. At the sensorimotor stage, occurring for the first two years of life, our cognitive energy is centered around the alteration of schemas involving sensory inputs, motor skills, sense of self, and object permanence. When infants learn the concept of object permanence, they learn that objects exist even when they aren’t seen. From the early childhood ages of two to seven, children undergo the preoperational stage where they learn that people know and see things that they haven’t seen or learned before. In this stage they also learn to pretend play, the ability to pretend things using their imagination. Before they move on to the next stage, children must pass the marker of conservation, or the ability to use mental operations to better understand problems involving shapes, objects, and their properties. The last and final stage, which my sister is currently in, is the formal operational stage. Here, children face adolescent egocentrism, or the idea that “adolescents go through a stage of self absorption that leads to only being able to see the world through one’s own perspective” (Elkind’s Theory of Adolescent Egocentrism, 2014). This stage results in the constant worry of the imaginary audience, or the flawed perception of being the constant center of attention. This stage is essentially where pre-teens and teenagers have an inflated sense of self-consciousness. Based on the Piagetian theory of cognitive development, the age appropriate test I chose to conduct on my sister was related to the crush that she has on her classmate, Conan. I told her to pretend that Conan had texted her asking to hang out with her, and asked her to formulate a response. My sister went on to come up with a handful of responses, and though out exactly what she might say depending on the idea of “hanging out” that Conan had in mind. To me, that was perfect evidence to prove that my sister is indeed in the correct cognitive development stage.

3 According to Erik Erikson’s theory from lecture, Kiarra should be at the preadolescent stage, questioning her self-worth because the main conflict of that development stage is a question of industry versus inferiority. However, after analyzing my sister’s daily mannerisms and the types of things she asks me for advice on, I’ve determined that Kiarra struggles more with the main conflict of the adolescent stage – the question of identity versus role confusion. She second guesses her fashion sense, her ability to make her hair look presentable, the types of jokes she thinks will make others laugh and other small things that have led me to make this assertion about her. She seems to not worry so much about the validation she receives in school and the recognition she gets from being on TV (characteristics of a child in the preadolescent stage), but rather on how she is perceived by her friends, family, and peers and whether she likes that perception or not (characteristics of a child in the adolescent stage). In an attempt to be comfortable in her own skin, my sister is constantly altering the side of her that she showcases to the world, ultimately asking herself internally, the “who am I?” question. Mary Ainsworth introduces 4 theories of attachment: secure, anxious/resistant, avoidant, disorganized. After taking a look at all four from lecture, I’ve determined that Kiarra has a secure attachment pattern and that it can be seen in her relationship with me. Her and I are very close and though she’s sad when I leave for college (sheds tears when she drops me off at the airport), she gets extremely excited when I return and adjusts back to life having me in the house.

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4 Works Cited Elkind’s Theory of Adolescent Egocentrism. (2014, April 9). Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/elkinds-theory-of-adolscent-egocentrism.html. Sherrel, Z. (2021, December 22). Piaget Stages of Development: The 4 Stages and Tips for Each . Medical News Today. Retreived March 16, 2022, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325030#important-concepts.

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