Jean Piaget and Positive Reinforcers Essay

Submitted By xNatx
Words: 2386
Pages: 10

Freud’s structure of personality.
Freud’s structure of personality is split into three parts to make our personality a whole.
The id is a theory that means a baby is selfish because they do not realise that there are adults and/or children around them that need things too, a baby will cry until they get what they need no matter what the situation around them may be, when they get what they wanted/needed they will stop crying – it is called ‘gratification’ for example there is a child in my setting who will cry if he wants something and would go on crying until he gets whatever it is he wants.
The ego is about common sense this is when a baby may learn different ways of getting things in different situations, if a baby wants something instead of crying they may smile or point at it, if there was another way they can get it other than crying for it, for example there is a child in my setting who will point if they want something, if they feel they cannot use that method they will cry.
The superego is the conscience (during childhood) if the child takes something they are not meant to, or does something they are not meant to, the superego will make them feel guilty for doing it, however if the child does something good then the superego will praise them for it and make them feel good about themselves, for example there is a child in my setting who will go really quiet when they are lying, or when they are telling the truth and they are praised for it they will be happy because they done good for telling the truth.
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
Jean Piaget was a psychologist who became fascinated by children’s cognitive thinking, he saw that children gave wrong answers regularly to curtain questions and he started to speculate why this was, Piaget made in depth observations on his own children and slowly developed the theory of cognitive thinking which has been very effective.
Piaget’s theory of learning is sometimes described as a ‘constructivist approach’ because he indicated that children constructed their thoughts according the world around them. Piaget showed that children think in different ways to adults rather than them being less capable of thinking than adults. Piaget theory was that learning was a constant process and that they needed to adapt therefore if a toddler is always given milk in a blue beaker they may think that only milk comes in a blue beaker but if they were to be given juice in a blue beaker one day then they would have to change the way they think and start thinking that it is not just milk that comes in a blue beaker other drinks come in blue beakers too, for example there is a child in my setting that always used to get given a baby bottle with milky Weetabix in it so he always assumed that he was going to be given Weetabix whenever he was given that bottle but now he gets given all kinds of drinks in a baby bottle so he is used to the fact that that bottle has all different drinks in it.
Piaget also implied that a child thinking will develop as they develop, he put together children’s cognitive development into four stages:
The first stage of development is Sensori-motor this stage is for 0-2 years and the features are development of object permanence which (understanding that things still exist although they are out of site) and the child begins to use symbols (e.g. language).
The second stage of development is pre-operational this stage is for 2-7 years the features are development of concentration , egocentrism, animism, inability to conserve and the child uses symbols in play and thought.
The third stage of development is concrete operational this stage is for 7-11 years and by this stage children will have the ability to conserve and they will begin to solve mental problems using practical supports such as counters and objects.
The fourth stage of development is formal operational this stage is for 11-15 years, young people will be able to think about situations that