Piaget's Theory

Piaget 's theories of stages of development start from infancy to adolescence. He was mainly interested in the biological influences on “how we come to know.” (Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2003). There are two major aspects of his theory; the process in which we come to know and the stages we move through when we acquire this ability. In Piaget 's theory of cognitive development consists of four stages sensorimotor stage (infancy), preperational stage (early childhood) , concreticoperational stage (middle childhood), and formal operational stage (adolescence). This stages describes how a child learns and perceives the world around them. Erikson 's theory of human development, is the theory of how human develop over their life span. In Erikson 's theory there are eight stages starting from infancy(0-1) continuing throughout old adult (50 's and beyond). “Development, he says, functions by epigenetic principle.” Epigenetic theory says that human values guides development through life cycle. Genetic origins of behavior and the direct influences of the environment may have over time. This principle states that we develop predetermined unfolding of our personality in eight stages. As we go through each stage, our success or lack of success is determined by the previous stage. Some similarities between the two theorists in how they approached development is that they both included how the environment affected development. In Piaget 's theory he says that behavior is controlled by schemas, in which we learn to decide an action. Infants are born with schemas or in humans “reflex 's.” An infant uses these reflexes to construct schemas. Piaget says that two processes are used for the person to learn to adapt:assimilation and accommodations. A person using these two throughout their life to learn in a more complex way. The two theories have more similarities than differences. The differences is more in content than in form or method. The biggest differences would be in the

References: Piaget 's Theory of Cognitive Development. (2010, November 17). In ProQuest Editorial Website G. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com Erik Erikson: Biography and Theory. (2008, November 01). In ProQuest Editorial Website G. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com