COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN: THE
Basic differences exist in the conceptualizations of different theorists of the effects of and the relationship between social and individual factors in the cognitive development of children (Tudge & Winterhoff, 1993, pp. 61-81). Theorists on one side of this issue focus on the natural laws of intellectual development in children, while those theorists holding opposing views on the issue emphasize the impact of culture on cognitive development in children (Glassman, 1994, pp. 186-214).
Various theories of human development often tend to view people as either active or passive in interactions with their environments (Cohen, 1987, p. 22). Passive concepts of human development tend to emphasize the critical significance of one's environment to the overall development of the individual (Turner & Helms, 1991, p. 8). Active concepts of human development, by contrast, hold that individuals are not passive beings, but, rather, are capable of actively governing their own development
Erich Fromm, Albert Bandura, and others approached human development from a social approach. Fromm viewed human personality development as a response to human needs, while Bandura's concept of human development was a social learning theory (Hill & Humphrey, 1992, p. 10). Behavioristic human development involves the concept of conditioning. The classical concept of conditioning is that developed by Ivan Pavlov (Turner & Helms, pp. 36-38). B. F. Skinner advanced the behaviorist approach through the development of the concepts of operant conditioning and reinforcement (pp. 10-12).
The cognitive concept of human development was pioneered by Jean Piaget (Hill & Humphrey, pp. 4-6). Piaget's theory is based on organization and adaptation (Turner & Helms, p. 26). Organization refers to an ability to order and classify new experiences, while adaptation enables an individual to understand the surrounding environme...