Question

1. Explain each stage of each theory in our own words. 2. Give an example of each part/stage of each theory from your life.

Lev Vygotsky (you must discuss both the social learning aspects of his theory and the Zone of Proximal Development)

Erik Erikson (you are required to discuss the first 5 stages but may include any of the last 3 stages if they apply to your life)

Lawrence Kohlberg (you are required to discuss the Preconventional and Conventional stages but may include the Postconventional stage if it applies to your life).

Urie Bronfenbrenner (all 5 parts of his theory must be discussed).

Answer 1

1. Lev Vygotsky (you must discuss both the social learning aspects of his theory and the Zone of Proximal Development)

Lev Vygotsky believed that the social interaction plays a vital role in children’s learning process. He also believed that the interaction with the social components will help the children to learn more and understand their capabilities. By the social interaction, the children undergo a continuous learning process where they establish socialization. Through this they get to understand emotions, actions, reactions, dangers, safe, etc. The children get chance to experience a wide variety of emotions and also will learn to process them. This helps the child to accept good experiences and cope up with bad experiences.

Example: Interacting with beggars and donating them some food, money or clothes.

Zone of Proximal Development

Lev Vygotsky also believed that children get to learn more when an assistance/ guidance is provided. Individuals learn many things on their own. Individually they could perform tasks and might not or might have trouble going on to the next task. In order to improve their abilities an external guidance or assistance, if provided shall help the individual to learn the process and understand the same. By this training, the individuals shall gain an expertise in handling the task efficiently.

Example: Teaching the children to solve science puzzles

2. Erik Erikson (you are required to discuss the first 5 stages but may include any of the last 3 stages if they apply to your life)

Erik Erikson believed that all individuals undergo a series of changes during their different period of life. During each period every individual experience a conflict and the way they handle it determines their success and failures in life. If the individuals tend to approach the conflicts in a healthy, strong manner, they tend to learn more and become confident. If they tend to shy away from the process and the hardship, they tend to become weak and less confident. These conflicts become the turning point in life and affect their intrinsic trait and their future journey.

Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development are as follows,

Trust vs. Mistrust – This stage applies to infants who depend on the parents or caregivers for their needs. During this stage they tend to attach to anybody who address their need, provides Example:

care, food and play time. They feel safe with people who are always beside them and are supporting them with physical, emotional support without any denial or rejection. The trust they learn to establish at this stage is essential to approach people in their future stages. If they experience denial and mistrust or rejection, they tend to develop a trait that resists them from forming a healthy bond with known people and strangers.

Example: Parents showing no rejection to the baby needs. Always keeping him close to them.

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

This stage is applicable to individuals who are out of the stage 1 and have gained little independence. The children can act on their own and chose to perform an action without completely relying on the parents or caregivers. With encouragement from parents the actions of the children gets improves, while harsh commands, teases will demotivate them and they tend to stop trying to perform actions on their own.

Example: Children encourage for standing up and kicking, jumping, etc.

Initiative vs. Guilt

This stage is applicable to children who belong to the preschool period. During this stage the children connect with many other children and elders. The children tend to become challenging, bold and approach new challenges due to the social interaction and communication. The more active they are, the better are their skills in processing emotions, reactions and actions. The lesser they are active; the poorer are their communication skills, emotion processing skills.

Example: Children readily answering questions and taking part in activities

Industry vs. Inferiority

This stage takes place during early school years. During this stage, the children tend to become more competent and try to gain superiority by proving their abilities. They take up challenges and try hard to prove their abilities to others. The encouragement from elders motivate them and they improve their abilities gradually becoming superior. The children who do not take part in these tend to become dull and shall experience an inferiority complex. They will also tend to be inactive and lack confidence.

Example: Children training hard to score marks or win sports competitions.

Identity vs. Confusion

This stage takes place during the adolescent stage of the individuals. During the stage the individuals undergo several changes psychologically, physically and biologically. They tend to place themselves in the society and start to think about their position in the society. They develop a sense of awareness and what they have to do to improve in life, live by society expectation and standard. The clear and guided individuals have a focus towards an identity while the confused and guidanceless individuals will have confusion in approaching society and tasks.

Example: Children taking steps to become an engineer or doctor.

3. Lawrence Kohlberg (you are required to discuss the Preconventional and Conventional stages but may include the Postconventional stage if it applies to your life).

Lawrence Kohlberg gave the theory on changes in moral development. He believed that the individuals tend to adopt morals with respect to the different stage of their life and tend to carry the same throughout their life.

Preconventional stage

Stage 1: In this stage children or adults follow morals and ethics because they want to avoid punishment.

Example: Children stop making mistakes because they get beating from parents

Stage 2: In this stage, the individuals are motivated by the outcome of an action. If it is profitable they act so that there is a mutual transfer of respect, advantage, gain, etc.

Children do good because they get reward like chocolate

Conventional stage

Stage 3: In this stage, the individuals are motivated to establish themselves as a person with good reputation. This also the stage where they focus on achieving relationships. The righteousness stems from the need to be good and need to be addressed as good.

Individual help others so that they get good friends and other help.

Stage 4: In this stage, the individuals are relating their actions and plan it considering the law of the nation/society and with respect to other individuals. They follow morals and ethics because the law says so.

Individuals do not hit or beat others during conflicts in public because it is unlawful.

4. Urie Bronfenbrenner (all 5 parts of his theory must be discussed).

Urie Bronfenbrenner emphasized that children learn more and undergo development when they are exposed to different environment.

The different environment discussed by Urie Bronfenbrenner are,

Microsystem – This system to attribute to immediate relationships that are close to the children like the household members. The children learn from parents and members of the family.

Example: Parents teach children to behave properly in front of elders.

Macrosystem – This system is attributed to elements such as culture, politics, socioeconomic status, ethnicity etc., that are complex for the children to process. This shall play a role in the development by triggering curiosity and the need to understand them.

Example: Children do not understand politics but they explore what is it and why it exist?

Exosystem – This system is applicable to the places to which the children are not in direct contact but are affected by it. Example is parents’ workplace. The children is not part of it but the parents mood, actions are determined by the workplace.

Example: Parents get mood upset and stop spending time with children due to work pressure.

Chronosystem – This system is applicable to all the places in which the child tends to live, move and stay throughout his/her life. The place the child is born and lives will have its own culture, ethics, morals, etc. These affect the quality of life and the decision making skills of the child.

Example: The culture of a place affects the actions of children in being independent or in being free.

Mesosystem – According to this the development of the child is not attributed to the family and the immediate relations around them, alone. It is also dependent on the surroundings other than family. Children learn from the next households, holy places, schools, social gatherings, etc.

Example: Places such as churches, music concerts, next door household, teach children new emotions, share knowledge, etc.