Jean Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Cognition is defined as the process of learning that includes perception, memory, judgment and
thinking. It is also the basis of Jean Piaget’s theories on learning. He was able to identify the
different stages of cognitive development by interviewing and observing children of different
ages in gathering the data to which he was able to formulate his theories. Jayden Mar, as my
subject is part of the Concrete operational stage (based on the report.).

By the time, Jayden Mar was 8-years-old, he has firmly entered middle childhood.He was no
longer a wide-eyed novice, he has a great many skills that he will continue to build on to expand
his mental abilities in dramatic ways for the next several years. He has no longer dependent on
manipulating objects in order to learn about them, Jayden Mar in this period demonstrates
tremendous growth, both in and out of school. While still lacking the ability to fully understand
abstract or hypothetical concepts (e.g., how a person who is a ‘minority’ can be in a situation
where he would be the ‘majority’), 8-10 year olds are gaining a better understanding of a broad
range of here-and-now mental activities like my subject that I'm observing for.

Sigmund Freud Psychoanalysis Theory

Before we can understand Freud’s theory of personality, we must first understand his view of
how the mind is organized. According to Freud, the mind can be divided into two main parts: 1.
The conscious mind includes everything that we are aware of. This is the aspect of our mental
processing that we can think and talk about rationally. A part of this includes our memory,
which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily at any time and brought
into our awareness.

In the observation for Jayden Mar, sometimes he uses the "ego and superego" but he
commonly used the "id". In my interview, I asked situation, when he stays with his playmates. I
told him what he will do if one of his playmates steals his toys. Jayden Mar replied "I will slap
him Kuya!". This particular situation, he only thinks the present emotions that he have in order
to get those toys. This means that he doesn't think the possible sequences of it, he didn't even
try to ask himself on what might be happen if he will slap his playmate. This really shows the
personality "id" in which he do something with following regrets.

Therefore, in this stage (childhood), most of the children directly think and carried out by their
emotions. They do not think the effects in doing actions and things. I recommended to Jayden
Mar that if there is a situation like that , it is better to think what will be the effects if he do
inadequate actions.

Jerome Bruner's Theory Development

Jayden Mar is presently belongs to Symbolic Stage in which when information is stored in the
form of a code or symbol such as language. It says that each symbol has a fixed relation to
something it represents. The use of words and symbols are combined to describe experiences.
Developing a capacity to think in abstract terms forms the iconic representation of learning.

In the experiment I've conducted, I drew mathematical symbols like plus, minus, divide,
multiply and equals. I showed it to him and then he finally answered all those symbols I've
asked. Bruner's Theory of Development is true wherein a child stores information in this stage,
and also he can identify symbols. I have tried another experiment to prove that it's not all about
guessing or familiarities. I showed some signages and I asked what is it. Finally, he answered all
those questions again.

Therefore, this development is effective.So to sum it up (differences between Piaget and

Bruner; it is little bit confuse), the notion of engaging learners in a spiral manner through
enactive, iconic, and symbolic stages may also be applicable to adults learning unfamiliar
material. Here is another difference between Piaget and Bruner. Whereas Piaget's principles
apply only to children, Bruner's can be adapted for adults. This should give trainers in
corporate, military, and government settings something to think about.

Factors Affecting Cognitive Development

Cognitive development is the ability of the child to think and to reason out things to a
particular situation. Jayden Mar carried out all those Biological Factors and Environmental
Factors.

For sense of organs, he has no problem with it. I asked to him if there are illnesses and
malfunctions in his body , then he responded, "none". It means that there are no problems in
terms of receiving stimuli and giving reactions. For hereditary, some of the traits and
characteristics of his parents were immitated by the subject such as the way he speak, the way
he act and other characteristics. And for the Environmental Factor, as I observed he has a lot of
time in playing, he learned to interact with others and to cooperate with his playmates. This is
in relation with his Society, because in interacting with others, he do acquired characteristics
and lessons from his surroundings.

I conclude that the factors are really important for cognitive development. It helps the child to
explore his self and also can gain good traits and values that he can apply to the future.

Exceptional Cognitive Development

Actually, Jayden Mar, as the subject is quietly belongs to cognitively gifted child. As I have
stated in the past observation, he has low interests in reading books and low vocabulary power.
However, he has the characteristic in which he explores things together by asking "what is it?"
And "how it is made?". In this situation, he can considered as cognitively gifted but not too
much. And also, in the past observations, he has no intellectual deficit like schizophrenia,
autism and others. But some observations I've conducted, he has mental retardation.