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Erickson’s 8 Stages of Development and Vatterott’s Physical, Intellectual, Social, and Emotional
Development Theory Part 1
Hannah Schumsky
October 3, 2018
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Piaget and Vygotsky’s Developmental Theories

Piaget and Vygotsky were both two very passionate humans about the development of

children. They both spent many years researching and testing different theories about social and

cognitive developments that children go through from the day they are born until the day they

become an adult. Though Piaget studied more of the cognitive development and Vygotsky

studied the social aspect of children development, they do still go hand in hand.

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development was broken down into four stages for the

purpose of showing development at different ages. He believed that “…all people pass through

the same four stages in exactly the same order” (Woolfolk, 2019, 47). Each stage is different and

is associated with specific ages. Piaget starts with the Sensorimotor stage that is directed towards

children at the age of 0-2. This is for the most part, the sensory stage. He believed that children

are learning from their environment around them. They are solely learning from observing

everything that is in sight. For example, an infant quickly learns from their parents, specific

facial expressions like big smiles and exaggerated frowns. After seeing similar facial expressions

for a certain period of time, they start to connect how those expressions make them feel as well

as the people making those faces. At this stage, children also learn that objects can still be

present even if they cannot see the object. It’s easy to take a toy from a small infant because if

they don’t see it, then it must just not be there. Piaget proved that from the ages of 0-2 they will

begin to look for that toy that just “disappeared” because they realize they just had the toy, it just

might have moved, but is definitely not gone completely.

The preoperational stage is directed to the ages of when a child begins to talk to about

seven years old. Piaget states that this can be a difficult stage to get the hang of because they are
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constantly getting confused between the past and the future. They also see the world from only

their point of view which makes it confusing for them when someone has another point of view.

Another interesting part about this stage is that children start to understand that if they have a

specific amount of something but then move, change or rearrange that thing, they still have the

same amount. For example, if a parent shows their child a glass of water in a tall thin glass then

transfer it into a short wide glass, the child may understand that no liquid was lost or gained but

simply just transferred into a different size glass. Piaget states this as conservation. Piaget’s next

two stages are the concrete operational stage and the formal operational stage. Through these

stages, children are learning how to think logically and work through problems but then also

being able to think hypothetically about situations. More widespread and creative thinking is also

going on throughout these stages.

Vygotsky on the other hand, wanted to find out how and why children learn through

social experiences. He basically stated a child learns from the “teachers” around him or her

before they can make these ideas and assumptions on their own. Woolfolk talked about a

scenario of a child not being able to find their toy but when their parent started giving them ideas

of where their toy might be, they could easily trace back to where they had it last. Vygotsky

stated that it wasn’t one or the other who remembered where the toy was but it was the two of

them together. At a young age its hard to remember back in the past or be able to trace their steps

back. Piaget also agreed with Vygotsky on this idea as its stated in his preoperational stage.

Vygotsky’s other key idea was that “…our specific mental structures and processes can be traced

to our interactions with others” (Woolfolk, 2019, 57). That is one idea that the two psychologists

share in common. Children learn from what they see and hear. As an infant you are observing

everything and Vygotsky is stating that it doesn’t stop after infancy. He believes that everything
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is learned through experience and social interactions. This ties back into his first idea that there is

a teacher before the idea can be in that child by themselves. Being social in society will help you

learn from others so that one day you can teach others that specific idea or other ones.

Piaget and Vygotsky made a huge impact on the world of teaching by giving us these

ideas. They have helped us understand our students on a psychological level that never seemed

possible. Both of their theories give us as teachers many tools and ideas to help our students be

successful throughout their twelve years of schooling. The social and cognitive aspects are both

equally important and we can see in our classrooms that both of their ideas are being implicated.

Whether it be with more visual and audio tools or simply group work. All of the above are

proving that Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories are true in one way or another. Learning and

development can happen at all different levels and times in a child’s life, especially if a child has

been deprived of the correct help and care they need.

Erik Erikson Psychosocial Development

Eric Erikson’s theory on Psychosocial Development was broken down into eight stages

for the courtesy of educators that are studying it. Each stage is specified into age categories and

important events that occur during those ages. This theory was created to help educators better

know their students as well as just to simply understand what is going in their sweet minds as

they develop. Erikson states that in the firth two stages of psychosocial development, children

are developing the understanding of trust and mistrust as well autonomy versus shame and doubt

(Woolfolk, 2019, 97). The ages that children are going this is from birth until three years old. His

next two stages are based around ages of three years until twelve years old. These stages consist

of the development of initiative versus guilt and industry versus inferiority (Woolfolk, 2019, 97).

During these ages, children are becoming more assertive and starting make decisions for
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themselves. This can come around to bite them because ever so often their assertiveness can

come off as too aggressive which leads them to feel guilty for their actions. They are also being

expected to do many things in and out of school with high demand. When a child at this age

cannot successfully exhibit one of these tasks, they will very easily feel as though they failed and

this will lead to low self-esteem.

After that, children are hitting the stages of adolescence and young adulthood. During

these stages, children are starting to create peer relationships as well as loving, intimate

relationships. With all the learned skills that they have gained in their earlier childhoods, they are

now able to create a sense of identity for themselves as well as the people around them

(Woolfolk, 2019, 97). This is where clicks start to become true because as humans we categorize

everything. Middle schools and high schools are filled with hundreds of groups because as

students find their identity, they also put themselves in groups with people they find alike to

them. The last two stages are directed towards middle adulthood and late adulthood. This is the

time that many people become parents with their partner and then later they will reflect on the

life they lived. They go ego integrity versus despair (Woolfolk, 2019, 97). Some of the time at

the end of someone’s life, they may feel that they did not do or say all the things they wished

them had. This can lead to an elderly person to feel despair instead of fulfillment.

There was also Vatterott who studied physical, intellectual, social, and emotional

development. This is where the two psychosocialists start to sound similar. Vatterott speaks a lot

about early adolescence and the importance of their self-esteem. They need to feel a sense of

achievement as well as belonging. If those needs are not met then that young adolescent will

struggle in many other areas of their lives. Relationships will be difficult whether they are

intimate are not. This is because they will always feel that they are not enough or that they
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always need to compete to be the better out of the two. Even if they do succeed to be “better”

than the other person they will still feel a sense of emptiness because they have an underlying

note that they really are not better. This can cause insane mood swings and this is where the term

“teenagers are hard to read” comes from. The truth is, is that they don’t truly don’t know

themselves either but they are trying to fit into anything possible. Erikson’s stages also touch

base on self-worth and the things that young adults will do to feel accepted.

It’s easy to see that these two believed similarly on psychosocial development and as an

upcoming educator, it is important to know these stages so that we can appropriately

accommodate our students at any age or grade. It’s hard to believe that all teachers know their

students cognitively, socially, and emotionally. If these theories were studied more by educators

then I believe school might be a better place for students to be. They may feel more understood

and cared for. If this is true then education would come easier. We live in a world with a wide

diversity of humans. These stages can vary for every human but some may always stay true. It’s

important to not degrade our students emotional and social wellbeing because that will only dig a

deeper hole. If students felt more understood by their teachers other than just education wise,

then student success rates may rise and happier and healthier schools would be more common.

Too many times I have seen a student’s emotional wellbeing be put aside for the sake of their

academic success and I truly feel that is wrong. We as teachers should want our students to

succeed in all areas of their lives. We all went through exactly what our students are going

through right now and its not fair to just act like none of it matters for the sake of success.
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Works Cited

Woolfolk, A (2019). Educational Psychology. 14th ed. Pearson. New York, NY.