FREE ESSAY ON 4 TYPES OF DEVELOPMENT

4 TYPES OF DEVELOPMENT

1.) There are 4 types of development. Physical development covers the learning of the
ability to walk. It also encompasses all muscle development, and the idea that the person
generally becomes more physically efficient over time.
Cognitive development deals with the development of a way to think. For example, an
infant tends to over generalize information. If he sees an animal and is told that it is
a dog, any furry animal with 4 legs and a tale will be considered a dog. As cognitive
development progresses, a person learns to be specific. We also build a sense of problem
solving.
Personal development refers to the changes in an individual's personality. As time
progresses, and people learn new information, they develop their own opinions. Fact
becomes their own knowledge and not just what their parent's tell them.
Social development is the maturing of a person's ability to socialize. They build up ways
to relate to others. They find ways to make friends or to accomplish group goals. For
example, children meeting at a playground, and becoming best friends.
Rob Solow (page 2)
These types of development are governed by certain principles, which are accepted
throughout the psychology field.
First, people develop at different rates. Also some people will develop only certain
types of development quickly, while being slower at others. For an example, look to any
nursery school class. It is a virtual melting pot of development. Some children may due
exceptionally well at physical activities, while doing badly at anything that requires
thinking, or vice versa.
Secondly, there is a basic order to development. Children generally crawl before learning
to walk. A child must master basic functions before going on to more advanced
situations.
Lastly, development takes place over time. Information must be gathered and processed,
and especially for infants, and young children, this takes a lot. Whether it is learning
to play catch, or learning to play an instrument, the basic concepts are the hardest to
acquire, but once the foundation is formed, more advanced information tends to come
quicker.
2. A scheme is a term keyed by Piaget, to define the categories on which we place
information. They are the building blocks of information. We have a scheme for basically
everything, from driving a car to identifying a cat. The number of schemes grows in time.
They allow us to organize information into very specific categories, almost like a term
paper outline, with main topics and subdivisions of the concept. 
Assimilation is a term referring to our natural tendency to fit new knowledge into what
we already know. A child may have been told that an animal is a horse. However, upon
seeing a giraffe the child may classify it as a horse. The scheme for a giraffe hadn't
been developed, so he assimilated it to what he knew. As the skill of assimilation grows,
adapting to situations becomes easier.
Accommodation, is the ability to change existing schemes. It usually takes place when
assimilation seems impossible, and knew information must be organized. Perhaps a child is
use to drinking out of a bottle, where he can tilt the bottle all the way up. When he
first tries to drink from a cup, chances are he will spill the drink all over his face.
He now must change his scheme for drinking to accommodate for the possibility of a cup.
This change allows him to adapt to drinking from a cup.
According to Piaget, the development of information, through organization, assimilating,
etc. is similar to a balancing act. If an existing scheme appears applicable to a
situation, and it works, a person is comfortable, or in equilibrium.
If a scheme doesn't work, we search for the solution, because we are in disequilibrium.
Through this almost trial and error process we develop new schemes, and thus are able to
organize and adapt at a greater pace.
3. The first of Piaget's stages of cognitive development is the sensorimotor stage.
During this stage (ages 0-2) the child is experimenting using his 5 senses. One major
accomplishment is the ability to control their actions, or goal directed actions.
Movements begin to organize themselves to achieve certain outcomes, like getting the toys
into a container.
The second stage is titled the pre operational stage. This time period(2-5) includes to
start of understanding language, and truly linking operations logically. They begin to
utilize symbols or miming, to signify certain events. This is a major accomplishment at
this stage.
The third stage is the concrete operational stage. Here the child is able to problem
solve. They are able to classify things, like having a group of objects, and picking out
the round ones. Seriation is the ability to arrange items from large to small. This also
means that the concrete operational child can relate ideas to one another.
The final stage is formal operations. At this time, thinking is specific, and relatively
precise towards a goal. The child achieves to mental capacity to fathom hypothetical
questions, and solve them. This makes topics like algebra teachable.
4. Vygotsky's idea of the zone of proximal development is the idea of a child having an
area of learning that is impossible to acquire without outside influence. Parents often
inflict knowledge on a child, to help them grasp a situation. The amount of added
information, or scaffolding generally decreases over time.