Development of the Mind

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Development of the Mind
The social aspect of our cognitive development
In Chapter 5 of Being Human entitled “Many Stages, One Life”, it is argued that humans are embodied beings that live through time and changing continuously as it passes. These changes are easily manifested in physical changes, the wear and tear leading to the eventual demise of our mortal body. But in the said chapter, it was asked “what becomes of our non-corporeal identities as our bodies age and our experiences accumulate? How do our minds develop, from cradle to the grave? In what ways do they remain the same?” These questions will be central to the succeeding discussions in this paper.
The development of the mind
The mind is an astounding leap in the evolutionary ladder – our capacity to use it for reason differentiates us from the remaining members of the animal kingdom. According to Daniel Siegel, “a core aspect of the mind is an embodied and relational process that regulates the flow of energy and information.” It is important to note the use of “embodied and relational process” in this definition. This goes back to the “nature vs. nurture” debate however, recent discoveries in this field showed that it is not that one of this perspectives is the correct one rather they are mutually reinforcing. Moreover, there is also the distinction between the mind in the brain – whereas the former may refer to the incorporeal, the latter is the matter found inside our heads.
How the mind develops as we grow old and acquire experience remained a question for everybody despite the discoveries in psychology and neuroscience, among others. We start this narrative of mind development during its early formations: when a child is born. The 17th century philosopher John Locke made a famous argument that a child’s mind is a tabula rasa – a blank slate. This means that when a baby is born, she has no impression of this world. Only when she starts growing up that she learns to know this world and understand its meaning. If we are to argue that a baby’s mind is a blank slate, then who draws upon that slate to allow for the child’s cognitive processes? The obvious answer may well be those who are closest to her, usually her parents. Sigmund Freud’s research findings may prove helpful at this juncture however, it is also worth noting the excerpt from Peter Pan in Chapter 5 of the aforementioned book.
It starts with the narrator talking about our minds:
Doctors sometimes draw maps of other parts of you, and your own map can become intensely interesting, but catch them trying to draw a map of a child’s mind, which is not only confused, but keeps going round all the time. There are zigzag lines on it, just like your temperature on a card, and these are probably roads in the island; for the Neverland is always more or less an island, with astonishing splashes of colour here and...