Theory of Constructivism, Stages of Psychosocial Development, and Motivation Theories

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Theories in Psychology
Question 1
Jean Piaget, a Swiss philosopher, was a pioneer in developmental psychology. He was a renowned scientist for his teaching theories and cognitive development, including genetic epistemology. Piaget’s constructivism theory influences the learning curriculum because instructors must create an education system that promotes rational and conceptual growth in their pupils (Sjoberg 485). Teachers have to emphasize the importance of experiences or links with the surrounding environment in education. Piaget’s theory argues that human experience develops knowledge gathering and formation of its meaning.
Piaget argues that an individual’s natural inclination to adopt new experiences stirs mental refinement compared to Vygotsky’s theory, who argued that cognitive development emerges from social contact (Sjoberg 490). According to Piaget, children gain knowledge through active self-discovery, while Vygotsky states that it is by teaching and supervision. Piaget suggested that cognitive growth is collective, but his compatriot reasoned that it fluctuates depending on cultures and periods.
The theory entails four stages, with sensorimotor being the first (birth to 24 months), characterized by newborns’ perceptions and mobile activities influencing their thoughts. According to Sjoberg, infants constantly touch, handle, examine, listen to, chew, and bite objects during their awake time (487). The cognitive attainments at this stage are objective permanence, symbolic play, self-recognition, and deterred imitation. The second stage is preoperational (2–7 years), where toddlers and children learn through mental imagery and language. It aims to attain symbolic reasoning. Sjoberg calls the next phase the concrete operational level (7–11 years), where kids start to think logically about factual events such as changes in feelings and emotions in others (488). At this level, it aims to achieve logical thinking through experiences. The last is the formal operational stage, where adolescents can deal with abstract ideas, follow arguments, and manage theoretical issues with solutions. It aims to achieve scientific reasoning and thought.
Question 2:
Ericksen devised an argument that the diverse personalities presented by individuals arise through an organized approach. As a result, he conjured eight steps to describe them. Each illustrates that a person makes significant steps leading to strengths and failure of such an achievement triggering notable weaknesses.
The first is trust vs. mistrust, also termed infancy, occurring from birth to 18 months. According to Erikson’s model, this level represents a crucial period in life. It emerges between the delivery time and extends up to one year. During this time, a person entirely depends on their caregiver or parents because they cannot meet any essential activity or need.
Autonomy vs. shame and doubt extend from age two-three years. The central subject during this time is early childhood, which emphasizes the child’s attaining a more prominent feeling of personal influence (Chung 370). Children are at the onset of obtaining independence and are focused on having a sense of ind...