The other Wes Moore Theories of Development Development in psychology is the study of changes that occur in human over the course of their life. Studying development of children has been expanding including through adolescent and the entire lifespan. Theorist Piaget and Vygotsky both studied what drives development. Erikson took a different route and studied the psychosocial development of how people feel. All three theorists explains how children learn and what they learn. When looking at the learning process it will also determines their outcome of adulthood. Broken into three topics cognitive, physical, and social development helps each theorist explain their theories. Piaget one of the first researchers to focus on children and think about how they developed. He stated, development drives learning meaning children have to be physically and mentally ready to learn new things. To create his theory he used different schemes based off experience. For example sequence of events when children first attend school they are taught to stay seated inside the classroom daily. So as the child moves on to different grades they know automatically to …show more content…
go to their seats and stay seated. Using assimilation and accommodation helps children with new experiences. When using assimilation new information is added to schemas which was already known. Accommodation occurs when something new happens and old schemas are used but it doesn’t not work. As accommodation happens a new plan needs to be made in order to handle a new situation. Vygotsky had a similar study in children and says learning drives development. He focused more on language and interaction. Interaction included interpersonal which is between two people and intrapersonal within an individual. When comparing both theories Piaget and Vygotsky both saw a relationship between learning and development and studied how cognitive growth happens over time. Given these facts, physiologists Erik Erikson had a similar view as Vygotsky. Both saw social interaction as important for development throughout someone’s lifespan. Erikson believed that personality developed in stages. The identity crisis stage has a positive side and negative in how an individual resolves a problem. Erikson stages help think about question who am I? Following each stage there is interaction between the individual and someone else. For example, trust and distrust can be with an infant and caregiver. The caregiver taking care of the infants every need interacting back and forth. There are other stages such as autonomy, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority identity vs. role confusion, and intimacy vs. Isolation. Most stages can occur at any part of life. The other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates written by author Wes Moore tells a story of two kids both with the same name who were born blocks apart from each other.
Both boys grew up without their fathers in their lives making a difficult childhood. They had many similarities including: hanging with groups of people getting into trouble with the law. Even school held a difficult hold on both the boys. Moving forward two boys from the same neighborhood grew up to completely opposite. The first Wes Moore has become a successful scholar while the other is serving time in prison for a convicted murder. Even though both boys had similar situations happen in their lives they developed differently. Piaget, Vygotsky, and Erikson theories helps explains what happened throughout the boy’s life that impacted
them. To begin, Wes1 which is the author of the book and Wes2 was influenced by their environment and family. Piaget states, “Children cannot undertake certain tasks until they are psychologically mature enough to do so.” In the book Wes2 younger than his older brother Wes was the man of the house because it was just him and mom. He felt as if it was his job to take care of his mother. According to Piaget children have to be ready for such tasks. Wes2 had no father influence to help him. Wes1 uses Piaget’s theory when he hits his younger sister at the beginning of the book stage one recognizes action. Wes1 also experienced pre-operational stage when his father passed away and he noticed his mother and sister upset but didn’t understand how they felt.
So how did they turn out different? It is true that both Wes Moore’s grew up without a father, but the way they lost their fathers were completely different. The author, Wes Moore lost his father by a tragic death that could have been prevented. While, the incarcerated Wes Moore’s father was never in his life to begin with. The way they lost their fathers is not the only thing that played a part of the Moore’s turning out differently. The quality traits that their fathers posed also played a role. Both of the fathers had different quality traits. The author’s father was strong, independent, protective, non-abusive, and the list goes on. On the other hand, the incarcerated Wes father was a drunk. So does the way ones father become absent really matter? I believe it does. Would you rather know what happened to your father or have to face the fact that your father never wanted to be a part of your life. As a result of losing their fathers, both Moore’s headed down a path of destruction. But it was family and the memory of his father that guided, the author, Wes Moore in a different
The author Wes Moore dad was a hard worker and he had dreams & goals set for the future. The other Wes’s parents didn’t have as much drive and ambition. The other Wes’s dad walked out on him and his mother was left to work jobs just to provide for the family. Author Wes’s parents ambitions rubbed off onto him and his mother’s love for education drove her to push Wes academically. The two mothers had different expectations and ambitions for their sons. The other Wes states “‘We will do what others expect of us, Wes said. If they expect us to graduate we will graduate. If they expect us to get a job, we will get a job. If they expect us to go to jail, we will go to jail.” (Moore 126). The expectation the families had on both Wes’s shaped who they were and that influenced the decisions they made, that caused their lives to end up so
Too often, students are taught that their lives are defined by who they are and what they do, not by circumstances. But circumstances can be very crucial to determining how a person’s life is shaped. It’s no secret that not all schools and neighborhoods are created equal. Some schools offer advanced classes, and college prep, and opportunities, while some schools don’t even have textbooks. Even within the circumstances, there are circumstances. The students in the latter school that lacks textbooks may have parents who go the extra mile to ensure that they have more opportunities, or could have parents who don’t have the resources to do that. Environment and circumstance can make a huge difference, and Wes Moore’s The Other Wes Moore is a fantastic
In “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” written by Wes Moore the author writes about two boys growing up in Baltimore that share the same name and similar backgrounds but end up taking drastically different paths in life due to many varying factors. The author goes on to earn a college degree, become a Rhodes Scholar, a veteran and more while the “other” Wes cannot avoid the inevitable fate of dealing drugs and ultimately spends his life running from the police and in prison. This reflects how both Wes Moore’s became products of their environment as the way a person is shaped and guided in their developmental years does unquestionably play a large role in the type of person they will become as adults. A lot of elements come into play that help to determine a person’s success or failure, but at the end of the day the most important factors are family, education and opportunities.
A well-known psychologist, Jean Piaget is most famous for his work in child development. In his theory of cognitive development, Piaget presents four stages of mental development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Piaget explains the adaptation processes that allow transition from one stage to the next. He also emphasizes the role of schemas as a basic unit of knowledge.
Bad choices… Prison… Good choices… Success. These are two completely different ends of life and they can both be talked about by Wes Moore, and the other Wes Moore. Both of these people grew up in West Baltimore a few blocks from each other not even knowing it. Both have siblings and had a rough start in their educations. Wes Moore ends up going to Military school, making good choices and works in the White House, while the other Wes Moore did not make the Best choices and ended up with life in prison due to the murder of a police officer. In The Other Wes Moore, both Wes Moores have a troubling education in the beginning and turn out completely different as well as siblings that acted the same and turned out different.
For this assignment I have chosen Jean Piaget’s cognitive development theory and Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development theory.
1. "Psychoanalytic Theories of Development." Psychology - Complete Guide to Psychology for Students, Educators & Enthusiasts. Web. 04 Feb. 2012. .
The field of developmental psychology is always being questioned and therefore expanded. Thousands of renowned psychologists have contributed to this process, two of which being Erik Erikson and Lawrence Kohlberg. They both left a hand print on the large and expanding wall of psychology; however they dabbled in very different aspects of development. Their similarities and differences aid in the determination of which gave more to the field of developmental psychology and in doing so gave more to the institution of psychology as a whole.
== Piaget’s theories of cognitive development are that children learn through exploration of their environment. An adult’s role in this is to provide children with appropriate experiences. He said that cognitive development happens in four stages. 1.
Psychosocial development is development on a social realm. Psychosocial development is how one develops their mind, maturity level, and emotions over the course of one’s life. The rate of development depends on different factors such as biological processes as well as environmental factors. A man named Erik Erikson who was a psychoanalyst who believed that early childhood successes and failures were responsible for influencing later developmental stages developed this theory. Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is based around the theory that social experience has an impact over an entire lifespan. There are eight stages developmental stages of development in the psychosocial theory and I will briefly examine all eight stages in this
The similarities in the theories, including the development perspective and dialectical approach, are very complex and focus upon the fundamentals of each theory. The differences in each theory make them very unique, including the autonomous and heteronomous approaches for each respective theory. The four cognitive stages of Piaget’s theory, including sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations, provide a clear, effective progression of an individual’s development path from infancy to adulthood. This is very unique to Piaget’s theory and is utilized immensely in academic studies of psychology. The fundamental aspects of Vygotsky’s theory, including cultural and historical factors contributing to the individual’s development is also very unique and is regularly utilized in academic studies. Without the research that each theorist conducted and presented, the psychology studies that we know today would not be the same. The work of both respective theorists will continue to be utilized in academia and in psychology for many years to
Many theories have been created on how a child develops from many different theorists. Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget are two theorists that based their theory off of the belief that life is a series of stages. Erikson focused on the psychosocial side of development while Piaget focused on the cognitive development. Each theorist has their own beliefs and neither is wrong. Both theories have helped us understand how children development and how to teach them.
Developmental psychology is an area of research devoted to explaining the continuing growth and change that occurs over the course of one’s life. Throughout history many varying theories have been used to attempt to explain the complex process of childhood experiences altering who individuals become as an adult.
Wood, A. E., Wood, E. G., & Boyd, D. (2007). Child development: The world of psychology.