Cognitive Development Vs. Attachment Theory

1699 Words7 Pages
Cognitive development vs. Attachment theory By: Carson Dixon This paper shows how people acquire separation anxiety when losing a partner in an intimate relationship. The way we handle that anxiety and how much is actually experienced has a lot to do with how one’s early childhood occurred. Problems during infancy lead to long-term problems, regardless of which theory one focuses on. The adult cognitive development focuses on how we shift from the mindset of right and wrong, to one of subjectivity and reasoning. The development is from birth to death and is explained in eight stages. "If I have seen far, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." - Isaac Newton. (Dombeck, 2007) Two theories that will be compared in this paper are adult cognitive development and the attachment theory. The adult cognitive development theory originated with Robert Kegan in 1982. The attachment theory was first developed by John Bowlby and then later added to by Mary Ainsworth. Both of these theories try to explain how we become socially mature. The theories discussed will offer insight towards different aspects of social maturity. Robert Kegan was born on 1946; the Harvard psychologist first described his theory on social maturity in his 1982 book, The Evolving Self. This book contains the theory of how people become more socially mature as they get older. Kegan’s theory of adult cognitive development contains some of the same principles as Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. When studying Kegan’s theory it is important to understand Piaget because as Mark Dombeck writes “the core ideas from Kegan's work are essentially Piaget's ideas which have been reworked, broadened and abstracted, and applied to the social realm” (Dombeck, 2007). As we move through developmental stages we become more subjective and less objective. It is a dynamic process how
Open Document