Four Perspectives on the Preschool Mind

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Running head: FOUR PERSPECTIVES Four perspectives on the preschool mind D Barret Argosy University Four perspectives on the preschool mind Child development is a combination of social, behavioral, and environmental theories; to separate them leaves an unfinished picture regarding a child’s world. However, for this paper, the perspectives of J. Piaget, E. Erikson, B.F. Skinner, and L. Vygotsky will be compared and contrasted in relation to child development, followed by their theories on cognitive development issues and progress in preschool years. J. Piaget was a renowned Cognitive Theorist focused on how children think (Feldman, 2011). E. Erikson was a Psychosocial Theorist who considered feelings as the motivator of his crisis stages (Feldman, 2011). B.F. Skinner, a Behavioral Psychologist, developed Operant Conditioning as a means to shape and develop behaviors (Feldman, 2011). L. Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist who died of TB at 37 years old, is the current star in Western culture since the translations of his Socio-cultural theories were first translated from Russia in the 1970’s (Feldman, 2011). Vygotsky filled the gap that other theorists had missed; the sociocultural equation-as L. E. Berk succulently phrased it, “The changes or growth that children experience because of these interactions differs greatly between cultures; this variance allows children to become competent in tasks important or necessary in their particular society” (2012). Each of these theorists has been multiply published in views of how best to raise a child based on their concepts of child development and progression, which disclose various behaviors, cognition responses and inducement, environmental stimuli and the sociocultural frameworks that are encountered in this journey. Let us see who makes the grade. The key issues within child development would be an
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