Piaget

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that within the context of language awareness, one should be inclined to accept the notion that the human being cannot simply be characterized as an input-output mechanism, though in many isolated cases this may be beneficial. One of the main observational considerations that needs to be taken into account is the aforementioned progression of language awareness from intuition to mastery. The writer points out that Piaget is the researcher credited with devising cognitive theories about child development. The writer discusses that Piaget did not believe that language development was crucial to children in relation to the development of their intellect, and indeed he believed that language development was simply the means a child would use to express himself and not a crucial element of cognitive development overall. The paper then goes on to explain why the author disagrees with Piaget's theories.

From the Paper:

"Behaviorism is an increasingly broad area of study, which has its roots in the very beginnings of modern psychology. The driving notion behind the theory is that we, as ordinary human beings, possess no direct way to look into the human mind and observe precisely what it is comprised of or how it operates. Consequently, the only workable approach towards psychology, according to behaviorists, is to conceive of the mind as the relay between external, physical inputs and their resulting outputs. In other words, the mind is simply a mechanism that performs certain functions when specific inputs are given to it, and the result is an output--this output is human behavior. In other words, although the ideal way to analyze human behavior and thought would be to observe the mechanisms of the mind first hand, psychologists must be content to observe behavior and make inferences about the mind. Doubtlessly, even though significant advances have been made in our understanding of the physical mind, the mental and subjective machinery within will forever remain a black box to our probing."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Duncan, R.M. (1995). Piaget and Vgotsky revisited: Dialogue or assimilation? Developmental Review, 15, 458-472
• Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (1998). Cognitive development. Retrieved December 15th, 2006, from http://chiron.valdosta,edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/piaget.html

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