Factors in Growth and Development

Two general factors influence human development:

-Heredity-Environmental

Piaget’s Cognitive development theory

Certain assumptions are involved in this theory:

1. Development is an unfolding of the growth process or of maturation. A child’s development is essentially the accumulation of the learning acquired from experiences within the environment.

2. Development is brought about by experiences with the environment.

3. Development is the result of explicit and implicit teaching of the child by other people.

4. Development is brought about by the process of equilibration where the child’s beliefs become organized into a system.

Piaget categories cognitive development into four stages: (1) Sensorimotor ; (2) preoperational stage; (3) concrete operations: and, (4) formal operations