Comparing Piaget And Kohlberg

Intertwined Psychologists Many developmental psychologists have made their mark on the science of how humans change over time. Such individuals as Jean Piaget and Sigmund Freud have developed various cognitive stages that craft an outline for the way the mind changes throughout life. Their ideas serve as a great basis of understanding by themselves, but crossing points have been linked with other psychologists’ theories to create an entire sphere of developmental psychology. The theories of both Piaget and Freud are important to the knowledge base of the field as they also show similarities to other developmental psychologists such as Mary Ainsworth, Erik Erikson, and Lawrence Kohlberg. Piaget’s cognitive stages draw a map for brain development, although it is known that some stages take longer for some individuals. From birth to two years, children are within the sensorimotor stage of development. They experience the world by sucking on objects, biting, and actions such as the rooting reflex. Eventually, they realize that objects do exist outside of their realm of vision through the notion of object permanence. Stranger anxiety is a relevant fear in this stage, as kids start to feel uncomfortable around non-caregivers. Until two years of age, the preoperational stage takes hold. Language develops …show more content…
Although each person has their own perspective and opinions on cognitive and emotional development, parallels can be drawn between differing theories. It is through both the individual theories standing alone and similarities between them that the world is able to understand the science of how and why humans develop over time. The works of Piaget, Freud, Erikson, and Kohlberg were important in that future developmentalists will be able to draw upon their ideas and craft new theories that will widen the world’s sphere of knowledge on