The most obvious developmental skill shown during the two-hour observational study, was social abilities. Mason, a six-year-old in a pre-k class I volunteer in, seemed to display Erikson’s theory of social development by being around his friends. Erikson’s theory states that people develop a sense of self or ego identity through social interaction and is constantly changing as people go on to have new experiences. This type of environment has forced Mason to be quick to react at times or else will not get attention. That’s what seems to promote some of the deviant behavior when no one is looking. Being that Mason has now been in the same class for two years now, the behavior has not changed but it is just done in a different way. What I observed …show more content…
As stated in Vygotsky’s cognitive development, social influences can shape and alter a child’s cognitive development in the way that they act and think about things. When I first observed Mason, the amount of vocabulary he had used was limited and uneducated, which is understandable for a six-year-old. However, I realized that his vocabulary altered when he was surrounded by different things and different people. This is an exact reflection of how social influences shape the cognitive abilities of a child. What surrounds a person can highly alter the person they are, whether they know better or not. Not only can it alter your cognitive abilities in a negative and positive way, it can also create new schemas for a child and enhance the capacity of their cognitive experiences. As Vygotsky has stated, social contributions aid in the process of development cognitively in a child. Without social experiences and social interactions, a child cannot expand and progress mentally or emotionally. In theory, it seems that external issues have shaped Mason’s personality; social interaction with others and cooperating with others promotes cognitive development and change in a child’s life. In this case it has altered the way Mason reacts depending upon who and what is surrounding …show more content…
The James-Lange theory of emotion explains that an external stimuli results in a physiological reaction and from the physiological reaction, your emotion is formed. However, it is up to you entirely the emotion you express, based on your view of the external stimuli. Past experiences and formed morals shape the views and outlook of a child. In Mason’s circumstance, he takes the external stimuli and lets it upset and anger him. When Mason was playing a game with his classmates and lost, he storms off mad. If a child had progressed emotionally, they would not act as such. By performing an action like this, it shows that Mason has self-confidence issues and needs to involve everyone else in his feelings so they can feel the negative emotions he does. Understanding the relationship between the reaction and the emotion is vital in emotional development. Internalizing your issues is unhealthy and it is beneficial to exert the emotions, but if Mason were emotionally developed, he would have learned to express them in a different way. Relating Mason’s reaction to a different theory, the Schatcher-Singer explains that the physiological arousal is the first to occur, and then it is up to the child or person to identify the reason for the arousal or reaction, and form that identification, the emotion or feeling is chosen and expressed. In this case, Mason took the loss of