How do Piagets and Vygotskys theories of learning and development Essay

How do Piagets and Vygotskys theories of learning and development compare regarding the influences of social interactions in childrens cognitive development - Essay Example These theories include Maturationist, Environmentalist and Constructivists ones. These three schools of thoughts have different views and ideas on child development. Piaget and Vygotsky are the pioneers and representatives of the Constructivist school of thought. Both of them have similarities and dissimilarities in their views. Before discussing the three aspects of child development, it is necessary to define cognitive psychology. In the words of Anderson: Cognitive psychology attempts to understand the nature of human intelligence and how people think. The study of cognitive psychology is motivated by scientific curiosity, by the desire for practical applications, and by the need to provide a foundation for other fields of social science. (Anderson, 1990:1) The Swiss biologist Jean Piaget and Russian psychologist Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky were the theorists to advance the constructivist theory of Cognitive development in children. According to which the cognitive development starts in children with their interaction with the environment and people around them. It is necessary for a child’s development, according to them, that he must interact with other individuals of society. The theory is different from the Maturationist school of thought. The Maturationist theorists believe that the cognitive development is a biological process, and all the healthy (normal) children get it as long as they grow physically. The theorists including Arnold Gessel and others believe that the cognitive development occur naturally and automatically. DeCos has quoted their views in these words: School readiness, according to maturationists, is a state at which all healthy young children arrive when they can perform tasks such as reciting the alphabet and counting; these tasks are required for learning more complex tasks such as reading and arithmetic. (DeCos, 1997) On the other hand, constructivists are of the view that development in children is not the outcome of