Cognitive Development of Children in Middle Childhood and Adolescence

Cognitive development refers to the construction of knowledge children use to explore their environment. Healthy cognitive development is characterized by a gradual increase in problem-solving ability along with decreasing dependence on caregivers. At the center of cognitive development theories is the nature-nurture debate, which aims to find out to what extent development is influenced by innate factors or external factors (Wright & Badcock, 2015; Ceci & Williams, 1999). In this essay, we discuss and critique theories of cognitive development from both ends of the nature-nurture spectrum, with a particular emphasis on middle childhood through adolescence. Determining the extent nature or nurture affects development has wide-ranging implications on child and adolescent outcomes, with the potential to avoid or reverse the effects of maltreatment (Feinstein & Bynner, 2004; Spann et al., 2012).

Jean Piaget (1928) believed that children gather and organize information about their surroundings through their experiences. The information gathered is formed into schemes, which are introduced throughout development. Schemes are frameworks of understanding how the world works. These schemes are built on by the processes of accommodation and assimilation. Through the process of accommodation, children create new schemes to deal with new situations. Through the process of assimilation, children utilize existing schemes to deal with new situations. Piaget believed that children develop in separate stages that build on each other through the processes of accommodation and assimilation (Gazzaniga, Heatherton & Halpern, 2015).

For example, a family gets a new Great Dane. Being the first time experiencing a dog, the child must accommodate the scheme of the dog. At the park, the child sees a chihuahua for the first time. Looking nothing like the dog at home, the child must assimilate the experience of chihuahua into her scheme of dog (Gazzaniga, Heatherton & Halpern, 2015).

During middle childhood (6-12 years), cognitive abilities continue to expand. Children in this period form the ability to think logically about real-world objects. They begin to grasp broader concepts such as past, present, and future, lending them the ability to form future-orientated goals (Paris et al., 2018). Piaget devised a four-stage theory of cognitive development describing different ways in which the developing child thinks about the world. These stages are called sensorimotor (birth-2 years), preoperational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-12 years), and formal operational (12 years and up) (Gazzaniga, Heatherton & Halpern, 2015).

Piaget’s concrete operational stage is characterized by the development of logical operations with real-world objects. As development progresses, children begin to understand various concepts including classification, the organization of objects into classes; reversibility, that objects can return to their previous state (e.g. a light switch); and conservation, that the amount of a given substance will not always change regardless of changes in its appearance (Paris et al., 2018).

Piaget (1952) devised a test to observe a child’s ability to grasp the law of conservation. Presented with two identical containers, the child is asked if they hold the same amount of liquid. If they say yes, all of the liquid from one container is poured into a third, taller container. The child who is not yet capable of concrete operational thinking assumes there is a greater volume of liquid in the taller container despite the total volume of liquid remaining constant.

During adolescence, cognitive abilities continue to expand. The adolescent’s thinking is characterized by the ability to think about situations abstractly and manipulate mental representations of these situations. The ability to view situations from other people’s perspectives, known as cognitive empathy, heightens for both sexes throughout adolescence (Van der Graaff et al., 2013). At this stage, increases in dopamine, a neurochemical responsible for pleasure, may make the individual more susceptible to risky behaviors (Hoops & Flores, 2017). Combatting impulsivity, the ability to inhibit action becomes more pronounced as the prefrontal cortex continues to develop (Luna & Sweeney, 2004).

Beginning at around 12 years, Piaget’s formal operational stage is characterized by the capacity for abstract reasoning. The individual forms an understanding of the world around them and tests this through deductive reasoning (Gazzaniga, Heatherton & Halpern, 2015). To test for formal operational thinking, Inhelder and Piaget (1958) devised the pendulum test. Subjects were presented with strings and weights, with which they were asked to discuss the impact of each factor at play: string length, push strength, and weight. Those who were in the formal operational stage tested the effects of each variable systematically, whereas those in the concrete operational stage tested them randomly. Piaget concluded those who could measure the effect of each variable systematically showed signs of formal operational thinking.

Proponents of the sociocultural approach tend to agree that Piaget neglected culture’s effects on the development of the child. Lev Vygotsky (1986, p. 36) states, “In our conception [sociocultural approach], the true direction of the development of thinking is not from the individual to the social, but from the social to the individual.”. However, Lourenço & Machado argue that Piaget’s theory was describing the construction of “necessary knowledge” (1996, p. 150), a type of knowledge that transcends social and cultural boundaries.

In his theory of sociocultural development, Lev Vygotsky (1987) posited that cognitive development was promoted by interactions with the physical world and the social environment. The individual learns about the physical world using culturally-mediated symbols systems and psychological tools such as speech, writing, maps and art that foster cognitive development. Humans use these tools to construct their culture, and culture informs the skills the child ought to learn to be successful within it (Gazzaniga, Heatherton & Halpern, 2015). In the context of cognitive development, Vygotsky believed that it was inevitable that the individual is influenced by their cultural environment. For example, one family may stress Christian ideals to guide their behavior, while another may stress Buddhist ideals.

Vygotsky emphasized languages’ effects on behavior and cognition. As development progresses, speech directed at others in the environment is internalized, which then acts as a guide for their behavior (Crain, 2014). Research by Wallace et al. (2009) demonstrated that this self-directed speech influences problem-solving abilities. Culture mediates what content passes through to inner speech, acting as a backdrop to the construction of their psychological tools, and thus influencing cognitive development (Gazzaniga, Heatherton & Halpern, 2015).

In what Vygotsky termed the zone of proximal development, the individual flourishes when they are psychologically situated between their current abilities and their potential abilities. Elders and peers aid in constructing and developing their ideas about how the world works. Solving difficult problems with a more skilled other pushes the child to develop cognitively (Nicolopoulou, 1993). Providing evidence for the effects of the environment on development, research has shown that non-stimulating environments compromise the cognitive development of children (Nelson et al., 2007). In contrast, Asnin (1979) argues that it’s the child’s attitude to the task that promotes skill acquisition and development.

Our understanding of cognitive development has wide-ranging implications in our society, including how we approach raising, schooling, and engaging with children and adolescents. Piaget believed that gradual improvements in logical problem-solving ability underline cognitive development, while Vygotsky emphasized the effects of the social and cultural context in which the child is embedded. Exploring theories of cognitive development lends us insight into how we might draw out an individual’s full potential, given their unique circumstances (Ferrari & Mahalingam, 1998).

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