Key Developmental Psychology & Reading Theories

Posted on Mar 29, 2025 in Literary Studies

Piaget’s Cognitive Development Stages

Piaget described the mechanism by which the mind processes new information. He said that a person understands whatever information fits into their established view of the world. When the information doesn’t fit, the person must re-examine and adjust their thinking to accommodate the new information. As teachers, we should understand these cognitive stages:

Sensorimotor (birth – 2 years): The child learns about themselves and their environment through motor and reflex actions. Thoughts derive from sensation and movement. For a child in this stage, the world is what they can grab and suck.
Preoperational (from speech onset – 7 years): Thinking is influenced by fantasy. The child personifies objects. As teachers, we should show them the object so they understand it.
Concrete Operational (first grade – early adolescence): Accommodation increases. It’s not necessary to show the object for the child to imagine it. Develops an ability to think abstractly and make rational judgments about concrete phenomena. As teachers, we can give them the opportunity to ask questions and explain the new information.
Formal Operations (adolescence onwards): Cognition reaches its final form. The individual is capable of hypothetical and deductive reasoning.

Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Stages

Erikson described 8 stages of development, each marked by a conflict. How is a conflict solved? By achieving balance.

Oral-Sensory (birth to 1 year) – Conflict: Trust vs. Mistrust (related to feeding). When children trust someone, for example, when they allow an adult to feed them, they trust that person. In some cases, children only trust their parents. This stage is heavily influenced by parents who transmit the feeling of trust or mistrust their children will develop.
Muscular-Anal (1 to 3 years) – Conflict: Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt (related to toilet training). Children try to be autonomous when they learn to control their sphincter. We can see moments of doubt and shame because it’s progressive, but it also gives them a sensation of autonomy.
Locomotor (3 to 6 years) – Conflict: Initiative vs. Guilt (related to independence). This is an egocentric stage where the child wants to do things by themselves. For example, if the child thinks they are Superman, they will try to fly to demonstrate it out of initiative, so they must learn to adapt actions to the context or reality.
Latency (6 to 12 years) – Conflict: Industry vs. Inferiority (related to school). They begin to develop their self-esteem, so the motivation received from others is important (e.g., congratulating them when they do something well). The child interacts with more children during their school years and can sometimes feel inferior to others; this will depend on how they are treated by their loved ones.
Adolescence (12 to 18 years) – Conflict: Identity vs. Role Confusion (related to peer relationships). Finding their identity: “Who am I?” For example, they might try to follow a trend; the idea is that they maintain their own personality.
Young Adulthood (18 to 40 years) – Conflict: Intimacy vs. Isolation (related to love relationships). One seeks more security; for example, in relationships, formality is sought to feel secure. When this doesn’t happen, isolation and even depression can occur.
Middle Adulthood (40 to 65 years) – Conflict: Generativity vs. Stagnation (related to parenting and contributing to society).
Late Adulthood (65+ years) – Conflict: Ego Integrity vs. Despair (related to reflection on life). (Note: This stage was missing in the original text but is part of Erikson’s 8 stages).

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Explained

Maslow proposed that human beings have a set of basic needs, and as they meet these needs, they look to satisfy higher needs, which form a hierarchy. We satisfy one need and then another, from lowest to highest. This is pyramidal; you cannot advance to the next stage if you haven’t overcome the one you are in.

The first four layers (from bottom to top) are Deficiency Needs:

Physiological Needs: These are the ones you need to survive. For example: water, breathing. These needs can control thoughts and behaviors.
Safety Needs: When physiological needs are met, the need for safety will emerge (e.g., security, stability, order).
Love/Belonging/Social Needs: This is the psychological aspect of Maslow’s hierarchy. This involves emotionally based relationships in general (friendship, intimacy, having a supportive and communicative family).
Esteem Needs: All humans have a need to be respected, to have self-respect, and to respect others. According to Maslow, self-esteem is divided into High (self-respect) and Low (respect for others), depending on the person’s personality.

The last layers are Growth Needs (you only reach these if you satisfy the previous ones):

Cognitive Needs: The desire to know the causes of things or the ‘why’ of everything (especially evident in children). The expression of the natural human need to learn, explore, discover, and create to get a better understanding.
Aesthetic Needs: Appreciating beauty, like seeing beautiful landscapes. This makes us experience different feelings and appreciate the beauty of the external world. It also relates to beauty in oneself and how we feel. Humans need beautiful imagery or something new and aesthetically pleasing to continue towards self-actualization.
Self-Actualization: Striving for a goal without deviation; “I think it, I do it.” It is the desire to maintain or improve knowledge about something. It describes a person who is living creatively and fully using their potential. “What a man can be, he must be.” They are interested in solving problems.
Self-Transcendence: Spiritual needs. Helping others achieve self-actualization. It is at the very top of the pyramid.

Kohlberg’s Moral Reasoning Stages

Kohlberg tried to explain the development of moral reasoning; it all depends on the way you solve a problem. Moral thinking is what makes us act. He was interested in how people justified their actions. He proposed 6 stages, divided into 3 levels:

Level 1: Preconventional Morality

Stage 1 (Obedience and Punishment): Individuals focus on the direct consequences that their actions will have for themselves. The person responds to punishment. For example, an action is considered morally wrong if the person who commits it gets punished (e.g., you don’t cross the yellow line on the subway because you know someone will reprimand you).
Stage 2 (Reciprocity or Self-Interest): Acting out of convenience. What is morally correct for me isn’t necessarily correct for you. Focus is on serving one’s own needs. “What’s in it for me?”

Level 2: Conventional Morality

(Focus on adolescents and adults)

Stage 3 (Good Interpersonal Relationships / ‘Good Child’): Individuals are receptive to approval or disapproval from others. They have good intentions, aiming to be accepted by society. Focus on living up to social expectations and roles.
Stage 4 (Maintaining Social Order / Law and Order): It is important to obey laws and social conventions to maintain a functioning society. Focus shifts to obeying authority and maintaining the social order. You consider others in your actions.

Level 3: Postconventional Morality

Stage 5 (Social Contract and Individual Rights): People ask: “What makes for a good society?” Rules are seen as social agreements that can be changed when necessary. Focus on balancing social order with individual rights. (e.g., trying to improve education).
Stage 6 (Universal Principles): Moral reasoning is based on abstract reasoning using universal ethical principles. Principles of justice are universal and apply to everyone. Actions are taken because they are right in themselves, not just because they avoid punishment or are socially acceptable (e.g., not voting for a law that unfairly benefits only some people).

Reading Concepts and Perspectives

Understanding Children’s Literature

According to what I know, Children’s Literature is defined as materials written to teach children and young adults. Sometimes, it includes fantasy and binary opposites (good vs. bad). Besides, it is generally optimistic; there is always hope.

Interactive Reading Perspective

The interactive approach unites the importance given to the reader and the text in the reading process. Here, both the text and what the reader brings to it (previous knowledge) are important. Good readers are both good decoders and good interpreters of text.

The Concept of Schema in Reading

Schema refers to the mental bundle of knowledge that holds everything we know about a topic (what the reader brings to a text). Learning occurs when schemas grow and change.

Three Theoretical Perspectives on Reading

Reader-Response Perspective: This is currently a dominant perspective. It focuses on how the reader reacts when reading a text. The reader’s beliefs and experiences are important. Literature can’t be studied objectively because there can be many meanings for one book, depending on the reader’s culture and background. Often, we understand a text based on our experience.
- A) Reading as Experience: Developing critical thinking in students is central to helping them achieve critical literacy.
- B) Reading as Engagement: This occurs when students unlock the meaning of words in a text. It involves the ability to go beyond the surface meaning of a visual, spoken, or written text.
Critical Perspective: This is a more traditional perspective, focusing on studying structure and theory. It involves concepts like intertextuality, where you connect the text to other literary texts, making references between them. This represents reaching a high level of text comprehension, as you can connect the new reading with something previously read. Literary structure: The idea of studying literature through its structure originates from structuralism (looking for underlying structures, as they are believed to exist everywhere).
Interactive Perspective: (As mentioned above) This perspective unites the importance given to the reader and the text in the reading process. It’s the combination of what the readers already know (their schema) with the new information presented in the text. Good readers are both good decoders and good interpreters of a text.