Piaget discussed four stages of cognitive development: preoperational, concrete, formal, and sensorimotor (Scott HK; Cogburn M, 2023). The pre-operation period is between two and seven years old, where the child uses symbolic thoughts and language to develop memory and imagination, imitate, and have little awareness. The concrete operation stage, lasting from ages 7 to 11, is characterized by general thinking, mastery of concepts, and constant brain development. The formal operational stage of cognitive development starts at age 11 and continues through puberty. It is characterized by logical and moral reasoning with the ability to make hypotheses and understand theories easily.
Concepts relevant to Piaget include Egocentrism, which is in the pre-operation stage. Children at these ages cannot perceive other people’s thoughts and find everything, good or bad, affecting them(Malik & Marwaha, 2023). Animation is also another concept of the pre-operation stage since kids are at the stage of imagining ideas. The concrete stage is a more operational stage of constant brain development and includes the concept of conservation. Since children better understand what seems impossible, they develop logical and systematic thinking abilities. This conservation and preservation of knowledge helps children in the subsequent stages of cognitive development. Another concept is decentralization, evident in the last two stages of development since kids can consider multiple aspects of the problem, think logically, and make irrational decisions. This allows for flexible and comprehensive thinking among children. The advantages of these concepts are conflict-resolution techniques, mutually beneficial decisions, diverse mindsets, creative thinking, critical and mathematical thinking, logical thinking, and the ability to apply both learned and practical skills in their daily lives.
Virtual children are digital representations of children used in education and psychology to imitate the children’s behavior and development. VCs can be programmed to exhibit symbolic thinking through interactions with language gestures, images, and objects in a virtual environment for the mental representation of the children. An example is a virtual animated character imitating a child’s behavior through imaginative play, language development, and voice. The concrete operational stage, characterized by conservation and decentration of knowledge, might have virtual children tackling solutions related to Maths or science. In conservation, a virtual child could represent an elementary school child tackling average calculations and learning new things that can be easily recalled when asked.
Virtual children can exhibit decentration through multifaceted perspectives, beliefs, and hypotheses. This could portray an adolescent learner in a science laboratory performing experiments, learning new science concepts, and developing new ideas. Generating new hypotheses and beliefs would involve a student engaging in scholarly questions with the virtual tutor concerning historical developments and how they impact nature and the future. Another way VCs can be relevant to the concepts is through problem-solving abilities, where they can handle complex puzzles, complete difficult tasks, and interact with virtual environments. These examples of virtual children engaging with nature affect the development of children at all stages since they portray the reality of what is happening, provide solutions and alternatives, and challenge the children to be involved in complex tasks to test their abilities. This enhances a unique brain development in children, which helps progressively in knowledge advancement. Through implementing such concepts, virtual children help in parenting, counseling, childhood development, discipline, problem-solving skills, and communication with peers and adults.
Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is built upon Freud’s theory of psychosexual development by expanding the influence of social dynamics and psychosocial development into adulthood (Orenstein & Lewis, 2022). Human development involves stages influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. The psychosocial principle explains the genetically inevitable human development. Different factors like ego, motivation, and capability influence people’s choices. Each stage of psychosocial development from infancy to adulthood has psychological limits that might impair healthy development. It highlights the infusion of psychosocial and social factors that shape personality and identity. Environment and surrounding culture influence how humans progress and determine their success.
Erikson discussed several dynamics of social development: trust vs. mistrust (hope), autonomy vs. shame (will), initiative vs. guilt (purpose), industry vs. inferiority(competence), and identity vs. role confusion (fidelity) (Psychosocial Theory | Lifespan Development, 2024). Initiative versus guilt is characterized by a purpose, where children become sensitive to initiatives and new challenges through exploration, creativity, and excessive criticism or punishment, which can lead to guilt and inhibition. Children have been attributed to having control and influence through the friends they make and the plays they engage in. Children will then develop self-confidence, purpose, ambition, and responsibility when they overcome the guilt of what plays, goals, and relationships they should make. Putting too much pressure on children at this stage will cause them uncomfortably, low self-esteem, lack of purpose, loneliness, and guilt when engaging with other kids or their parents. Children should be allowed to willingly and rightfully interact with nature, the surrounding environment, and people and develop new ways and strategies to help their cognitive development.
Industry vs. inferiority entails children developing competence and mastering through engaging in school activities, learning new concepts, getting the best explanations for their unanswered questions, and recognizing themselves. Success in learning, advancing knowledge, and gaining new information enhances industry, while poor recognition, lack of awareness, and slow mental growth lead to inferiority. It is a competence stage where children compare themselves with their peers and develop pride through achievements; they compare themselves in games, class work, and social activities. Inferiority is when they feel that they still do not add up despite their actions. Children learn how to interact and communicate with others to boost their self-esteem and make them industrious in class and games, hence helping in overall brain development.
The identity vs role confusion stage is a dynamic of Erikson’s psychosocial stages tasked with fidelity in developing a sense of self. Adolescents try to find their unique identities in terms of sexuality, gender, values, and beliefs. Successful resolution will lead to responsible and mature adolescents who take care of themselves, while confusion might lead to unfavorable behaviors and might even lead to delinquency. Peer influences and societal expectations can be overwhelming, and this stage might lead to individuals making bad decisions due to negative pressures.
An example of virtual child development related to Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development is appreciating a kid after completing their assignment. This helps their mental development by showing that despite not completing as expected, they served their purpose and deserved a reward. Allowing kids to interact and play with their friends also ensures they build their confidence and self-esteem. In industry vs. inferiority, encouraging and motivating the virtual child to engage in various sporting activities to know the strengths and weaknesses helps build competence and remove the inferior mentality. It is vital to encourage adolescents to appreciate their identities and sexualities as virtual children. This helps understand what children need, how to achieve them, and who to involve in such monumental decisions. Teenage virtual children will adapt to new changes easily and adopt new survival strategies, which helps in children’s development.
James Marcia identified four identity statuses that represent different ways individuals navigate identity development: identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, identity moratorium, and identity achievement.(Davies et al., 2023) Individuals have not experienced explorations in identity diffusion and have conflicting beliefs and life goals. Individuals might need clarification, and this might impact their future decisions. People are unaware of themselves, what they portray, whether they matter, and their place in the world. Identity foreclosure entails making commitments without exploring alternatives, ‘confiscation of identity.’ These firm beliefs and commitments to goals without questioning and exploring other possibilities make individuals rigid and challenging to comprehend. As a result, individuals may focus on traditional views and expectations rather than engaging in opportunities for self-fulfillment, exploration, and growth.
Identity moratorium involve active individuals who have yet to make final decisions and commitments. They are open to thoughts, ideas, and decisions and explore varied beliefs, attitudes, and goals. Uncertainties, anxiety, and fear characterize them, but they are always open and ready for possibilities, experiences, and alternatives. Identity achievement is the status of individuals who have successfully explored various identity options and made firm commitments. They have diverse experiences, knowledge, and perspectives. They are confident, autonomous, and self-aware and make informed decision-making despite crises and challenges due to self-experience, commitment, purpose, and integrated thinking (Becht et al., 2021).
Merits attributed to Marcia’s identity stats are flexibility, creativity, adaptability, stability, confidence, acceptance, readiness to change, resilience and determination, clarity, identity development in exploring alternatives, questioning forces, and growing into healthy and well-developed individuals.
Virtual children are currently in the identity foreclosure status. This is because they come with predefined behaviors, goals, purposes, objectives, and behaviors that characterize the educational content and impact. They are programmed or designed to behave in certain ways and fulfill specific roles within the virtual environment. Virtual children might not explore alternative identities and possibilities since they are created to perform specific tasks and can only be updated later. They adhere to the knowledge, roles, and expectations of programmers without the freedom to explore or advance. Thus, virtual children are in a state of unpredictability, uncertainty, and stability since the creators make advancements based on the purposes of the virtual children.
In summary, understanding the concepts of Piaget’s stages of social development, like preoperational, concrete, and formal, and concepts impacting them, like mental representation, conservation, animation, decentration, and Egocentrism, helps understand the development of the virtual child. Moreover, stages of social identity by Erikson with response to purpose, confidence, and fidelity help in cognitive development and overall child development. The identity statuses by Marcia (identity diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and achievement) help understand the stage where virtual children are and how individuals can work to ensure they are healthy and have positive cognitive development.
References
Becht, A. I., Nelemans, S. A., Susan, Wilma, & Wim H. J. Meeus. (2021). Daily Identity Dynamics in Adolescence Shaping Identity in Emerging Adulthood: An 11-Year Longitudinal Study on Continuity in Development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(8), 1616–1633. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01370-3
Psychosocial Theory | Lifespan Development. (2024). Lumenlearning.com. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/chapter/erikson-and-psychosocial-theory/
Orenstein, G. A., & Lewis, L. (2022, November 7). Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. Nih.gov; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556096/
Scott HK; Cogburn M. (2023, January 9). Piaget. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28846231/
Malik, F., & Marwaha, R. (2023, April 23). Cognitive Development. Nih.gov; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537095/
Davies, J., Cooper, K., Killick, E., & Crane, L. (2023, October 31). Autistic identity: A systematic review of quantitative research. ResearchGate; unknown. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378127258_Autistic_identity_A_systematic_review_of_quantitative_research
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