respond to at least two of your peers in substantive posts of at least 100 words each. In your responses, consider and comment on the probability and logistics of your classmate’s bullying solution. Provide additional unique insights to either the causes or prevention of bullying behaviors based on information from the textbook or the Shetgiri et al. (2012) article, and/or ask further questions about their response to encourage them to think of different points of view and reflect on their statements in another way. You are encouraged to post your required replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful and interactive discourse in this discussion forum. Continue to monitor the discussion forum until 5:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Day 7, and respond with robust dialogue to anyone who replies to your initial post.
PEER 1
Piaget and Vygotsky describe two different aspects of cognitive development; one describes biologically based cognitive development that is introspective, while the other describes the psychosocial cognitive development of children within the context of external stimuli. Piaget describes the internal dialogue of children as they develop from infancy and development, as it relates to child-initiated interactions and experiments by which they form a schema or idea of how the world works. On the other hand, Vygotsky describes a child’s cognitive capacity and ability to grow with the encouragement of the environment. It describes how externally initiated interactions influence children’s cognitive development and abilities and considers the role of logic in the developmental process. Though both take a different perspective on development, they both describe aspects of development that are uniform across culture and status.
Piaget describes how biology initiates the capacity to organize information into schema or algorithms based on the child’s interactions with the world and the child’s ability to adapt those schema through assimilation and accommodation as their biology becomes more complex and more information becomes available. Assimilation develops the schema in a way that includes new things. Piaget said that it is a state of cognitive equilibrium, where the child can maintain a steady view of the world and equilibration. However, accommodations modify the schema through exclusions and is said to be a disequilibrium, by which children in disequilibration become aware that there is an area they must learn more about. In an algorithm, assimilation would be “and this,” whereas accommodation would be “not that.”
Piaget’s theory has four main stages of development. Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete, and Formal, all of which describe the cognitive processes as it is influenced by physiological development and the child’s capacity to understand how the world works. Piaget believed these stages emerged organically, much like physiological development
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, on the other hand, focuses on the where and how of learning. He insists that cultural and environmental influences will ultimately shape how a child will process information and what they will ultimately decide is valuable. Furthermore, when a child learns, it is first through a social experience, and then the child learns how to complete the task independently. Understanding cognitive development from this framework breaks down the child’s learning capacity into three distinct stages. The child’s demonstrated skill, which is what the child is able to accomplish independently, the Zone of proximal development; what the child can accomplish with some assistance, and the Currently unobtainable; what the child does not have the physiological capacity to do.
Though both have a central focus on constructivism, meaning that children develop an algorithm or worldview throughout their development, the emphasis and perspective of each theory were different. Piaget’s theory was largely developed from studies originating from participants whose culture and environment were largely homogeneous. Though it accounts for the purely physiological stages of development and resulting capacity, it does not account for Vygotsky’s Zone of proximal development and how social interaction shapes and affects the attainment of several of Piaget’s substages. Piaget also does not account for individual variations and those who develop outside the bell curve, while Vygotsky finds the uniqueness of the individual within the community to be an important part of how the person develops and shapes their understanding of the world.
Neither of these theories are wrong; they are just incomplete and look at the process of cognitive development from differing emphases and perspectives. It is not logical to emphasize one over the other in practice, or you may be frustrated in its application. Instead, understanding what is physiologically possible and the social and interactive context by which new information is acquired is vital to having a holistic understanding of cognitive development.
PEER 2
Using each of the five systems in Bronfenbrenner’s theory, describe how a child’s environment (including family, school, and community) might pre-dispose him or her to bullying.
According to Shetgiri et al. (2012), “Bullying is defined as intentional, repeated aggression perpetrated by a more powerful person or group on a less powerful victim.” Bullying affects both the physical and psychosocial health of both the aggressors and victims. Psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner developed the ecological systems model in which “he theorized that development was determined by the relationships among various environmental systems.” (Mossler, 2024).
The microsystem has a direct impact on a child’s daily life. The system consists of schools, peers, neighborhoods, and religious affiliation (Mossler, 2024). Negative experiences with peers and people within a child’s life might pre-dispose them to bullying because negative actions such as physical and emotional abuse can lead to negative self-esteem, how they perceive and trust others, and impact the way they communicate and socialize with others. If a child is abused in the home or sees someone in the home being abused, that could result in them becoming a bull and bullying others.
The mesosystem represents the parent’s involvement in school and a child’s friends (Mossler, 2024). The more a parent is involved in a child’s life the less likely the child is to be involved in bullying. If the parent and child have good open communication, the child tends to excel in school more, and make lasting friendships.
The exosystem consists of community and socioeconomic variables (Mossler, 2024). If a parent must work late and there are no childcare centers open or no babysitter available, then the child will be left alone with no supervision, which can lead them to be on their phone and social media more, and susceptible to bullying.
The macrosystem identifies the cultural context, such as laws, traditions, and customs (Mossler, 2024). If a child is exposed to a culture that glorifies violence or aggression, they might internalize those behaviors and be more likely to engage in bullying themselves.
The chronosystem shows the social and historical context within which the other systems operate and how the four systems change over time (Mossler, 2024). Example: If a child moves around due to their parents job relocating them, it could impact their mesosystem and the parent might not be as involved with the child and their friends since they aren’t somewhere long enough for the parents to get to know the friends that the child hangs around with or get involved with the school since there are always new schools the child is attending. When children constantly move and attend new schools, they can become the victim of being the new kid or bullied for dressing a certain way.
For example, within a person’s microsystem are the parents. How might parents be an influencing factor on whether a child is prone to bullying?
Bullying can take place no matter what age the child. When a child is younger if the parent is constantly saying negative things to them, and making them feel insecure about themselves, this can influence how the child treats peers as they make friends, go to school, and participate in activities. If a parent is abusive towards the child in the home, the child might use that experience and start abusing other children at school or in the neighborhood. If a child witnesses someone in their household being bullied by another house member, such as a mother being bullied by a father, the child might replicate that action when they are around peers. Parents play a significant role in a child’s life and how they treat others. When parents are loving and caring for one another and their children talk to them about what is going on in their lives, and support them no matter what their dreams are, bullying is less of a factor.
Find and report (with proper citation) one current statistic on the factors influencing school bullying behaviors. Does this statistic seem to follow the same trend supported by Bronfenbrenner’s theory? If not, explain how it challenges the theory.
LGBTQI+ youths are at an increased risk of being bullied. According to the United States government website (n.d.), “results from a 2021 youth risk behavior survey show that, nationwide, more U.S. high school students who self-identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) report having been bullied on school property (23%) and cyberbullied (27%) in the past year than their straight peers (7% and 13%).” I do believe the statistic follows the same trend supported by Bronfenbrenner’s theory because it begins on if the parents, family, friends, community accept the child’s gender association and how involved the parents are with the child and showing support for them at events they attend or groups they are part of. The community and the resources available are also factors that play a role and the laws put in place to protect the LGBTQI + community.
Finally, provide one unique solution to reduce or completely end bullying.
I believe a unique solution to reduce bullying in school is for each school to have students participate in a technology based bullying experience, where each student must watch a bullying scenario, and respond to the situation and provide a solution. This can be an eye-widening experience for students to see how others are being treated and think about how they would feel if they were the ones being bullied and how they would want the situation to be handled. For a student who has never experienced bullying firsthand this is a great opportunity for them to experience a bullying situation and express their feelings about the situation and see firsthand how bullying affects others and what is happening right around them.
References:
Mossler, R. A. (2024). Child and adolescent development (3rd ed). The University of Arizona Global Campus.
Shetgiri, R., Lin, H., Avila, R. M., & Flores, G. (2012). Parental characteristics associated with bullying perpetration in US children aged 10 to 17 yearsLinks to an external site.. American Journal of Public Health, 102(12), 2280-2286. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300725Links to an external site.
United States government. (n.d.). LGBTQI+ youth. https://www.stopbullying.gov/bullying/lgbtqLinks to an external site.
