ABSTRACT
How Does Cognitive Social-Historical Theory Answer the Basic Questions that a Theory of Human Development Is Expected to Address?
Critique of Cognitive Social-Historical Theory
Strengths
Weaknesses
Key Terms
Piaget’s focus on cognitive development emphasized a process in which children investigate, explore, discover, and rediscover meaning in their world. Although Piaget acknowledged the significance of social factors, especially parents and peers, in the cognitive process, his theory focused on what he believed to be universal processes and stages in the maturation of cognition from infancy through adolescence. In contrast, Vygotsky, often referred to as an interactionist, argued that development can only be understood within a social-historical framework. At the heart of his work is a focus on thinking, especially in childhood, which he links to the development of language and speech.
