Cognitive Developmental Psychology and Law Essay

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Developmental Cognitive Psychology and Law

Child development refers to a psychological, biological and emotional developments that occur between birth and adolescent. Biologically, a child refers to an individual between the time of birth and puberty. In other words, a child refers to a person between infancy and adulthood. In many countries, children between 0-year and 18 years are at a developmental stage because they are unable to make a very serious decision by themselves. In the United States, children between age of 4 and 6 are referred as preschoolers, and at this stage, they are generally egocentric and unable to see other children point-of-view. Moreover, they are not intuitive and not able to develop a rational thinking. (Kail, 2011).

Objective of this paper is to use the field of development psychology and legal system determination to justify when the children who shot other children in the case studies are to be held responsible for their acts.

Characteristics of Children aged between 2 and 6

Preschoolers are children aged between 2 and 6. Children at this stage are able to see patters and organize patterns to explain the world. However, preschoolers have some cognitive limitations. The children of these ages have trouble to control their functions. Moreover, they confuse a superficial appearance with a reality making them to make cognitive errors. The children of these ages imitate adult behaviors especially the behaviors of their parents because they see their parents as models. According to Piaget theory, children of these ages use symbols and make imaginary friendships. (Berger, 2014). Moreover, children between 2 and 6 can be easily misled. In essence, cognitive abilities of preschoolers are limited because they are unable to distinguish between their own views and other people's view. Biologically, a well-fed preschooler gains 4-1-2 pounds annually and grow by almost 3 inches.

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By age of 6, the brain can weigh 90% of adult brain. By the age 6, they will like to experiment with climb ladders; tricycles; and kick balls. (Berger, 2014).

Cognitive argument for the Policy in term of Cognitive Argument

This paper uses the Piaget theory of cognitive development to argue that the children who shot the fellow children in the case studies are not capable of understanding the consequence of their actions. Piaget argues that these children are at their "pre-operational stage of cognitive development." (Berger, 2014 p 275). Piaget identifies the pre-operational stage by which the children are unable to do certain activities by themselves. At this stage, children are not capable of understanding a concrete logic and are not capable of executing logical behaviors. Moreover, these children are not capable of manipulating information.

Piaget further argues that the mental operations of children at pre-operational stage are logically inadequate because they are unable to perform mental operations effectively. Although, children at this stage may form stable concepts however, they are not able to perform logical operations. Piaget argues that egocentric behaviors are apparent during the stages of cognitive development, nevertheless, egocentric behaviors are more apparent during the pre-operation stages.

Argument for this policy with reference to Social and Child's emotional development.

Emotional learning starts from a tender age and as children grow up, they discover different types of emotions. At pre-school years, a child will generally like to be with friends. Between the ages of 5 and 6, boys will like to play with boys while girls will like to play with girls. What is unique about children….....

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