Comparing Theories 1

Comparing Theories:
The Comparison of Theories of
Jean Piaget, Urie Bronfenbrenner, and Lev Vygotsky
Pamela Walters
Ivy Tech Community College

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In the field of child and adolescent development, theorist have given us the basic
foundation for which children are observed. It essence they have put us in a much better position
to understand how to improve the welfare of children. This turn affects how we see the way
children grow physically, mentally, and emotionally within their surroundings. By combining all
the information the theorists have gathered. we know how to interact with children in a way that
is beneficial to their growth into adults.
The three theories that have had a great influence on child and adolescent development
are Jean Piagets Cognitive Development Theory, Urie Bronfenbrenners Ecological Systems
Theory, and Lev Vygotskys Sociocultural Theory. Piagets theory did not believe that a childs
learning was based on rewards. Bronfenbrenners theory believes that development of a child is
based on a biological and environmental influences. Vygotskys theory believes that a childs
development is based on the social interactions with people of higher knowledge. Although the
main concepts for these theories are simple to understand, the real complexity lies with the
theories themselves (Berk, 2012).
Jean Piaget is a Swiss cognitive theorist, someone whose main concern is a persons
thought process, whose work began to gain attention in the 1960s. His Cognitive Development
Theory stated that children acquire knowledge as they began to explore the world around them.
He believed that a childs brain developed as they grew and their experiences expanded. Piaget
split these into four stages. Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal
operational. Each stage is connected to another and they all work together to prove his theory
works as a whole.
Urie Bronfenbrenner was a Russian born developmental psychologist whose Ecological
Theory is a type of social/emotional theory that has moved to the head of its field. His theory

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states that a child develops within a complex system of relationships. This is broken down into 5
systems. The microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the everchanging system. Each system is unique to the theory in that each are interrelated, nested
structures (Berk, 2012) that form the system as a whole. In essence, he is saying that the childs
environmental and biological influences work together to shape their development.
Lev Vygotsky is a Russian psychologist whose social/emotional Sociocultural Theory has
also gain esteem over the last few years. He believed that a persons culture played a major role
in how they developed. He thought that if a child was exposed to knowledge then that child
would gain that knowledge. That through social interaction, children would gain a better
understanding of the world around them.
Although each of these theories have one common factor, child development, each of
them have a different approach. The main two differences that can be seen are one that the
factors that each believe are the basis of how a child develops and two that how the information
was gathered were different. Each of them were done in a control group and the studies
themselves were done differently, as in which questions were asked and how the responses were
taken.
All of these theories made very solid points and I found fact in all of them. I think that
any of them could be used in helping a child develop into the best adult they can be. I hope as a
teacher, I can bring what I have learned from each of them to help them achieve this. What I
think what will be most effective in todays society is that a child does learn from their culture
and that should be respected.

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References
Berk, L. E. (2012). Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston, MA: Pearson
Education INC.

Berk, L. E. (2012). Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston, MA: Pearson

Education INC.