Famous Person Abraham Lincoln

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Abstract

In this article, we will talk about the concept of Jean Piaget’s theory on cognitive development and we will apply this theory onto a famous person, Abraham Lincoln. The content of this article has been divided into three sections. The first section acts as an introduction to this article and discusses briefly Lincoln’s and Piaget’s background. The second section of this paper provides detailed explanations on Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Application of Piaget’s theory onto Lincoln’s life will be the final section of this paper. In addition, we will be using other theories besides Piaget’s. These theories include Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages, Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, as well as Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis theory.

Introduction

Piaget’s theory on cognitive development was among the few theories that have stood the test of time with little criticism from his fellow psychologists (Fleming, 2004). What’s more surprising is that Piaget started off not as a psychologist, but as a biologist (Fleming, 2004). Piaget’s first two doctorates were PHD on the study of natural science and the study of philosophy (Fleming, 2004). However, Piaget possesses keen interest on a variety of subjects that may or may not be related to the two doctorates mentioned previously. Among his interest was his interest on the "whys" and "hows" children come up with inaccurate answers (Fleming, 2004). It was this interest that compelled Piaget to work on his theory on cognitive development and finally he came up with his cognitive development theory (Fleming, 2004).

Born in the year 1809 on February 12, in Hardin County,Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was son to Thomas Lincoln and his wife, Nancy Hawks Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln, 20013). He had two other siblings; his older sister, Sarah Lincoln, and his younger brother who died at birth, Thomas Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln, 2013). In 1816, Abraham, along with his whole family moved to Spencer County, then Perry County in 1816, Indiana (The youth of Abraham Lincoln, n.d.). Nancy died in the year 1818 due to tremetol when Abraham was nine years old and his father remarried with Sarah Bush Johnstan in the year 1819 (Abraham Lincoln, 2013). The relationship between Abraham and Sarah was surprisingly, a close one. According to Abraham himself, he had formal educational for only a year and he self-taught himself everything later (Abraham Lincoln, 2013). In 1834, Lincoln’s political involvement started when he was appointed as a member of the Whig Party by the Illinois state legislature (Abraham Lincoln, 2013). He later married Mary Todd in the year 1842 and was father to four children (Abraham Lincoln, 2013). Following that, he embarked on a journey of political conflicts and on the 6thof November, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was finally voted as the 16th President of the United States (Abraham Lincoln, 2013). After that, he fought to end slavery and with the 13th amendment, he freed all slavery in the year 1865 (Spielberg, 2013). Unfortunately, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth on 1865 April 14 (Abraham Lincoln, 2013).

Sensorimotor Stage

Sensorimotor is the first stage of Piaget’s cognitive development theory (Rogers, 1977). This stage occurs during early childhood from the time of birth till the infant is approximately two years old. During the sensorimotor stage there will be a rapid cognitive growth in the infants. An infant’s knowledge begins with their sensory perception and motor action. (Rogers, 1977) The sensorimotor stage can be divided into six sub-stages. Circular reaction is the first sub-stage in the sensorimotor stage. This sub-stage is from birth to one month, during which the infant understands his surroundings based on his inborn reflex actions (Rogers, 1977). The second sub-stage is known as primary circular reaction, which is for infants form one to four months. During this sub-stage infants begin to notice the interesting reaction received and so they tend to continuously repeat their actions (Rogers, 1977).

Secondary circular reaction is the third sub-stage, which is from four to eight months year old infants. At this sub stage infants are more likely to engage with their environment (Rogers, 1977). They still have the need to continuously repeat their actions through a process of trial and error (Rogers, 1977). Coordination of reactions is the third sub stage that an infant goes through between the first eight to twelve months of his or her life (Rogers, 1977). During this stage, infants are able to coordinate two or more circular reactions to get a desired effect (Rogers, 1977). During this stage infants have a better understanding of their environment and they also realize certain specific qualities in their surroundings.

The fifth sub stage is known as the tertiary circular reaction which is for infants between twelve to eighteen months. During this sub stage infants develop new behaviours through various trial and error techniques (Rogers, 1977). An active experimental and exploration of their environment and surroundings is usually carried out during this period. The last sub stage is when the infant is eighteen months old. During this sub stage infants do not use the trial and error method anymore (Rogers, 1977). They are able to acquire symbolic figures to represent objects or event in their surroundings. At this point infants have started off with mental representations of their surroundings rather then it based only on their actions (Rogers, 1977).

One of the key experiments conducted by Piaget for an infant in the sensorimotor stage is the study of object permanence. Object permanence means knowing the object is still there even if it is hidden (Santrock, 2011). This requires the infant to go through mental operations of the object. (Rogers, 1977)

Preoperational Stage

The second stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is called the preoperational stage (Santrock, 2011). Children will go through this stage in the age of two to seven. Children in this stage start to connect the outer sensory information with their physical action (Santrock, 2011). For example, when children see an object of interest, they will probably try to draw it out if they have a pencil. Children start to speak in this stage; they try to say the words that they heard at the beginning, then they speak like a normal person after practicing it every day.

Children in this stage are still unable to perform operations yet, hence the term preoperational (Santrock, 2011). Piaget states that operation is a mental process which allows children to things mentally (Santrock, 2011). For example, if a person is able to solve a mathematical problem, such as addition and subtraction, by solving in his mind; then he is performing operation. Preoperational thought is the beginning of thinking what individual is already doing. Preoperational thought can be divided into two sub-stages and they are the symbolic function sub-stage and the intuitive thought sub-stage (Santrock, 2011).

The first sub-stage of preoperational thought is the symbolic function sub-stage (Santrock, 2011). Children will go through this sub-stage in the age of two to four (Santrock, 2011). Children are able to scribble of things in this stage and they are learning new things quickly. However, although the children learn new things quickly, egocentrism and animism in this stage limits their learning progress (Santrock, 2011).

The intuitive thought sub-stage is the second sub-stage of preoperational thought and they go through it at the age of four to seven (Santrock, 2011). Children in this stage start to question on everything and seek for answers. They are curious on everything that they have contact with such as seeing a certain object for the first time.

Concrete Operational Stage

The third stage of Piaget’s cognitive theory is concrete operational stage (Santrock, 2011). This stage occurs when the child is between 7 to 11 years old. In this stage, children can think more logically and have better understanding of mental operations when facing concrete situations (Flavel, 1963). Despite their development on understanding more logically, children of this concrete operational stage are yet able to understand abstract (Santrock, 2011). The leading evidence shows that animism and egocentrism reduces during the concrete operational stage, although there are remnants that can be found in later adulthood (Santrock, 2011).

An important skill adapted by the children is being able to classify or divide things into different sets or subsets during the concrete operational stage as well as to consider their interrelationship (Santrock, 2011). For example, suppose Samantha is taller than David, but David is taller than Jeremy. The concrete operation child can identify that Samantha also taller than Jeremy. Moreover, children are able to see things in different aspects and understand the process is reversible. For example, the child can identify that his or her father is also an uncle, a brother and son in the family. The child can understand the relationship in the family tree. However, concrete operation children needs concrete elements in order to identify the interrelationship between different elements (Santrock, 2011).

Besides that, children who have reached the concrete operational stage are also capable of seriation, which is the ability to order stimuli along a quantitative dimension (Santrock, 2011). For example, Emily is asked to arrange the block in a line. She will choose the shortest block and arrange it until the arrangement was completed.

Formal Operational Stage

Past the age of 10, children aged 11 or 12 are known to be subjected to Jean Piaget’s last stage of his theory of cognitive development, the formal operational stage (Day, 2002). The formal operational stage is a stage where children are starting to be able to understand abstract meanings (Fleming, 2004). Children of this stage, unlike the children of previous stages, are able to understand syllogism such as, "A is bigger than B and C is smaller than B; thus A is bigger than C" through verbal presentation.. The children of this stage are also known to be less egocentric than the previous stages (Fleming, 2002). Hence, as the child gets older and develops into adult, their egocentrism decreases and they become less self-focused.

In addition, children who think in a formal operation manner are able to think scientifically as well as conjure hypotheses and apply these hypotheses into specific situations or problems (Day, 2002). The result obtained through experiments by applying the hypotheses will allow the children of this stage to produce a conclusion on their experiments or problems (Day, 2002).

Children of the formal operational stage have also achieved logical reasoning (Day, 2002). For example, the children are given the premises "whales are smaller than dolphins" and "dolphins are smaller than goldfishes" in a test. Concrete operational stage children will argue that the facts were wrong and that accepting it would be difficult for them. However, children who are already thinking in a formal operation manner will conclude that whales are smaller than goldfishes despite knowing that the facts are incorrect. This is because children in formal operational stage are able to distinguish factual statement based on their credibility and are not easily influenced by the "concrete" content of the statement (Day, 2002). Formal operational stage is a complex cognitive function that continues on into adulthood and continues to develop as one matures and increases their knowledge (Day, 2002).

Abraham Lincoln’s life analysis

Lincoln’s life has been an extraordinary one and many have debated that he was the best president who has served the people of the United States. His accomplishments in abolishing slavery and uniting the Union are no small feats. In this section, we will apply not only Piaget’s cognitive development theory, but also theories of other psychologists.

His opposition towards slavery could have been influenced by his father, Thomas Lincoln. Thomas Lincoln would often attend a Baptist church with his family and this church happened to be a church that opposed slavery (The youth of Abraham, n.d.) Abraham Lincoln’s opposition towards slavery could very well be originated from his father’s outspoken belief towards anti-slavery. This could be related to Albert Bandura’s social learning theory. Albert Bandura’s social learning theory states that an individual observes others and through their observation, they learn and adapt to these specific behaviours (McLeod, 2011). Thomas Lincoln acts as his son’s model and Lincoln, as a child, imitated his father’s belief on anti-slavery. Hence, Abraham reflected on Thomas’s behaviour on anti-slavery and soon took on that anti-slavery behaviour upon himself.

Besides that, I believe that Lincoln’s well-bonded relationship with his stepmother, Sarah, shows that he has already achieved concrete operation thinking at the age of 10. After his mom has passed away, his father remarried a few months later. Lincoln, already at the concrete operational stage, is able to think logically and reason the possibility that his stepmother may be able to provide love and care just as Nancy, his biological mother had. Also, egocentrism decreases in the concrete operational stage. Hence, Abraham concerns less of his own needs for his mother’s care and thinks more about his father’s needs for a wife’s love.

Another characteristic of Abraham that we can use and apply Piaget’s theory on it; is his seemingly increase belief against slavery. This could show that egocentrism decreases as you progress from early childhood to adulthood and later on. Abraham’s opposition towards slavery started simply because his father opposed slavery. As Abraham gets older, he started thinking much more logically and critically. This made him much more aware of the oppression the blacks had and he started his fight towards freeing slavery.

Based on Piaget’s theory of cognitive development his key idea of adaption can be applied in Abraham Lincoln’s life. Adaption is when one adapts to their environment through accommodation and assimilation. Around the 1830’s Abraham Lincoln got a licence to practice law from the Illinois Supreme Court. This knowledge helped him in enforcing the 13th commandment. He was able to convince many people to support the 13th commandment. (Spielberg, 2012)

The fourth stage of the psychosocial theory by Erik Erikson is industry vs. inferiority. It states that during this stage if a child is motivated or encouraged by a parent or teacher they develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and abilities. In Abraham Lincoln’s earlier years he was always encouraged by his stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston, to read. Even though Sarah wasn’t educated, she always motivated him to read and have a better education.

Besides that, the sixth stage of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory, intimacy vs. isolation can be related to Abraham Lincoln’s early adulthood years. This stage suggests that people will develop close and committed relationships. If it is successful the person will feel secure, whereas if the relationship is less committed, the person would more likely suffer from loneliness. Based on a documentary done on Abraham Lincoln’s life, it stated that Abraham Lincoln’s first love, Ann Rutledge, passed away at the age of 22. She suffered from typhoid and her death led Abraham Lincoln into depression. (House, 2013)

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality has a component know as superego. Superego is suppresses the id and helps the ego behave in a morally manner. Based on the research done, Abraham Lincoln came from a very religious family. Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd knew each other and got engaged. Abraham Lincoln got cold feet and broke the engagement off. After eighteen months apart friends brought Abraham and Mary back together and the following day they got married. There was an assumption that they had an intimate relation with each other, hence the reason their marriage was rushed and less liberate. (House, 2013)

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have discussed about the concept of Jean Piaget’s theory on cognitive development and we applied various theories onto Lincoln’s life. We must stress that the main theory for this paper is Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. However, the references that we used to acquire information on Abraham Lincoln are not authentic and these references may or may not be accurate. We conducted our Abraham Lincoln’s life analysis based on the majority information that is similar in multiple references. Although all of our explanations and assumptions for explaining Lincoln’s life are not proved or investigated, but all these theories helped us to gain a deeper insight into Lincoln’s life experience.