Cognitive Therapy and Developmental Activities: A Comprehensive Report

This report explores cognitive therapy and its application to child development. It begins with an introduction to cognitive therapy, emphasizing its role in addressing mental health through the modification of thought processes. The report then delves into relevant research literature, focusing on normative and idiographic development, with an emphasis on the cognitive development of children aged 2 to 11 years. It discusses key theories, including Piaget's theory of cognitive development and information-processing theory, highlighting how children construct mental models and respond to stimuli. The core of the report outlines specific activities designed to foster cognitive development across different age groups: infants and toddlers, early childhood, middle school, and adolescents. These activities are tailored to the cognitive abilities and developmental stages of each group, promoting learning through sensory experiences, role-playing, and hands-on experiments. The report concludes by summarizing the importance of cognitive therapy and the role of engaging in physical activities for better development.

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COGNITIVE THERAPY
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Research literature:..........................................................................................................................3
Activities for cognitive development...............................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Reference list...................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The term cognitive therapy can be termed as a systematic psychotic therapy that makes use of
time intervention. In similar regards, it can be stated CBT can be directed for solving the
problems related to skills by directing the thought process and modifying the existing
dysfunctional thought process for better outcomes in life (Resnick, 2017). The assignment thus
stresses the importance of cognitive therapy and the ways it ensures better mental health. In
similar regards, it should be taken into consideration, cognitive theory helps in understanding the
ways a human being learns from their previous experience. The study conducted by Beck, Davis,
& Freeman (2015) found the fact that the brain is perceived as one of the most incredible
network that processes information from series of incident. The assignment therefore makes use
of developmental theories and models for addressing the cognitive needs of the chosen
population of children.
Research literature:
The goals of development within children is to provide a detail account, followed by a suitable
justification for optimising the growth among children. In order to describe development, it is
important to focus on normative development and idiographic development (Rana & Dwivedi,
2015). Although, there are variation in terms of patterns of development as no two individuals
are alike due to difference in thought process. Dealing in developmental psychology seeks to
explain the variation that were observed in relation to individual differences. Therefore, it
becomes increasingly important to understand the thought process of every child (El Haj, Raffard
& Gély-Nargeot, 2016)

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The research takes into consideration the age group of kids between 2 years to 11 years. The
mentioned range of age has a lot to do with growth and development. As per the study conducted
by Carey, Zaitchik & Bascandziev (2015), the early stages of life help an individual to
understand the importance of society and interaction. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development it would be fair enough to conclude the ways children construct mental model of
the society they live. Piaget additionally, stated that intelligence is not a stable trait and thus it
was regarded as a cognitive development process. The theory further regarded the fact that
cognitive development occurs through the course of interaction with surrounding environment
and maturation
Piaget can be termed as first psychologist to undertake systematic study of cognitive
development. As per the theory produced by Piaget suggests that kids are born with primitive
mental structure that is often inherited genetically and evolves eventually. Based on the theory,
Osherson (2017) subsequently mentioned, the ways how a child develops into an individual who
can reason and even think. In similar regards, it can be stated the cognitive abilities can further
shape the social and emotional needs among the children.
Based on the theory mentioned above, it can be easily stated the theory focuses on the thought
process of children’s thought process and not just the ultimate outcome. For instance, the
research concentrates on the path embraced by the kids to achieve a certain goal (Lourenço,
2016). Through the course of development, children are often motivated to learn from their
actions and interaction with the environment, rather than presenting a pre-determined
knowledge. In similar regards, information-processing theory can be rightly explained. As per
the study conducted by Massaro (2016), developmental psychology embrace information-
processing perspective of psychological development based on terms of maturational changes

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within the basic components in a child’s mind. Thus, based on the theory, it can be easily stated
that human merely do not process the information provided to them, rather the children respond
to stimuli. As critiqued by Bargh (2015), response to stimuli is a subjective matter and is highly
subjected to change.
Activities for cognitive development
Activities for toddlers and infants
The sensorimotor period is a brief phase within which under which the infants learn from their
senses. The phase initially continues for a period of two years. As stated by Oppenheimer &
Kelso (2015), sensorimotor period is marked with absence of language and even internal
representation. The period is highly focused on reflection and eventually the child undergoes
development of primary circular reactions; activities that are repetitive and centred around the
child. Through the course, a child of that age can successfully develop a coordination of
activities and even language. The mentioned activity aims to provide a rich and stimulating
environment; allowing the children to play with toys that make noise when squeezed taking them
aback with sudden sound. Finally, the child will realise that squeezing the toy gives sound and
will learn the importance of cause effect relationship.
Activities for early childhood
The age group is within 2 to 7 years and is often marked by failure to understand the properties
associated with classes. Transductive reasoning is a characteristic of the mentioned age group is
composed of making inferences from one topic or even faulty logic. The aspect of conservation
and even egocentrism play an important role. One way to meet the changing demands is to play
dress up games with the children that would put the children at some other position and

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perspective and learn the art of empathy (Massaro, 2016). On the other hand, playing with shape
shifting toys such as sand or play dough can help in explaining the concept of conservation.
Activities for middle school
As opposed to the ego-centric thought process, the children are seen to develop thinking that is
highly regulated by rules. The child learns the rules of compensation, identify and even
reversibility. The event of baking as an activity is suitable as it makes use of cups for
measurement and groups to classify the products (Mcleod, 2019). The things need to be
simplified in order to avoid confusion. The children in the current task are often asked to
manipulate the objects for testing out the effective ideas. In simple terms the trial and error
method is used within which the children get to learn through the course of events performed by
them and not just on predetermined events. Children in this age group often love helping others
as it gives out an immense sense of importance. The mentioned activity can thus emerge out as a
good learning opportunity for the children.
Activities for adolescents
The activities for the adolescents are based on abstract concepts or hypothetical situations. The
children in this age group are often encourage to implement their thought process in real life
scenario. Thus, keeping this in mind, it becomes increasingly important to state that the children
of this group are asked to write their concept about life in outer space. The clear comprehension
about life can help them in understanding the concept about living beings and how things operate
around them
Based on the above theories, it can be easily stated development is a lifelong process. As stated
by Lourenço (2016), the term development has gained a holistic approach and often takes into

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account physical and psychological development. Thus, it can be stated development within
psychology follows the cognitive and even intellectual changes that occurs within the stages of
life. Developmental psychology encompasses a significant proportion of theory focusing
primarily on period of individual lifespan during the event when most of the changes occur
Conclusion
The study stressed the factors that growth of an individual is based on the observations made by
them. Similarly, it can be concluded thoughts can be termed as primary determinants of both
behaviour and emotions while, information processing is a general explanation of mental
process. Thus, it can be clearly concluded it is important for the children to engage in physical
activities for better scope of development.

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Reference list
Bargh, J. A. (2015). Automatic information processing: Implications for communication and
affect. In Communication, Social Cognition, and Affect (PLE: Emotion) (pp. 25-48).
Psychology Press. Retrieved from:
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315743974/chapters/10.4324/978131574397
4-10
Beck, A. T., Davis, D. D., & Freeman, A. (Eds.). (2015). Cognitive therapy of personality
disorders. Guilford Publications.
Carey, S., Zaitchik, D., & Bascandziev, I. (2015). Theories of development: In dialog with Jean
Piaget. Developmental Review, 38, 36-54. Retrieved from:
https://daneshyari.com/article/preview/353441.pdf
El Haj, M., Raffard, S., & Gély-Nargeot, M. C. (2016). Destination memory and cognitive theory
of mind in normal ageing. Memory, 24(4), 526-534. Retrieved from:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09658211.2015.1021257
Lourenço, O. M. (2016). Developmental stages, Piagetian stages in particular: A critical
review. New Ideas in Psychology, 40, 123-137. Retrieved from:
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0732118X15000483
Massaro, D. W. (2016). Information-processing theory and strong inference: A paradigm for
psychological inquiry. In Perspectives on perception and action (pp. 287-314).
Routledge.

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Mcleod, S. (2019). Developmental Psychology | Simply Psychology. Retrieved from
https://www.simplypsychology.org/developmental-psychology.html [Retrieved
On: 9th Jul 2019]
Oppenheimer, D. M., & Kelso, E. (2015). Information processing as a paradigm for decision
making. Annual review of psychology, 66, 277-294. Retrieved from:
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015148
Osherson, D. N. (2017). Logical Abilities in Children: Volume 1: Organization of Length and
Class Concepts: Empirical Consequences of a Piagetian Formalism. Routledge.
Rabbitt, P. M. A. (2019). 2 Learning to ignore irrelevant information. Cognitive Development
and the Ageing Process: Selected works of Patrick Rabbitt, 19.
Rana, N. P., & Dwivedi, Y. K. (2015). Citizen's adoption of an e-government system: Validating
extended social cognitive theory (SCT). Government Information Quarterly, 32(2), 172-
181. Retrieved
from:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740624X15000210
Resnick, L. B. (2017). Toward a cognitive theory of instruction. In Learning and motivation in
the classroom (pp. 5-38). Routledge.