Psychology Essay: Morag's Diabetes, Family, and Cognitive Development

This essay analyzes the case of Morag, a young girl with insulin-dependent diabetes, focusing on the interplay between her disease, family dynamics, and cognitive development. The essay explores how Morag's authoritarian mother's overprotective parenting style and her brother's contrasting freedoms contribute to her frustration and self-destructive tendencies. It applies Piaget and Vygotsky's theories to examine the impact of diabetes and family life on Morag's social and cognitive development, highlighting the importance of recognizing her capabilities and fostering independence. The essay recommends strategies to normalize her development, including scaffolding and promoting her resilience, and discusses how her brother can play a supportive role in her care plan by fostering social interaction and providing emotional support. The essay utilizes concepts like the zone of proximal development and resilience theory to provide a comprehensive analysis of the case and offers practical recommendations for improving Morag's well-being.

Running Head: Psychology
Psychology

Psychology 1
Introduction
The case talks about a young girl, Morag, who suffers from insulin dependent diabetes. She lives
with her single mother and younger brother. Her mother is depicted as controlling, over
protective and strict. Recently, she has been given an opportunity to attend a camp where she has
successfully and responsibly taken good care of her health by herself. However, upon her return,
she has not borne the fruits of her labor. This has led to an extreme level of frustration within
Morag. This frustration has border lined to being self-destructive. Upon discussion with a
counselor, it has been brought to notice that Morag’s mother has found her purpose of life in
taking care of Morag and is finding it increasingly difficult to let that control slip away. This
essay throws light on three things firstly, how her family life and disease affects her cognitive
development. Secondly, recommendations to normalize the same. And lastly, if there is a role
that her brother can play to take care of his sister.
Discussion topic 1: Impact of diabetes and family life on Morag’s social and cognitive
development
Diabetes has made Morag realize that she is different from others. She considers her disease a
major hindrance in her life and is often worried what her friends might think about it. She notices
that her brother is allowed much more freedom than herself despite being three years younger to
her. This makes her upset. Piaget’s social and cognitive development theory clearly indicates that
a girl her age starts to think logically and reason out things on a daily basis (Mischel, 2013).
Once she started taking care of her own injections at the camp, she found it increasingly difficult
to reason out why her mother needed to give her the injection. Unable to reason out lead to
increased frustration (Simply Psychology, 2009).
Her mother’s parenting style is Authoritarian and hence leads to low responsiveness from her
end (Parenting for brain, 2017). Authoritarian parents’ children often show behavioral problems
and this is evidenced by the fact that Morag constantly has sugar drinks at school and often skips
meals. This is a certain form of retaliation from her end. Children whose parents are that
authoritarian and make all their decisions for them, have low social skills and this is why Morag
barely has any friends. This is due to a lack of confidence in herself which has been due to the

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inability to make any decisions on her own. On the other hand, her mother’s parenting style with
her brother is rather permissive. He is allowed to go out and play with his friends. His behavior is
not as sternly monitored (Johnson, 2011). Being in the same house, this is creating an internal
conflict within Morag and is leading to increased frustration.
Discussion Topic 2: What could be done to normalize Morag’s social and cognitive
development?
It has been stated that Morag remains depressed and unfulfilled. Measures to normalize her
development must be taken at once so that the effect does not remain long term. Considering
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development, Children’s intelligence is measured by their ability
to learn from instructions. These teachers or instructors are often referred to as MKOs (More
knowledgeable other), who can play the role of a teacher, parent, friend or guide (Very well,
2017). Once Morag went to the camp, she quickly and promptly learnt how to do her injections
herself and took personal responsibility for her meals. This indicates a high level of intelligence
and the frustration building within her was due to this lack of recognition for her intelligent self.
According to Vygotsky, whenever a child’s ‘present level of development’ is not acknowledged,
his or her ‘potential level of development’ shrinks leading to a reduced ‘zone of proximal
development’ (Psychohawks, 2010).
Figure 1: Zone of Proximal development

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Another important aspect of Vygotsky’s theory is Scaffolding. Which clearly indicates that
whenever parents do anything to support their children, they must learn to reduce their efforts
depending on the child’s growth (UDEMY, 2014). This progression of different levels of help is
scaffolding.
Using the zone of proximal development, Morag’s social and cognitive development can be
shaped by recognizing her efforts to take care of herself and appreciating the same. Recognizing
her current development and encouraging her further will increase her zone of potential
development.
Also, it is important that now she be given independence to do her injections by herself. Her
mother must learn the art of Scaffolding. Absence of that will lead to further frustration and
Morag will find it increasingly difficult to make decisions for herself when required.
One more interesting fact to be kept in mind is resilience theory which indicates an individual’s
ability to successfully adapt to life tasks in the face of adversity (NCBI, 2013). It is said, people
facing adversity often try to compensate in other areas of their life. Morag is brought up by a
single mother and is suffering from insulin dependent diabetes at a really young age. This can be
used as a tool for her self-motivation and encourage her to take more and better responsibility of
her life. It is thus important that her mother must transfer the control of Morag’s life in to her
hands slowly and gradually.
Discussion Topic 3: How Morag’s brother, John, could be more actively involved in Morag’s
care plan
Vygotsky as well as Piaget, both indicate that social interactions and language impact a child’s
development. First and foremost her brother must understand and get a grip on the family
situation. He must in detail know what his sister is going through. John must understand this in
detail and help his sister increase her social circle. Family is the first social environment that
anyone encounters. It has been noticed that john is allowed to play with his friends, in such
circumstances, he must invite his sister and take more responsibility for her safety. If he were
close to his sister, he would have probably been able to keep a check of her eating habits in her
mother’s absence. John must really put in a lot of efforts in spending more and more time with

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her sister and make her feel normal. He can also take an active part in learning from her sister. If
he gives Morag a role of a teacher in certain aspects of his life, she will feel appreciated and
important.

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References
Johnson, L. E., & Kelley, H. M. (2011). Permissive parenting style. In Encyclopedia of Child
Behavior and Development (pp. 1080-1080). Springer US.
Mischel, T. (Ed.). (2013). Cognitive development and epistemology. Academic Press.
National Library of medicine, 2013 ‘Resilience Theory’,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3966565/, viewed on 28 September, 2017
Parenting for brain, 2017, ‘Parenting styles’, https://www.parentingforbrain.com/4-baumrind-
parenting-styles/, viewed on 28 September, 2017
Psychohawks, 2010, ‘Theories of cognitive development: Vygotsky’,
https://psychohawks.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/theories-of-cognitive-development-lev-
vygotsky/, viewed on 28 September, 2017
Simply Psychology, 2009, ‘Piaget’, https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html, viewed on
28 September, 2017
UDEMY, 2014, ‘Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development’,
https://blog.udemy.com/vygotskys-theory-of-cognitive-development/, viewed on 28 September,
2017
Very well, 2017, ‘Four stages of cognitive development’, https://www.verywell.com/piagets-
stages-of-cognitive-development-2795457, viewed on 28 September, 2017