Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory with "Friends" Kids

Jean Piaget believed in the cognitive development theory which says that "Behavior is the result of the interaction between biological givens and environmental influences."

His developmental stages are as follows:
Sensorimotor Stage- Birth to 2
Pre-operational Stage- 2 to 7
Concrete Operations- 7 to 11
Formal Operations- 11 to 15

Ross and Rachel Raping "Baby Got Back" to Emma

Emma, Ross and Rachel's baby, would be in the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development in Piaget's theory. This means she is experiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, and grasping).

In the clip above, Ross and Rachel get Emma to laugh by singing the song "Baby Got Back" to her and by dancing to it as well. Piaget would say that laughing would be Emma's reflexive response to watching her parents sing and dance because babies have very little intention to their actions. Also, at Emma's age, babies have to rely on adults and the environment for stimulation. Ross and Rachel are giving Emma stimulation by dancing and singing, even though they aren't sure if it was the most appropriate song.

Ben Mimicking Rachel

In this clip from Friends Ben mimics what Rachel says as she is trying to get him to understand the consequences of playing pranks. Ben would be in the pre-operational stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory. During this stage kids represents things with words and images; using intuitive rather than logical reasoning.

In this stage Piaget would say that Ben doesn't understand cause and effect. So he doesn't understand that his actions have consequences. Also, Ben knows how to use language to communicate. But with not knowing cause and effect he doesn't know that mimicking is not an effective way to communicate and that it is frowned upon. Also, at his age he has difficulty understanding other people's point of view, so he doesn't know how his pranks make other people feel.

Psychosexual Development of Joey's Eating Habits

Joey's Eating Habits

Joey Eating Turkey

Joey Eats for Six

Sigmud Freud looked at "the approach to development that proposes a series of stages that children pass through in which pleasure, or gratification, is focused on a particular biological function and body part." He called this psychosexual development. 


Freud believed that from Birth to 12-18 months, children are in the oral stage of psychosexual development. Which means the babies get oral gratification through sucking, eating, biting and mouthing.


Joey is known on friends for always eating. The clips above show some examples of his extreme eating habits. I believe that freud would say that Joey's oral needs were not met when he was a baby. So he eats so much food because he is trying to meet those needs.

Joey's Cerebrum Lobe Disfunction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoR-C0vHBPw

These clips show Joey working on the an entertainment unit for Chandler and his apartment. Some challenges arise in the process and I will be looking at what part of the joey's brain, specifically the cerebrum lobes, was working through them. The big problem is that Joey made the entertainment unit to big for the space he had. Also, he wants to put new tile in for Monica but finds out it will be more difficult then he first thought.

1. In Joey's frontal lobe his reasoning and problem solving abilities didn't fully comprehend what problems he could have had
• Joey didn't think about the tile being glued and should have checked a tile in the corner of the bathroom and not from the center of the room.
• He also, didn't think about the fact that it might be a bad idea to drill a hole in the wall before informing Chandler because Chandler was in his room and a foot away from where Joey was drilling.
2. In Joey's parietal lobe is abstract thought is not as developed as Chandler would have like it to be.
• Joey didn't mathematically calculate the dimensions on the wall for the entertainment unit. He made the unit too long so Joey should have measured the wall and figured out exactly how long each board needs to be but Joey just assumed the size of the space and the unit didn't fit.
3. In Joey's temporal lobe a didn't consult his memory.
• Joey should have thought about his past experiences and situations he has been through to realize that he usually doesn't think things through and because of that he finds himself in situations that are tricky to get out of. He should have known better then to assume things and should of actually gotten accurate information especially since he was working with power tools.
4. In Joey's occipital lobe his receiving, interpreting, and discriminating of visual stimuli was not in check.
• Looking at the space available on the wall for the entertainment unit Joey didn't interpret the amount of space correctly. He thought the wall was bigger than it really was. 

Ross's Peripheral Nervous System

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBukCCXntzY&feature=related

In this clip Ross gets yelled at by Rachel's dad after he found out the Rachel was pregnant and Ross was the father. I'm going to look at how Ross's Peripheral Nervous System reacted to being yelled at.

The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is all the nerves outside of the central nervous system. So every nerve other than the ones in the brain and spinal cord. Examples are sensory receptors, muscles, and glands.

The PNS is composed of two components: the somatic nervous system, which enables voluntary control of skeletal system, and autonomic nervous system, which controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs.

The autonomic nervous system serves two import functions: sympathetic nervous system, arouses and expends energy, and parasympathetic nervous system, calms the body and conserves its' energy.

Ross

1. Somatic Nervous System- 
• When Ross gets hot he tugs at his collar.
• Uses verbal movement as he tries to talk his way out of the situation by explaining his side of the story to Mona and Dr. Green.
• Uses intense facial movements because he is panicking and is unsure about what to do.
• Uses a lot of hand gestures because again he is panicking and that causes him to talk faster and use faster gestures.
2. Autonomic Nervous System
• Sympathetic Nervous System-
• Accelerated heartbeat
• Raised blood pressure
• Cools body by sweating
• Parasympathetic Nervous System-
• Decreases heart rate
• Lowers blood pressure
• Ross's sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system work together to keep Ross's body at a steady internal state.

Ross & Phoebe Argue about Evolution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXr2kF0zEgI

These series of clips show Ross and Phoebe arguing about the truth of evolution in the episode "The One Where Heckles Dies." Ross is a paleontologist, so he strongly believes in evolution and Phoebe definitely has her own free-spirited opinion on the creation of the world. I'm going to look at both Ross's and Phoebe's Biopsychosocial approach to the situation.

• Biological Influences:

• Ross
• Ross as a male has a drive to have the upper hand so he continues to pursue Phoebe on the truth of evolution. Also, the idea that Phoebe doesn't believe in evolution makes it difficult for Ross to drop the subject. The idea drives him crazy, he can't get it out of his mind. It's one of the only things his brain can focus on.
• Phoebe
• Phoebe as a female doesn't like it when a man thinks he has to be right. Her brain is a lot less restricted than Ross's so she is able to consider multiple sides of an idea rather then just focus on one. 

• Psychological Influences:

• Ross
• Ross's reasoning behind his beliefs are formed by hard facts. He believes in ideas that have been tested or proven and that are usually the popular opinion. Evolution is  associated with his occupation so he feels even stronger about his opinion and he doesn't accept other ideas.
• Phoebe
• Phoebe's reasoning behind her beliefs are formed from her experiences and thoughts. She questions facts and comes up with her own theories for issues and she doesn't believe everything she hears. Phoebe knows that her opinion might not be the popular idea but she doesn't conform to others.

• Social- Cultural Influences:

• Ross
• Ross debates Phoebe on the subject of evolution because she challenges him in front of their friends. Since evolution has to do with his career he feels he needs to win the argument so he doesn't seem weak to his friends. Ross also feels that as a scientist he needs to get Phoebe on his side and as a scientist it would be embarrassing not to be able to convince someone of the truth behind evolution.
• Phoebe
• Phoebe believes that people should be able to have their own theory on things and shouldn't have to conform so she challenges Ross because he is so determined to be right and won't give up. Phoebe never had any expectations growing up because she was on her own, so the presence of her peers doesn't stop her from being herself and saying what's on her mind.