According to the lesson commentary, cognitive psychology is “the scientific study of the mind”. Furthermore, the mind includes all facets of our “neurological experience”. For instance, cognition involves neuroscience, perception, attention, memory, knowledge, imagery language, problem solving, and reasoning. Cognition also involves decision making, which for children, is one of the most important skills needed to develop to become healthy and mature adults according to Dr. Jim Taylor, professor at the University of San Francisco in Psychology Today (Taylor, 2009).
Taylor asserts that decision making is essential because the decisions a child makes determine the path that their lives take. He maintains that parents can teach their children to make their own decisions which have numerous benefits. When children make good, positive decisions “they gain the greatest amount of satisfaction and fulfillment because they chose it,” he says (Taylor, 2009). However, if children make bad or negative decisions, although they may hurt from it, Taylor states that they can “learn from the experience and make better decisions in the future” (Taylor, 2009).
In the article, Taylor discusses the process of good decision making. He states that educating children about the decision-making process is part of helping them to gain experience with making decisions. According to Taylor, “good decision making is complex and takes ears of experience to master” (Taylor, 2009). And since children do not have an abundance of experience and perspective, they are inclined to make decisions that are “impulsive and focused on immediate gratification” (Taylor, 2009). Therefore, Taylor asserts that that initial step in the process of teaching good decision making is to teach them to “stop before they leap” (Taylor, 2009). Essentially, it’s about teaching children to think before acting. One way of accomplishing this is to teach children to ask themselves questions such as “Why do I want to do this?” By asking children to ask themselves these types of questions, it helps them better understand what motivates their decisions.
Since making bad decisions is inevitable in children since it is a part of their “road to maturity” as Taylor puts it, it’s essential for parents to hold their children responsible for their poor decisions, because if they don’t, the bad decision is bound to happen again (Taylor, 2009). Other than holding children responsible for their bad decisions parents should ask their children why they make bad decisions. Taylor states that responses such as “I didn’t stop to think,” “I was bored,” and “Peer pressure” are very common (Taylor, 2009). However, if children are held responsible, they are less likely to make bad decisions and more likely to make good ones.
Taylor explains that “part of children learning to make good decisions is allowing them to make poor ones” (Taylor, 2009). He asserts that “if handles properly” poor decisions can play a significant part in children becoming good decision makers (Taylor, 2009). Finally, Taylor states that children should be required to “explore their decisions”, understand why they made a poor decision, and confirm that they realize what they did so they won’t make the same bad decision (Taylor, 2009).
Reference:
Taylor, Jim. “Parenting: Decision Making.” Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. Psychology Today, 19 Oct. 2009. Web. 14 Sept. 2014. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/200910/parenting-decision-making>.
I love that you chose decision making in children. It really is so important to form a good solid foundation as early as developmentally possible. I, personally, was not taught good decision making when I was young and it took a long time, and a LOT of mistakes, to finally learn to think clearly and hard before I acted. This reminds me of Walter Mischel’s experiment with children and sweet treats. The point was to measure the ability of children to delay gratification. I know I’ve read several similar studies to this one as well. Basically, the child is put into a room and told they can have 1 treat now, or two in a few minutes when he came back into the room. He would leave the treat on the table and leave. Most children would eat it immediately without having developed the ability to stop and think about the fact that they could have TWO if they just waited a few minutes. Of course, children will make mistakes and want that instant gratification when they are young- what is important is guiding them along the way and teaching them why making another decision would have been a better choice. Thanks for the interesting read!!
Hi Rebecca,
I found your post very interesting. As a mother to five children, the subject of decision making in children is intriguing to me. I have witnessed many parents who are quick to make decisions for their child instead of allowing him/her to make a decision. I think parents believe they are helping their child by making decisions for them, however, as you state in your post, according to the article in Psychology Today, this is not the case. Obviously there are limits to this style of parenting. For example, if my child was going to get hurt, hurt someone else, etc. I would step in. Ultimately, I believe that it is my job as a parent to is raise responsible children to be come responsible adults. If a parent doesn’t permit a child to made decisions and make mistakes how is a child to learn? Yes, they can be told right from wrong but there are some life lessons that just need to be learned.
Thanks for sharing the article and your post as I found both very refreshing.