Sally according to Piaget’s theory
Sally is at the preoperational stage according to Piaget’s theory. Sally thinks symbolically and uses her dolls to represent the family set up. Sally’s pretend play is advanced and reflects the world surrounding her. Having the mommy and daddy doll together and throwing away the baby doll is symbolic in that she thinks that at some point babies are separated from their parents.
Attachment is crucial for development in children of her age. Having lost her father around this age and the attachment was not fully developed or denied by circumstance, Sally suffered developmental consequences. The developmental effects include increased aggression.
Having lost her father through an accident, Sally feels threatened. She may be afraid of losing her mom in the same way. Sally relies solely on her mum for comfort and gets separation distress. The separation distress makes her cry when left by the mother or refusing to go to school.
Sally wearing her father’s hat indicates that there was a kind of attachment that existed between them. Proximity maintenance is a characteristic of attachment. By wearing her father’s hat, Sally is trying to stay close to her father.
By refusing to take off her father’s hat, Sally is being guided by the id component of personality. The id aspect of nature is whereby a person is only interested in the gratification of their wants. Sally does not care about the school rules but is only interested in wearing her father’s hat all through.
To help Sally improve in her classroom behavior, the teacher should encourage Sally to stop crying when left by the mother and introduce a rewarding system where Sally is rewarded for the days she does not complain when the mother is going.
The teacher should also punish Sally any time she starts a fight. The penalty can be spanking her for bullying or ensuring that she does not play with other children.
The teacher should understand the environment that sally is in and be friendly to her. Sally seems disturbed by the loss of her father. In her pretend play, sally imitates the happenings around her and therefore the teacher should be friendly, and Sally will learn from that.
The teacher can also exercise negative punishment by putting away the cap for some time. Sally will get used to not wearing the cap and eventually the behavior will decrease.