"Construction is superior to instruction." 
- Jean Piaget

It was never not an option for me. It's as simple as that. I've always been fascinated by human behaviour and mental processes, whether that be wondering why I feel what I feel, to why we do certain things (like what on Earth drives us to buy presents to celebrate someone turning a year older?), to how we ended up as who we are today. It helps you understand yourself and others. Don't you ever wonder how we learn things? Why we behave the way we do? The science behind peer pressure? Behind insecurities? Behind motivation even? The beauty of psychology is that it never discriminates; it's applicable to anyone and anything. That's why there's so many forms and variations of the very same subject, from clinical psychology, to occupational, to educational. Even the DP Psychology syllabus has a multitude of approaches to understanding behaviours. When you choose psychology, that does not necessarily mean you'll end up a psychologist, and I love the versatility that comes with that. You'll gain knowledge that is transferable across all sorts of occupations. Want to work in marketing? HR? Management? Sports? That's all great! We've all been shaped by different things, and we all have little quirks that define who we are as a person. This subject celebrates that.

Why the Cognitive Development Theory?

The easy answer would be the fact that it's directly correlated to this year's GHD theme. But, it goes beyond that. This topic is not only relevant to psychology, or this year's theme, it's also applicable to all of us, dear readers. As humans, we are all beings that feed off information. This topic explains everything to do with the acquisition of knowledge. Whether we are fresh out of the womb, a teenager struggling in school, or an adult who just got their first pay-check, we all have one thing in common; we never stop learning. We're perpetually students in the school of life. This theory dives deep into how exactly knowledge is acquired; allowing you to understand the mental processes that shape the brain you have now, from the importance of social interaction, to active learning, to the importance of understanding yourself and how you learn. It allows us to understand the motivation behind learning, the necessity of challenge, of context-based learning, and everything else in between. I personally used the entire research portion to understand myself and the others around me more. I have a little sister, and I found myself constantly comparing her behavioural traits to what Piaget believed it should be like at certain ages. It's so interesting to finally sort of understand what stage of development her mind was in when she did / said certain things.