Thursday, August 22, 2019
The Validity of the Developmental Theories Essay Example for Free
The Validity of the Developmental Theories Essay Introduction            Human nature and its varying and complex behaviors fascinate almost everyone. Although not all are inclined to be able to understand and explicate the details of individual personalities those who do find themselves in confusion many times why some people do things that are at times difficult to comprehend. However, the science of human behavior has indeed helped facilitate thus far, an understanding of human conduct and its nature at various lengths through the theories of human development by prominent theorists (Plotnik, 1996). This paper attempts validate their works by citing the researcher’s own personal timeline and/or development. For a proper and organized treatment of this paper, it will answer the following problem statements: What are the descriptions of Freud (psychosexual), Erikson (psychosocial), and Piaget’s (Cognitive) stages for childhood and adolescent years of development? Are developmental theories applicable to real-life and if so, based on your personal timeline, how (and if not, how not)? Discussion What are the descriptions of Freud (psychosexual), Erikson (psychosocial), and Piaget’s (Cognitive) stages for childhood and adolescent years of development?            Development does not end once a person reaches maturity, but continues throughout life. Developmental psychologists seek to describe ad analyze the regularities of human development across the entire life span. It focuses primarily on these aspects of development that make us similar to one another (Atkinson et al., 1993).            Sigmund Freud hypothesized that each of us goes through five psychosexual stages. These are five different developmental periods – oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages – during which the individual seeks pleasure from different areas of the body associated with sexual feelings. Freud emphasized that the child’s first five years are the most important to social and personality development (Atkinson et al, 1993). The stages of oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stages are controversial and highly debatable concepts which Freud originated. Freud pointed out that satisfying one of the child’s needs becomes a source of potential conflict between the child, who wants immediate gratification, and the parent, who places restrictions on when, where, and how the child’s needs should be satisfied. Freud believed that interactions between parent and child in satisfying these psychosexual needs for example, during breastfeeding or toilet training – greatly influence the child’s social development and future social interactions. Freud’s psychosexual stages are part of his larger psychoanalytic theory of personality (Hilgard et al., 1983, Atkinson, 1993).            Secondly, the psychosocial stage of development is best explained through the theory developed by Erik Erikson. According to Erik Erikson, a child will encounter different kinds of problems in infancy and childhood, which will shape one’s social and personality development. Erikson gave eight psychosocial stages. A child according to Erikson will encounter a particular psychosocial problem at each stage. If he successfully resolves the problem, he will develop a good social trait that will help him/her solve the next problem. If he/she is unsuccessful, he/she will develop a bad social trait that will hinder his or her solving a new problem at the next stage (Atkinson, 1993). His stages include Trust versus mistrust, Autonomy versus Shame doubt, Initiative versus guilt, Industry versus Inferiority, Identity versus Confusion, Intimacy versus Isolation, Generativity versus Stagnation, Integrity versus Despair, comprise each of the description of the periods and the potential problems that may arise during each of the particular period (Halonen Santrock, 1996).            Piaget’s theory of cognitive development refers to how a person perceives, thinks, and gains an understanding of his or her world through the interaction and influence of genetic and learning factors. He has identified the cognitive stages and refers to four different stages – sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages – each of which is more advanced than the preceding stage because it involves new reasoning and thinking abilities (Piaget, 1963; Hurlock, 1964). Piaget’s work led to the current view that children are actively involved in their own cognitive development. By active involvement, Piaget meant that children are constantly striving to understand what they encounter, and in such encounters, they form their own guesses or hypotheses about how the world works (Hurlock, 1964). Are developmental theories applicable to real-life and if so, based on your personal timeline, how (and if not, how not)?            This paper just briefly introduced three differing explanations of certain aspects of human development and these were the currently accepted theoretical perspectives of human-behavior development. Relating these with the author’s personal development, yes, I could say that the developmental theories are in most cases applicable. Looking at my personal timeline, the observations and generalizations made by Freud, where the struggles in later years such as getting married at an earlier age, joining the army etc., were concerned, many of his concepts had pointedly identified those that are linked with during the early years of my development as compared to Freud’s five psychosexual stages. Terms like fixation and those that may have something to do with his conceptualization of instincts helped me understand many of my personal confusions regarding certain inner/internal struggles in my life (Halonen Santrock, 1996). In addition, Erikson’s description of the psychosocial stages where these are best illustrated during the adolescent years such as identity versus confusion, remembering those carefree years and the subsequent important transition and decision making abilities that need be developed helped me relate a lot to many of my adventures and misadventures as a youth, His apt and keen analysis of these stages helped me then and makes me feel at ease concerning  the anticipated times or periods of years ahead (Atkinson et al., 1993; Hurlock, 1964). In addition, Piaget’s poignant attention to children’s cognitive development helped me realize why I was so interested in peewee wrestling at such a tender young age.            It is always worthwhile to spend ample time thinking and studying the many-faceted dimensions of human persona, from physical to cognitive and psychological areas among others. It has contributed a lot to my personal understanding of self-awareness and the development of the consciousness and sensitivity of what other humans like me are going through. It caters to a deeper understanding as well as acceptance of people’s frailties, and also their strengths. Freud, Piaget and Erikson’s theories indeed were validated basing on my personal timeline/story; no wonder that these three theories are almost forever cemented as classics in the understanding and predicting of human behavior.   Reference: Atkinson, R.L., R.C. Atkinson, E.E. Smith, D.J. Bem, and S. Nolen-Hoeksema. 1993. Introduction to psychology. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace and Company. Halonen, J.S. and J.W. Santrock (1996). Psychology: Contexts of behavior, Dubuque, IA: Brown and Benchmark, p.810. Hilgard, E.R., R.R. Atkinson, and R.C. Atkinson, (1979)1983. Introduction to psychology.7th Ed. New York: Harcourt brace Jovanich, Inc. Hurlock, E.B. 1964. Child Development. New York: Mc Graw-Hill Book Company. Piaget, J. 1963. The conception of reality in the child. New York: Ballantine Books. Plotnik, R. 1996. Introduction to psychology. 4th ed. Pacific Grove, California 93950: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. Appendix MAJOR POINTS ON MY PERSONAL TIMELINE: -Birth date is April 28, 1983 -start walking at 14 months; -Travel to Costa Rica with Grandparents at age 40; -start peewee wrestling at age 8 -graduate from junior high at age14/ enter high school; -Got license and buy own car at age 16 -graduated high school at age 18/start college; -Joined the army National Guard at age 19 -got married/have first child at age 21; -Deployed to Iraq at age 23- have twins at age 23 POSSIBLE FUTURE OUTCOMES (age represented is my possible age) Graduate and become nurse by age 27 -move to new city by age 30; -daughter start high school at age 35 -twins start high school at age 38 -daughter graduates high school/starts college at age 39; -Twins graduate high school/start college at age 42 -daughter gets married at age 45 -first grandchild at age 48
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