Lifespan Development: The Case of Martin Luther King Jr - Essay Example

? Lifespan Development: The Case of Martin Luther King Jr. Total Number of Words: 2,268 Introduction Born in Georgia on January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. is known as one of the most influential people of the 20th century (Biography.com, 2013a). The main reason for selecting the case of Martin Jr. for this project is because of the fact that his early development, family background, upbringing and environmental influences during his mid-adolescence’s growth stage years has surprisingly moulded him to become one of the best leaders in the US Civil Rights Movement. Life-span development is all about the biological, psychological, and socio-cultural impact affecting the developmental processes that occurs in a person’s birth up to their time of death (Craighead & Nemeroff, 2004: 441). To analyze the lifespan developmental stages in Martin Jr.’s life, several theories related to the study of psychology will be applied to the case of the chosen person. As part of going through the main discussion, Martin Jr.’s life in terms of nature and nurture influences will be tackled in details followed by analyzing the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional developmental change in Martin Jr.’s life. After discussing the major milestones and turning points in Martin Jr.’s life, the impact of diversity on Martin Jr.’s life will be thoroughly analyzed. Martin Jr.’s Life in terms of Nature and Nurture Influences The context of nature is related to genetic factors or something that was inherited from the parents whereas nurture is related environmental factors or personal experiences that have significantly influenced the lifespan development in Martin Jr.’s case (Berk, 2007). In the study of psychology, it is said that the genetic traits, personality, and behaviour of a person (nature) can be further improved through socialization and environmental conditioning (nurture) (Leaper, 2013; Kandler, 2012; Keltikangas-Jarvinen & Jokela, 2010). In most cases, nature and nurture often times goes hand-in-hand when analyzing the lifespan development of an individual. Between nature and nurture, external influences such as socialization and environmental conditioning has more impact over the lifelong psychological development process in Martin Jr.’s life (Kandler, 2012). For instance, Martin Jr.’s grandfather was a rural minister in Georgia sometime in 1893. On the other hand, Martin Jr.’s father was not only a pastor in Ebenezer Baptist Church sometime in 1931 but also known for being a disciplinarian. During the adolescence stage, Martin Jr. struggled against pursuing a lifelong career in the ministry (Biography.com, 2013b). However, Martin Jr.’s family background has strongly influenced his religious attitude, behaviour, and beliefs. This explains why Martin Jr. himself decided to attend the liberal Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania back in 1951 which made him become a minister in a German Protestant church afterwards (Biography.com, 2013a, 2013b). During his final year at the seminary, Martin Jr. met Rinhold Niebbuhr who strongly influenced his spiritual and cognitive growth during his adolescence stage (Biography.com, 2013b). As an African America, Martin Jr.’s grew up with a loving family. Belonging to a very religious family background, Martin Jr.’s father had continuously fought for their people’s right against racial discrimination. Although Martin Jr.’s parents failed to protect him from people who are racists, Martin Jr. himself was able to adopt with the mentality that racial discrimination is totally against God’s will (Biography.com, 2013a). Because of Martin Jr.’s strong family upbringing and educational background, he was voted to lead a local civil rights movement against racism in Alabama (Biography.com, 2013c). In line with this, Martin Jr.’s strong family and religious background has made him lead the protest without the use of any form of violence (Biography.com, 2013d). Analysis of Cognitive, Physical, Social, and Emotional Development Changes in Martin Jr.’s Life Psychosocial Theory of Erik Erikson Martin’s cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development changes in different stages in human life (Craighead & Nemeroff, 2004: 442). Based on the psychosocial development theory of Erik Erikson, the different eight (8) stages of human development include: (1) infancy stage – birth to 1 year (trust vs. mistrust); (2) toddlerhood stage – 18 months to 3 years (autonomy vs. shame and doubt); (3) pre-school stage – 3 to 5 years (initiative vs. guilt); (4) school age years – 6 to 12 years (industry vs. inferiority); (5) adolescence stage – 13 to 19 years (identity vs. confusion); (6) early adulthood stage – 20 to 40 years (intimacy vs. isolation); (7) middle adulthood stage 40 to 64 years – (generativity vs. self-absorption); and (8) late adulthood stage – 65 years and up (integrity vs. despair) (Weiten, 2011: 345; Nevid, 2009: 349 – 350). Although Martin Jr.’s father was a disciplinarian, his mother was able to create a loving environment by being gentle to Martin Jr. throughout his childhood life (Biography.com, 2013a). With this in mind, it is assumed that Martin Jr. was able to develop a great sense of trust in his social environment during his infancy stage. It means that Martin Jr. was given all the attention he needed and that his mother was very much attentive to his physical and emotional needs (Nevid, 2009: 349). Martin Jr.’s great sense of leadership strongly suggest that during his toddlerhood stage, he was given the opportunity to become independent within a safe and supportive environment (i.e. toilet training, the use of language, learning to walk, etc.) making him able to develop a great sense of autonomy (Essa, 2013: 115). At the age of 5, Martin Jr. was enrolled in a public school (Biography.com, 2013a). This is actually the point in time wherein Martin Jr. was exposed to people outside the comfort of his own home. During this stage, Martin Jr. was expected to expand his physical and social environment (Essa, 2013: 115). Because of the child’s curiosity, Martin Jr. was expected to imitate what the adults are commonly doing (Essa, 2013: 115). Since Martin Jr.’s father was a religious disciplinarian (Biography.com, 2013a), there is a higher chance wherein he has unconsciously acquired the same gender role. Because of the praises he has been receiving for his personal accomplishments, Martin Jr. was able to develop a great sense of competency and initiative (Nevid, 2009: 349). A positive developmental progress was present in Martin Jr.’s life up to the school stage and pre-adolescence stage. His outstanding performance in school clearly explains why Martin Jr. managed to skip the 9th and 11th grades (Biography.com, 2013b). During the adolescence stage, each individual is expected to face confusion with regards to who they are as a person and what they want to be during their adulthood stage (Weiten, 2011: 345). This explains why Martin Jr. came to a point when he was experiencing a great sense of confusion with regards to his parents’ desire for him to enter the ministry (Biography.com, 2013b). Eventually, Martin Jr. was able to develop a great sense of identity when he finally decided to start a career in the ministry (Biography.com, 2013b; Weiten, 2011: 345). At the age of 15, Martin Jr. was able to complete his Ph.D. degree (Biography.com, 2013b). While Martin Jr. was working on his doctorate degree, he had the opportunity to meet Coretta Scott in Boston and ended up marrying her and had 4 children. The early adulthood stage is all about intimacy vs. isolation (Weiten, 2011: 345). Martin Jr. died at the age of 39 (Biography.com, 2013a). The fact that Martin Jr. was married during the early adulthood stage means that he was able to achieve a great sense of intimacy. Cognitive Developmental Theory of Piaget Piaget’s four (4) stages of cognitive development theory are best used when analyzing the intellectual development in Martin Jr.’s life. During the sensory motor stage (0 to 2 years), infants’ cognitive activities are based on their own physical senses (grasping, sucking, etc.) or those that come directly from his environment (Bernstein, 2010: 353). In general, infants cannot express themselves through the use of language but this group of individuals is capable of remembering ideas and events. Therefore, infants are capable of responding to what they hear, see, and feel (Hill, 2001: 139 – 140). Martin Jr. was well taken care of by his mother. For this reason, Martin Jr.’s was able to maximize his cognitive learning by continuous stimulation of his senses during the infancy stage. In general, the cognitive development in human beings starts during the infancy up to the childhood stage. For instance, Iacovou and Sevilla (2012) purposely examined the effects of a scheduled infant feeling vs. on-demand feeding on the well-being of mothers and the child’s academic and long-term cognitive development. Unlike infants who were fed on-demand basis, Iacovou and Sevilla (2012) found out that mothers who feed their infants on a scheduled basis can experience depression as they grow older. Likewise, children who were fed on a scheduled basis have a higher risk of becoming less competitive in terms of their cognitive development (Iacovou & Sevilla, 2012). Other than cultural background and family background, genetic make-up can also significantly affect the cognitive and emotional development of Martin Jr. (Workman & Reader, 2004: 25 – 26). Furthermore, Berk (2010) mentioned that the physical development of the frontal lobes in the cerebral cortex is directly responsible in the child’s ability to regulate their emotions. In most cases, children who are able to effectively regulate their own emotions are the ones who have a higher chance of succeeding in the long-term development of their social and cognitive skills (Eisenberg et al., 2004). Most of the evolutionary psychologists strongly believe that genetic factors affect the creation and operation of each individual which can eventually be passed on from one generation to the next generation (Lickliter & Honeycutt, 2003). After conducting a longitudinal birth cohort study, Reyna, Schulz and Laird (2007) found out that mothers’ educational attainment has a significant impact over the child’s cognitive development. Likewise, genetics can also play a significant role in determining how each person can be sensitive to environmental difficulties (Keltikangas-Jarvinen & Jokela, 2010). Based on the attachment theory, the relationship between the mother and a child plays a significant role in the emotional, mental, and psychological development of a child especially at the time the child enters the school stage, the adolcense stage, and the adulthood stage. By exposing the infants and very young child to the warm loving care of a mother, there is a higher chance wherein the child could positively develop their emotions, cognitive, and psychological growth (Steele, 2002). Several studies revealed that there is no significant relationship between family instability and the cognitive functioning of a child (Schoon et al., 2011) nor the family structure and the cognitive functioning of a child (Reyna, Schulz & Laird, 2007). However, the presence of a broken family can make the mother unable to create a warm and loving environment for the child (Mofrad et al., 2009). As a result, the child’s cognitive, psychological, and emotional development could be adversely affected in the long-run. Fortunately, this is not the case of Martin Jr. Martin Jr. was enrolled in a public school at the age of 5 (Biography.com, 2013a). During the pre-operational stage (2 to 7 years), the child’s cognitive development includes their ability to recognize drawings, images, letters, and words (Santrock, 1998). Despite their curiosity and interests in learning, the child at this stage is unable to differentiate fantasy from reality. During the concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years), the child is expected to learn the basic skills related to writing, reading, and calculation (Guthrie, 2003). At this stage, the child is able to solve problems related to facts and figures. However, most children at this stage are unable to perform complex hypothetical or reasoning tasks. Therefore, Martin Jr. at this stage was very much dependent on his mentors in school. Martin Jr. enrolled himself at Morehouse College at the age of 15 (Biography.com, 2013b). During the formal operations (11 to 15 years), adolescents are able to perform tasks that require complex reasoning skills (Berk, 2007: 20). Through the use of hypothetical-deductive reasoning, Martin was able to finally solve his problem or confusion with regards to how he wanted to live his life during the adulthood stage (Arnett & Maynard, 2013: 355; Biography.com, 2013b). Impact of Diversity on Martin Jr.’s Life The religious and family background of Martin Jr. clearly explains his personal point-of-views with regards to the importance of diversity. Born with a family of ministers, Martin Jr. was raised by a father who is totally against racial discrimination. Because of his beliefs that all men are equal in the eyes of God, Martin Jr. decided to support people who are victims of racism. This explains why he became a successful leader trying to lead a group of activist during his time. Belonging to the group of African Americans, Martin Jr. personally knows how it feels like to be treated as a second class citizen. Because of his socio-economic status and religious background, Martin Jr. was able to win the votes and trust of his fellow brothers and sisters (Biography.com, 2013c). By allowing him to use non-violent approach in fighting for the rights of his people, Martin Jr. was able to capture the attention of the entire nation (Biography.com, 2013d). Conclusion The lifetime success of Martin Jr. can be traced back to his family and childhood background. Although genetic factors play a significant role in the cognitive abilities of a child, the impact of his family and overall social environment had significantly affected not only the way he thinks but also the way he makes his final strategies and decisions when it comes to fighting for the rights of his people. In case Martin Jr. was not brought up by a warm and loving family, his overall physical, social, and emotional development could have been different from how he was able to live his life. References Arnett, J., & Maynard, A. (2013). Child Development (Case bound). Pearson. Berk, L. (2010). Development through the lifespan. 5th Edition . Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Berk, L. (2007). Development through the lifespan. 4th Edition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Bernstein, D. (2010). Essentials of Psychology. 5th Edition. Cengage Learning. Biography.com. (2013a, September 16). Martin Luther King Junior's Biography. Retrieved November 13, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086 Biography.com. (2013b). Martin Luther King Jr. biography. Retrieved November 13, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086?page=2 Biography.com. (2013c). Martin Luther King Jr. biography. 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