Reflective on Life Span Development - Term Paper Example

? Reflective Paper by Deborah Delgado Quintana PSY7210 - Lifespan Development Dr. Jim Oyler Capella Reflective Paper on Life Span Development Before taking this course, I had a pretty clear perspective of how a person grows and develops throughout his lifetime. I know that life begins at conception inside the mother’s womb. This is the beginning of his journey through life. The theories of human development explains much about various aspects of how a person grows and develops from the time he is an infant all the way to his elderly years. Piaget came up with the Stages of Cognitive Development because he believed that intellectual development is influenced by both maturation and experience. “Cognitive development is indicated by a growing ability to plan, to employ strategies for remembering and to seek solutions to problems” (Brewer, 2001, p.26). Piaget describes that cognitive development of children progress in stages. Freud developed his Psychosexual Stages of Development. This theory depicts the emergence of human personality over the course of the first 20 years or so of life. He gives emphasis to organically generated instinctual energy or libido and its progressive flow in and about the individual. At certain stages, this life energy is accumulated in some body parts. He theorized that in each stage, a particular body part becomes the source of stimulation and that personality traits are formed from experiences borne from each psychosexual stage. Erikson was another prominent psychologist who built on Freud’s theories and parallelized his own Psychosocial growth theory with Freud’s Psychosexual growth stages. However, he extended his theories beyond childhood and covered the whole lifespan. To analyse each life stage according to the theories and my own understanding, life stages have been divided into 8 stages, from the womb to old age. Prenatal The womb is an ideal environment where one’s needs are all fulfilled. As the fetus grows, it is safely enveloped in amniotic fluid that provides all its nourishment. Life depends on the mother’s health. Whatever experience she has, whether it is a positive or a negative one, affects the fetus in the womb. If the mother is not careful and gets exposed to harmful substances or other risks, then it has a corresponding effect on the baby. For example, if a pregnant woman contracts measles or rubella in her first trimester, it endangers the fetus to develop some abnormalities as it grows. The result could be deafness or some other developmental disability. That is why a pregnant woman should always be careful because the life inside her greatly depends on her to keep it grow and develop safely. Meredith Small (1998) reports that mothers are biologically predisposed to care for their infants. Nine long months in the womb, the fetus affects the mother and its dependence on her likewise affects her. For example, a stressed mother can hinder the normal brain processes of brain masculinization of her unborn child. Infancy Upon birth, the infant faces another chapter in his life. Biological connections between mother and child if present at birth may or may not be sustained. If mothers and infants are physically distanced, then this connection is disrupted. A child’s well-being is dependent on secure attachments combined with basic competencies in parenting like reading a baby’s signals for food, comfort, need to be held or worse, need for medical intervention (Smith, 2005). Biological studies indicate that when human babies are born, their brains are underdeveloped, hence are “born highly dependent and inconstant need of care.” Unlike other mammals like horses or cows whose offspring can stand on their own minutes after their birth, human biology draws both mother and newborn towards each other to ensure the survival of the infant. Immediately after separation from his mother, an infant may vehemently protest by crying, screaming and throwing tantrums. This emotional response reflects his biologically-derived distress. From experience, he knows that his mother satisfies all his needs and can be appeased by his reunion with her (Smith, 2005). Being totally dependent on his parents, he is still unable to fend for himself. The infant is in Erikson’s first psychosocial stage of development, Basic Trust vs. Mistrust. In this first stage of Psychosocial development, infants learn to trust the significant people around them that provide them their basic physical and emotional needs. On the other hand, if these needs are not met, then an attitude of mistrust towards interpersonal relationships develops (Erikson, 1963). This stage is parallel to Freud’s Oral Stage of Psychosexual development, wherein the main source of stimulation is focused on the mouth. In swallowing, the infant is seen as ingesting a complex substance that consists of psychophysical elements and its nourishment affects both his psychological and physical well-being. . According to Freud (1917/ 1986), “the original pleasure-ego wants to introject into itself anything that is good and to eject from itself everything that is bad” (p.237). Infancy to toddlerhood also marks Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage in his Cognitive Development. This period is characterized by interactions with the environment based on the child’s reception of sensory input and muscular reactions. The task of this period is to develop the concept of object permanence, the idea that objects exist even when they cannot be seen or heard. (Brewer, 2001). Early Childhood Early Childhood encompasses two of Erikson’s psychosocial stages. Toddlerhood is the stage of Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt, when many developmental milestones occur. Consistent with Freud’s Anal stage, this second stage of psychosexual development is the time when autonomy or self-reliance is being developed as toddlers become more mobile in their explorations and limit-testing exploits. Body control is also a prevailing issue since toilet training commences at the stage. “To develop autonomy, a firmly developed and convincingly continued stage of early trust is necessary” (Erikson, 1959, p. 68). The preschool years belong to the Initiative vs. Guilt Psychosocial stage. Having developed more skills, a child exhibits competence in some tasks more than before. He craves for freedom to make choices to have a positive view of self and follow through on his projects. Not being allowed to make their own decisions makes them develop guilt over taking initiative. Hence, the tendency is to take a passive stance and let others choose for them (Erikson, 1963). In Piaget’s Cognitive Development theory, early childhood belongs to the Preoperational Period (two to seven years) which marks the time when a child becomes able to represent objects and knowledge through imitation, symbolic play, drawing, mental images and spoken language. Lack of conservation skills is also characteristic of this stage. “Conservation is defined as the knowledge that the number, mass, area, length, weight, and volume of objects are not changed by physically rearranging the objects.” (Brewer, 2001) Preschool-aged children are in between Freud’s Anal and Phallic Stage of Psychosexual Development. They begin to explore their body and discover that some parts give them pleasure. Also, at this stage when they are mastering their toilet skills, they may sometimes fail to comply with adult rules of going to the bathroom, hence, it is still likely that they may wet or soil their underwear (Brewer, 2001). Psychologically, with regards to the Anal stage, preschoolers may be ambivalent in keeping the room orderly and clean, however, there are times when they would just want to mess everything up. Children’s emotional development is also linked to their moral development. Kohlberg (1984) came up with a theory of moral development based on a hypothetical moral situation calling on children’s decision-making skills, and his theories attracted much attention from moral philosophers. His proposed dilemma was about a husband named Heinz who needed to decide whether to steal an overpriced drug to save his dying wife. It was theorized that young children conceptualize morality in terms of obedience to adults’ rules and regulations. They know that it makes them good children. This is so because they think in concrete, physical, egocentric ways and their social worlds are dominated by adults. The children are learning what is right from wrong. At this age, they are beginning to be less egocentric and more others-aware. They are able to feel how others feel. Likewise, children genuinely express their feelings towards others and show their preference for good over bad especially with regards to story characters. They understand the moral lessons in such stories. They have developed some tolerance for frustration and are developing some self-control. They need overt expressions of affection and have fears of abandonment. They need routines and a semblance of security (Brewer, 2001). Growth and development rapidly advances in the early childhood years. Although these young children seem to be small, they grow at an increasingly fast pace that parents and teachers often wonder how they’ve grown so much in such a short time, like in a span of one school year. The following discusses how children’s skills are developed in the different developmental areas. Physically, preschool children develop more strength as their bodies’ proportions become more adult-like. Beginnings of athletic skills such as running, jumping and hopping are manifested. With regards to their gross motor development, as children grow older, they are more able to move their large muscles in more well-coordinated movements so they are able to do more challenging things with their bodies such as skipping, running with agility, dancing with flexibility, tumbling and the like. On the other hand, children’s fine motor skills are slower to develop. Younger children’s fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination and body coordination are much less developed and more awkward than their older counterparts. As they grow, they also gain more control of their fine motor muscles to enable them to do more things with their hands, such as cutting, drawing and writing. By the time a child steps into the early childhood stage, his brain has attained 90% of its adult weight by age 5 (Child Development, 2011). This develops faster than any other body part. Many factors affect a child’s cognitive development. Their intellectual capacity may be inherited from their parents or other blood relatives. Nature and nurture may work together to affect a child’s intellect. Children who are constantly stimulated intellectually with activities that promote creative and critical thinking skills grow up using these skills when the situation calls for it. Young children develop various cognitive skills simultaneously. They enjoy asking a lot of questions and are eager to pursue their curiosity in a number of interests. Preschool-aged children think in concrete terms, but begin to use mental representations and symbols. However, fantasy and reality still gets blurred together in their minds, and ideas about the world may continue to be illogical. They hone their ideas from social interactions with their parents and playmates. Their language skills rapidly develop, gaining, on the average a 14,000- word vocabulary and extensive grammatical knowledge by the time they reach 6 years of age (Child Development, 2011). Children at this stage learn to adjust their style of communication to who they speak to. Socially, there are children who may be inherently shy or gregarious, as is likewise dictated by their genetic make-up or as an effect of exposure to shy or gregarious parents. However, as children get older, they are provided more opportunities to be with other people and learn to deal with different personalities. Edgington (1999) posits that children learn best in an environment that makes them feel secure and confident enough to develop their own ideas with open-ended experiences. They actively engage in learning by partaking of fun, play-based hands-on experiences while adults around them challenge and extend their thinking. Children’s play at this stage, either alone or with others, becomes increasingly complex and imaginative. They vacillate from solitary play to associative play with their peers and back again. They may engage in dramatic play as they embody roles of different characters and even animals or objects and come up with word play to stimulate themselves. They develop a great initiative to do things, especially if they receive praise for these actions. Their increased energy makes them more daring to try out novel things. Such desire to be independent in pursuing these new discoveries and controlling their environment increases, making their parents more supervisory towards them. Middle Childhood This marks Erikson’s Industry vs. Inferiority stage. School aged children juggle multiple tasks to meet their goals: expansion of understanding of the world, development of appropriate gender-role identity and learning basic skills required for school success. Their task is to achieve a sense of industry. Their failure to setting and attaining personal goals in these areas results in a sense of inferiority or inadequacy (Erikson, 1963). Children at this stage belong to Freud’s Latency stage. During this period, libido or the pleasure-seeking instinct is at rest before embarking on the turbulent hormonal phase of adolescence. Freud (1939) claims that the sexual instinct is humanized during this period and advises that authoritative rather than authoritarian education from adults can help the preadolescent to learn more about responsibility, self-expression and consequences. This life stage is also Piaget’s Concrete Operational Period. Primary school children at this age begin to think more operationally. Piaget and Inhelder (1969) described the operational thinker as one who employs “identity or reversibility by inversion or reciprocity” (p.99) in solving problems. They have moved on from being egocentric and consider that others may come to conclusions that differ from theirs. Adolescence Adolescence, being the time of transition between childhood and adulthood becomes a challenging time of testing limits, gaining more independence and establishing a new identity. In Erikson’s Identity vs. Identity Diffusion stage, there surfaces the need to clarify self-identity, life goals and life’s meaning, and failure to achieve a sense of identity results in role confusion (Erikson, 1963) The final stage of Freud’s Psychosexual stages, the Genital stage, begins in this life stage. This is marked as the end of the child’s dependence on parents or other adults and the beginning of his responsibility as an adult. Hence, the adolescent turns away from his parents and towards his peers and more creative endeavors that are meaningful, self-enhancing and societally contributing adult activities. It is also the period of sexual awakening and this is expressed in heightened attraction to the opposite sex. This stage also corresponds to Piaget’s final stage of Cognitive development, the The Formal Operational Period which commences at age 12 and continues on to adulthood. This final stage of cognitive development is characterized by the ability to think abstractly, reason logically and draw conclusions from available data. The young adult at this stage is more capable of understanding things beyond the surface meaning. Young Adulthood This is Erikson’s Intimacy vs. Distantiation vs. Self-Absorption stage. The developmental task of young adults is to form intimate relationships by seeking their lifetime mates through romantic relationships of very close friendships that form strong emotional bonds. However, when intimacy is not achieved, alienation and isolation take place (Erikson, 1963). The final stages of Freud’s Psychosexual stages and Piaget’s Cognitive stages of development continue on to this life stage and beyond. The young adult has endless possibilities in front of him. After high school, he can decide to work in a job right away or pursue further studies in college. This is also the time when he grows to be mature enough to seek a romantic partner that he can have a relationship with and eventually raise a family with. Careers are also built during this life stage. Much of the individual’s personality formed from his earlier years shines through to either attract people or alienate them. Middle Adulthood At this point, a middle-aged person would either have a family of his own with children in school, or remain single. The individual may either be financially stable, reaping rewards from the career he has built over the years or unsuccessful with his career and content in seeking dole-outs from other people. Caught between Generativity vs. Stagnation, adults in the mid-life stage have a strong urge to leave a legacy by helping the new generation. They become very productive as they adjust the discrepancy between one’s dream and one’s actual accomplishments. Failure to achieve a sense of productivity results in psychological stagnation (Erikson, 1963). Late Adulthood This is Erikson’s final stage, Integrity vs. Despair and Disgust. Late adulthood is a time when ego integrity over one’s lifetime is evaluated. If one looks back at the live he has lived with few regrets, then ego integrity is achieved. On the other hand, failure to achieve ego integrity leads to feelings of despair, hopelessness, guilt, resentment and self-rejection (Erikson, 1963). This life stage is when an individual is most vulnerable to sickness and death due to the deterioration of the body and mind. By this time, his progeny may have increased to include grandchildren and his grown-up children may either be taking care of him or altogether separated from him. He may have fewer friends who remain alive, and he may seek the company of old, familiar people to reminisce on the good ‘ol days. Knowledge of life span development is essential for my choice of specialization which is General Psychology. Being cognizant of theories of human development helps me compare my clients’ situations with standard patterns expected of each life stage. Understanding what went on in each life stage gives a better picture of why the individual turned out the way he did. This is significant information for therapy especially when clients cannot seem to move on with his development to the next stage. This may be due to some unresolved conflict or trauma that transpired from a past life stage that he continues to struggle with. For example, an insecure adult who is unable to find work may still be struggling with the fact that when she was a child, she lacked the affection she needed from the time she was a baby and is now feeling unworthy of love and affection. This translates to behaving in a way that no prospective employer will hire her. The expression “from womb to tomb” became more meaningful to me in this course. One life stage leads to another, linked by threads of significant experiences and memories. I realized how fragile the human being is and how vulnerable to negative influences from the environment. However, I also know that the human being is resilient and able to spring back to be a fully functioning individual after conflict resolution. Life is what you make it. It is true that the past can have great impact on the present but if you choose to be pro-active, you succeed despite the trials, failures and negative experiences you have encountered in the past. I learned that one is capable of becoming a lifelong learner and that learning does not stop when one graduates from school or university because learning is not constrained within the four walls of the classroom. Even older people can keep on learning and being productive because of it. As a General Psychologist, I become in a position to empower my clients with what I have learned about lifespan development. I can help them point out where their problems may have begun and determine the steps they can take to resolve it so they can rise from it and keep going and growing. References Brewer, J.A. (2001) Introduction to Early Childhood Education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon Child Development, Retrieved on December 10, 2011 from http://www.learner.org/discoveringpsychology/development/13_15.html Edgington, M. (1999) Priorities in the Early Years Curriculum, course held at the University of Hertfordshire, 21 January 1999. Erikson, E. H. (1959) Identity & the Life Cycle. N.Y.: International Universities Press, Inc. Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Norton. Freud, S. (1986) Some thoughts on development and regression – Aetiology. In J. Strachey (Ed. And Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 16). London, England: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1917). Kohlberg, L. (1984). Essays in moral development: Vol. 2. The psychology of moral development. New York: Harper & Row. Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1969) The Psychology of the Child. New York: Basic Books Small, M. (1998) Our babies, ourselves: how biology and culture shape the way we parent. Anchor Books Smith, H. (2005) Parenting for Primates. Harvard University Press. Read More