Developmental psychology emerged from the scientific study of orderly psychological changes that typically occur in a person's life from birth to old age. This branch of psychology signifies the importance of the accumulation of knowledge a person gains in response to the surrounding conditions throughout their life to expand their range of development. (Lerner, 1976) People of all ages are continuously growing and developing: physically and mentally. All things physical and mental are bridged creating a connection of correspondence, especially when the idea of development comes into play. The advancement in a persons growth is ultimately caused by the brain, which functions as the center of sensation, intellectual and nervous activity. The whole idea of maturation is deeply infused with the conception of cognitive and psychological development. Concepts of development and how they are relative to a certain individual and the accomplishments that this particular person has made physically, psychosocially, and cognitively can be explained throughout this paper. The person that will be analyzed within this paper is Essence Using all of the knowledge known about Erikson and the stages of psychosocial development, Essence seems to be stuck in the identity versus identity confusion stage. This stage explores the ability of a person to find true identity; a trueself amongst society while using all of the skills and knowledge gained throughout a life lived so far. Essence has spent her life from age 10 through quite recently, living for other people and protecting other people from detrimental abuses, emotionally and mentally, to the point where she could not find who she was as person. She says “I lived to make sure my siblings, better yet all of my family, lived well, to make sure they had everything they could ever need, even if I, myself struggled to meet certain goals and
Role Confusions. The virtue of this stage is fidelity. Erikson was an ego psychologist who emphasized the role of society and culture and the conflicts that may take place within the ego itself. The ego develops as it successfully resolves crises that are social in nature. They may involve developing a sense of identity in society, and establishing a sense of trust in others. Erik Erikson believed that personality develops in a predetermined order and build on each previous stage; this is called the epigenic principle. Erik Erikson put a big emphasizes on the adolescent period because he believed it is a crucial stage for developing a person’s identity. This stage is the stage that Precious is currently at. (McLeod,
Erik Erikson was the man who originated the term “Identity crisis”. Erikson thought that his work was an extension of Freud’s and that if Freud had been given the time, then he would have come up with the same psychoanalysis theories that Erikson did. The major life developments of Erik Erikson that influenced his personality include things such as not having his father around from birth and thinking that his mother’s husband was his biological father and then finding out that the man was not his father, which caused confusion for Erikson. This is what prompted him to be interested in identity. When he entered school and the community, he was not sure how he fit in so he decided to study the aspects of identity. Erikson was bullied because
For my reflection paper I chose to write about chapter 9 that talks about lifespan development. This chapter grabbed my attention and I found it most interesting. In the textbookit discusses how there are certain factors that uncontrollably make us who we are. Those factorsare "unique combination of genes you inherited from your biological mother and father. Another is the historical era during which you grew up. Your individual development has also been shaped by the cultural, social, and family contexts within which you were raised." (Pg.352) The patterns of our lives are because of developmental psychology. "Developmental psychology is a scientific approach which aims to explain growth, change and consistency though the lifespan. Developmental
When studying human development, it is helpful to understand the main developmental domains (i.e physical, cognitive, emotional and moral) and the ways in which people develop within each domain at certain age stages. Use of psychological theories is also helpful to understand the reasons for this development and the ways in which it manifests at different age stages. The objective of this essay is to analyse the influences on development from conception to late adolescence. It will describe theories of lifespan development with information regarding my own development used to support these theories. It will be concluded that theories of lifespan development can be used to explain life experiences in the different developmental domains at different
Human development is a highly complex lifelong process. Identity is a self-definition or sense of who one is, where one is going, and how one fits into society. It relates to our basic values that dictates the choices we make in life. It is considered that identity formation is a means of finding oneself, by matching one’s talent with available social roles. Crisis is a vital part in one’s development. It occurs in every stage of finding one’s self and without resolution, may lead to tension and role confusion. Dedicated and influential theorists such as Erik Erikson and James Marcia have contributed significantly to the broadening and understanding
Child psychology, also known as child development, is the study of psychological growth of children; how these mechanisms develop from infancy to adolescence and why they deviate from one child to the next. Child development is associated with biological, psychological, and emotional diversity that occur in humans. Although there is a different advancement for each child, these developmental changes may be greatly determined by genetic factors and experience during prenatal life. The early years of a child’s life are very important for his or her health and development. Parents, health professionals, educators, and others can work together as partners to help children grow up to reach their full potential.
Lifespan development is essential, as it is the changes that happen to us throughout a person’s lifespan. Our development occurs at ages stages where we develop from infancy till death. This essay will contain my life story to display the domains in 5 age stages in my lifespan development. The domains I will be exploring is in this essay is physical, emotional, cognitive, social, cultural and moral domain. The influence of biological and environmental play a significant role in my development. Development is influenced by nature or nurture and its affect will occur throughout lifespan. The changes that occur during development have stage. Each theorists has stages of development where they display the changes. This essay will explore my development that will support theorist such as Erikson, Vygotsky, Berk, Piaget and other theorist. The age stages of prenatal will display physical and emotional domain, Infancy (0-2) will portray social and emotional domain, young children (2-6) will show cognitive and social domain, middle childhood (6-12) will display socio-cultural and moral domain and adolescence will portray nature vs. nurture and cultural domain. Development is crucial for a healthy wellbeing. As a physiotherapist it is significant to understand development in age stages, as it will aid knowing how young children will react compared to an adolescence who is more development mentally, emotionally, physically, socially and culturally.
Theories of child development have been researched and published over the years. These researches have been done by popular theorists four of whom are Piaget (1896 –1980), Vygotsky (1896 –1934), Ausubel (1918 –2008) and Kohlberg (1927 –1987). First and foremost let me define the term theory. A theory is a collection of related statements; the principal function of which is to summarize and explain observations. It is in a sense an invention designed to make sense of what we know or suspect. Developmental theory on the other hand is a systematic statement of principles and generalizations that provides a coherent framework for understanding how and why people change as they grow older. The writer in her essay will outline two theories of development Lawrence Kohlberg and Jean Piaget who spoke about the moral and cognitive development respectively.
In my 18 years of life, I’ve gone through a multitude of stages and phases of development. As I end my adolescence and enter my early adulthood, I reflect on my development and see how certain theories of Lifespan Growth and Development can be applied and witnessed throughout my life.
In conclusion, I have discussed cognitive development as it relates to the mental aging process of infancy through adolescence. As instructed in the assignment outline, I chose the following three cognitive functions; thinking, intelligence, and language. To the best of my knowledge, I briefly discussed each function based on the information outlined in the text. I also attempted to discuss Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development as they relate to the infancy stage through adolescence throughout the lifespan.
Development is the process of growing, forming or creating into something slightly more advanced than before. Development starts during conception and ends during death. Development consists of three developmental domains which are, physical development, cognitive development, and psychosocial development. Each of which involve some form of growing or changing including the changes of moods throughout the lifespan. The Nature versus Nurture concept are issues that are found in stages of development as well. Nature which relates to the behavior that is inherited by genetics, and Nurture which relates to the behavior that is inherited or learned from the environment. With every developmental change or growth in a person’s life the mood of the
Developmental psychology is an area of research devoted to explaining the continuing growth and change that occurs over the course of one’s life. Throughout history many varying theories have been used to attempt to explain the complex process of childhood experiences altering who individuals become as an adult.
In this report I will be discussing the development issues about prenatal development, and the newborn. Developmental psychology is basically a psychology study that focuses on the cognitive, physical, and social change throughout our life span. In prenatal development we learn about nature and nurture, continuity and stages, and stability and change. Prenatal Development is the process in which babies develop from one single cell after making a baby into an Embryo and later on a fetus . An Embryo is the process of a human organism for about approximately 2 weeks after the fertilization though the second month.
I have to agree with Erikson’s theory of development. Though he does have many of Freud’s theories integrated within his own, he further develops Freud’s theories. I do believe that development does not stop at five years old but further develops throughout a person’s life and that it is influenced by his or her experiences and other extrinsic factors. I think that we are constantly experiencing different obstacles, and the strength of our ego from past experiences helps us in overcoming those obstacles.
There are many theories associated with developmental psychology, which studies the scientific process and cause of human development over the course of our lives. Developmental psychologists study a wide range of theoretical areas, such as biological, social, emotional, and cognitive processes (McLeod, S. A., 2012). Two theories of developmental psychology that I will be discussing will be the theory of moral development by Lawrence Kohlberg, and Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.