Psychosocial Theory Of Development Case Study

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The period between conception and death is characterised by systemic changes and continuities that occur and this is best known as development (Sigelman & Rider, 2015). No human can escape these changes and continuities for as long as they have not reached a point of death or for as long as they are alive. Development does not occur all at once, it is in stages and they are mostly age determined. Among many psychologists that studied development is Erik Erickson, who came up with the Psychosocial Theory of Development. The theory consists of eight stages of development. Erikson maintained that adolescents experience a major identity crisis, which he classified as the fifth developmental stage, “Identity vs. role confusion” (Erikson, 1968). There are many domains within …show more content…

The formation of a sexual identity is considered an essential identity development element (Alberts, Mbalo, & Ackermann, 2003). Sandra’s relationship with her boyfriend was forming her sexual identity and at the same time, her racial and ethnic identity was being formed. Sandra was learning how it is like to be black, the culture of black people, their language and their customs. After giving birth, Sandra decided that she wants to be reclassified as coloured. In a research by Tafjel and Turner (1986), on strategies individuals employ to deal with being a member of a devalued group, maintains that an individual may choose to physically leave the group and change group membership or in case they cannot modify the group, such as race, they might leave psychologically by disidentifying with that group. In the movie, Sandra left his parents’ home and she wanted to be identified as coloured instead of white as it was previously. Sandra achieved ethnic identity and she is not in the achieved status of ethnic identity (Phinney, 1991) as she feels confident in her sense of ethnic

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