Human Development Theory Issues - Essay Example

Running Header: Human development theory Your name: Course name: Professors’ name: Date Introduction Human development theory explains different unique stages of human growth, from the time of birth to adulthood and late adulthood to death. Many theories have been created about these different stages with an aim of explaining the significance of each stage in the development process. There are many profound theories that have emerged since the beginning of the century, the main theorist who have made significant contribution to the human development are Erik Erikson and Sigmund Freud. Freud inspired Erikson through is psychoanalysis. Basically, human development commenced from the moment of conception to the time of death. The theories that have been developed only focus on the point of birth, infancy to the point of death in the normal human life cycle. More so, these theories show how one stage of the development process affects the other one. In essence, the success of one leads to the success of the rest of the stages and vice verse is also true. Most of these theories tend to explain different personalities of individuals at different stages of the development process. The focus in this case is part of Erikson theory of development specifically the sixth stage, young adulthood with the focus of expounding some of the merits and problems associated with this theory. It is specifically imperative to consider the theoretical implication to the modern life and it relevance on the same. Thesis statement-the objective of this essay to explain, provide merits as well as issues associated with young adulthood stage of Eriksonian human development theory. How the theory explains human development Eriksons stages psychosocial development is an eight stage human development model which fundamentally explains every stage from birth through adulthood to death. Each stage according to erikson is unique and precedes the other. The success of one stage leads to the other one, more so, this psychosocial development stages especially the early stages or infancy and early childhood is important as it defines the success of the other later stages. Foundational life lessons and experience are gained at this stage. This stage also shapes the personality of the person at adulthood. The focus of this essay is the young adulthood (18-35) or intimacy and solidarity vs isolation (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2012, P.12). It is at this specific stage that the adult tends to seek a companion for love, mutual satisfying relationship. This is normally accomplished through friendships and marriages, it is also at this stage that most people tend to start families and begin the process of child bearing. With the demands of the current life, this stage has been pushed forward; many couples tend to start families at their early or late thirties. Successful accomplishment of this stage in eriksons psychosocial development leads to experiencing intimacy at the deepest level. However as explained by erikson, if navigating through this stage is not successful, isolation and distance from others occur. If adults at this stage fail to experience satisfying relationships, adult’s view of the world begins to shrink as they feel isolated and in defense, adults tend to dominate others and feel more superior to them. Notably, at this stage, significant relationships are with friends, fiancée’s and marital partners (Greene, 2008, P.91). Merits of this young adulthood (18-35) Despite the significance of the adolescence life in the development of a human being, this stage is also imperative as it marks yet another milestone of commencing adulthood. Understanding this stage is thus imperative. According to Salkind (2004, p.48) Freud, through his psycho-sexual stages refers this stage as genitality because of its linkage to love and affiliation. Freud inspired the work of Erikson though erikson explained his stages different from Freud who basically focused on the sexual orientation through different development stages of human life. There are a number of merits to this part of Erikson theory. One is the fact that understanding the impact of the social life at this stage is important. People tend to ignore the implication of young adulthood life in the preparation of the adulthood. Theories at this stage explain the importance of love and intimacy in enhancing self-esteem and shaping good adulthood personality. This is an important milestone in the human development process, without this the direction of humanity can be derailed. Theoretical underpinnings at different stages and specifically at this stage is important in the sense that it helps in shading light on human understanding at different stages. This is important especially to educators, understanding different stages helps in establishing better ways of administering the teaching process. Lack of this fundamental theoretical knowledge can be a major obstacle of achieving a successful teaching process because wrong strategies will be adopted and may in the end result to failure. More so, religious teachings have benefited from the contribution of Erikson; many spiritual teachers now know how to administer their teaching to different people at different stage in their development process (Salkind, 2004, p.48). Despite the crtisism of human development theories as put forth by Erikson, his theories form the fundamentals of human understanding, and it gives us a glimpse into our own existence and possibilities of the future. It is through the study of his theories that more theories related to human understanding have been created in support or as an addition to his theories. More so, psychology has borrowed key issues from Erikson theories, research on various fields in psychology including educational psychology. The developments of better strategies of teaching have therefore been spearheaded by Erikson theories. His contribution to our modern world can therefore not be overemphasized or overlooked. Problems and critisms of Erikson’s psychosocial development theory According to Newman & Newman (2007, p.216) Erikson theories tend to be developed around the male gender instead of a balanced view of both sexualities. Erikson only captures his theories and develops them with consideration of the growth experience of a male gender. This is a major problem in his theory; in the real situation female tend to focus more on relationships as well as competencies while men tend to focus more on competence and less on relationship throughout their different stages of development. This weakness in the Erikson theory of human development has been criticized for the past decades by scholars. Another problem with Erikson theory is the lack of specific details in the development of the young adulthood stage as well as the rest of the eight stages that he proposed. This aspect makes it hard to test the theories that he proposed because they are general in nature. He also failed to explain in details the terms that he used in his theory and hence making it vague in the explanation of real life development phases. His proposals tend to be focused on what he himself experienced and not what every person especially of different gender experience. This is a major weakness of his theories since it is difficult to test through an experiment. Essentially, most theories are subject to detailed research at test before confirmation. This is the norm is scientific research; it is therefore generally not accepted to assert theories which their validity have not been confirmed through research process. The different stages on his model are also very similar; the age span is also not accurately predicted since different people experience different stages of growth at different times. This is because of their specific uniqueness created by their different genetic makeup. Human development theories tend to provide guideline on how human life is all about, by stating different stages and their expectations, other aspects of human life such as the need to develop technologically are ignored. This is essentially because the development of technology has a direct impact on human life. The emergence of the internet for instance has shaped our social life; in essence, children under the age of 10 can have experience of an adult because of the internet exposure. This virtual environment was not accounted by Erikson but its effects are now shaping the provisions of his theories concerning human development. It gives new meaning and hence the next generation may skip major theoretical explanations provided by Erikson. More so, life is unique to every individual we all have varying perceptions of life, the theories provided by Erikson can therefore not fully account for different aspects about human development process. As noted, the environment is also a factor in human development, education can however change the way we perceive our environment (Salkind, 2004, p.48). More so, genetic influence as we know it today shapes behaviors of people and personality of people. The food or the kind of diet also plays a critical role in shaping human development and even the period of human life cycle. All these factors are not considered in Erikson theories hence making it inaccurate in explaining significant steps and stages of human development. The recent discovery of the important role of genome in development of human beings has been in the spotlight, this is because of its critical role in influencing human life (Salkind 2004). The next generation may live longer because of the genetic-based medicine that is being developed, people can be in a position to alter and even prolong life. This aspect means that the provisions of Erikson theories will be irrelevance since the age span will be increased. Summing up As analyzed above, it is evident that human development theories developed by Erikson have played an important role in human understanding. It has been the foundation ground for other theories to develop, theories that oppose, support, or add to the work of Erikson. It is however important for us to understand the significance of different life stages and their unique role, each stage of human development as put forth by Erikson is important because it determines the success of the later stages. As an example, the selected young adulthood theory, it is associated with solidarity and intimacy vs. isolation. This essentially means that at this stage an adult is in need of love and intimacy, if this is not fulfilled at this stage, it normally results in isolation in the later life. This is evident in many grown adults in their middle adulthood stage and in their late adulthood stage. Missing someone to love and create a good relationship at this stage results to isolation and loss of life’s meaning at the later stage, this stage can however not be reached or achieved without the success of the earlier life stages such as infancy through to adolescence (Sigelman & Rider, 2011). As noted, Erikson theories have been criticized for being too general and hence cannot be tested for validity. It seems that Erikson was only focused on the unfolding of his own life in postulating the theories. He therefore failed to give a full account of the human development stages that integrates both genders. Female gender tends to concentrate of relationship and competence at most of the stages put forth by Erikson while the male gender tends to be focused more on competence especially at the young adulthood and later stages. The feeling of achievement in reality tends to dominate the male gender in adulthood more than female (Newman & Newman, 2007, p.216). Conclusion Erikson human development theories have played a significant role in explaining human life experience throughout the entire life cycle. Erikson theories cover development from infancy, adulthood and later life which results to the end of life. The young adulthood section of the Erikson theories was selected because of its importance in developing the later adulthood life. This stage is generally described by intimacy and solidarity with loved people and friends. This stage marks the beginning of creating intimate relationship which leads to marriages and lifelong friendships if this stage is not successful, isolation in the later life will be the consequence. There are merits and problems associated with this theory; one merit is the fact that it provided fundamental understanding of our life as we go through life. It has also provided the base for other supporting and opposing theories to be developed. More so, the educational system has been shaped because of these theories, understanding the behavior of a person at different stages of development is important in establishing new teaching strategies. Main problems that have resulted from Erikson theories are the fact that his work seems to be base on his own life and therefore not easy to taste. His theories are also vague and lack the needed underpinnings to fully offer better understanding. References Greene, R.R.(2008). Human Behavior Theory & Social Work Practice: Third Edition. Canberra: Transaction Publishers. PP. 91-97. Kail, R.V., & Cavanaugh, J.C. (2012). Human Development: A Life-Span View. New York, NY : Cengage Learning.PP. 11-16. Newman, B.M., & Newman, P.R.(2007). Theories of Human Development. New Jersey, NJ: Routledge. PP.216-218. Salkind N.J.(2004). An Introduction to Theories of Human Development. New York, NY: SAGE. Pp. 48-54. Sigelman, C.K., & Rider, E.A.(2011). Life-Span Human Development. New Jersey, NJ: Cengage Learning. PP. 39-43. Read More

If adults at this stage fail to experience satisfying relationships, adult’s view of the world begins to shrink as they feel isolated and in defense, adults tend to dominate others and feel more superior to them. Notably, at this stage, significant relationships are with friends, fiancée’s and marital partners (Greene, 2008, P.91). Merits of this young adulthood (18-35) Despite the significance of the adolescence life in the development of a human being, this stage is also imperative as it marks yet another milestone of commencing adulthood.

Understanding this stage is thus imperative. According to Salkind (2004, p.48) Freud, through his psycho-sexual stages refers this stage as genitality because of its linkage to love and affiliation. Freud inspired the work of Erikson though erikson explained his stages different from Freud who basically focused on the sexual orientation through different development stages of human life. There are a number of merits to this part of Erikson theory. One is the fact that understanding the impact of the social life at this stage is important.

People tend to ignore the implication of young adulthood life in the preparation of the adulthood. Theories at this stage explain the importance of love and intimacy in enhancing self-esteem and shaping good adulthood personality. This is an important milestone in the human development process, without this the direction of humanity can be derailed. Theoretical underpinnings at different stages and specifically at this stage is important in the sense that it helps in shading light on human understanding at different stages.

This is important especially to educators, understanding different stages helps in establishing better ways of administering the teaching process. Lack of this fundamental theoretical knowledge can be a major obstacle of achieving a successful teaching process because wrong strategies will be adopted and may in the end result to failure. More so, religious teachings have benefited from the contribution of Erikson; many spiritual teachers now know how to administer their teaching to different people at different stage in their development process (Salkind, 2004, p.48). Despite the crtisism of human development theories as put forth by Erikson, his theories form the fundamentals of human understanding, and it gives us a glimpse into our own existence and possibilities of the future.

It is through the study of his theories that more theories related to human understanding have been created in support or as an addition to his theories. More so, psychology has borrowed key issues from Erikson theories, research on various fields in psychology including educational psychology. The developments of better strategies of teaching have therefore been spearheaded by Erikson theories. His contribution to our modern world can therefore not be overemphasized or overlooked. Problems and critisms of Erikson’s psychosocial development theory According to Newman & Newman (2007, p.216) Erikson theories tend to be developed around the male gender instead of a balanced view of both sexualities.

Erikson only captures his theories and develops them with consideration of the growth experience of a male gender. This is a major problem in his theory; in the real situation female tend to focus more on relationships as well as competencies while men tend to focus more on competence and less on relationship throughout their different stages of development. This weakness in the Erikson theory of human development has been criticized for the past decades by scholars. Another problem with Erikson theory is the lack of specific details in the development of the young adulthood stage as well as the rest of the eight stages that he proposed.

This aspect makes it hard to test the theories that he proposed because they are general in nature. He also failed to explain in details the terms that he used in his theory and hence making it vague in the explanation of real life development phases.

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