Developmental theories and self - Essay Example

?Running Head: Development Theories and Self Development Theories and Self [Institute’s Development Theories and Self Freud’s Psycho-Dynamic Approach and Attachment Theory Freud emphasized on psychodynamic approach, which means all the behaviors of a person are consequences of inner conflicts of mind. For example, he described a case study of little Hans; Little Hans had a phobia of horses. According to Freud, this phobia was because of displaced fear of his father. Psychodynamic approach takes into account one’s unconscious mind largely. It says that a child’s unconscious mind, personality structure and childhood experiences have greater impacts on a child’s later life. Freud supposed that the unconscious mind determines much of peoples’ actions and the suppressed emotions of their unconscious give us motivation. The unconscious contains unsolved conflicts and has an influential effect on actions and experience. He said that many of these conflicts shape the fantasies and dreams, but the conflicts are so ominous that they appear in disguised forms, for example in the shape of symbols or slips of tongues which he called Freudian slips. This assumption of Freud shifted the focus on one’s unconscious minds and this was a strong point because one always finds such examples in practical life. Children who have love and affection from parents in the childhood mostly have flourishing future and the ones who have been discouraged by their parents are unable to show good performance at later stage of life. Attachment theory of John Bowlby along with Ainsworth is in accordance with this belief of Freud (Henry, Strupp, Schacht, & Gaston, pp. 234-789, 1994). Attachment Theory Attachment theory of John Bowlby worked in the favor of children because it focused on giving them attention in order to give them a thriving future. He described four key components of attachment that are safe heaven, secure base, and proximity maintenance and separation distress. In safe heaven, if a child is threatened he returns to the caregiver for comfort or soothing. In secure base, the caregiver provides a secure base for exploring the world. In proximity maintenance, the child struggles to stay near the caregiver. In separation distress, a child is upset and distresses when he is separated from his caregiver. Mary Ainsworth further expanded the work of John Bowlby and said that the attachment styles have their impacts on the later behaviors in a child’s life. In Secure Attachment Style, children are sorrowful when they separate from their parents but become happy when their parents return. Moreover, they are always sure of the return of their parents if they leave. In Ambivalent Attachment Style, children become very distressed when their caregivers leave because they cannot depend on them to be there in the time of need. This usually happens due to absence of maternal parent. In Avoidant Attachment Style, children do not find much difference between a caregiver and a stranger and do not seek for the help of their parents in the time of need because their parents usually give them punishment for this (Fairbairn, pp. 109-167, 1954). The theories of both the psychologists have proved to be very helpful for parents in understanding the behavior of children. These have also urged parents to give their attention to the children so that children do not suffer in the later stages of life with low self-esteem, married life problems etc. Freud’s Id, the Ego and the Super Ego Freud said there are three levels of a person’s psyche that are id, the ego, and the super ego. Id is present in all people and it is similar for all people because Id works by pleasure principle, it is a pleasure-seeking principle. It says that one should try to accomplish pleasure and avoid pain by any way it can. It does not care about others but wants to please its urges by any means. Ego is the part of psyche that is partly conscious; it acts as a safeguard between the id, the reality, and the super ego. It tries to negotiate between the desires of each of them. Ego does not completely diminish these desires but looks for the perfect time to satisfy these urges. According to Freud, ego forms when a child gets realization of an external world. Before that, a child completely had id therefore, he could not suppress or control the desires. The last level of psyche is the super ego, it is a conscience, and it decides what is right and what is wrong holding the ego ideal that is how an ego should be. In the super ego a child does not completely depend on his parents but starts to depend on his own self. Super ego also does not care about others like id, it only wants ego to stay within the limits of right and wrong with the sense of guild, pride or shame (Seymour, pp. 709-724, 1994). One of the points on which Freud’s theories thrived is that he gave a whole bundle, he took something from the great philosophers before him such as Plato and Socrates and complied his own ideas with them. He took the ideas of childhood memories, development, dream, unconscious, personality; self, dream analysis, wrapped all of them in one paper, and gave comprehensive information of human condition (Combs, Richards, & Richards, pp. 25-90, 1976). Freud’s Psychosexual Development with Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Sigmund Freud talked about sexuality in his psychosexual development theory, at a time when adults talked about sex seldom and even less seldom in the infants. Therefore, Freud’s theory put everyone in shock when he indicated five psychosexual stages through which everyone pass before puberty. He was not talking about the sex in a way that everyone thought of. The weakness of this theory is that it changed the whole meaning of relationship of mother and son and father and daughter. He viewed everything in the context of sex and did not give importance to emotions. Unlike Freud, Erikson talked about Psychosocial Development; he said that social interactions were the driving force of development. He described stages of psychosocial development. First is Trust vs. Mistrust, this stage is from birth until one year age. In this stage infant strives to build trust in this world, he further said that children are able to build trust when teachers are encouraging, nurturing, reactive, and trustworthy. Second stage is Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, this stage usually lasts from eighteen months to three years. During this stage, child wants to discover more about the world, teachers can play their role at best if they understand that children require both independence and dependence. If teachers fail to understand this children will feel shame or doubt. Third stage is Initiative vs. Guilt, this stage remains from three to six years of age. The child is enthusiastic to learn new skills and techniques, use language to ask questions, and intermingle with other children. Simultaneously, the child still depends on soothe and safety provided by teachers. If a teacher neglects a child’s sense of initiative, his ill-advised energy could end in oral or bodily violence. Fourth stage is Industry vs. Inferiority; it lasts from six to twelve years, in this stage parents are not the complete authority, significance shifts from parents to neighborhood and friends. Fifth stage is Identity vs. Role Confusion, sixth is Intimacy and Solidarity vs. Isolation, Seventh is Generation vs. Self Absorption or Stagnation, and eighth is Integrity vs. Despair. This theory gave teachers a new dimension to work for the prosperous futures of their children. This theory also changed the perception of people regarding a child’s development given by Freud, which disturbed everyone by its uncanny aspects. This helped determining the roles of society, friends, and other important characters in a person’s life. It clarified the roles of every individual of society and helped them understand the impacts of certain activities they do in their lives. The impacts of role models, the generous behavior in old age, the intimacy for opposite gender, the sense of integrity and uprightness, and the choice of career are some of the important achievements of this theory. Jung’s Shadow and Self and Freud’s Consciousness For Jung, the self is not just “one” or “me” but God. The spirit connects and it is a piece of the universe. The rational whole amalgamates both consciousness and unconsciousness. Jung says that creation of self is a procedure of individuation, where all parts are brought together as one. Therefore, “re-birth” is going back to the wholeness of birth, before the selves split into parts. Shadow, by its name is gloomy, vague, mysterious, and potentially disturbing object of the self. It symbolizes chaos and violence of one’s character. People might see the shadow in others and if they dare to identify it in their own selves, mostly they deny finding it and projecting it onto others. It can also have a life of its own as the other. A challenging goal that someone can start is to re-integrate the shadow light of the 'real' self. If someone does this effectively then he can become whole once again by bringing back what was once separated from him. The shadow might appear as something, which is awful, frightening, or appalling in dreams or delusions. It might persuade through fake friendship or intimidate with disrespect. Encounter with it as a part of subconscious might disclose deeper thoughts and fears. It might take shape of direct physical action when the person is puzzled, bemused, or drugged (Jung, pp. 45-89, 1981). Jung’s theory of shadow and self is realistic to some extent because one can see in practical life that people are not willing to find evil in their own selves rather they blame others and consider them to be at mistake. Actually, people see their own shadows in others; they are what they think of others. Shadow is similar to Freud’s unconsciousness partly because in consciousness Freud talks about everything without discriminating evil and good. However, shadow is the part of unconscious that is bad or gloomy. Object Relation Theory Freud at first used the term "object" to describe anything an infant uses to get satisfaction. Within modern object relations theory, objects can be mother, father, others or things, such as objects with which people form attachments. The child's relationships with the objects become the building blocks of the self. Sometimes in childhood, children make relationships with animals, toys, and pets. In later stage of life, “some people form strong and even self-destructive relationships with food and alcohol, as well as with other people; the outline of self-structure forms early in life based on relationships with the objects around people” (Ainsworth, pp.70-88, 1969). The more disturbing early self-object relations are the stiffer and opposed to change people become. Roger’s Self Roger’s idea of self is different from that of Jung who said self is God while Roger says that self does not exist when a person born but infant gradually develop the self from non-self. Ideal self is what a person wants to be and actual self is what a person is or what he thinks he is. When there is self-actualization, there is congruence between ideal and actual self and he become what his self wants to be. Second kind of congruence is the harmony between actual self and the experience. It means the experience of one’s life should match the type of person one is. For example, if one thinks he is intelligent and he fails to clear a test, it is incongruence. Incongruence is not good and it leads to anxiety, Roger believed that people defend themselves from incongruence (Ainsworth, pp. 969-1025, 1969). The concept of defense is very similar to psychodynamic concept. Defenses maintain the uprightness of self and enhance self-esteem. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Maslow formed the hierarchy of needs; psychological needs are the basic needs for food, air, and water. Then are Safety and Physical Security needs, after that comes Love and Belonging Needs. Esteem needs are after belonging needs, it means need of appreciation and applause from others. Self-actualization is the final need, which means potential of becoming what one desires to become. According to Maslow, self-actualized people are efficient and correct in perceiving truth, accept themselves, nature and other people, respect others and are democrats, form very deep and long lasting relationships but with very few people and have their own inner visions. References Ainsworth, M. D. 1969. “Object Relations, Dependency, and Attachment: A Theoretical Review of the Infant-Mother Relationship.” Child Development, 969-1025. Combs, A. W., Richards, A. C., & Richards, F. 1976. Perceptual Psychology: A humanistic Approach to the Study of Persons. University Press of America. Fairbairn, W. R. 1954. An Object-Relations Theory of the Personality. Basic Books. Henry, W. P., Strupp, H. H., Schacht, T. E., & Gaston, L. 1994. Psychodynamic Approaches. Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change. John Wiley & SonsBergin. Jung, C. G. 1981. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Princeton University Press. Seymour, E. 1994.” Integration of the Cognitive and the Psychodynamic Unconscious.” American Psychologist, 709-724. Read More