Theory of Social and Emotional Development - Essay Example

? Report on Social and Emotional Development Assignment No. 2 Prepared by: Mohammad Al-Qarni Ali Al-Yarni Prepared for: Grading Rubric Excellent (80%-100%) Ability to write professionally and comprehensively. Fully complying with the instruction brief and APA referencing style. Excellent research with references from scientific journals and articles. Good (70-79%) Ability to coherently and academically research on the topic and write in a clear manner. In-depth research on the topic with more than 4 sources from academic journals. Very few grammatical errors and few minor referencing mistakes. Satisfactory (60-69%) The topic has been covered with research but not in much detail. One or two research papers have been studied. There are grammatical errors and some major referencing mistakes. Poor (0%-59%) The paper has been poorly written without any research, plenty of grammatical errors and referencing mistakes. 1 Introduction Development of human beings has been studied and analyzed over centuries in order to understand the effect of macro and internal environmental factors associated with them (Aiger, 2011). Furthermore, the researchers and psychologists have given due consideration to the social and the emotional aspects of an individual from the infancy to maturity. Without the examination of the social, emotional, intellectual and physical development an individual cannot attain a developed status. Therefore, this report aims to study the Erik Erikson’s Theory of Social and Emotional Development and consider the practical examples associated with childhood, adolescence and adulthood. As well as, the report will shed some light over the relationship between heredity and environmental factors in the development of an individual. In the end, the report will conclude the discussion with the summary of the main points. 2 Social and Emotional Development Erik Erikson was an American development psychologist and psychoanalyst. He thought that every person in this world has to undergo such stages of life in which one sometimes become successful or unsuccessful. Accordingly, Erikson (1959) postulated that these stage start from infancy (childhood) to adulthood. The theory of social and emotional development is also known as Stages of Physiological Development and is composed of eight (8) stages that can be summarized in three stages i.e. childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The theory of social and emotional development moves around the thinking of respected person. 2.1 Overview of Strength of Research The social and emotional development theory was based on the feelings and emotion that a person derives from the family and social locality. The research thus, was based on the five primary factors upon which a human being totally relies upon from the time one is born till death. These factors are: hopes, wills, purpose, autonomy and fidelity. The research supports a continuous view of development as the type of development which is shown in this research displays a continuous growth of human being (Sigleman & Rider, 2012). 3 Childhood Stage The stage of childhood is divided into three sub-groups, namely: (1) Toddlers from 0 to 2 years, (2) Pre-childhood from 2 to 4 years, and (3) Childhood from 4 to 6 years of age. 3.1 Toddler’s Stage In the stage of toddler, the child develops the sense of trust, security and attachment. “Trust is the first emotional stage of child development” (Erik Erikson, 1950). This stage occurs in the age of 0 to 2 years. In this stage the child starts exploring his body and if anybody touches them, they start showing emotions. The child shows preference towards his parents or caregivers and begins differentiating between friend and strangers. For instance, the toddler’s development is marked with the beginning to which person should he trust (Bukatko & Daehler, 2012). 3.2 Pre-Childhood Stage In the pre-childhood stage the child had developed the sense of self awareness and develops the sense of pride in their independence and acknowledgement. The child starts identifying him/her as good or bad, attractive or not (Raver & Knitzer, 2002). The child has also develops the feeling of their caregivers as well the strangers. The emotions showed by the child in this stage are unpredictable. For instance, in the pre-childhood stage, a child begins to consider the question that whether a particular thing is right for him or not (Bukatko & Daehler, 2012). 3.3 Childhood Stage The childhood stage is from 4 to 6 years as it is the final social emotional development stage. In this stage the child develops the ability of thinking as well as the ability to imagine. But if it is not properly developed, the child gets involved in fairs and becomes unable to communicate correctly with different people. This stage of development focuses mainly on social skills. The child becomes able to make friendships and through these friendships; the child starts relating him to others. For instance, the child contemplates that whether the act which he is doing is right or wrong. James (2007) postulated that the a child learns from nature and nurture. The nature is also known as heredity where as nurture relates to environmental factors. When a child is born, he or she has inherited the same color of eye shade as of his/her parent(s). This is heredity. Similarly, a child with artistic talent is sent to art school for specialization in fine arts to become a painter is given credit to the nurture or environmental factors that have polished and improved the child’s heredity talents to form a skill. In the childhood stage, a child begins to learn from its environment in the form of what is right and what is wrong. 4 Adolescence This stage can also be divided into three stages that are stated below: 1. Early Adolescence Stage: There are three (3) developments process which occurs during the development of a child to a person. In the start the development starts physically i.e. the child body becomes ready in the form of a boy and girl. Then the cognitive development starts in which the brain of the child becomes ready to start abstract thinking and their moral thinking becomes deeper, the intellectual interests expands and they are more important than everything else. In this stage the child has its interest in present with a limited thought about his/her future (Sigleman & River, 2012). Then the social-emotional development starts in which the child starts struggling with sense of identity and has an increased influence of peer group. The child has a desire for independence and now he has his/her greater interest in privacy. 2. Middle Adolescence Stage: The physical development continues; the growth of girls slower and higher for boys. The cognitive development reaches a stage of capacity of abstract thinking and the in this stage the child has a greater capacity for setting goals and he/she has an interest in moral reasoning and meaning of life. The social-emotional development of the child makes self-involvement and has high expectations. They develop the tendency to distance themselves from parents and they develop the feelings of love and passion. 3. Late Adolescence Stage: In this stage the child becomes a person and the body of young women is fully developed but the body of young men continues to development. Due to the cognitive development, the person has an ability to think ideas and has an ability to delay gratification. The person has an increased concern about the future and has continued interest in moral reasoning. In the social- emotional development the person has a firmer sense of identity and has an increased emotional stability. The person at this stage has a concern about others and the relationship between peers remains important. The stage of adolescence is between the age of 13 to 22 years and in this age the child’s mind is fully prepared to get into the works of the world. In this stage the child thinks that how the child would appear to the world. The superego ability of the child is formed and his mind is ready to get into the challenges of the world. The child develops a sense of sexual identity in the later ages of adolescence. As the child makes a transition from childhood to adulthood, the adolescents mark the roles which they will play in the future. Some children make a sense of identity regarding whom they are and where their lives are headed. During the adolescent stage the child make all the goals of his life and the child can change the mind of himself. For instance, the child begins to think about oneself by asking the question who he is and what he can be in the future (Aigler, 2011). Furthermore, at this stage one considers about the future goals and takes the direction to achieve them. This is the point where the child has fully developed to assume the worldly aspects and think about the future hopes, develops a purpose to achieve them and takes on the will power in order to step over the roadblocks. 5 Adulthood In the adulthood stage the psychological and social developments continue and a personal life span is developed. During this stage the independence from their families motivates them to achieve interdependence and find a place in the society (Sigleman & River, 2012). The person gets more responsibilities during this stage because they are now concerned about their parental generation. The people at this stage often undergo profound reorientation and get involved in the unfolding of a child’s life. The developmental tasks of young adulthood include choosing education and occupation, selecting a marriage partner, leaving to live with a spouse or wife and developing a satisfactory sex life. During the age of 35 to 55 years the person reaches the midlife transition. This stage is represented by stage of generatively. During this period the life of the person totally changes because now he/she is heading towards the extreme of life. During the old adulthood stage the person life is characterized by increased wisdom but many other things such as health, friends, family and independence are being lost. In the stage of adulthood the child has become mature and called as a person. This stage is started from the stage of 22 to 39 years as in this age the person is ready to face the challenges of the world and makes his abilities prove in the world. In this stage the person makes friendship and often breaks friendship. In this stage the person is ready to make long term commitments to other people as in this stage the person does marriage and changes his life. As this stage finishes at the age of 39; then the new stage starts which is of age 40 to 65 years. The most important developmental task in this age is to contribute to the society and it helps to guide future generations. If any person makes a contribution by raising a family toward the betterment of the society; a sense of accomplishment is made and in contrast if a person who is unable to help society towards the betterment, makes a feeling of dissatisfaction. After this stage, another stage starts which is from the age of 78 onwards. In this stage as the person gets older he becomes senior citizen and his capability of productivity is slowed down. When senior people look back into their lives and accomplishments; they feel a sense of pride and this is the last development task of every person (Jones, 1930). And if they look in their lives and feel disappointments and unattained goals then they feels a sense of despair. For instance, the person thinks that the decisions which he made throughout his life were right or wrong. 6 Conclusion The Erik Erikson’s theory of social and emotional theory covers all the stages of life and every stage of life has its own importance. It takes into consideration the hope, will, purpose, autonomy and fidelity factors to examine how a child learns and grows. As a result, the eight stages have been identified that are summarized into three, namely: childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The childhood stage is where the child is identified with heredity aspects and is then polished through environmental factors. In the adolescence stage, the person starts taking into consideration the future goals and objectives of ones life and how to achieve them. The adulthood is the time when the life’s most important years have been spent and one considers the question that the decisions one had taken in the past were correct or not. References Aiger, A., (2011). Emotional & Social Development in Early Childhood. Retrieved March 7, 2012 from http://www.livestrong.com/article/153860-emotional-social-development-in-early-childhood/ Bukatko, D., & Daehler, M.W., (2012). Child Development: A Thematic Approach. Wadsworth. 6th Ed. Retrieved March 7, 2012 from http://books.google.com.pk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kzxOCPEct6sC&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=influence+of+heredity+and+environment+on+growth+and+development&ots=9Js3kzA-5x&sig=gpED0fuuKuIgcM7Z1j5jYn5w6EE#v=onepage&q&f=false Erikson, E.H., (1959). Identity and the Life Cycle. New York: International Universities Press. James, W., (2007). Psychology: Genetic and Environmental Influences on Human Development. Cosimo Classics. Retrieved March 7, 2012 from http://www.nios.ac.in/secpsycour/unit-11.pdf Jones, H.E., (1930). Heredity and Environment in Child Development. Journal of Heredity, 21(6): 269-271. Retrieved March 7, 2012 from http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/6/269.extract Sigleman, C.K., & Rider, E.A., (2012). Life-Span Human Development. Wadsworth. 7th Ed. http://books.google.com.pk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=8smBuRecmDsC&oi=fnd&pg=PT5&dq=influence+of+heredity+and+environment+on+growth+and+development&ots=RinS6Rti4o&sig=ycaOgSh7LrYnizcy8DXLyXVsAWc#v=onepage&q=influence%20of%20heredity%20and%20environment%20on%20growth%20and%20development&f=false Raver, C.C., & Knitzer, J., (2002). Ready to enter: What research tells policymarkers about strategies to promote social and emotional school readiness among three-and four-year-olds. Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago. Retrieved March 18, 2012 from http://ideas.repec.org/p/har/wpaper/0205.html Read More