Introspective Analysis of an Elderly Man - Essay Example

?Introspective Analysis of an Elderly Man Pierre is a 75-year old man who migrated to the US from France when he was a teenager. When he was 60, he figured in a car accident and has lost the function of his legs, leaving him wheelchair-bound. He lives on his own with a nurse. His daughter and her family live nearby so she visits him often, along with his grandchildren. Growing up in France, he had a happy childhood. As a young boy, he helped in their small bakery – in the kitchen, at the store and in delivering orders to neighbours early in the morning for their breakfast. Although he was happy helping his parents, there were times when he would resent the huge responsibility put on him at such a young age because he was not free to play with his friends any time he wanted. His mother allowed him to play during weekends but only after they closed the store. On Sunday afternoons, he and his father would play ball in the yard while he listened to stories of his father’s own childhood and some life lessons. His mother and two sisters bonded in the kitchen while making a big Sunday dinner for the family. He went to the United States when he was eighteen to pursue a college education. He took up Journalism because he wanted to be a writer. He contributed his poems and essays to the school paper as one of the writing staff. It is in this setting where he met his first love, Carmela, a beautiful student who wanted to be a teacher someday. Theirs was a happy relationship which lasted for five years. Unfortunately, Carmela was summoned back to her country, Mexico, to take care of her dying mother. Eventually, her mother died and they were left with huge debts that she had no choice but to marry the owner of the business they owed money to. Pierre was devastated because he and Carmela had great dreams together, but he had to accept her decision to save her family from their debtors who threatened them unless they pay up. Carmela’s husband eventually paid all of them off. Pierre embarked on a writing career in a newspaper company. He dated a lot of women and got one girl, Michelle, pregnant. Being a gentleman, he offered to marry the girl even if he was not in love with her. In his heart, it will always be Carmela. Afraid for her own reputation, Michelle accepted his offer and they started a life together. Both of them felt they were stuck in a loveless marriage. They had two children, Nathan and Emily. Pierre thought Michelle was not a good mother as she was negligent of their children. He took care of them most of the time, especially Emily who was very close to him. He has always found Nathan to be distant. His first book was published when he was thirty two. He had good reviews for it and it was a bestseller. He was able to earn much from that and his agent commissioned him to write another book. He had a very successful writing career. He travelled to places for speaking engagements for the promotion of his books. Meanwhile, his marriage to Michelle ended when he turned forty. They got divorced and immediately after, Michelle married another man. His children remained under his custody. After the divorce, his career zoomed up until he met a car accident 15 years ago. Since then, he lost his zest for writing and decided to take it easy since most of his life, he worked so hard. He enjoys spending time with his grandchildren when they visit. He also considers his nurse as a family member, having served him for more than 10 years now. He even helped her put her son through school. The boy sometimes stays with them when he is on vacation. Pierre and his daughter, Emily, continue to have a close relationship. However, his son Nathan seems to have estranged himself from the family. He moved to another state with his own family but still comes and visits once or twice a year. He remains to be cold to Pierre, but his children adore their grandfather. Pierre plans to take his grandchildren to France in the summer together with his daughter, daughter-in-law and his nurse. Analyzing Pierre with Psychological Theories Pierre’s happy childhood had so much to do with how he has grown to be a confident, kind, intelligent and successful adult. His parents formed a strong bond with him while he was growing up as well as instilled a firm set of values and principles. As a boy, he was already given much responsibility and this has provided him not only with skills but a personal sense of discipline that guided him throughout his life. Piaget’s cognitive development theory (1969) claims that a child develops his learning abilities that prepare him to survive life’s challenges. Initially, he discovers the world using his senses, and as he grows, learns to form associations and conclusions. With close relationships to significant adults, the child develops a sense of security enabling him to venture into more learning about his world (Vygotsky, 1978). Pierre was fortunate to have had a solid foundation of love and support laid out for him by his loving parents. At eighteen, Pierre moved from France to the US to pursue his degree in Journalism. . According to Brofenbrenner’s ecological model, (1979) the behavior and development of an individual is an interplay of biological and personality factors, environment, society, and culture. Pierre moved into an unfamiliar ecological system. Migrating to another country can be overwhelming. Having gone through the microsystem of his family, the mesosystem between his home and school, and expanding his world in the exosystem of his community, he now ventures to enter the fourth system: the macrosystem of the United States. The macrosystem includes the customs, values and laws that are important in a person’s culture and upbringing. Pierre brought his macrosystem from France and attempted to integrate it into the macrosystem he found in the US. The chronosystem is the time he spent in the US imbibing a bicultural system –that of France and the US. He was initially an object of curiosity among his peers, speaking a different language and having an interesting accent, but after getting accustomed to it and being used to American culture, he was able to thrive. Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development contends that “at each stage of life we face the task of establishing equilibrium between ourselves and our social world.” (Corey, 2005, p. 53). This entailed conflicts between two opposing constructs like identity formation vs. identity diffusion. Pierre’s childhood had various stages, each with its own personal conflicts. The enormous changes in his life when he was a teenager can be too overwhelming for an adolescent or young adult: moving to another country, living on his own and adjusting to a new environment and phase in his life. All these tested his strength and integrity. From the interview, it is assumed that he was able to adapt to such “Eriksonian” conflicts way up to his adolescence when the conflict was identity formation vs. identity diffusion. Adolescence, being the time of transition between childhood and adulthood becomes a challenging time of testing limits, gaining more independence and establishing a new identity. There surfaces the need to clarify self-identity, life goals and life’s meaning, and failure to achieve a sense of identity results in role confusion (Erikson, 1963, p. 63). From a very secure childhood, he faced huge changes. His independence helped him discover his identity but being away from his family, his source of nurturance and security threatened his identity formation. Without the guidance of his parents, no matter how far they were, he might have experienced identity diffusion. Entering adult life and embarking on a profession brought more changes. According to Erikson, human development entails personal conflicts and each psychosocial stage of development demands certain adaptations. Confronting one’s environment involves a shift in perspective and this requires us to refocus our energies in accordance to the stage of life we are in (Schultz & Schultz, 2005). Erikson contends that “a crisis is a turning point in life, when we have the potential to move forward or to regress” (Erikson, 1963, p. 75). Whatever we decide reflects the strength of our character. As a young adult, it is normal to meet and engage in relationships with the opposite sex. This is when one steps into the Intimacy vs. Distantiation vs. Self-Absorption stage of Psychosocial development. The developmental task of young adults is to form intimate relationships by seeking their lifetime mates through romantic relationships of very close friendships that form strong emotional bonds. However, when intimacy is not achieved, alienation and isolation take place (Erikson, 1963). Pierre shared an intimate relationship with Carmela, his first love. When they separated paths, he was devastated and he distanced himself from the rest of the world for a while. When he recovered, he then decided to be absorbed in his career. Pierre may have married for the wrong reason of being a “knight in shining armor” for the lady he got pregnant out of wedlock. However, it was in his value system to save the lady’s reputation by offering marriage. He stuck to his principles, forgetting his own preference of staying single until he found the right woman for him. He may have regretted marrying her especially after she turned out to be a negligent mother to his children. The two children were very different and the way Pierre related to them was based on how they related to him. According to Skinner’s Behaviorist theory (1971), a behavior is reinforced if positive feelings are experienced by a person in response to an event and in contrast, a behavior is extinguished or decreased in frequency if such an event brings about negative experiences. Pierre did not spend as much time with his son because it caused feelings of regret and disappointment at how he had been so cold to him all these years. His son turned out to be very much like his mother. On the other hand, his daughter and her family, give him so much joy, so he enjoys talking about them and spends as much time with them as he can. He believes that his son does not enjoy his company, so he does not give him much attention anymore. Skinner explains that our beliefs are built when we increase the probability of action by reinforcing behavior. However when we give verbal assurances on something that the individual does not actually question, demonstrate its integrity or give more specific descriptions, then we challenge those beliefs. Being in Erikson’s last stage of psychosocial development, Integrity vs. Despair and Disgust, Pierre lives with integrity in spite of his physical disability. Late adulthood is a time when ego integrity over one’s lifetime is evaluated. If one looks back at the life he has lived with few regrets, then ego integrity is achieved. On the other hand, failure to achieve ego integrity leads to feelings of despair, hopelessness, guilt, resentment and self-rejection” (Erikson, 1963, p. 65). If one is to analyze Pierre’s life with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it can be said that he has satisfied all his needs. Maslow (1970) formulated a hierarchy of needs that must be satisfied in a person’s lifetime, and that as more basic needs are fulfilled, higher ones must be met. The hierarchy of needs is as follows: physiological; safety; belongingness and love; esteem and self-actualization. Being a published author who has reached the peak of his career before he met an accident, Pierre is at the stage where self-actualization is being realized. He now tries to enjoy life to the fullest, despite having a physical disability. He is confident that he has lived a rich and fulfilling life and is ready to meet his Maker any time. References Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge MA Harvard University Press. Corey, G. (2005). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. 7th ed. City, State: Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning Inc. Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Norton. Maslow, A.H. (1970). Motivation and personality. City, St: Harper & Row Publishers. Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York, NY: Basic Books Schultz, D. & Schultz, S. (2005). Theories of personality. 8th ed. City, State: Thomson-Wadsworth Skinner, B.F. (1971). Beyond freedom and dignity. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Read More