Developmental Theories in Psychology - Essay Example

Part A The social environment: family, friends, peers, community, the rest of the world. The Eight Stages of Man Crises Psychosocial Social Interaction Middle childhood Latency stage Inertia Narrow virtuosity Competence Industry vs. Inferiority Friends and Peers Rules Rule!!! Social interaction personality + behaviour Cooperation and competition Independence and autonomy Significant others = friend and peers Hard work success! Competence = who I am is not dependant on my ability to achieve Erik Erikson Part B Erikson was the first psychological theorist to construct a comprehensive theory of human development that covered the entire lifespan, "The Eight Stages of Man" (Slater & Bremner, 2003). He broke from Freud's teachings that stated biology as the determinant of personality and behavioural development, focusing rather on social interaction (Slater & Bremner, 2003). Hence, Erikson focused on the psychosocial development of a person, and believed that childhood experiences directly influenced future adult experiences (Slater & Bremner, 2003). Erikson contended that an interaction occurs between a person's social environment and their biological stage of maturation that creates a "crises" that must be resolved in order to move on positively to the next stage of psychosocial development (Slater & Bremner, 2003). Each of the stages of development in Erikson's theory is a "sensitive phase" that represents the optimum time period within which to resolve a crisis (Slater & Bremner, 2003). Whether the resolution is positive or negative, the results function as the foundation of the next crisis period (Slater & Bremner, 2003). Middle childhood, was also termed the Latency stage by Erikson and occurred during the ages of 6-11 years (Slater & Bremner, 2003). The beginning of this period paralleled the concrete operational stage of cognitive development of Jean Piaget's (1952), where the child begins to conceptualise more systematically, can consider several factors of a situation at once (decentration), begins to classify and categorize, and can perform conservation (as cited in Austrian, 2002). The child must resolve the socio-emotional conflict of inferiority vs. accomplishment (Slater & Bremner, 2003). Children at this time are encouraged to work together on tasks and so the child compares their ability to create and achieve goals with the achievements met by their peers (Austrian, 2002). The significant others at this time, according to Erikson, will be peers at school and in their neighbourhood (Slater & Bremner, 2003). However, their social sphere in general is extending beyond their parents and family, to incorporate teachers and other members of the community with whom they are coming into more contact with (Slater & Bremner, 2003). As such, all these social beings contribute to the socio-emotional growth of the child (Slater & Bremner, 2003). Systematic instruction is required for the child during the latency stage, with the direct involvement of relevant role models critical to the child's development of a sense of industry (Coughlan & Welsh-Breetzke, 2002). Lev Vygotsky (1978) also emphasised the critical need for social interaction for development, although his theory focused on the social process of learning for cognitive development (as cited in Austrian, 2002). According to moral theory of Lawrence Kholberg (1970), middle childhood is a time of progressing from the stages of preconventional to conventional morality (as cited in Austrian, 2002). Hence, the opinions of social others become more important and the child's behaviour conforms to meet social norms (Austrian, 2002). Erikson viewed the latency period as a developmental period where the child must learn to tame their imagination, and orient themselves towards learning the social norms of their culture, and of learning the educational requirements for their age (Slater & Bremner, 2003). The child continues to develop their sense of autonomy and independence as initiated in the earlier stage of shame vs. autonomy, so that the child is encouraged to develop their own inner discipline (Slater & Bremner, 2003). They become aware that although plans can be made, they must also be followed through, and that this can be a pleasurable experience. Notable changes take place in the area of play, in that rules of games are much more taken notice of, and may even be considered sacred (Slater & Bremner, 2003). The child is also likely to become upset if the game cannot continue until its completion; this is in contrast to the earlier stage of genital-locomotor in which rules were not understood, changed often to suit the child's mood, and games were often not played till their completion (Slater & Bremner, 2003). Erikson considered a healthy resolution one in which the child learns to accomplish manual, social and cognitive goals on par, or exceeding, standards set by peers (Slater & Bremner, 2003). If competence is not attained, then inertia will likely result wherein the child perceives themselves as unable to succeed. Alternatively, if the child is expected to achieve too much it can result in a tendency for narrow virtuosity (Slater & Bremner, 2003). Authoritative parenting, or rejecting peers and teachers can impact on a child's developing sense of accomplishment, and they may instead develop a sense of inferiority (Slater & Bremner, 2003). Also, racial, sexual, or physical discrimination can also contribute to a child perceiving themselves as inferior to their peers (Slater & Bremner, 2003). As such, the child learns to equate who they are as a person with achievement, hence hard work is not conductive to success. And so, their perceptions of worthlessness lead them to see themselves as unable to achieve, so why try Contemporary Western education is oriented towards the concept of inclusiveness, and as such stresses the need for social competence to be learnt by a child, as so the theory of Erikson remains very relevant (Keyes & McCay, 2001). However, aspects of his stage theory are limited in their universal application to children aged between 6-11 years. For example, Erikson's theory was extremely Euro-centric and focused on Western values of individuality, privacy and self-interest that tended to be upheld by the white middle class of North American society (Coughlan & Welsh-Breetzke, 2002). Also, issues of childhood poverty are prevalent among industrialised nations in the 21st century, with an estimated 3.6 million children living in poverty in the UK (H.M. Treasury, 2004). The impact of poverty during middle childhood is that they do not have the opportunity to live a carefree and unworried life, as they are often needed to take on responsibilities within the household due to caregiver workloads, unemployment and or low income. Attendance at school and their achievements with education, and with their peers, may not be a priority within the household. Hence, they do not have access to the opportunities to interact with their peers in ways that were available in Erikson's time. Alternatively, children in the latency period of developing nations may also be exposed to violence in the form of war. And they are much more likely to have priorities such as food, water, and health issues rather than achieving successes though industrious play. As such many children globally in the middle childhood period may not have opportunities to play cooperatively with their peers. As such, psychosocial development may not occur even though they do socialise with significant others. Additionally, dysfunctional family environments during a time when the child is to be learning "social rules" often results in the child being unable to internalise emotional aspects of social interactions into their psych (Austrian, 2002). Studies have found that more hours alone as a child can be associated with poor behavioural adjustment and poor social skills in later years. In contrast, cross-cultural studies have found that children can develop competence and a sense of industry even when deprived of the role models considered essential by Erikson (Coughlan & Welsh-Breetzke, 2002). For example, during the apartheid in South Africa many children were deprived of parents and adults as systematic instructors, and yet developed high levels of functioning and industrious successes (Coughlan & Welsh-Breetzke, 2002). As such, Erikson's theory does not account for cultural variations in how societies perceive middle childhood, and the cultural context in which middle childhood occurs. It may be that the values proscribed by a collectivist culture, that de-emphasise the individual and focus on collective care and a sense of identify developed through social networks, may buffer psychosocial deprivations such as a lack of opportunity to play, or deprivation of adult role models. Part C Play is a dynamic activity that helps in the development of a child's cognitive and psycho-social skills. Erikson emphasized play and toys for the healthy development of children, including those in the latency period (Packer Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002). Play, utilizing toys, can help a child to feel that they belong to a group, as well as assist them to learn how to interact with different groups for different purposes. It provides them with the opportunity to socialise (Packer Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002). A psychosocial play activity that could be utilized for children confined to their beds is the Personalized Education by Bringing Learning Environments to Students (PEBBLES), a videoconferencing using a personal computer that connects the hospitalized child with classmates or peers in real-time (Weiss, Whitely, Trevianuss, & Fels, 2000). The technology provides the child with a medium with which to stimulate their socio-emotional needs. For example, card games can be played via the system and enable the child to engage with rule based play, as well as to socialize and communicate with their peers. Enabling play with other children in the form of such games also provides the opportunity for the child to match their behaviour with others, and to consider the opinions of others as being different from their own (Packer Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002). Rule based games with their peers can help the child to develop their social skills, develop sensitivity to the needs and values of others, learn to manage their emotions, develop self-control and help them to feel comfortable with their own feelings as they allow themselves to express unwanted feelings in a socially acceptable way by having the opportunity to work through conflict with their social others (Packer Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002). Concepts such as competition and cooperation can be developed, as they learn to be aware of the skills and abilities of themselves and others (Packer Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002). Research supports the use of PEBBLES to develop the independence and self-esteem of hospitalized children (Weiss et al., 2000). An advantage of the system is that it enables the child to maintain existing psychosocial relationships with friends and peers within their classroom and neighbourhood. Although the original model had customized monitors, all that is required for the system are two desktop computers with broadband access, video cameras and microphones, and video-conferencing software. Hence, the system is easy to use for the child, hospital staff and teachers/caregivers at the remote location, and can be easily transferred to other users, and stored away when not in use (Weiss, 2000). References Austrian, S. G. (2002). Developmental theories through the life cycle. New York: Columbia University Press. Coughlan, F., & Welsh-Breetzke, A. (2002). The circle of courage and Erikson's psychosocial stages. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 10. H.M. Treasury (2004). Child Poverty Review. Retrieved April 21st, 2006 from: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/44F/77/childpoverty_chap1_290704.pdf Keyes, E. W., McCay, L. O. (2001). Developing social competence in the inclusive primary classroom. Childhood Education, 78. Packer Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002 Isenberg, J., & Quisenberry, N. (2002). Play: Essential for all children. Childhood Education, 79. Slater, A. and Bremner, J. G. (Eds.) (2003) Introduction to Developmental Psychology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Weis, P. L., Whitely, C. P., Trevianuss, J., & Fels, D. I. (2000). PEBBLES: A personal technology for meeting educational, social, and emotional needs of hospitalized children. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 5(3), 157-168. Read More