Comparison of Neil Hughes and Symon Basterfield Characters - Essay Example

Marina Artamonova NajaHougaard PSYCH 150 December 5, Comparison of Neil Hughes and SymonBasterfield characters in 42Up Vygotsy and Piaget’s theories of cognitive development claim that social factors play a major role in childhood development. Neil Hughes and Symon Barterfield are two characters from middle class and poor backgrounds respectively in 42UP TV series. Cognitive development includes a person’s cognitive structures, capabilities and progression. This is later on expressed in one’s adulthood and influence aindividual’s competence and ability to solve problems. According to Piaget, a child’s experience plays a central role in knowledge acquisition (Piaget 1). The environment in which the two characters grew up affected their personalities in communication behavior and career choice. Neil was more open while Symon was quite reserved. Symon’s exposure to poverty at an early age limited his aspirations while his counterpart believed that he could become anything he wished. Neil Hughes had a happy childhood while Symon’s childhood was quite stressful. Neil was unreserved and always ambitious that he aspired to become an astronaut. On the other hand, Symon Basterfield had tough experiences in his childhood since he grew up without a father who was of colored ethnicity. He was first introduced to a children’s’ home and later on was taken by his mother who was poor and depressed. Symon’s got used to negative mentality since his mother was always complaining. This affected his social relationships since his mind was filled with life’s negative issues. Neil was adapted to sufficient provision of food, shelter and clothing and was more exposed to the world to know the greatest professional he could become. He was also able to interact with more people. This explains that nature and nurture play an invaluable role in cognitive development. Nature includes biological aspects such as brain maturation, ability to understand, act and motivation while nurture includes both adaptation and organization. At concrete operational stage, Neil and Symon learnt to socialize (Piaget & Vygotsky 3). Since Neil was in a favorable environment, he learnt to be more open and got more confident. Piaget also recognized the formal operations stage which occurs at the age of 11-12 years where a person gains ability to think logically and theoretically (Silverthorn 2). This stage helps an individual to acquire problem solving skills which are later on seen in their adulthood. For example, by the time of “42Up” in July 1998, Symon was the most enthusiastic of the eleven participants in the show despite weakly provided socioeconomic background and being divorced. Symon had had five children with the first wife. In 35Up he was removed from the show but reappeared in “42Up” with a cheerful new wife, Vionetta (Smith 1). As a child Symon had not been exposed to the life of successfully married people. Seemingly, Symon had to learn how to succeed in matrimony by experimenting as suggested in 1975 theory, of cognitive development by Piaget. Difficulties in Symon’s marriage life remarkably resemble the problems in his childhood. This was probably because he made the same mistakes he used to make in his childhood. Since he grew up without a father, he probably did not know how best to relate with his wife though his greatest desire was to have a united family. Symon’s thinking had been negatively influenced by his mother, which is in line with Piaget’s view that the way of thinking in an individual is molded by childhood actions, imaginations and imitations (Piaget & Vygotsky 2). By 42Up after his mother had died, Symon admitted of not sharing his feelings such love, likes and even dislikes with his mother as often as he should have despite the feeling to be protective to her. While Symon was struggling with matrimony Neil struggled with financial instability. At the age of 21 he dropped out from university after one term and was seen working in a construction site. Neil was overambitious in his childhood only to be disappointed in his adulthood when he could not achieve his dreams. However, his personality of being open and able to communicate fluently made him acquire a job as a Liberal Democrat councilor in Hackney. His childhood development in language made him a better spokesman who could influence people’s minds and change those who were not decided. Grown up Neil looked unreserved and enthusiastic just as he did during the childhood. In 42Up he claimed its apathy that leads to bad governments. He is characterized by wanting to make a difference in the world. Ambitious Neil partially succeeded achieving his goals directing theater by the age 35 and becoming a politician by the age 42 (Newbury 1). Piaget proposed that behavior could become continuous or discontinuous as a result of assimilation, accommodation and equilibration (Piaget 3). Symon had to balance between assimilation and accommodation of experience from the first marriage to make it in the second marriage. Neil also had to master his weaknesses so as to be successful in society. Although Piaget’s focus of cognitive development is children, learning from experiences is common throughout the human life. Neil’s character as a child indicates self-confidence, enthusiasm and positive attitude as if he believed “one could do anything they desire in life”. Such high hopes and charisma brings joy to the other people by merely associating with them. The society does not wish to acquaintance with battered men and women who would show the negative picture in this world. Nevertheless who does ultimately succeed in life? Symon on the other hand had a rough start in life. Even as a teenager he was matured, clearly communicated the injustices in the society and showed signs of frustration. He lacked enthusiasm and confidence as critiques viewed however succeeded in life being happy and healthy. According to Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), fathers’ engagement in parenting mostly results in better emotional and educational achievements (Economic and social research council 1). Absence of a father made Symon to have lower self esteem. Neil also began progressive success only after going through difficult experiences having better understood his strengths, weaknesses and what life really is. He admits to lack of interpersonal skills required in developing long lasting relationships with other people. Neil depicts the typical bewilderment some children undergo as they step into the society with over self-confidence. Positive attitude is vastly venerated in the modern society but the truth is human life is full of unforeseen obstacles. People undergo sorrows, joys, disgrace, fame, lose, profit, success and failures at different stages in life. Only those who understand and accept the existence of such obstacles equip themselves with proper willpower towards success. All the characters in “Up” series admitted to have gone through difficult times even the privileged. However, though Neil came from a better socio-economic background, he did not have good quality relationship with his parents and as a result he developed negative attitude towards marriage and women. In 42Up also Neil was seen unmarried despite having exposed to healthy family relationships as a child. In an interview Neil also claimed he would not suggest a woman for presidency in Britain (Laja 1). How or where did such despise towards women started developing in Neil’s mind, film does not answer. However he always wished not having children because he didn’t want to reproduce such deficiencies he had inside another human being. Does this suggest presence of such deficiencies in Neil’s parents as well which he probably linked with his character? We do not know. This clearly shows that apart from economic aspects, poor parenting can affect the child negatively. Good parenting with a poor socioeconomic background can result in lifetime success or vice versa (Economic and social research council 1). Characteristically Neil wanted to serve those who elected him as a district councilor by reducing homelessness and unemployment in the UK while Symon wished to provide best parenting possible for his children. Both admit they would not rather have gone their children through similar bad experiences as they did. This motivation was obvious in other characters of “Up” series as well. In analyzing these two characters the unpredictability of human life is explicit. What are the real determinants of human development? Clearly common societal norms and cognitive development theories fail explaining the unpredictability associated with human development. The objective of any science is to upgrade the wellbeing of the society. Anthropologists and psychologists have their hands on developing theoretical models to improve the quality of human life. Underlying assumption of modeling human development is that “nature of human lives” can be controlled. Even the characters of “Up” series wished controlling at least certain aspects of their children’s life. But how much would they succeed in controlling the fate of another human being when they barely succeeded controlling their own fates? Analysis of charters of “Up” series also shows that a successful life cannot be bought for money, imposed by parents or race. Cognitive behaviors can be partially linked with children’s environment and biological processes but not completely. The choices humans will make given the circumstance we might never predict. Thus development of human life cannot be sufficiently predicted by using socioeconomic parameters or theories in psychology. By daily experiences we know that children of wealthy families have the equal chance of making wrong decisions in life. Similarly, analysis of Neil Hughes and SymonBasterfield characters in “Up” series also depicts the limitations of commonly held assumptions regarding human life and cognitive development of children. Vygotsky and Piaget theories in cognitive development argue that environment plays a key role in child development. Though nature has its cause, nurture is equally important since motivation to act is influenced from the mind. Challenges can happen to anyone whether rich or poor. The way one copes with a problem is what determines if he wins or loses. As long as one does not give up, they must make it in life. Tough experiences in a certain area of life can end up being one’s greatest assignment. Works Cited Economic and Social Research Council. Parenting style influences child development and social mobidity. n. d. Web. 5 December 2012. Laja, Sade. Public Inquiry Neil Hughes, 52, participant in the TV series seven up. 2009. Web. 5 December 2012. Newbury, Bryan. The Neil Hughes Interview. 2008. Web. 5 December 2012 Piaget and Vygotsky. Cognitive development. n. d. Web. 5 December 2012 Piaget. Piagets Theory. n. d. Web. 5 December 2012 Silverthorn, Pam. Jean Piagets theory of development. 1999. Web. 5 December 2012 Smith, Georgina. 7 up-Symon Basterfield. 2011. Web. 5 December 2012 . Read More