My Personal Portrait - Research Paper Example

Personal portrait 1 Personal portrait Abstract Development of a person in controlled by inherited traits such as optimistic or pessimistic dependent or independent, obtained genetically and also learned traits such as superiority or inferiority, based on the challenges and support received from the family and society. This paper evaluates my life stages based on Erik Erikson's developmental theory and Kohlberg's developmental model of moral development. Introduction Most of our personality traits are either learned or inherited. Life experiences control the learned traits. For example a kid never knows that fire is dangerous before he come in contact with it. Otherwise the parents need to teach him that fire is dangerous. In any case he learned about the heating capacity of fire from either his personal experience or from the lesson taught to him by somebody else. Genetics has nothing to do with such an acquired trait. On the other hand it is difficult to make a person optimistic or pessimistic with the help of artificial methods. Most of such traits came from heredity. Morality, aggression, domination and optimism are also examples of traits normally acquired from parents. It is better to use Erik Erikson's developmental theory and Kohlberg's developmental model of moral development to analyze one’s life stage by stage. “Erik Erikson organized life into eight stages that extend from birth to death; Infancy: Birth to 18 Months, Early Childhood: 18 Months to 3 Years, Play Age: 3 to 5 Years, School Age: 6 to 12 Years, Adolescence: 12 to 18 Years, Young adulthood: 18 to 35, Middle Adulthood: 35 to 55 or 65, and Late Adulthood: 55 or 65 to Death. Since adulthood covers a span of many years, Erikson divided the stages of adulthood into the experiences of young adults, middle aged adults and older adults.” (Harder, 2002) Personal portrait 3 My life stages based on Erik Erikson's developmental theory Infancy: Birth to 18 Months “If we pass successfully through this period of life, we will learn to trust that life is basically okay and have basic confidence in the future” (Harder, 2002) If we fail in this period it is difficult to lead a positive life in future. So the success of future life mainly depends on how well we were cared by our parents during this period. Some studies have shown that the tendency for suicide or suicide attempt is developed during this period because of the lost faith in the current world which has started to develop even from this period. I have no such feelings so far in my life and am optimistic in most of my approaches. I think my parents have cared me a lot during this period and I am really enjoying my life in the present world because of that. Early Childhood: 18 Months to 3 Years “Here we have the opportunity to build self-esteem and autonomy as we gain more control over our bodies and acquire new skills, learning right from wrong.” (Harder, 2002) I have not much idea about this period like the infancy period. But at present in most of the areas I am self sufficient and have a substantial level of self esteem. I am flexible enough to adapt with different situations now which I think the contribution of the care given to me by my parents during this period Play Age: 3 to 5 Years “During this period we experience a desire to copy the adults around us and take initiative in creating play situations.” (Harder, 2002) I have some role models in my life. My uncle who was a cricket player has influenced me a lot in my life. I have witnessed many of the Personal portrait 4 games played by him and at present I am a good cricket player which I think is attributed to my uncle. School Age: 6 to 12 Years “This is a very social stage of development and if we experience unresolved feelings of inadequacy and inferiority among our peers.” (Harder, 2002) I am really fond of making friends and having chat with them. I love the company of friends immensely for playing and also for sharing ideas. I don’t have any inferiority feeling among others because of my flexibility in dealing with different kinds of person. Adolescence: 12 to 18 Years “Up to this stage, according to Erikson, development mostly depends upon what is done to us. From here on out, development depends primarily upon what we do.” (Harder, 2002) During this stage most of my activities were controlled by me alone. The parental control has been reduced a lot and I started to act independently. I started to think in terms of my future and career during this period. Risk taking attitude has developed in me during this period. My life stages based on Kohlberg's developmental model of moral development As per this model the moral development takes place in six stages. At stage 1, children think of what is right as that which authority says is right. Doing the right thing is obeying authority and avoiding punishment (W.C. Crain, 1985). My early childhood (5-10 years) was completely controlled by my parents. They provided me the idea about the good and evils and also the do’s and don’ts of future life. Personal portrait 5 At stage 2, children are no longer so impressed by any single authority; they see that there are different sides to any issue (W.C. Crain, 1985) during my later childhood (10 to 12 years) I hated the more control imposed on me by my parents. I usually objected many views of my parents argued for unnecessary things during this stage. At stages 3 and 4, young people think as members of the conventional society with its values, norms, and expectations (W.C. Crain, 1985). This stage (12 to 24 years) can be considered as a stage in which I started to develop moral values independently. I got some ideas about morality and the social customs and I have started to segregate the goods and the evils. Conclusion The personality of a person depends on inherited traits as well as acquired traits. The care given to us, during our infancy and childhood period by our parents have immense effect on our personality and moral developments in future. Most of our character development, attitudes and interests are developed based on heredity and environment. Personal portrait 6 References 1. Harder Arlene F., MA, MFT, The Developmental Stages of Erik Erikson, Retrieved on March 12, 2009 from 2. W.C. Crain, (1985), KOHLBERG'S STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT, Retrieved on March 12, 2009 from Read More