Psychological Evolution - Term Paper Example

Introduction: Psychological evolution involves a range of human abilities that develop at various stages of human development thus helping the human being gather knowledge through various sources such as observation, experience, learning, coaching, and doing. These sources in turn cause multidimensional learning which may result in positive and/or negative outcomes in the individual in the form of different perceptions, information, and different ways of thinking. This entire and gradual human development of knowledge and psychology was first explained in a systematic and integrated manner by Julian Huxley (1941) in the form of psychosocial theory, which has been strengthened by various other psychologists, with major contribution from Erik Erikson (1963) (cited by Newman, B and Newman, P, 2007). The following discussion reviews two research papers published on psychological aspects of obese people based on the five stage framework postulated in psychosocial theory. Based on these researches, an attempt will be made to understand how obesity impacts individuals’ consciousness and behavior besides physical wellbeing. Psychosocial theory helps in understanding how an individual’s cognitive and psychological development is influenced by various external factors and internal competencies/conflicts that arise as a result of misconceptions or disorientations. The two research papers have been thoroughly read to identify different nuances that underpin individuals’ psychological development and their consequential pathologies/crises. Further, findings from both the researches have been applied to five stages of psychosocial theory to understand implications of the psychological problems faced by these people and their relation to the individuals’ psychosocial development. A brief description: The first research paper is a systematic review of clinical data obtained from 1985 Consensus Conference on obesity conducted by various researchers. This review was conducted by Stunkard and Wadden (1992) titled ‘psychological aspects of severe obesity.’ The study focuses on various aspects of psychological stress experienced by severely obese people before undergoing anti-obesity surgery. They further compare these obese people’s psychological behavior after the surgery, and point out the changes in their psychosocial behavior. This study used a variety of sample which showed varied heterogeneity in their psychological features. A systematic grouping of these populations into clusters of specific sub types helped in arriving at a pattern that brought out the trend of psychopathological issues and psychosocial behavior exhibited by the obese people including children as well as adults. The review does not specify any specific range of the age of sample population considered in the studies. The second study includes Braet and Mervielde’s (1996) research conducted on 289 clinically and non-clinically obese and normal weight children aged between 9 and 12 to assess each group’s psychosocial characteristics through interviews conducted by trained psychologists. This research attempted to identify the differences between clinical and nonclinically obese children’s psychosocial characteristics, self-confidence, and any observable behavioral changes. The extent of psychopathological conditions was also reviewed, but the study could not establish any relationship between children’s self-concept and the obvious psychopathological conditions. The Psychosocial Theory: Psychosocial behavior of individuals has been explained by many psychologists through various theories, and has been mentioned in theories related to human developmental stages, learning patterns, environmental influences, and biological factors (Newman, B & Newman, P, 2007). However, psychosocial theory has been exclusively described in the form of interaction between individual and the society which includes different stages of ego development, identity, world view and social relationships. The theory proposed by Erik Erikson defines human development as a product of the ongoing interaction of an individual’s biological and psychological needs and abilities on the one hand, and societal expectations on the other. This theory describes human development over five basic concepts including, stages of development, psychosocial crises, radius of significant relationships, prime adaptive ego qualities, and core pathologies (Newman, B & Newman, 2007; 215). In short, summarizing Erikson’s theory Newman and Newman (2007) explained that people tend to form impressions in the form of prime adaptive ego qualities, which are learnt from previous developmental stages. If children are unable to cope with the changes and/or adapt to the developmental stage, they tend to become perplexed, thus forming inappropriate impressions of self and surroundings leading to core pathologies. These may also be referred to as deviations to the adapted ego qualities, termed as core pathologies, which tend to cause crises that can be resolved by bringing a balance between the ego qualities and its deviations; this in turn orients the person toward basic mental states and brings a sense of competence thereby improving the confidence level and eliminating feelings of abnormality or inferiority. These postulations can be aptly applied to the situations identified through the two researches included in this discussion. Psychological processes Stunkard and Wadden’s (1992) review pointed at psychological functioning of obese people before and after weight reduction procedures, the findings of which provide a remarkable insight into few critical psychological areas including psychosocial functioning, disparagement of the body image, marital and sexual relations, eating behaviors, and depressive response to weight reduction. Studies indicated that weight loss surgery greatly improved the psychosocial functioning of obese patients caused directly by increased activity and strength and led to greater self confidence and lesser self consciousness. From psychosocial theory perspective, a reinterpretation of previous stage in view of new experience caused by losing weight brought about new resolution and banished the previous conflict that these obese people had experienced. These people reported greater participation in social and group events/activities; increased job satisfaction and had better chances in career progression; improved mood, self-esteem, and interpersonal relationships. This indicates the principle of radius of significant relationships whereby a person is able to satisfy his/her ego by meeting social expectations, a means to neutralize psychosocial crisis. This principle is further underpinned by the findings in most of the researches in Stunkard and Wadden’s (1992) review which indicated that obese people were very satisfied with their body images post reduction, and felt more attractive and less self-conscious. Marriage and sexual life as one of the psychosocial outcomes in this review showed remarkable shift toward positive side, and reduced incidences of divorce and improved sexual relationships. A marked difference in eating habits was also found in these people post reduction. However, the five principles of psychosocial theory may not be able to explain behavioral aspects responsible for eating habits of obese and/or normal people. The studies also indicated far less depressive responses to weight reduction among people after weight reduction surgeries compared to their psychological status when on dieting plans. These people also continued to control their weight unlike during diet control therapy before weight reduction. According to the developmental stages principle in the psychosocial theory, children in the age group of 6 to 12 tend to develop competence as the major adaptable ego quality. Applying this to Braet and Mervielde’s (1996) research, children in this age group displayed lower physical competence, and thus lower self worth, which means children experienced deviations at this developmental stage due to lack of skill and activity required for completion of tasks among their peer group. Stunkard and Wadden’s (1992) review identified that significant number of severely obese people suffered with psychopathological conditions such as depressive disorders, adjustment disorders with depression, affective disorder, psychiatric illness, personality disorders as well as history of inpatient treatment for psychiatric illness. In this review, one study even indicated lower acceptance rates for obese students into prestigious academic institutions (p.525s). The same case was noted by other studies for employing obese people into their organizations. In fact, armed forces, police, fire departments and air force groups out rightly reject obese candidates. It was also found that chances for people to marry obese people were far less than choosing average people. Thus, prejudice and discrimination were found in almost every study included in this review. The psychological distress caused by such prejudice and discrimination can be traced to their prime adaptive ego qualities that every individual might have developed at earlier stages of life, which had resulted in the persons’ present dominant worldview with continued reformulation with new ego qualities. In addition, this review recognized that many obese persons suffered from psychological problems specific to obesity such as binge eating, disparagement of the body image, psychosocial ills including lack of confidence; sense of isolation; humiliation due to inability to fit into trendy clothes, airplane seats, narrow passages etc. All of these findings, except binge eating, are related to psychosocial characteristics determined and influenced by all five principles included in the theory. For instance, disparagement of body image emerges out of individual’s understanding of expectations of others and prime adaptive ego qualities; lack of confidence and sense of isolation are a result of the psychological crises that the individual undergoes due to his/her inability to match with peers in terms of looks and activity; direction humiliation or feeling of humiliation is an outcome of the core pathologies of obese condition. Braet and Mervielde’s (1996) research identified that most of the clinically obese children reported negative self-perceptions compared to normal weight children, which the researchers attributed to the influence of negative view about obesity in the society and impact of social stigma of obesity, quite similar to Stunkard and Wadden’s (1992) review. Secondly, clinically obese children exhibited more behavioral and emotional problems than nonclinical obese children. This could be due to perceptions gained by the clinically obese children, from parents, society, and general observations. In addition, paternal psychiatric problems were found to be linked to children’s psychological problems. Further, normal weight and nonclinical obese children showed better self confidence according to the scores obtained. However, considering the sample size and duration, this research is not sufficient to assess impact of self-esteem on the child’s behavior as he/she grows. Lower self competence may be associated with the degree of physical activity in which obese children can participate compared to non-obese peers. This could lead to a low self image and negative confidence in other areas as well; these factors could be the major contributors for causing psychosocial crises among these children. The psychosocial crises cause significant distress among children requiring enormous psychological efforts to adjust to the demands of society and environment (Newman, B.M and Newman, P.R, 2007). Although this study could not find much psychological problems in clinically obese children, yet they carry higher chances of acquiring such problems in future owing to the continuous addition of psychological stress. Interesting finding of Braet and Mervielde’s(1996) research is that clinical obese children showed higher social competence, for which researchers found no logical reason; neither could this finding be explained on the basis of any of the five principles of the psychosocial theory. Studies have found that severely obese people face much psychological pressures compared to pressures in terms of age, sex, race or socioeconomic status (Stunkard and Wadden, 1992). With advancing age, obese people tend to face greater discrimination leading to stigma and fear of their obesity thus withdrawing themselves from active social functioning. Stunkard and Wadden (1992) indicated that obesity problem requires more of psychological view in terms of compassion and empathy for the obese than mere physical care and control. This point cannot be inferred based on the psychosocial theory as it does not touch upon mechanisms for resolving psychological crises. Moreover, the transition from one life stage to another is influenced by tradition and culture to a great extent, which could significantly impact one’s psychological development as well; however, the theory is more generalized on human development considering all populations of the world. For instance, applying this concept to the two researches, causes for obesity could be different for different populations and thus resulting psychological crises also could be very different; however, the generalization made by Stunkard and Wadden (1992) of requirement of compassion and empathy may not fit as one of the solutions with all obese people in a similar manner. If this standpoint was considered in the psychosocial theory, it would have resulted in a different dimension to view the crises and their causes. Conclusion Thus, obesity negatively impacts individuals’ consciousness and behavior besides physical wellbeing. These researches bring home common point that in general, people are prejudiced about ‘obesity’ itself, which makes them unpopular compared to other people with mental or physical disabilities and/or appearances in terms of color and looks. These feelings of unpopular and isolation are resultant of external events in the form of lack of opportunity for involvement and internal factors in the form of inability to involve due to physical and mental states of the individual. The mental states are more determined by his/her psychological learning and experiences through different stages of development. Obesity negatively impacts individuals’ consciousness and behavior besides physical wellbeing. References Braet, C and Mervielde, I. (1996). Psychological Aspects of Childhood Obesity: A Controlled Study in a Clinical and Nonclinical Sample. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Vol. 22, No. 1, 1996. pp. 59-71. Accessed on July 28, 2010 from, http://jpepsy.oxfordjournals.org Newman, B.M and Newman, P.R. (2007). Theories of human development. New Jersey: Routledge. (pp:211-216) Stunkard, A.J and Wadden, T.A. Psychological aspects of severe obesity. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Vol: 55, pp.524S-32S. Accessed on July 28, 2010 from, www.ajcn.org. Read More