Conflict between Nature and Nurture - Case Study Example

Case Study [Pick the Narrative Mr. J.T. is my friend’s neighbor. When the project was assigned to me I did not have the clue, whom should I interview, considering the fact that I cannot do it with any of my relatives. In search for an interviewee, I consulted my friends. After two days of intensive search, a friend called me, and he referred Mr. J. T. to me. He told me that Mr. J. T. was a lonely old man who lives in his neighborhood. Without wasting any time I asked my friend to arrange for a meeting. At first Mr. J. T. was reluctant to be a part of a random interview, but I insisted him, and I told him that I needed the narrative of his life for a college assignment. I assured him that his identity will not be revealed to anyone, and there will be no breach of trust. Upon receiving the assurance from my side, he agreed to give me an interview. Mr. J.T. is a retired school teacher; he served for twenty five years of his life in teaching History to his students. This gave me an added advantage in conducting an interview with Mr. J. T. because no one can do narration better than a historian. Before, even I could start, he wanted to know the protocol that I was going to follow, and any extra details or documents that he might have to present. I told him that it was his choice, he can arrange some pictures from his past if he wanted to or any other certificates of his achievements that he think will complete his story of life; otherwise, there was no need for any document, since his narrative was all that was required. I informed him that the interview will proceed in a chronological manner, starting from his early childhood till his present day. Mr. J. T. told me that he was born without parents, this was shocking for me, so, he explained that his mother passed way while bringing him into this world, and his father had died a few months earlier in a road accident, he was a truck driver. He was raised by his maternal grandparents, and he spent 15 years of his life in their house. All these years he was subjected to cruel treatment of his uncles and aunts, because he was consuming out of their children’s right, he was a burden on them. He was 15 when his grandmother died, so he had no more reason to stay in that house. It was his last year of high school, so he went out to look for a job at a store and secured a place to live. He complained that his teenage was ruthless; he was involved in several fights at home and school. He did not have many friends, and he was a confused individual back then. After finishing his school, he spent 2 years working at the store. Then he decided to join the army, he was rejected twice, so he gave up hope, and resigned to pursue his life as a civilian. The closing years of his teenage, came heavy on him, as for months he had to stay on the road, without any shelter. All these rejections and hardships of life forced him to attempt a suicide, but fortunately, he was saved. This was the time when he decided to give another shot at life, he started working as an office boy, and he stayed there for three years. Working in an office, motivated him to get enrolled in a college at complete his college degree. He told me that managing college fee was not easy for him, because he had to earn it all by himself. However, he did mention that these four years of his life were perhaps the best ones. For first time in his life he experienced independence and progress. His social skills were also improving, and he was finally in love with a girl from his class. They stayed together for almost three years, but this relationship was not supposed to last outside the college. Her family took her away; the main reason was the difference in their socio-economic status. He did try to pursue the girl’s family, but they rejected him. It was really hard for him to let her go. He was 26 when he received his college degree, he was a late comer in this regard, but he considers it as an achievement, when he evaluates his past. Though, the college degree did not make his life easy, because he had to spend almost a whole year at petrol station, filing up tanks and washing cars. He applied for many jobs, but he couldn’t find one. This streak finally broke, and he joined a school, as a History teacher, and he served there till his retirement. During his first year at job, he had an affair with a 28 years old divorcee; she had a daughter from her previous wedlock. This affair materialized into a marriage. Though they married out of choice, but the marriage could not last long for more than two years, and she left him without any child. Mr. J.T. was 29, at the time of his divorce. He never remarried after that. His life became monotonous, he would go to school early in the morning, and then come back in the afternoon. His social life beyond his job was zero. He preferred staying alone, and reading history books on his own. He had no family to feed, and neither did he have any desire to have one. Therefore, he never tried to get a better job, he was satisfied with the one he had. Religion was never his thing; he stayed away from church, and would spend his Christmas and Easters all by himself. He took an early retirement at the age of 57, after 30 years of service. For the past sixteen years he is living alone in his house, he receives his pension and social security every month, which he believes that it is enough for him. He regularly watches sports on his T.V. set, which is his only companion, other than his library. Critical Analysis The conflict between nature and nurture has been a great source of debate, especially, among the theorists who are interested in studying human development. The study of human development offers various theories, some deal with biological development; psychological theories mainly argue over personality development; and social scientists are mainly concerned with the development of relationships among individuals at different stages of life. In all of these perspectives of human development, one comes across a different set of set of determinants; however, human beings are so complex that they cannot be studied under single scope. An individual under observation must be analyzed with through different angles, because a person tends to evolve with age. His needs at one stage of life differ from the necessities of another age. Needs are essentially motivators that shape up human behavior and in the longer run it may effect personality. Hunger is the strongest driving force; a person who is usually fed well, but does not get his meal on a particular day will behave differently than the person who is often subjected to hunger. In both the cases reactions of the individuals will vary because of the conditions that they were exposed to during their developmental stages. The theory of reward and punishment applies to all human actions and behaviors. Actions that bring pleasure to the individual become positively reinforced, while negative reinforcement tends to induce abstinence from punishable act. The principles of reward and punishment may be considered as general, however, in practice the whole concept take a subjective outlook, because the actions that give pleasure, may not have the same effect on others. Again, the variation in response to a similar stimulus raise the question that why do people react differently in similar situations. There is no fix argument to answer this problem; however, most of the theorists believe that it occurs due to the effects caused by the environment and the mental state (Hutchison, 2013). Sometimes, one observes that an individual would overlook his basic needs in order to get hold of something that may not be that important as far as survival is concerned. The hierarchy of needs does not have any constant mode; the urgency to perform a particular function or action mainly relies on the predominant state of mind. For example adults who opt for a life of celibacy by choice (Greene, 2008). All these varying notions with respect to human behavior justify only one thing, and that is the individuality of a human being. No matter how many theories are postulated, they cannot accord everyone, and there will always be a bunch of outliers. Therefore, in order to make a conclusive study regarding an individual, it is important that a particular subject is dealt individually, considering his actual whereabouts and the environment in which he has spent his life (Hooyman, 2010). As a social scientist, the main area of concern lies with human relationships; however, as suggested earlier, the variation in human responses is so great that it is not easy to make correct judgment while limiting the research to a restricted set of tools. Thus, to study a human being it’s imperative to consider a life through various spheres that are biology, psychology and sociology (Greene, 2008). The narrative of Mr. J. T. raised several issues that are common in several cases, yet there were certain problems that are relatively unusual. This case study will be based on thorough analysis of Mr. J. T.’s narrative in respect to Erik Erickson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development, along with the Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Motivation; further, the study will also discuss the myths and stereotypes associated with old age. The reason for choosing these theories is that they deal with almost all the spheres of human development. Early Childhood No one can deny the drawbacks of being an orphan. There are several studies that have been conducted in order to compare the transition in development between orphans and non-orphans (Rahman, et al., 2012). These studies suggest that there is no statistical significance of this claim; however, considering the overall picture, one cannot ignore orphan-hood as a major determinant in shaping up an orphan’s life. Orphans are at a disadvantage as compared to non-orphans; death of parents is the most obvious one; the access to basic commodities may be considered as well; and last but not the least is the attitude of society towards orphans. Parents are essentially caretakers and providers, they provide their children with all the basic necessities, and they also give them love and affection (Conger & Kramer, 2010). Some may argue over provision, because orphanages and guardians do provide these facilities, but no one can negate the absence of love and affection from orphans’ life. This is one of the major reasons that can be considered as a hurdle for orphans that prevent them from having trustworthy and long lasting relationships (Rahman, et al., 2012). Unfortunately, the subject of case study was an orphan. He was brought up by his grandmother in house that was preoccupied by his uncle’s family. Considering these scenarios one can find various forces acting upon young J. T.’s mind. These forces could be listed as lack of attention, pressure or competition and dependence. When a child is born in this world, he or she is totally dependent on parents, who are always involved in looking after the child. This regular interaction develops a sense of trust and closeness between a child and parents. This is a regular phenomenon and it is common throughout the various cultures of the world (Sabol & Pianta, 2012). However, analyze a situation where an orphan is born, who does not have his/her mother to look after, and the level of trust is not high. Therefore, while applying the Psychosocial Development Theory by Erickson, one can suggest that the subject of the case study was unable to develop trust with his guardians (Elkind, 1970). When a child is deprived of love and affection from parents in early years of development, his forthcoming years become problematic. According to Erickson, child needs autonomy at the age of 2 years, however, this stage becomes compromised in orphans, though they learn to walk and talk, but there are limitations. Similarly, the next few years demand a child to learn how to take initiative (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2011). It is followed by the early school years which ask for industrious attitude. If one takes a close look at the needs of different psychosocial developmental stages of first eleven years of life, one would conclude that a child needs support and protection from his guardians. However, is it available to orphans in general and in particular was it available to Mr. J. T.? Orphans that are brought up at their relatives’ homes often find it hard to take initiatives; they do not have much of the autonomy; and their industrious skills are not suppressed. This kind of suppression may have degenerative effects on a child. Turning to Mr. J. T.’s early life, one find more or less same situation. In his narrative, he did not even mention any skill or game that he wanted to acquire or play during his childhood. So, one can clearly observe that Mr. J. T. was deprived of his needs like D-love, and self-respect; since there was no one to look after him and encourage him for whom he was. Teenage The teenage is considered as a very delicate phase of life. This phase refers to the transitory state between childhood and adulthood. There are several physiological changes that take place during this part of the life. The metamorphosis conducted by hormonal surge may also instigate mood shifts and aggressiveness in an individual. According to Erik Erickson the need of this stage is identity, a person feels troubled in identifying his role (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2011). The inability to identify one’s potentials may lead to role confusion. Teenagers are confused because they have to face several pressures from family, peers and society as in general. Moreover, students in high school have to make their choices, regarding subjects and career. All these pressures complemented psychological stressors tend to affect the overall personality of an individual. The need of self-esteem and respect become very dominant among teenagers, they want acceptance and respect from society for being themselves. Along with these hosts of problems, Mr. J. T. spent his teenage in a difficult manner. He left his home, and was on street in the latter half of his teenage. He was just completed his school and took a break from academics because he could not afford it. As a young man and not very skilled, he worked as a store boy. He had lost every family that he had for first fifteen years of his life. He was aggressive, and depressed. Further, these problems pushed him to the point, where survival became his first priority; he had to look out for a job to earn basic livelihood. This changed the overall course of his life, and his desire for higher study was gone. Settling down like this in such an early phase of life makes it hard for person to develop his personality. Early Adulthood/ Early Middle Age The demand of the early middle age according to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is intimacy, which a person gains through relationships (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2011). Erikson emphasizes on relationships that a person develops on his own by socializing, rather than the blood relations. Mr. J.T. was able to have secured such relationship while he was at school, but his relationship lasted for only four years, this was a bad blow for him. A few years later, he did marry a woman, but that marriage did not last long. After analyzing Mr. J.T.’s relationship a person would suggest there was definitely something that prevented him in having in having healthy relationships. Moreover, another determinant is introduced in a person’s life at this stage and that economy. Though economy is important at all the stages, but it becomes a major issue in shaping up one’s early middle life. The road to self-actualization either get wider or it demolishes. In case of Mr. J.T. the latter incidence happened. He not only refrained himself from remarrying, but he also pulled himself out the social circles. Late Middle Age The overall narrative of Mr. J.T.’s life suggests that he never attempted to reach the status of self-actualization. Perhaps, he was tired of putting in extra to make his life better. The decision of not marrying again and negation of social life were the two main characteristics of his middle life. People in their thirties and forties tend to be more ambitious, they want to cover maximum ground without wasting any time. The conflict of generativity versus stagnation during middle age is pointed out by Erikson in his theory of psychosocial development (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2011). He believes that people of this age group are involved in building up their lives; they use their experience and energy to provide solid future for their family and themselves. Maintenance of family and provision of basic needs are two very strong motivator, they drive a person to go out of the way in order to make both the ends meet. However, Mr. J.T. never had a family, and his abstinence from enjoying a regular family life did not provided him any motivation to work more or build his future. He preferred stagnation as a matter of fact. He never tried to change his job for a better salary, and he never indulged himself in social activities. At least two conclusions can be drawn from Mr. J.T.’s middle life; first, he was not ready to trust anyone after losing the two women, with whom he was in love; second, he was never too ambitious about his life, since he realized the absurdity of life at a very early stage in his life. The choice of not applying for better jobs suggests that he never intended to leave his comfort zone; he was reluctant in leaving the institute in which he had the trust. Thus the stagnation of middle life in case of Mr. J.T. corresponds to his surrender to development, and the inability to trust people. Old Age The narrative of the subject also states that he took an early retirement, where as it has been often observed that people tend to get extension after the environment. This clearly reinforces the earlier notion about his attitude towards life. He had accepted his old age, he did not want to try any further, and all he tried was to ensure his future rest in peace without any hectic task. He is currently 73 years old, he is happy in receiving the pension and social security. All these characteristics are shared by people of this age who do not have a family. This sort of attitude by the old people put the burden of proof on society (Thornton, 2002). There are several misconceptions and stereotypes that prevalent in all societies to some extent. Older men and women are considered as a burden, there not many people who would like to have friendship with them. Further, most of people believe that old people must not indulge in adventurous activities, they should avoid socialization, and they must not expect much from others. The followers of ageism tag old people for being rigid and inflexible, further they suggest that old men are very religious (Le & Doukas, 2013). All these are assumptions, but the problem is that the elderly members of society conform to these stereotypes. They tend to pull themselves out of the active circle of life, their participation in social activities decreases with age. The purpose of wrapping themselves in a cloak of docility is that they want to maintain their integrity, they believe that their active role in life is over; their greatest fear is embarrassment for their conduct. This horror pushes them to isolation, which they consider as integrity. According to the theory of Psychosocial Development, late adulthood or old age is the last stage (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2011). The main conflict of this stage lies between integrity and despair. Old folks tend to safeguard their integrity by retrieving themselves from active participation just because they cannot risk committing any fault or act that would make them face embarrassment. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, usually old people prefer to stick to the last of the basic needs i.e. self-esteem and self-respect (Hooyman, 2010). Conclusion No theory is strong enough to explain the practical reality of life, the purpose of applying theoretical framework on case like this one can only be helpful in cases, where the data retrieved in unbiased. Moreover, there are limitations in every theory, some of them are based on its rigidness, and the others may be due to socio-cultural variance. For instance, Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation is very rigid, as it strictly allocates the stages where a person requires a particular thing. Further, the hierarchy of needs provides only theoretical frame, where as in real life cases may vary. Again in the case of Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Development theory, the implementation becomes too rigid and general (Elkind, 1970). Therefore, while applying such theories the investigator must know that there is nothing theoretically perfect, and original data always offers outliers. Personal Reflection It is always hard to interview a person who is more than fifty years older than you, especially, when the interview is based on narration of personal life. However, I managed to convince him for the interview. The story of Mr. J.T.’s life appeared to me as a tragedy, his early years of orphan-hood, his midlife crisis, and the isolation in which he spends his day without a companion. While I conducting the interview, I had to face some issues regarding the structure of questions. Moreover, most of the assumptions that I had preconceived were proved wrong, I thought being a retired school teacher, he must be pleasant, but his face remained expressionless throughout the interview. As a result of successful completion of the interview, and the case study, my views about old people have changed. Like most of my age fellows, I was a believer of ageism, but after viewing Mr. J.T.’s life, I believe that I was wrong. As a social worker, I must be more considerate about the problems faced by these old people. Though, they have spent their lives in this society, but abandoning them into laconic corners is not at all justified. Overall conducting an interview and analyzing interviewee’s life within the theoretical framework was difficult. However, the overall experience proved to be very helpful in making me understand that why theories have limitations, and how one must collect accounts for such study cases. At the end I would like to acknowledge Mr. J.T. for giving me his time and personal narrative. References Conger, K., & Kramer, L. (2010). Introduction to the special section: Perspectives on sibling relationships: Advancing child development research. Child Development Perspectives, 60-71. Elkind, D. (1970). Erik Erikson’s eight ages of man. New York Times magazine, 81-86. Greene, R. (2008). Human behavior theory and social work practice. In R. Greene (Ed.), Ecological perspective: An eclectic theoretical framework for social work practice (3 ed., pp. 199-236). New York: Aldine Transaction. Hooyman, N. R. (2010). In Social gerontology: A multidisciplinary perspective . In N. R. Hooyman, & H. A. Kiyak, Personality and mental health in old age (3 ed., pp. 215-275). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Hutchison, E. (2013). Essentials of human behavior: Integrating person, environment, and the life course. Thousan Oaks, CA: Sage. Le, T., & Doukas, K. (2013). Making meaning of turning points in life review: Values, wisdom, and life satisfaction. Journal of Religion, Spirituality, & Aging, 358-375. Rahman, W., Mullick, M. S., Pathan, M. A., Chowdhury, N. F., Shahidullah, M., Ahmed, H., & ... & Rahman, F. (2012). Prevalence of Behavioral and Emotional Disorders among the Orphans and Factors Associated with these Disorders. BSMMU J , 29-34. Robbins, S. P., Chatterjee, P., & Canda, E. R. (2011). Chapter 8: Theories of life span development: Erik Erikson. In S. P. Robbins, P. Chatterjee, & E. R. & Canda, Ego Psychology (pp. 213-218). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Sabol, T., & Pianta, R. (2012). Patterns of school readiness forecast achievement and socioemotional development at the end of elementary school. Child Development, 282-299. Thornton, J. E. (2002). Myths of aging or ageist stereotypes. Educational Gerontology, 301-312. Read More