Observation of Various Life Stages - Article Example

Observation of Various Life Stages Observation of Various Life Stages The field of growth and progress across the human life that include physical, cognitive, intellectual, social, perceptual, personality and emotional growth is developmental psychology.( In Fiske.2010) .This is important in order to understand how humans learn, mature and adapt. Life has various stages of development that humans go through. Research designed to help people reach their full potential are conducted. They are designed depending on the level of study under interest (In Fiske.2010). For example in colleges they focus more on teaching and research. Specialized fields like health focus assessing, evaluating and treating people with developmental challenges. There are several stages of development. Each stage has a basic value to be development and a psychological crisis. Failure to complete a stage result to difficulties in completing successive stages hence unhealthy personality and crisis in identity. (In Fiske,2010). Let’s consider the case of middle school aged children .These are children in the 6th grade and students in the 8th grade. 6th graders range from 3 to 12 years. (Baumeister, 2010). During this time children interact regularly in school where they spent a lot of time playing. They initiate activities hence an opportunity to exercise their interpersonal skills. Activities are planned, games made up and they initiate activities with one another. A feeling of security develops in their ability to make decisions and lead others. The virtue to be developed is competency. Students are able to exploit their abilities. Strengths and weaknesses are discovered .This stages focus should be on the positives which can reflected in areas such good performance in course work and even talent discovery and development. At this stage the identity crisis is initiative versus guilt. Students lack sufficient confidence to perform some tasks especially if they have not done it before. A more experienced party is needed to encourage them take the steps. There is feeling of fear of failure. Mistakes made at this stage should be carefully and sensitively corrected otherwise guilt creeps in. At this stage a child is very inquisitive. Criticizing and controlling their behavior make them guilty that result to lack of initiative and always be followers. Too much guilt affects interaction prowess and inhibits creativity. However parents should be careful and make the necessary corrections for the child to develop self-control. Success in this stage is achieved when a healthy balance exists between guilt and initiative which result to purpose as a virtue. The 8th graders are students at the age of 12 to 18. (Baumeister, 2010)Commonly it is referred to as adolescence stage that is crucial in a person’s development. This stage is a transition from childhood to adulthood. Individuals become more independent. Future plans in terms of relationship, families and career are laid. Children learn the roles they will occupy in adulthood. They re-examine their identity and try finding out exactly who they are. At this stage individuals discover their uniqueness in terms of being male or female. Physical and emotional developments are evident. Boys break their voices and experience wet dreams at night. On the other hand, girls develop breasts and monthly cycles begin. Both develop pubic hairs. All these changes result to physical and emotional attraction. They feel uncomfortable until they grow into the changes. The virtue nurtured at this stage is fidelity that is the ability to be committed and accept diversity. Explorations are done and identity development based on the outcomes. Self-respect and respect to others is developed. Sense of worthiness and love is also developed at this stage otherwise low self-esteem and inferiority complex hinder growth. At this stage people discover their hobbies and dislikes. A failure result to confusion that is the state of being unsure of their position in society. The response to identity crisis is experimenting different lifestyles. This can lead to rebellion and unhappiness. The following is an activity chart of two groups in a school observed for a period of 10.5 hours. The setting is a school environment on a normal day. Observations were made on their interactions in class, during play time and in a social event. A summary of the observations observation Ten 6th graders aged 3-12 Ten 8 graders aged 12-18 Normal physical ,cognitive and socio-emotional issues encountered Physical Vast appetite for activities Different growth rates Curiosity about the opposite sex Uncomfortable with comments about their growth Emotional and social Rudeness Selfish Childish behavior Extreme emotions Peer groups A lot of experimentation Poor decision making Intellectual Interests expands Idealistic thinking De centralized thinking Physical Large differences in the rate of physical growth. Emergence of skin problems Different eating habits Uneven coordination Emotional and social Concern about physical attractiveness. Struggle with the sense of belonging. Increased distraction from class work. Preoccupation by entertainment Minimal feedback. Peer pressure Parental relationship issues Intellectual Slow intellectual growth Short tern thinking Abstract reasoning Insecurity On the physical aspects of 6th graders the following observation were noted. These categories have great energy for physical activities like playing, an appetite for food and even tend to talk too much. The growth especially in girls makes them feel awkward and untidy .Girls are uncomfortable with their growth while boys wish to grow faster. The rate of individual development is wide. They tend to be too tired and need a lot of sleep time. Both boys and girls are uncomfortable when comments are made about their growth and physical change. There is also a tendency of increased personal hygiene. Several changes in their social and economic development were noted. There is occasional rudeness especially shown to parents and tendency to test extremes (Collin, 2012). They are unaware of what is happening in their lives and environment. Selfishness is common alternating between poor self-concept and high expectations. They portray childish behaviors when under pressure experiencing anxiety and overexcitement. Their decision making is poor and ask for privileges while ignoring responsibilities. Experiments are the order of the day playing different roles .They focus on their image believing that no one has ever felt the way they do. The intellectual development is usually characterized by interests in the present with no focus on the future. Idealistic thinking is common among this cohort with the ability to make abstractions. For the 8th graders, the physical changes include skin problems and different rates of growth in body size. They change eating habits and coordination is not even. They worry about being physically normal and feel funny about their body. On the social and emotional cycles they focus on pleasing others. They struggle with their identity trying to balance the attractive physical appearance, striving for independence and the dire to be true without losing influence. Entertainment is the priority. Time for homework is substituted by watching movies, listening to music and video games. Peer groups emerge in the likes of cliques for girls and gangs for boys. The relationships to their parents are strained and the same applies to other adults. The hormonal development sometimes affects the intellectual growth. Focus is on short term goals with no plan for the future. They are unwilling to perform challenging tasks. Concerns over fairness rather than responsibility arise (Pickren,2014). In comparison the differences between these two groups is minimal. The only notable contrast is on the physical growth. The social and intellectual growth tends to be more or less the same. In this case there was no notable abnormal behavior among the two groups. All factors seem to have conspired in favor of normal growth of this group of students. However, caution should be taken to ensure they grow to responsible adulthood and reach their full potential. References Baumeister, R. F., & Finkel, E. J. (2010). Advanced social psychology: The state of the science. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Collin, C., & DK Publishing, Inc. (2012). The psychology book. New York: DK Pub In Fiske, S. T., In Gilbert, D. T., In Lindzey, G., & Jongsma, A. E. (2010). Handbook of Social Psychology. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Pickren, W. E., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2014). The psychology book: From shamanism to cutting-edge neuroscience, 250 milestones in the history of psychology. Read More