Developmental Psychological Analysis - Case Study Example

Outline Introduction Outline used in developing the questionnaire Overview of the theories Freud’s psychosexual stages Erikson’s psychosocial theory Analysis of the interviews response in the light of chosen theories Evaluation of both theories in light of interviewee’s responses Conclusion References Introduction The two fundamental theories developed by Freud and Erikson have been largely used as revelation of development process in human growth. These theories have been divided into five major steps from infancy to adulthood. The striking feature of Freud theory that was also adopted by Erikson is oedipal complexity borrowed from Greek myth where Oedipus murdered his father in order to marry his mother. Oedipal complexity is marked by physical attraction towards the parent of the opposite sex. The theories elaborate the aims of every stage in the five stages involved in the growth process. Freud and Erikson clearly speculate the consequences of unsuccessful completion of any stage in development process. In order to fully appreciate these theories as applied in life, formulation interview through questionnaire that gives an interviewee a chance to express themselves reveals if these theories have practical application. This analysis provides both the theoretical evaluation in light of the interviewee’s life and also interviewee’s life in light of these theories. Some important revelations were made in the process as explained in this analysis Outline used in developing the questionnaire The fundamental guideline that fostered the development of the questionnaire was the understanding of the theories involved in the development psychology process. The main outstanding significance of the theories provided a good platform for questionnaire development. In order to fully exploit the significance of the development theories, its physical application was an important guideline for the questionnaire development. Additionally, some basic features of a questionnaire aided in the construction of sentences into simple and logical English. The questions were also open and thus allow short answers and the correspondent had an option of expressing himself or herself without feeling the pressure. Open question format used in the development of the questionnaire helped the correspondent to answer the question their own way and thus be in a position to be expressive. Overview of the theories There are two major development theories developed by Sigmund Freud and Erik H Erikson. Freud developed Freud psychosexual theory and Erikson developed psychosocial theory. These two theories highlighted different phases of child’s development to adulthood in five stages. The summary of the two theories are as described below. Freud’s psychosexual stages As stated by Parrish (2009, pp. 62) this theory is mainly occupied by pleasure and stimulation, as mostly mistaken stimulation according to Freud is not entirely centred on genital areas. The most striking aspect of the Freudian theory was the oedipal complexity that was experienced in 3 to 6 years. Freud states that the infant falls in love with the parent of the opposite sex. There are five stages in Freudian theory that the child experiences in developing to adulthood. These steps are as follows; Oral stage (Birth to 18 months), anal stage (18 to 36 months), phallic stage (3 to 5 years), Latency stage (5 to 12 years) and Genital stage (12 to 20 years). Erikson’s psychosocial theory Erikson theory also involved five stages and Erikson also borrows some concepts like oedipal complexity from Freud. Erikson stages of development include; Trust vs. Mistrust (Birth to 18 months), Autonomy vs. Shame (18 months to 3 years), Initiative vs. Guilt stage (3 to 5 years), Industry vs. Inferiority (5 to 12 years) and Identity vs. Role confusion stage (13 to 20 onwards). Analysis of the interviews response in the light of chosen theories The interviewee was an old woman who had undergone all the five development stages stated by Freud and Erikson. The interviewee acknowledges that she noticed the confusion of her feelings and her body at the age of 6. She stated that she looked more like a boy but felt more like a girl inside. In light of Freudian psychosexual theory, this kind of feeling is evident at the age of 3 to 12 years which is the phallic and the latency stages. The interviewee seemed to have been experiencing problems with her image as evident by the statement that she felt different from the person that she observed in the mirror. According to Erikson psychosocial theory, the industry vs. Inferiority stage unsuccessful completion results in a sense of inadequacy which is life long as evident from the interviewee’s response (Weiner, 2003). As evidenced from the interviewee’s response on her dream as a girl with curly hair wearing sun dresses and pink sunglasses and a matching purse shown by the industry vs. Inferiority theory of Erikson. The theory reflects on the hero-worship development evident in an infant of about 5 to 12 years old. The dream of becoming like certain personality is usually evident at this stage of development. Like any growing child, experimenting through playing and exploration was evident in the interviewee, some of the favourite games included Hopscotch, elastic and my sister doll’s. The interviewee also experienced less self acceptance in the process of defining herself as she stated that it was her major source of fear being trapped in a wrong body forever. As the interviewee developed, the feeling of being accommodated and accepted by her peers was more pronounced in her life and she experienced fear of rejection or being bullied by her friends and that is why she failed to make friends outside her family siblings. One of the Erikson’s theories, identity vs. Role was evident in the interviewee development during the adolescences stage to adulthood, confusion was her major barrier to comfortable adulthood life as asserted by Erikson. The interviewee interaction with her peer and teachers haunted her as she was bullied because of her mannerism and movements that was more of a girl than a boy. Her teachers also contributed to her misery and she always walked home crying and wishing that she was dead. The interviewee loved her mother because of the way that she dressed and her perfume, she also stated that her makeup was soft and pretty and she enjoyed baking while singing. She relatively enjoyed gardening with her father despite his impatient and intolerance to the interviewee, she felt as if she was a disappointment to her father. In the phallic stage according to Freudian psychosexual development, love associated with the parent of the opposite sex starts at the age of 3 to 5; this is similar to the occurrence of the interviewee’s development process. The interviewee experienced conditioned love because of the learning process that adults who instilled discipline through instructions following was evident in her life. She therefore learnt to act according to the wishes of her caregivers in order for her to be loved. Her adulthood was however marred with instances of self-destruction, self-hatred because of the experience that she had undergone through development stages and the perception that she had created. In essence, she perceived men as only interested on her for sexual purposes and later mistreated her. On the other hand, women were always cruel to her as evident by their remarks. She further stated that she was depressed more of her life because of her drugs and sex violence life that she had experienced. These confusions had always led to attempt suicide as life had completely lost her life. The theories of Freud and Erikson shades light on the possible reasons for the interviewee’s adulthood actions as a result of her development problems in a number of stages mentioned above. Evaluation of both theories in light of interviewee’s responses Freud’s psychosexual stages Oral stage (Birth to 18 months) According to Eickelkamp (2004) at this stage, the source of gratification is the mouth; the child communicates hunger, distress and pleasure through the mouth at this stage. When the child cries at this stage he/she draws attention of the parent. The infant also learns to distinguish themselves and the environment, as the child is wined, oral fixation is common in this stage and can result in future problems like smoking, nail biting and over-eating. This situation is evident from the life of the interviewee as she led an extreme adulthood life that was full of self destruction, the consequences of this stage could have contributed to this habit. Anal stage (18 months to 3 years) At this stage, the source of gratification is anal which essentially elimination of faeces and urine. As the development progresses the child learns to control these important body functions and even develop control of meals and toilet attendance. As stated by Reza (2009) Ego maturity is also experienced at this stage and the child learns to control and accommodate external environment. This stage is not clearly defined in the life of the interviewee as she expressed some vague memory on her infancy stage. Phallic stage (3 to 5 years) This is the Freudian complex state that entails genital gratification which simply means oedipal complex. Oedipal complex is the attractiveness to the opposite sex parent, which develops at this stage but later followed by incorporation of the same sex parent as a role model in terms of virtues and values while the opposite sex parent becomes the prototype of future mate. Super ego which involves anxiety like penis envy and fear of castration often occurs to boys at this development stage (Heffernan, 2005). The interviewee mentions that she perceived having as penis being one of the most essential achievements and her parents adored boys as a result, this contributed to her low self-esteem in adulthood. Latency stage (5 to 12 years) At this stage the child is more focused on their academic and practical skills as their sexual energy is repressed. Ego and super ego development is experienced more in this stage as the child consolidates his/her psychosexual growth (Zepf, 2006). The school reception that the interviewee experienced did not enhance her focus on academic skills at this level as she dealt with issues related to school life that hindered her focus on academic skills. Genital stage 12 years to 20 onwards This is the puberty stage which represents physical maturity of the child. Some of the common activities at this stage are reduced dependency on their parents and increased attraction towards members of the opposite sex. The interviewee started experiencing a life full of hatred as a result of her previous growth and the overall isolation that she had practised over time. Erikson’s psychosocial theory Trust vs. Mistrust (Birth to 18 months) According to Erikson, the child at this stage develops trust to self and others as the infant becomes more attached to their caregivers. The major achievement at this stage is hope realisation and thus unsuccessful completion of this stage results in autism, depression and even substance abuse. This is clearly evident from the adulthood life of the interviewee; she experienced depression and substance abuse because of insufficient trust to others. Autonomy vs. Shame (18 months to 3 years) At this stage the infant focuses energy on acquiring self control through learning usage of toilets, bladder control and bowel functions. The learning process at this stage also involves holding and letting go (Marchese, 2005). The purpose of this stage according to Erikson is willpower and unsuccessful completion of this stage results in paranoia, obsession and impulsivity. Paranoia and obsession effects are evident from the interviewee and this could have been as a result of unsuccessful completion of this stage. Initiative vs. Guilt stage (3 to 5 years) The energy of the infant is focused on exploration and mastery of self control as early aggression subsides. Purpose is the main aim of this stage; the interviewee in this case demonstrated little purpose as a result of unsuccessful completion of this stage as stated by Erikson. Industry vs. Inferiority (5 to 12 years) Productivity and skills development is the main focus of this stage and gratification source is task completion. At this stage, the child develops inspiring role models, the interviewer in this case dreamed of her experience as a nurse and she admired doctors and nurses as her role model. Identity vs. Role confusion stage (13 to 20 onwards) More sophisticated exploration continues as an individual develops debates on religious, social explorations. An individual at this stage struggles to establish who they are through mental, social and physical dimensions. Adolescents are more obsessed with their peers and as one develops confusion which can be a major hindrance at this stage. In the case of the interviewer in this analysis, it is obvious that she developed complexities associated with improper self realisation and social skills that ended drugging her into a self destruction life that she lived in her adulthood (Brott, 2005). Conclusion This discussion has mainly focused the relevance of both the Freud’s psychosexual stages and Erikson’s psychosocial theory and its application on a life of a chosen interviewee. It was found that there were some relations of the interviewee’s life and theories provided in different stages of the development process. The social derailment that led to self-destruction of the interviewee was as a result of unsuccessful passage of different stages stated by both Freud and Erikson in their five stage development process. This analysis therefore succeeded in pinning down the relevance of the interviewee’s life in light of the two chosen theories and later the theories were evaluated in light of the interviewee’s life development. References Brott, P. (2005). A Constructivist Look at Life Roles, The Career Development Quarterly, Vol. 54, 23 (2), 45-56. Eickelkamp, U. (2004). Egos and Ogres: Aspects of Psychosexual Development and Cannibalistic Demons in Central Australia, Oceania, Vol. 74 (2), 65-79. Marchese, F. (2005). The Place of Eugenics in Arnold Gesell's Maturation Theory of Child Development, Canadian Psychology, 36 (2), 23-34. Heffernan, T. (2005). A student's guide to studying psychology. Sydney: Psychology Press. Parrish, M. (2009). Social Work Perspectives on Human Behaviour. Thousand Oaks, CA: McGraw-Hill International. Pp. 58-68. Reza, E. (2009). Identity Constructs in Human Organizations, Business Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 4 (2), 123-134. Weiner, B., & Reynolds, W. M. (2003). Handbook of Psychology: Educational psychology. Canberra: John Wiley and Sons. Zepf, S. (2006). Attachment Theory and Psychoanalysis: Some Remarks from an Epistemological and from a Freudian Viewpoint1, International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 87 (2), 67-78. Read More