Situational Factors That Affect Psychological Well-Being of a Person - Case Study Example

Name: Course: College: Tutor: Date: Berk (2010) argued that personal and situational factors often combine to affect psychological well-being of a person. In the current case study, John psychological well being is affected by personal and situational factors. This essay will explore the factors that have led to John’s current predicament using various theories- Erikson ‘Stages of Psychosocial development’; Kohlberg’s ‘theory of moral development’ and Albert Banduras ‘Social cognitive theory’ which offer diverse views about the way in which psychological development proceed throughout the lifespan. In John’s case, past personal and situational factors have led to his feeling down and depressed. The situational factors within John’s direct realm of experience affected the social construction of his selfhood. Social actors are embedded within relational networks and it is from these negotiations within the “webs of significance’ that they gain a sense of themselves through reflected appraisals perceived in reactions of interaction partners starting in the family and how they match up to the expectations(Felson. 2005). The actors’ identity as perceived by others and their reaction is critical to how actors think of themselves. John is generally unhappy with his life and he has lost sight of the value he once held for his job. He wonders why he has stuck at his architecture job for long and even wonders why he decided to do architecture in the first place; he does not even feel comfortable about the prospect of doing it for the rest of his life. It is evident that John took up the architecture job to please his father. His father was never pleased with anything he did and thus in high school John might have decided to pursue architecture. John’s dad talked a lot about architecture and the great job it was and he always reacted positively when John said he might take it up himself. John’s life relate to Felson(2000) statement that people gain a sense of themselves through reflected appraisals perceived in reactions of interaction partners starting in the family and how they match up to the expectations. John’s life felt like he had won his dad’s approval at a level he had never experienced before as he took architecture. His development has been affected by how his father perceived him and the choices were based on this perception. That is why 18 months after his father’s death he is regretting the decisions he had made. The client (John) issue across the lifespan is that his job has stopped yielding good results because he chose it to gain approval by his father. The circumstances of John’s development impeded his expression of long standing identity. He is stressed out because the taxing consequences of his father’s criticisms have led to his loss of status. Psychologists generally state that a person sense of mastery or efficacy is compromised when earlier purposeful actions or attitudes stop to give in comparable outcomes (Bartone et al. 2007). They further argued that the perceived capacity to exercise control over life circumstance is negatively related to perceived occupational stress and psychological dysfunction. John’s choice to pursue architecture and to become an architect pleased his father and as a result, John was pleased that his father finally approved his decision, which led to his life gaining a sense of purpose and direction. Erikson ‘Stages of Psychosocial development’; Kohlberg’s ‘theory of moral development’ and Albert Banduras ‘Social cognitive theory’ offer diverse views about the way in which psychological development proceed throughout the lifespan. Erikson theory purports that identity is the most important personality attainment of adolescence and a critical step towards becoming a content and fruitful grown person (Berk, 2010). This theory is important in the present case because John is having an identity crisis, a problem that came about from the choices that he made as an adolescent. Kolhberg stages of moral reasoning are also relevant to this case because they emphasize the important for cognitive development, which result to dynamically tackling with moral matters, and taking note of limitations in people’s present reckoning, and achievement in viewpoint taking, which allow people to solve moral inconsistencies in efficient manners (Berk, 2010). Piaget theory asserts that children actively try to understand the world around them and organize their knowledge and that cognitive development includes major qualitative changes (Burman, 2008). The changes and decisions that John made in his life were influenced by the world and relationship around him and thus made the decision to make a major qualitative change in his life. Lastly, Banduras learning theory emphasized the significance of observing and modeling the behaviors, emotional and attitudes reaction of other people (Bandura, 1977). He explained human actions in term of continuous reciprocal interaction between behavioral, cognitive and environmental influences. According to social cognitive theory by Albert Bandura, a child becomes acquainted with the general concepts of the situation and the specific behavior through observational learning. Through observation, John was able to note that his father did not appreciate anything that he did. He remembers one time when he was about 5 years of age taking the initiative to rap his mother’s birthday present only to have his dad scold him verbally for doing a poor job and then taking it off him to rap the present himself. He became acquainted with his situation though observation. Direct reinforcement or non-reinforcement offers one type of information about how to act in a particular situation. In addition, people watch others, learn about the consequences of their actions, and remember what others have told or shown them and what they have read or learned about the situation. John watched his father, learned everything he did would be appreciated, he also remembered what the father told him. Banduras (1989,1991, 2001, 2006) argued that over time, people form a symbolic representation for the situation, the required behaviors and the expected outcomes. Over time, John learnt that his father was a strict perfectionist and that his actions would always get him into trouble with his father. Bandura (2001) referred to the culmination of the learning process as efficacy, including planning intentional actions, guiding and directing one’s own behavior towards a goal, and reflecting on ones action to assess, their quality, impact and purpose. John planned to become an architect, which was an intentional action to please his father. He guided and directed his behavior towards the goal of getting the father to appreciate him but later reflected on his own action. At 39 years, John assesses the quality, impact and purpose of his opting to become an architect and feels that his life is meaningless and pointless. He does not value his life anymore and wonders why he was stuck being an architect for so long. He does not understand why he decided to do architecture in the first place and does not feel comfortable about the prospect of doing it for the rest of his life. All this occurs eighteen months after his father died. John chose to become an architect to gain his father acceptance and to please him, however later in life he comes to realize that he lived his life the way his father wanted and not what he wanted. Given a choice it seems that he would not have become an architecture. John’s exposure to a certain array of models and a certain pattern of punishments and rewards resulted in the encouragement to initiate some behaviors (becoming an architect) so as to inhibit the behavior of others (his father’s lack of appreciation. Erikson’s ‘stages of psychosocial development’ refers to eight developmental stages, which a healthy developing person passes from childhood to late adulthood (Lerner, 2001). In every stage, an individual faces and masters, new challenges. This theory proposes that people individuality in principle build up according to stages programmed in the growing person’s willingness to be motivated towards and to be conscious of and interrelate with a growing social environment. In the first stage (Psychosocial Crisis: Trust vs. Mistrust), Erikson argued that if a person doesn’t learn to trust himself or herself, other people and the earth may be unable to find the good worth of hope (Lerner, 2001). When the child loses their principle in hope, the great effort to overcome tough time and letdowns in their existence and may by no means completely get better from them. John always got into trouble with his father because of messing up the backyard or leaving his toys out of their place in his bedroom. John could not take the initiative in doing something without his dad stepping in and fixing it or making a comment that it needed to be done better. He thus lost belief that he could do anything right until he decided to pursue architecture as it pleased his father. Currently, he is experiencing feeling down and depressed. This marks a struggle to overcome hard times in his life. In the second stage (Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt), the young person turns against his urges to discriminate as well as manipulate (Lerner, 2001). Shame develops into the self perception of the kid. This stage marks the determination to exercise self-control and free choice. John’s free choice was limited by his father. In the third stage (Initiative vs. Guilt), the child feels guilty because of objectives considered and the actions instigated in high-spirited delight (Dunkel et al. 2009). The audacity to visualize and follow valued objectives develops at this stage. In the fourth stage (industry vs. inferiority), the open exercise of intelligence and skills in achievement of duty is developed. In the fifth stage (Identity vs. Role Confusion), an identity crisis generally results from the changes in a person (Lerner, 2001). The changes mirror cognitive as well as physical maturation. Erikson identified identity as the most important personality attainment of adolescence and a decisive step towards becoming a fruitful, content person (Berk, 2010). To him, constructing an identity involved defining oneself, what he or she values, and the directions one chooses to follow in life. It is at this stage that John decided to become an architect to please his father. He did not have the chance to choose what he wanted to become willingly. In the sixth stage (Intimacy vs. Isolation), isolation leads to severe character problems. in this stage, the apprehension of losing ego in state of affairs calls for abandonment of self (Lerner, 2001). John’s situation called for self-abandon so that he would not lose his ego. In the seventh stage(Middle Adulthood; Generality and Stagnation(35-60 years), socially valued work and discipline are expressions of generativity, the main question that a person asks himself/herself is whether he will ever accomplish anything useful. Currently, John has reached the stagnation stage and John has begun wondering whether he has achieved anything useful as an architect. In the last stage (later Adulthood, Ego Integrity vs. despair), the positive outcome is that of a sense of accomplishment in life: a sense of accord with individuality and other people (Crain, 1985). This theory is important because it illuminates why John in the healthy resolution of early phases had difficulty with the crises that has come about in adulthood. This theory raises potential for identifying the key issues and skills that require addressing to assist John from feeling helpless. This theory was useful as a yardstick for assessing child-upbringing practices in terms of their capacity to cultivate and make possible strong cognitive and emotional development. John’s father did not bring him up correctly and did not offer him a chance have the normal emotional and cognitive development. Kohlberg’s ‘theory of moral development’ emphasizes that the way a person reasons about a predicament determines the response, which determines moral maturity (Berk, 2010). Level 1(Preconventional) has two stages: stage 1 and stage 2) which begin in early childhood. In stage 1, judgments guided obedience and the prospect of punishment (the consequences of the behavior) (Kretchmar, 2008). In this stage, the child assumes that there are powerful authorities who pass on fixed rule that he or she must obey unquestionably. John could not take the initiative in doing something without his dad stepping in and fixing it or making a comment that it needed to be done better. In stage 2, children become conscious that individuals can have diverse point of views in a moral predicament, but at first, this comprehension is tangible (Berk, 2010). They see correct action as a result of self-interest and understand reciprocity as equivalent exchange of favors. John took the initiative to please the father so that he would gain approval from his father. The conventional level takes in the third and fourth stage. At the conventional level, persons persist to consider compliance to social rules as significant although not self-interest reasons, they deem that dynamically preserving the existing social system guarantees positive affiliations (Berk, 2010). To ensure a positive relationship with his dad, John decided to study architecture because his dad would respond in a positive way whenever John mentioned that he might decide to take it up himself. He felt ‘null and void’ of any real sense of self, however to ensure that he conformed to his father whims to ensure that they related well. The post-conventional stage or principled stage comprises of stage five and six. In this stage, people go ahead of inconsiderate support for their own society’s laws and regulations (Berk, 2010). They delineate morality as conceptual values and principles that apply to every society and situation. John defined morality in terms of the principle that applied his situation. Berk(2010) further argued that individuals draw on a variety of moral comebacks that contrast with age and context, this variety changes increasingly as less mature moral way of thinking is slowly substituted by a more complex moral deliberation. John’s less mature moral reasoning has been replaced by a more advanced thought and this has led to his reasoning of the decisions he made. John’s midlife crisis has resulted from a deficient development process. He is having adjustment problems and he is suspended between the past and future. The best way of dealing with gap is cognitive restructuring. This type of therapy is based in cognitive theory as it hypotheses that it is the interpretation of events as opposed to events themselves that causes particular emotional responses like anxiety and depression(Martin, 2004). Cognitive restructuring will assist John to understand the role of his beliefs (that by becoming an architect his father to appreciate him) and expectations (Deacon et al. 2011). This restructuring would assist him to learn to challenge and modify his beliefs and expectations in a reasonable and evidence based manner. The cognitive therapy and behavioral rehearsal will help John to emotionally process his memories of experiences with his father and to change the unhelpful beliefs about the self that are maintaining his stressful condition. By getting rid of unhelpful beliefs, John will manage to value his career and stop viewing life as pointless and meaningless. Adcock, Murrell & Woods (2007) proposed that people who can flexibly value several areas of life have better psychological health. Therefore John cognitive restructuring would help him say things like “I can care about architecture without feeling guilty or angry. This will help him to be emotionally healthy and not be tie to the idea that his father led to his choice of becoming an architect. References Adcock, A., Murell, A. & Woods, D. 2007. Empirical Support for the Importance of Valuing on Psychological Well-being. New York: Wiley & Sons. Bandura, A.1977. Social Learning Theory. New York: General Learning Press Bandura, A. 1991. Social Cognitive Theory of Moral Thought and Action. In W. M. Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.) Handbook of Moral Behavior and Development(Vol. 1, pp. 45-103). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Bandura, A. 1989. Human Agency in Social Cognitive Theory. American Psychologist, 44, 1175-1184. Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1-26. Bandura, A. (2006). Toward a psychology of human agency. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 164-180. Bartone, P., Snook, S., Forsythe, G. Lewis, P. & Bullis, R. 2007. Psychosocial Development and Leader Performance of Military Officer Cadets. The Leadership Quartery. 18(5); 490- 504. Berk, L. 2010. Development through the lifespan. (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc Burman, J. 2008. Experimenting in Relation to Piaget: Education is a Chaperoned Process of Adaptation. Perspectives on Science, 16(2), 160-195 Crain. W. 1985. Theories of Development. New Jersey (NJ): Prentice-Hall. pp. 118-136. Deacon, B., Fawzy, T., Lickel, J. & Wolitzky, K. 2011. Cognitive Defusion Versus Cognitive Restructuring in the Treatment of Negative Self Referential Thoughts: An Investigation of Process and Outcome. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 25(3), 218-232. Dunkel, C. & Sefcek, J. 2009. Eriksonian lifespan theory and life history theory: An integration using the example of identity formation. Review of General Psychology, Vol 13(1), 13- 23. doi: 10.1037/a0013687 Felson, R. 2005. ‘Self Concept’, in E. Borgatta and R. Montgomery (eds), Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan, pp 2505-2510. Kretchmar, J. 2008. Moral Development. Moral Development. Research Starters Education. Retrieved from www.ebscohost.com Lerner, R. 2001. Concepts and Theories of Human Development. 3ed. Psychology Press. Martin, J. 2004. Self-Regulated Learning. Social Cognitive Theory and Agency. Educational Psychologist. 39(2), 135-145 Read More

John’s life felt like he had won his dad’s approval at a level he had never experienced before as he took architecture. His development has been affected by how his father perceived him and the choices were based on this perception. That is why 18 months after his father’s death he is regretting the decisions he had made. The client (John) issue across the lifespan is that his job has stopped yielding good results because he chose it to gain approval by his father. The circumstances of John’s development impeded his expression of long standing identity.

He is stressed out because the taxing consequences of his father’s criticisms have led to his loss of status. Psychologists generally state that a person sense of mastery or efficacy is compromised when earlier purposeful actions or attitudes stop to give in comparable outcomes (Bartone et al. 2007). They further argued that the perceived capacity to exercise control over life circumstance is negatively related to perceived occupational stress and psychological dysfunction. John’s choice to pursue architecture and to become an architect pleased his father and as a result, John was pleased that his father finally approved his decision, which led to his life gaining a sense of purpose and direction.

Erikson ‘Stages of Psychosocial development’; Kohlberg’s ‘theory of moral development’ and Albert Banduras ‘Social cognitive theory’ offer diverse views about the way in which psychological development proceed throughout the lifespan. Erikson theory purports that identity is the most important personality attainment of adolescence and a critical step towards becoming a content and fruitful grown person (Berk, 2010). This theory is important in the present case because John is having an identity crisis, a problem that came about from the choices that he made as an adolescent.

Kolhberg stages of moral reasoning are also relevant to this case because they emphasize the important for cognitive development, which result to dynamically tackling with moral matters, and taking note of limitations in people’s present reckoning, and achievement in viewpoint taking, which allow people to solve moral inconsistencies in efficient manners (Berk, 2010). Piaget theory asserts that children actively try to understand the world around them and organize their knowledge and that cognitive development includes major qualitative changes (Burman, 2008).

The changes and decisions that John made in his life were influenced by the world and relationship around him and thus made the decision to make a major qualitative change in his life. Lastly, Banduras learning theory emphasized the significance of observing and modeling the behaviors, emotional and attitudes reaction of other people (Bandura, 1977). He explained human actions in term of continuous reciprocal interaction between behavioral, cognitive and environmental influences. According to social cognitive theory by Albert Bandura, a child becomes acquainted with the general concepts of the situation and the specific behavior through observational learning.

Through observation, John was able to note that his father did not appreciate anything that he did. He remembers one time when he was about 5 years of age taking the initiative to rap his mother’s birthday present only to have his dad scold him verbally for doing a poor job and then taking it off him to rap the present himself. He became acquainted with his situation though observation. Direct reinforcement or non-reinforcement offers one type of information about how to act in a particular situation.

In addition, people watch others, learn about the consequences of their actions, and remember what others have told or shown them and what they have read or learned about the situation. John watched his father, learned everything he did would be appreciated, he also remembered what the father told him. Banduras (1989,1991, 2001, 2006) argued that over time, people form a symbolic representation for the situation, the required behaviors and the expected outcomes.

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