Human Growth And Development Research Paper

This sample essay on Human Growth And Development Research Paper provides important aspects of the issue and arguments for and against as well as the needed facts. Read on this essay’s introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

Erikson believed personality development was an ongoing process affected by social and cultural events in which a state of maturity is aspired to. Stage 1 The infancy stage covers the child’s first one and a half years, where primary care givers need to maintain a nurturing environment in order for the child to develop trust.

Stage 2 The anal-muscular stage from eighteen months to four years sees the child enter a phase where a level of independence is achieved.

Care givers need to generate an environment in which firm but fair boundaries are implemented in order for the child to develop an assurance of own abilities. Stage 3 From the ages of three to six the child enters the genital-locomotor stage were an understanding of right and wrong develops.

An even balance of guilt and initiative should produce a child that is aware of its own capabilities and the affects its actions have on others, however, the child that has no clear understanding of right or wrong could be prone to hurting others and would see guilt as being “weak”.

Stage 4 The Latency stage occurs from approximately age 6 to twelve years where social skills are derived from the young person’s surroundings. However, during the Latency stage development is affected in a larger degree by external factors such as school friends, teaching staff and the extended family.

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At this stage the child has to learn how to feel competent. Stage 5 From the ages of approximately 14-20 years the young person enters adolescence where a sense of role identify is developed with the individual understanding who they are and their place in society.

Stage 6 Young adulthood is entered between the ages of 20 – 35 years where intimate relationships are developed with the expectation of giving and receiving love, and where many couples decide to begin a family. Stage 7 As adults enter maturity (ages 35 – 65 years) they are seen to develop through guiding their own children. Love, at this stage, is given freely to children without the expectation of receiving it back. Investment in future generations is the motivating force in this stage; however an extreme of this Erkison calls “Overextension”.

Human Growth And Development Journal Articles

Stage 8 Adults in this stage are referred to as many different things such as “Old Age Pensioners”; “The Twilight’s”, “Senior Citizens”; “War Babes”; “Veterans”; etc. In different cultures individuals entering this stage are treated with different measures of respect. In some cultures adults in this stage are seen as having achieved wisdom with a sense of well-being and are sought after for their perception and knowledge. In contrast Jean Piaget saw development in terms of attaining balance of intellectual structures.

Piaget believed that children are fundamentally different thinkers than adults, being incapable of understanding particular things before achieving certain stages in their development . He also described children as being “egocentric…. because a young child cannot understand how someone else’s point of view may be different from their own.. ” (Edmonds, V. , 2006). Piaget’s proposed four major stages of development can vary greatly due to the individuality of the child and cultural influences.

The first of Piaget’s developmental stages, Sensorimotor, occurs between the ages of 0 to 2 years in which the child identifies the difference between self and other objects. This is also the stage where a child learns by touch or as Piaget relates “touch tutors vision” (Butterworth, G. , & Harris M. , 1994, p234). The Preoperational stage from 2 to 7 years identifies the period when language is developed. Between 7 to11 years the child is in the Concrete Operational stage where the ability to think logically in regards to events and objects in the “here and now” is developed.

The Formal Operational stage between 12 to 15 years is when the young develop the ability to solve abstract or hypothetical problems. Piaget’s theory behind these stages was that logical thinking develops slowly with intellectual development being a gradual evolution. When looking at the different theorists perspectives in relation to Human Growth and Development I feel more drawn to the work of Piaget’s and Eriksson in their acknowledgement of the impact of social factors upon development.

There are many social factors that could affect psychological and social development, these may include the social class that a child is reared in; the level of wealth or poverty within the household or surrounding environment; disability of the child or other family members; the ethnic group to which the child or family belong to; gender of the child; religious observances within the family; or abuse towards the child or within the home environment.

A subsequent resulting factor could be the affect of living within a different lifestyle to others in the surrounding environment be it relatives, peers, neighbours etc. This could apply to a child or young person who has been raised in a working class environment whose parents decide to send them to a “better” school. The child could feel very different from others in the school and may feel inadequate in comparing themselves and their families to those at the “better” school. The young person may then present with low self-esteem or self-worth.

When applying social factors to myself I realise that I can relate strongly to Bowlby’s theory of attachment and Erickson’s eight stages. Stern’s theory of attachment at a early age is very significant, but being the middle child of nine and coming from an era and culture where “It takes a whole village to raised a child” (old African saying) I found it difficult to subscribe to the non-verbal messages that transfers from the child to its primary carer, especially when everyone and anyone could be that primary career.

I am the middle child of nine children, my mother worked as a cleaner in the local hospital and my father was a musician who travelled for months on end, they both came over from St. Kitts to England in the late 50’s. By the age of 10 my father immigrated to America promising find a job there and take us over but I never saw him again until the day of my mothers funeral when I was 38. There was only three main rules, Love the Lord, Never fight each other and whomever was the eldest in the house at any given time was the person with the responsibilities.

Coming from a working class, area and living in a predominantly white community in a time where discrimination was unacceptable but not against the law, I struggled in stages 3 to 5 of Erikson’s model. Being Black, female, young and not knowing of my learning disability had a dramatic impact on my self-esteem, confidence, identity, individualism and acceptance within society but not the community I lived in. Within my community, social circle (which in the beginning was predominantly black) we all shared similar or the same stories, it was where I held on to my identity, self-image, confidence, integrity, and faith.

I learnt there were good and bad in all people regardless of their race, faith and social background. We had an elderly English neighbour who looked after her disabled daughter, she constantly had us over for tea, and brought us gifts for no reason. I experience a teacher who knew I was constantly being bullied and attacked in the playground, so made me the “milk monitor” bringing authority and respect from the other children as they had to collect their milk from me.