Grandma Vs. Research : Child And Adolescent Development

Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development was the first theory that demonstrated the development from “womb-to-tomb.” His theory posited three tenets, the first that each era in life had a developmental crisis, and that at each period there was the opportunity for growth and development. Each developmental stage poses a developmental crisis that is central to that age, and as stated in Erikson’s second tenet, if there is an interruption in the development of one of the stages, the stages following will be effected. Though each developmental stage has one fundamental stage that is being worked on, Erikson’s third tenet states that the challenges of all of the other stages are still present; although there is one crisis that is

Erik Erikson describes in his research eight psychosocial developmental stages. Although the first five are based on Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, he also added three adult stages. Erikson’s theories vary from Freud’s in that he believes genes and biological impulses, along with family and culture have the strongest consequence on human development.

Erikson believed that people develop in psychosocial stages. He emphasized developmental change throughout the human life span. In Erikson's theory, eight stages of development result as we go through the life span. Each stage consists of a crisis that must be faced. According to Erikson, this crisis is not a catastrophe but a turning point. The more an individual resolves the crises successfully, the healthier development will be.

The second theory examined is Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development. Each stage in Erikson’s theory involves a conflict/crisis that a person must work through to evolve their personality. Rosenthal (1981) explains that, “Each stage arises because a new dimension of social interaction

Erikson’s theory of personality is based on his eight stages of development. In each of these eight stages of

Prior to the early 20th century little interest was paid to how a child developed; indeed most early research appears to be based on abnormal childhood behaviour (Oates et al. 2005). However, over time researchers began to acknowledge that both genetics and environment factors impacted on the way a child developed. Although there are many theories of child development, in particular constructivism, behaviourism, social constructivism and social learning have influenced developmental psychology enormously (Oates et al. 2005).

Just like Sigmund Freud, Erikson believed in the significance of early childhood. However, he believed that an individual’s personality development occurs over the individual’s entire course of life. In the early 1960s, Erik Erikson proposed a theory that provided a description of eight different stages of human development (Scheck, 2014). According to him, in each phase, individuals face new challenges and the outcome of the stage depends on how individuals handle the encountered challenges (Scheck, 2014). The stages are named based on the possible outcomes.

“Known as the “Child Study” movement, the scientific study of child development carried profound consequences for the experience of childhood. It identified a series of sharply differentiated developmental stages, each with its own distinctive characteristics and psychology” (p 188).

Erikson’s main contribution to psychology was his developmental theory. He developed eight psychosocial stages of development and believed that each stage presents

In recent times, autism has gained attention because of the large scope of the problem. One of the most well-known facts about autism is it occurs in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds (CDC). While researching about autism there were not many aspects that hindered my research. However, there was one source that had a negative connotation and had a small effect on the credibility of other sources. Volkmar, Chawarska, and Klin wrote a paper that stated: “information on autism in infants and very young children is limited.” Furthermore, the report also said “Delays in diagnosis were common and a diagnosis often was not made until age 4.) (Siegel et al. 1988, as cited in Volkmar et al. 2005, pg. 315-316). These statements produced uncertainty with my research, but the other sources outweighed those

Scholarly researchers will form a hypothesis, and then while referring back to previous research or writing by other academics or scholars, conduct research on the hypothesis in order to make their information available to the rest of the scholars. Unlike scholarly research, anecdotal evidence is something that is experienced by the researcher and is not considered very reliable. According to Mossler (2014) “Anecdotal evidence is not a substitute for good research. Only controlled experimental studies can properly answer the question of cause and effect.” (p. 48)

Erik Erikson believe that childhood is very important in personality development. He created a theory of psychosocial development that covers an entire life. I believe that Erik Erikson did a great job on creating these stages.

Erik Erikson is known for his psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development comprising eight stages from infancy to adulthood. Psychologist Erik Erikson, is a major contributor to developmental psychology, who proposed a comprehensive theory of the ways that individuals develop their identity, a sense of who they are, and society's influence on that development. Erikson stated that people go through crisis at each stage of their lives. The stages each had a developmental task to be mastered. As an individual resolved these various crises an individual would have a better harmony with their social environment that they live in. If an individual could not successfully resolve a crisis, they would be” out of step”, and the individual would have a greater difficulty in their dealing with a crisis in the future. Erikson did however recognize that an individual can develop through a stage negatively and still go on with their life. Erikson stated that each of the psychological stages have a basic conflict and important event leading to growth. The theory was developed from his hundreds of clinical observations in children.

Erikson’s theory followed Freud´s and it was based on many of Freud´s ideas. He had studied at Anna Freud, Freud’s daughter in Vienna. Erikson´s and Freud´s theories have similarities. Both theories admit the importance of the unconscious on development. They also both separates development into stages of a person´s life and handle similar age spans for these developmental stages. However, there are also differences that exist between names of the stages and the developmental subjects that are assumed during each stage. Part of the reason for that is that each psychologist has his own exclusive view of what causes a person’s development.

Even though she can be very controlling, I am very happy to have her and my grandfather in my life. If I was asked in one word how would I describe my relationship with my grandparents? I would say “strong”. The relationship that I have with my grandparents can never be broken no matter what. Although, my grandparents played a big role in my life, I wanted to understand what a grandparent’s role in a two parent households was. In an article called The Role of Grandparents in Children’s Lives by Rachel Dunifon (a professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University and Associate Director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research) and Pamela Weisberg, (a doctoral candidate in the Division on Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University with a background in Public Health Nutrition) wrote about how the increasing roles grandparents play in their child’s family lives. In the article they stated that “approximately 8% of U.S. children live in three-generational household” (Dunifon and Shapiro), I three generation household consist of the grandparent, parent and the children. They state that grandparent’s involvement might be a source of stress or could be indicative of existing familial problems” (Dunifon and Shapiro). To really understand the goods and bad of a three-generational household I wanted to talk with my interviewee about how his three-generation household was like. I started off by asking him to explain his family’s life with