Initiative Vs. Guilt Psychosocial Stage

The fundamentals of the social learning theory significantly describe offenders and their criminal behavior which is learned based on observation and imitation. A researcher by the name of Albert Bandura along with coworkers tested the social learning theory with several experiments on children and their imitation of aggression based on what they saw and were exposed to. Bandura’s focus was to prove that human behavior such as aggression is learned through social imitations and copying the actions of others. Walters (1966) gives details about the Bobo doll experiment and explains its purpose related to learning a violent behavior based on observation. In the experiment, the tested subjects were children of both sexes, ranging from the ages of three to six years. Some of the children were exposed to a non-aggressive adult, while the other children were placed in a room with an aggressive adult who would both physically and verbally attack the Bobo doll. The control group in the experiment was not exposed to any adult. During the second phase of the experiment, the children were left in a room by themselves with the toys, and watched to see if they would demonstrate the aggressive behavior like that of which they observed adults doing earlier. Walter (1966) describes the results as “children who had been exposed to an aggressive model showed more imitative physical and verbal

A theory proposed by Erik Erikson (1950, 1963) promotes the eight development stages of adolescents through adulthood by comparing the transitory periods. During each stage, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis which could have a positive or negative outcome for identity and personality development. The first stage is trust vs. mistrust, this stage starts at birth and end at the age of one year. This stage also explains the safety that the infant is getting from the caregiver. For example, if the infant receives constant care, they will develop a sense of trust which will be carried out with them to other and future relationships. The second stage is autonomy vs. shame and doubt; this stage occurs at the age of two to three years old. In this stage, the child is mainly discovering their skills and abilities. The third stage is Initiative vs. Guilt; this stage occurs around age three to age

At preschool age, guilt is a common aspect expressed by children when they do something they know they shouldn’t. Erikson’s theory is initiative versus guilt. By now the child has become convinced that they are a person all their own, discovering who they are as a person. Their emotional development is also a growing awareness of self, which is linked to the ability to feel a wide range of emotions. This allows them to make sense of other people’s reactions and to control their own. After a negative behavior, a child will feel guilt or shame after being told what they did was bad.

This theory considers external factors, parents, and society in the development of personality from childhood to adulthood. He developed a series of eight stages that he believed everyone went through over their lifetime. The third stage is the “preschooler: initiative vs. guilt. This is the stage where the child began to find purpose. Erikson described that by the age of 3, children began to deal with conflict and have a desire to gain independence. Josiah definitely went through this stage. At the age of 3, Josiah began to explore indoor and outdoor activities and let his interests be the guide to what he would pursue. By kindergarten, Josiah wanted to pick out his own clothes and wanted to choose what he would eat for lunch. Josiah and I were able to balance his decisions and my rules by compromising. I was able to pick out two outfits of my choice but allow Josiah to pick from those two choices so that he had some sort of independency. I also noticed that Josiah begin to interact with his peers better. He was able to help make up games and discuss new ideas to his teachers. Erikson’s initiative explained the development of purposefulness, trying new activities, trying out new skills, getting more involved with peers, and conscience development. Guilt, on the other hand, results in an overly strict superego related to excessive experiences such as criticism and punishment, from parents. I

Bandura suggested children learn from watching adults – referred to as ‘Bobo doll experiment’. Three groups of children watched a film of a variation in behaviour in adults towards a doll.

     Initiative vs. guilt is Erikson's third stage of development, which occurs between three to six years of age. This is an expansion on the autonomy developed in the second stage. During this stage children begin pretend play with peers and accept responsibilities such as chores. If this stage develops conflict between family members and this child is unable to balance their initiative with the demands of others guilt may begin to form. I was placed in my adopted family at the beginning of this stage. I believe that I developed a little slower in this stage than children who were biological or who were adopted at a young age. I also believe that I developed slower than children who lived in a consistent foster home during this stage and were adopted later did. The reason that I believe this is because I felt very guilty during this stage. I felt that I had abandoned my foster family and the people that I lived with. My biological parents had visitation up until this stage and I thought that I did something wrong that made them not want to see me anymore. I turned this sense of guilt in to a feeling of needing to please everyone. My parents said that I would do anything to help and would get very upset and ask them if they were going to give me away if I spilt something or forgot to put something away and had to be asked to do

Bandura and his colleagues, the scientists of the Bobo Doll Experiment, believed there was some reason children learned the behaviors that was important to them in their lives. “Bandura anticipated that children that viewed aggressive models would behave in a similar fashion as the model and those that had non-aggressive models would behave in the same fashion and not have aggressive actions” (Green, 1961). The purpose of this experiment was to demonstrate one of the ways children learned aggression. The researchers were hoping to find the proof that children learned aggression from viewing it by another person.

Initiative Versus Guilt (Purpose) Erikson believes that this third psychosocial crisis occurs during what he calls the “play age,” or the later preschool years .During it, the healthily developing child learns: (1) to imagine, to broaden his skills through active play of all sorts, including fantasy (2) to cooperate with others (3) to lead as well as to follow. Immobilized by guilt, he is: (1) fearful (2) hangs on the fringes of groups (3) continues to depend unduly on adults and (4) is restricted both in the development of play skills and in imagination.

Initiative versus guilt is the third stage of Erickson’s theory and applies to children between three and five years of life. In this stage the child begins emulate the actions of adults and take initiative in creating play situations. They like to make up stories with their toys (i.e. Ninja turtles, matchbox cars, Barbie and Ken) they are like to play out roles as what adults do. Basically learning what it means to be an adult. They also begin to ask question like why so they can find a way to explore the world. Erikson has said that at this stage they become involved in oedipal struggles a resolve these struggles through social role identification.

When a child does something wrong, an older, wiser adult is always there to scold them for the wrongdoing. Inevitably, they are then forced to accept the punishment and guilt that it bears. However, when they transform into an adult, they are the old, wise adult, and no one is there to scold them. It must be found within themselves to discern the sin committed and hold the guilt within their own hearts, but then also forgive themselves for it, of which it is much easier to do as a child. If unforgiven, the guilt manifests itself within their being, slowly monopolizing on their lives until they become a mere shell of their prior beings, scarcely able to survive daily life with the blanket of guilt weighing down so heavily upon them. In

A. Basic Concepts 1. Observational LearningThe Social Learning Theory says that people canlearn by watching other people perform the behavior. Observational learningexplains the nature of children to learn behaviors by watching the behaviorof the people around them, and eventually, imitating them. With the ―Bobo Doll‖ experiment(s) , Bandura included an adult who is tasked to actaggressively toward a Bobo Doll while the children observe him. Later,Bandura let the children play inside a room with the Bobo Doll.

Once a sense of autonomy has been developed, the next stage in the psychosocial theory is initiative versus guilt. This stage is from about age three to age six and

How did the abstained infant affect the result in data collected? And was there any difference in data compared to the studies reported prior to this? Future research that might be needed to complete to answer these question is the need to use living persons rather than puppets. Or the use of cartoon shows and video games to see how infant choices are affected. The finding of this topic is fundamental to understanding how parent babies are influenced in the environment. Just like the Bobo Doll experiment, it is important that parents know that children are born to choose positive behavior over negative ones and that the environment is what influences future behavior. Education can further tech children to imitate good behavior via third party action while reinforcing the good behavior and punishing the unwanted

Early Childhood is roughly from 18 months to 3 years. During early childhood, the second stage of Erikson’s theory manifests; this stage is called Autonomy v. Shame. In this stage, “the psycho social theme of autonomy-shame and doubt is manifested during toddlerhood and leads to self-will or will-power.” (Ginsburg, 1992) If all the needs of the individual are met at this stage they develop a feeling of self-control and power over themselves. If the individual’s needs are not met in this stage they tend to develop feelings of shame and doubt in themselves. “If individuals

Initiative versus guilt is the third stage of psychosocial development. It’s around three to six years of age when this role must be established. The goal is to establish purpose and its achieved through exploration and play (Cherry, 2011). Children begin to affirm their power over the world through interaction between people and play (Cherry, 2011). They assert control over their environment and they try to take control of their lives by planning activities, doing different assignments and taking on different challenges (Cherry, 2011). Imagination plays an important role because it encourages the freedom to do what they want and take the initiative of their lives (Cherry, 2011). When the child is not given the chance to play or explore, or is stopped