Life Events And Identity Development

In the early 20th-century, interest in the field of child development emerged. Researchers and theorists studied the ways in which children grew, learned, and, in some instances, were shaped by societal influences (Weiland, 1993). The study of child development enables us to appreciate and understand the social, emotional, physical, educational, and cognitive growth that children go through from birth to early adulthood. Grand theories attempt to organize and arrange concepts and aspects of development using a step approach. Such as that of Erik Erikson’s theory, the Psychosocial Identity Development theory, in which he addresses the development of personal, emotional, and social progression in an individual through stages (Pretorius et al., 2015). Erikson’s model for the approach of development involves the focus of overcoming conflicts that individuals encounter over the span of their childhood that influence their ego identity, or the conscious sense of self that develops and constantly changes due to new experiences and information that is acquired through daily interactions with others and events. In Erikson’s theory, he believed that each person experienced a conflict that served as a defining moment in their development that essentially shaped who they would become later on in life; he believed that unresolved problems of adult life echoed unresolved conflicts of one’s childhood (Berger, 2011).

In this stage the toddler gains ability to use own initiative in planning and carrying out plans; or if cannot live within parents limits develops a sense of guilt over misbehavior. Wuornos grandparent’s limits were distorted and so from a young age she was confused and never developed a sense of guilt.

The interview was conducted with a married female, 59 ½ years of age. The purpose was to document the subject’s lifespan history with recollections of significant events in her development. The focus was to identify any dystonic outcomes during any of the stages of Erikson’s personal developmental theory, theory of the mind, Levinson theory, attachment theory and Identity theory. It is anticipated that the questions could quarantine specific areas and incidents that may have obstructed any of the developmental theories thereby influencing the subject’s later view of adolescent, young adult and middle age. The focus for the paper is inspired by Erickson’s emphasis on the identity crisis as the “psychosocial

Throughout this course Dr. Zeng has taught and explained many theories about human developments through a life span. Such has Erikson’s stage of Identity Vs. Identity confusion which is explained by how aging adolescents face deciding who they are, what they are all about, and where they are going in life. Identity is aided by psychosocial moratorium, its noted that society leaves adolescents free of responsibility, and allows them to try different identities throughout a lifespan. Another theory that Dr. Zeng taught and explained to us was the Ethic Identity development theory which was proposed and composed by Jean Phinney. Which can be explained by adolescent’s self-categorization in, and psychological attachment toward, an ethic group or groups. Ethic identity development can also be described as a process of the construction of identity over time, due to a combination of experience and actions of the individual and includes gaining knowledge and understanding of in-groups, as well as a sense of belonging to an ethic group or groups. These two theories intrigued me the most when Dr. Zeng explained to us in class, because I believe they translate the most to all humans going through life. So when Dr. Zeng assigned the class to write a life span term paper, and to choose two theories there was no doubt which theories I would be picking. Dr. Zeng wanted the class to conduct survey/interview in which we would spend four to six hours outside the class, interviewing an

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.

Dr. Wendy Ostroff’s lecture on identity was taken on a more psychological and developmental science perspective. Rather than having a powerpoint, she demonstrated pictures and the stories behind them, more about the type of research behind each. By the end of the lecture, she presented an animated video with a general view. The main point of Dr. Ostroff’s lecture was that we are not fixed on our identity, we are changing every single day and we are still learning about ourselves.

Age-graded, non-normative, and history-graded events effect a person development daily. I will apply these incidents to six different circumstances in my development during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. I will use theories that will demonstrate how the events I selected shaped my identity.

Human development is a process that starts right from childhood to adulthood. Individuals’ success and life satisfaction depends on what they develop in the society from their childhood period. This is a topic that has always drawn the attention of many scholars and theorists who try to explain what development entails through various stages of life. This paper provides an analysis of various relevant theories and research that focus on the developmental changes that take place in early, middle, and late adulthood. It focuses on Schaie’s stage of achieving, and Erikson’s theory on intimacy, generativity, and identity development. It also explores life satisfaction in middle adulthood, and lastly, the common illnesses of the elderly.

In the article Mclean and Pratt, research of Erikson is discussed on the connection between identity statuses and narrative life story. The idea of this experiment is to compare the different understanding and thoughts about a person’s sense of self. Before conducting the experiment, McLean and Pratt develop four hypotheses for this experiment. The first hypothesis was stated that identity achievement would have higher levels compared to foreclosure that is expected to have lower levels of sophisticated meaning. The second hypothesis stated that some variables for this study will have higher sophisticated meaning. The third hypothesis was stated that redemptive sequences will be more connected with the sophisticated meaning. The fourth hypothesis

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

All throughout our lives, we wrestle with the question of who am I and what do I want in life? However, it is usually during the adolescent years that this issue really comes to a head and we begin a more earnest search into finding ourselves and deciding the direction we want to take with our lives. One of the theorists who studied this idea of identity formation was James Marcia. Marcia proposed that there were four different stages or statuses in the development of identity which he labeled Identity Diffusion, Identity Foreclosure, Identity Moratorium, and Identity Achievement. In this essay, we will briefly summarize his four different stages and then apply his theory to my own identity development during the adolescent years.

Erik Erikson proposed a theory that identity formation was an important developmental aspect of adolescence, which has been characterized by progressive developmental shifts. However, there has been a lack of longitudinal studies that support the multiple aspects of identity formation across adolescent. Therefore, there have been debates on whether or not identity formation fluctuates or if it’s stable throughout adolescence. The main purpose of this study was to provide a detailed review on the changes and stability of identity formation across adolescents ranging from ages 12 to 20.

Identity is what evolves us, it is what makes us think the way we do, and act the way we act, in essence, a person’s identity is their everything. Identity separates us from everyone else, and while one may be very similar to another, there is no one who is exactly like you; someone who has experienced exactly what you have, feels the way you do about subjects, and reacts the same to the events and experiences you have had. This became prevalent to me as I read through many books, that everyone goes through the process of finding who they are. A prevalent theme throughout literature is the idea that over time one develops their identity through life over time, in contrast to being born with one identity and having the same

Everyone has his or her own first day of kindergarten experiences. Some might have been more memorable while others still trying to forget. Mine was merely an observance and evaluation period. After I gave my mother a kiss goodbye, and placed my belongings in the cubbyhole I was ready to learn, but unfortunately the majority of the other students were not. Considering one can not get too accomplished over many loud high-pitched cries, I was forced to be patient and suffer silently from boredom.

All of Erik H. Eriksons’ stages of development are significant, but the Identity vs. Role Confusion in the adolescent years was the one that impacted me the most prominently. The Identity vs. Role Confusion stage typically happens between the ages of twelve to eighteen, though it can potentially extend into other periods in a persons lifetime. This stage is concerned with developing a concrete personal identity and developing fidelity to a role. If the individual fails at this stage, they are often left with a weak sense of self and who they want to be in the future, often being unsure about subjects such as desired career, likes and dislikes, goals, and sexual orientation. This stage greatly pertains to peers and role models. In fact, Identity vs. Role Confusion is one of the most vital stages in a persons life and plays a substantial role in how a person feels regarding their existence once they are in their senior years. A study performed on elderly people which evaluated their overall sense of coherence later in life showed that, “[f]our of the Eriksonian developmental stages were found to be significantly correlated with sense of coherence: the conflicts about trust/mistrust, autonomy/shame, identity/identity diffusion, and intimacy/isolation” (Rennemark and Hagberg). This study proves how important being successful in finding a sense of identity is to the rest of a persons life. Often, the adolescent years led to a vigorous exploration, and is recognized as the