Schaie's Theory Of 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).

Human development is the process of how people grow and change psychologically over the complete span of the human life; from birth to old age/death. In the past years many theorists have studied human development in five different areas such as physical, cognitive, emotional and social spiritual development. Erik Erikson is one of the most prominent theorists who identified eight stages of human development. One of the stages are identity versus role confusion; which is highlighted in the year of adolescence. Erikson also believed that every human being goes through a certain number of stages to reach his/her full development. Therefore, this essay will examine the five domains in human development namely physical, cognitive,

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

Finally, adulthood consists of early adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood. Early adulthood is a stage where individuals are physically in their best condition. Memory and thinking abilities are sharp, life decisions are made, and they take on roles of independence. Middle adulthood is when individuals start to reflect on their lives as a whole. Retirement planning and sadness over unaccomplished goals began to surface, during this particular stage. Some physical changes such as hearing and vision start to take place. Focusing more on health, relationships and becoming tolerable with death are all signs of late adulthood development. The immune system, vision, hearing, and muscle strength start to decline. Loss of memory is a cognitive trait that is related

Emerging adulthood entails having independent social roles. It is the time period where this person is not a child, yet not an adult as well. directions in life are uncertain, but the possibilities are endless. This paper will discuss how emerging adults overcome challenges in cognitive, social, emotional,

The major task of young adulthood is to develop intimate and emotionally satisfying romantic relationships. If this is not accomplished; the person often lacks the ability to have understanding, empathy, and support. Additionally, statistics show that adolescence and young adulthood are the loneliest age groups. This combination attributes to the reason being why single people are less happy than married individuals. Although it should be noted that research has shown that romantic companionship is more beneficial to men than to women.

Since the development of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial model of development in the 1960s, it has become one of the most widely used measurements for studying emotional and personality development across the human lifespan (Dunkel & Harbke, 2017). Erikson’s model contains eight developmental stages, beginning in infancy and progressing until old age, and as a person ages they begin to pass through the stages, with a new psychological crisis arising at each stage (Svetina, 2014). Whitbourne, Sneed and Sayer (2009) describe how the outcome of each crisis is met with identity attainment and new personal adaptations (positive outcome), or with an incoherent identity (negative outcome). Additionally, each new stage allows for the reassessment of previous achievements, and in some cases, failures (Dunkel & Harbke, 2017). Erikson’s model is commonly recognised as a developmental ladder – each previous stage lays a foundation before an individual can progress toward the next stage (Malone, Liu, Valliant, Rentz & Waldinger, 2016). It is important to note that whilst they are referred to as “stages”, they should be viewed as being on a continuum rather than fixed categories (Dunkel & Harbke, 2017).

The transition into adulthood is often associated with individuals leaving home, getting married, and most importantly becoming parents (Arnett, 2007). As discussed earlier, one of the purposes of attachment is to provide an internal model for what to expect in future relationships. Therefore, early attachment relationships are extremely important because they provide the basic model for which individuals use for future relationships. In other words, early attachment history tells an individual what to expect in future relationships. As individuals transition into adulthood, romantic adult relationships are developed. Adult romantic relationships are comprised of romantic love which includes attachment, care giving, and sex (Fraley

According to Erikson, the development of the lifespan is a lifelong process from birth to death and includes the formation of identity (Broderick & Blewitt, 2010). I will cover in the paper six life events that influence my identity development from childhood to middle adulthood. Each life event will be explained based on the significance of the event as well as the impact the event had on my development. Also, theories will be discussed as they relate to my development.

In the reading, The Life Cycle by Arthur W. Chickering and Robert J. Havighurst from our Module 1 readings, we begin to learn about the different stages of the life cycle and the challenges and gifts they may present. In this text, there are different theories and research on the life cycle from late teenage years to the golden years. My writings will be focused on the "Four Stages of Life" by Lowenthal, specifically noting the Middle Adulthood.

Happiness usually is derived from feelings of independence, competence, self-esteem, or relating well to other people (Sheldon et al., 2001). One aspect of adulthood that still remains the same, despite generational changes, is the development and maintenance of relationships. Erik Erikson spoke of young adulthood as the “Intimacy-Versus-Isolation Stage.” During this period, the focus is on developing close, intimate relationships

Middle adulthood is categorized from the ages of 35 to 65 years of age and begins a very new physical and mental chapter of one’s life. Recall when Erickson, referred to “middle age as a period when attention turns to creation of a legacy” (414). This is done by an adult influencing the lives of the younger generation. Erickson’s theory of generativity states that one is making a valuable contribution to society by bringing up children or mentoring younger people in some way. After four decades of research psychiatrist George Vaillant, felt it necessary to modify Erickson’s theory on generativity.

The three theories I have chosen to discuss are all extremely relevant ideas; although I prefer Erik Erikson’s stage of psychosocial development. Erik Erikson’s theory covers a person’s entire lifespan showing the many different stages throughout one’s life. A person is always

The life-span perspective is a modern scientific approach to the study of human development that accounts for all phases of life including childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and it breaks each phase into individual stages of development (Berger,2014). This perspective suggests that development is multidirectional, metacontextual, and all stages of development are important and play a crucial role in the individuals cognitive health (Berger,2014). The stages of development are categorized as infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, adulthood, and late adulthood. For the purpose of this paper I will be focusing on the infancy stage due to the importance of cognitive development before the age of two, middle childhood due to a child’s social structure becoming a defining factor in their lives, and emerging adulthood due to the stresses that an individual must endure while maturing into a young adult.

Throughout the Human Behavior and the Social Environment course, we have encompassed the many stages of the life cycle process. Now that I am twenty two years old, I found the early adulthood stage to be the most influential, and the most sensible one to relate to given the point that I am at in my life. More importantly, I decided to research and apply this life cycle stage to a variety of milestones, experienced by my interviewee, Chelsie. Living just houses apart, being raised by single fathers, Chelsie and I found that we had many things in common. We have remained friends since we were children, and have only grown to be closer into our early adulthood years.