Erik Erickson’s Social-Personal Crisis Stage 4 is – Industry versus inferiority (ages 5-12) 

Child’s Goals:  

1. To look and feel confident in front of peers 

2. Acquire skills which their peers will value or like  

• Teaches child to bounce back from failure 

How can parents help children in stage 4 social-personal crisis stage? By encouraging child, provide them support and social approval, and help child develop coping skills and resilience.  

Facts about Self-Esteem:  

• High self esteem does not equivalate to high academic performance.  

• Social response to children with greater initiative can be pro-social or anti-social.  

• Over-reinforcement can have negative effects:  

- child only works for praise not internal satisfaction 

-  child may not be able to handle criticism 
 

What is an effective way to help children who are coping with stress from disaster? Listen to them, comfort, encourage feelings, and protect from re-exposure.  

Lawrence Kohlberg: Stages of Moral Development 

How did Kohlberg gather info to develop his theory? By building his theory on Piaget’s cognitive theory.  

Why did he develop the moral dilemma story? To figure out what people found right and wrong.  

Stages of Moral Development: 

1. Preconventional (childhood): no internalization 

• Consequences for the actor. 

1. Heteronomous Morality: children obey adults, fear punishment 

2. Individuals pursue own interests. Equal exchange is right. 

2. Conventional stage (adolescence): intermediate internalization 

• Rules 

1. For relationships: trust, caring, expectations, loyalty 

2. For social order: justice, law, duty  

3. Post-conventional stage (adults): full internalization 

• General principles that reflect core values 

1. Individual rights 

2. Universal ethical principles (consciences) 

Preconventional Stage Example: Being at work on time. To avoid punishment 

Conventional Stage Example: Joining in on bullying. To gain approval  

Postconventional Stage Example: Stealing to save someone’s life. Going against social convention or the law.  

Criticisms of Kohlberg:  

• Too much emphasis on thought 

• Little to no consideration of unconscious behavior, culture, emotion, parents, and gender. 

Domain Theory:  

Domain Theory contains moral, social conventional, and personal reasoning. 

Social Conventional: rules established by the public to control behavior. Can be changed 

Example of social conventional: which side of the hallway to walk on in school 

Moral Reasoning: Obligatory ethics rules concerning lying, cheating, physical aggression. More serious 

Example of moral reasoning: stealing, murdering  

Personal Reasoning: control over one’s own body, choice of activities, friends 

Example of personal reasoning: not doing something you don’t want to do.  

When children are raised with a secure attachment style, they are more likely to have lower levels of internalized symptoms (anxiety, depression).  

How is Social Cognition and Social Information Processing Theory used to understand peer relationships? By forming expectations to social cues and peer intentions 

Steps in Social Info. Processing 

1. Forming expectations by attending to social cues and peer intentions 

2. Generate social goals  

3. Access social behavioral scripts from memory 

4. Make decisions and enact behavior  

Why might kids have different expectations? Some kids might have a harder time picking up social cues, some people may want to only associate with popular kids.   

What children would have the most difficulty making friends? Children who have a hard time taking perspectives.   

What is the definition of Adolescence? The period of life from ages 13-early twenties, in which a child is no longer physically a child but not an independent, self-supporting adult.  

What happens in the brains of people during their teenage years? The limbic system has more influence over thought, which means teenagers tend to use their emotions before thinking something through. 

Hypothalamus: regulates hormones through pituitary gland, regulates eating, temperature 

Pituitary: master gland of endocrine system. Produces and releases hormones that regulate growth  

Amygdala: detects fear, triggers fight or flight, freeze or faint response 

Hippocampus: indexes and helps encode memories. Essential for long term memory 

Reward area (Dopaminergic): connects enjoyment, memory, and behavior  

In what direction does the brain develop? Back to front 

 How does this affect adolescent decision making? Teens use emotion before thought in decision making. 

Personal Fable: young people believe themselves to be invincible and protected from harm.  

Example of Personal Fable: drinking and driving 

Imaginary Audience: young people believe that other people are just as concerned about the adolescent’s thoughts and characteristics.  

Example of Imaginary of Audience: thinking people can see the smallest pimple.  

Adolescent Pregnancy:  

• Less likely to use contraceptive precautions 

• Create health risks for baby and mother 

• Babies are more likely to have low birth weight, neurological problems, and childhood illness 

• Mothers end up dropping out of school and never catch up economically. 

What changes occur in adolescent’s sleep patterns? Adolescents sleep patterns decrease as they get older due to stress, school, job, friends.  

Anorexia nervosa: pursuit of thinness through starvation 

• Outcome death through organ/heart failure 

• Disinterested in eating 

Bulimia Nervosa: consistent binge and purge 

• Outcome: damage to tooth enamel, esophagus lining, digestive tract, metabolic problems 

• Preoccupied with food 

Both Anorexia and Bulimia have depression, anxiety, distorted body image, and fear of weight gain.  

Piaget’s Cognitive Theory 

What thinking skills do people have at this age?  

• Systematically solve problems 

• Engage in abstract thinking 

• Increased tendency in metacognition  

Information Processing Theory – process of decision making 

1. Gist 

2. Experimental  

3. Emotion Based 

1. Analytical 

2. Verbatim  

3. Logic-Based 

5 Key Features of Emerging Adulthood (Jeffrey Arnett) 

1. Identity exploration 

2. Instability  

3. Self-Focus 

4. Feeling in-between adolescence and adulthood 

5. Sense of broad possibilities for the future 

Markers of becoming an adult 

• Economic independence  

• Holding a FT job 

• Taking responsibility for daily and life decisions 

• Being able to transition 

When are the peak years and/or physical performance and decline in human beings? Peak of physical performance in teens – twenties. Decline 40+ 

 Self-medicating: When a person chooses to use alcohol or drugs to alleviate mental or physical pain. Can lead to addiction.  

Binge Drinking of alcohol: increases in college, can lead to alcoholism  

Alcoholism: disorder that involves long-term, repeated, uncontrolled, compulsive, and excessive use of alcohol  

Addiction: Pattern of behavior characterized by an overwhelming involvement with drug use. 

What mental social-emotional effects can occur due to long term unemployment?  

• Can provoke an identity vs inferiority crisis  

• Marital difficulties 

• Homicide  

Rape is a crime that is more likely to occur with someone who has a personality with a higher level of power and control 

Sexual Script: stereotyped pattern of role prescriptions for how people should act towards one another. Learned from family + peers 

 How does early attachment affect future relationships? Attachment in infancy influences attachment as an adult.  

Secure attachment:  

• Positive view of relationships  

• Finding it easier to build close relationships w/ others 

Avoidant Attachment:  

• Being hesistant about getting involved in romantic relationships 

• Can be socially distant, but doesn’t mean they don’t have feelings 

Anxious Attachment Style:  

• Demands closeness 

• More emotional, jealous, and possessive  

Erikson 6^th Crisis: Intimacy vs Isolation 

• Ability to achieve intimacy results in social isolation 

• Identity and intimacy co-occur in relationships 

Intimacy: finding oneself while losing oneself in another person 

• Requires commitment to another person  

How can a person commit to being in a couple and maintain:  

• Own identity  

• Independence – decision making, autonomy 

Sternberg’s Triangle of Consummate Love: Passion, Affection, and Fatuous 

Consummate love is the strongest.  

7 principles of a working marriage (John Gottman, 2011)  

1. Establishing love maps – insights and knowledge of each other’s world.  

2. Nurturing fondness and admiration – sing each other’s praises. Reinforce a positive outlook for a positive future.  

3. Turning toward each other instead of away – view your spouse as a friend + respect one another.  

4. Letting your partner influence you – Be willing to share power + compromise.  

5. Solving solvable conflicts – 2 kinds of conflict: perpetual and solvable.  

• Regulate emotions, compromise, be tolerant of one another’s faults.  

6. Overcome Gridlock – communicate about differences.  

7. Create shared meaning – help each other to achieve goals. (new traditions, supporting each other’s interests) 

How do Erikson’s, Sternberg’s Gottman’s theories complement one another?  

Erikson's theory on psychosocial development provides a foundational understanding of the stages individuals must navigate to develop a healthy sense of self, particularly in regards to intimacy, which directly complements both Sternberg's focus on the components of love (including intimacy) and Gottman's emphasis on building healthy, connected relationships through effective communication and conflict resolution strategies within a couple. 

How would you describe middle adulthood? (40-65) As adults grow older their identity is younger than chronological age – they identify as they were in their teens and 20s, with a zest of life.   

Facts about middle-aged people 

• Reach and maintain career satisfaction 

• Physical skills decline while responsibilities increase 

• Desire to transmit something meaningful to the next generation 

• Awareness of the young-old polarity 

Erikson’s 7^th Crisis: Generativity vs. Stagnation 

Generativity: adults desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next gen.  

Stagnation: self-absorption. Feels that they have contributed or done nothing to contribute to next gen.  

4 Different types of Generativities:  

1. Biological generativity: generate babies 

2. Parental generativity: nurture and guide children 

3. Work generativity: develop skills to pass to others 

4. Cultural generativity: create/conserve culture 

Viktor Frankl: Concentration camp survivor + author 

According to Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning (1984) the three most distinct human qualities are:  

1. Spirituality – uniqueness of spirit, philosophy, and mind 

2. Freedom – to choose  

3. Responsibility – for self and others 

People should ask: Why do I exist? What is the meaning of my life? That helps a person to survive. 

Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vohs – 4 main goals to motivate people to make sense of their lives 

1. Need for purpose – a connection with future events gives purpose to life.  

2. Need for values – a sense of goodness justifies action. Values enable people to know right from wrong. Values give meaning to life.  

3. Need for a sense of efficacy (Bandura) -- belief that one can make a difference 

4. Need for self-worth – people are inherently good and want to feel their actions are worthy. This builds self-esteem. 

How pervasive are midlife crises?  

• Only a minority of adults experience a midlife crisis 

• Middle aged adults can prevent a mid-life crisis by being generative.  

• Adults use their generative activities to interpret, shape, alter, and give meaning to their lives. 

• Autonomy and social relationships can feel improved at mid-life 

• In 1/3 of cases where individuals report experiencing a midlife crisis it is triggered by life events such as job loss, financial problems, or illness. 

Neurogenesis slows or stops and occurs in new ways:  

• Generation of new neurons 

• Dendritic growth 

• Older brains require to compensate for losses 

• Decrease in lateralization  

• Functions which were on one side are now on both 

• Language 

• Improves cognitive functioning 

What kind of memory does a person in late adulthood have the most trouble with? Episodic Memory: Memory for place and time of events declines 

Explicit Memory: Facts and experiences that individuals consciously know and recall declines with age 

Episodic Memory: Memory for place and time of events declines 

Semantics Memory: Person’s knowledge about how the world works declines 

  - Safety precautions, how gadgets and machines work 

Implicit memory: is relatively good! Memory without conscious recollection that involves skills and routine procedures is less likely to be adversely affected by aging.  

Motor Coordination skills may degrade, making some tasks difficult 

Erikson Crisis 8: Integrity vs Despair (70 and beyond)  

Life Review: Retrospective evaluation of the worthiness of their life. Involves recall, interpretation, and re-interpretation.  

Positive review leads to resolution and achieves the goals of integrity, wisdom, affirmation. Negative review leads to despair, guilt, regret. 

Reminiscence therapy – lifts depression and increases self-esteem. It reminds people of the positives. 

Social Emotional Selective Theory 

Mental Health  

Depression – a variety of drugs can lift mood.  

Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson's, Lewy Body Disease 

Drug treatment for each is unique.  

Difficult to diagnose correctly. Especially in the early stages.  

All four may go along with:  

• Dementia 

• Depression 

• Sleep and dream problems