Psychosocial Development Notes
Psychosocial Development
Erik Erikson's theory is a well-known personality theory in psychology.
Erikson, like Freud, believed personality develops in stages.
Erikson's theory focuses on the impact of social experience across the lifespan, unlike Freud's psychosexual stages.
Ego identity is a key element, defined as the conscious sense of self developed through social interaction.
Ego identity constantly changes due to new experiences and information from daily interactions.
Competence also motivates behaviors and actions.
Each stage involves becoming competent in an area of life.
Successfully handling a stage leads to mastery (ego strength or ego quality).
Poorly managed stages result in feelings of inadequacy.
Each stage involves a conflict that serves as a turning point.
Conflicts center on developing a psychological quality or failing to do so.
These times present high potential for personal growth and failure.
Psychosocial Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust (Birth to 1 Year)
This is the most fundamental stage.
Infants are utterly dependent.
Trust develops based on the dependability and quality of caregivers.
Successful development of trust leads to feeling safe and secure.
Inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting caregivers lead to mistrust.
Failure to develop trust results in fear and a belief in an inconsistent, unpredictable world.
Psychosocial Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Early Childhood)
Occurs during early childhood.
Focuses on children developing a greater sense of personal control.
Erikson believed toilet training was vital for feeling control and independence, differing from Freud's reasoning.
Gaining control over body functions leads to a sense of control and independence.
Other important events: gaining control over food choices, toy preferences, and clothing selection.
Successful completion leads to feeling secure and confident.
Failure leads to a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt.
Psychosocial Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt (Preschool Years)
During preschool years.
Children assert power and control through directing play and social interaction.
Success leads to feeling capable and able to lead others.
Failure leads to guilt, self-doubt, and lack of initiative.
Psychosocial Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority (Age 5-11)
Covers early school years (approximately age 5 to 11).
Children develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and abilities through social interactions.
Encouragement from parents and teachers leads to feelings of competence and belief in skills.
Little or no encouragement leads to doubt in their ability to be successful.
Psychosocial Stage 5: Identity vs. Confusion (Adolescence)
During adolescence.
Children explore their independence and develop a sense of self.
Proper encouragement and reinforcement through personal exploration lead to a strong sense of self, independence, and control.
Remaining unsure of beliefs and desires leads to insecurity and confusion about themselves and the future.
Psychosocial Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation (Early Adulthood)
Covers the period of early adulthood.
People explore personal relationships.
Developing close, committed relationships is vital.
Success leads to committed and secure relationships.
Each step builds on skills learned in previous steps.
A strong sense of personal identity is important for developing intimate relationships.
Poor sense of self tends to lead to less committed relationships and a higher likelihood of emotional isolation, loneliness, and depression.
Psychosocial Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation (Adulthood)
During adulthood.
Focus on career and family.
Success leads to feeling a contribution to the world through activity in home and community.
Failure leads to feeling unproductive and uninvolved in the world.
Psychosocial Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair (Old Age)
Occurs during old age.
Focuses on reflecting back on life.
Unsuccessful completion leads to feeling that life has been wasted and experiencing many regrets, resulting in bitterness and despair.
Feeling proud of accomplishments leads to a sense of integrity.
Successfully completing this phase means looking back with few regrets and a general feeling of satisfaction.
These individuals attain wisdom, even when confronting death.
Issues in Child Development
Continuous or Discontinuous:
Continuous: Development is a smooth process of gradually accumulating knowledge, skills, and behaviors.
Implies orderly progression where complex behaviors build on previous abilities.
Discontinuous: Development is a process where new skills and behaviors emerge in disconnected ways, taking place in stages.
The way we view development (continuous or discontinuous) affects our understanding and interpretation.
Single or Multiple Courses:
Universal stages theorists argue the same sequence is followed everywhere.
Multiple courses: Child development is influenced by unique combinations of personal (e.g., heredity, biological factors) and environmental (e.g., home, school, community) circumstances, leading to varied paths.
How Genetic Foundations Affect Child Development
Genetic Inheritance:
Genetics is the study of genes.
Genes carry information passed from one generation to the next.
Genes explain traits like hair color.
Inheritance is the transmission of genes from parent to offspring.
Genes are the basic units of hereditary transmission.
They trigger protein production in response to environmental clues, laying the biological foundation for physical characteristics.
Chromosomes come in pairs (one from each parent).
A gene on one chromosome has an alternate corresponding gene (allele) on the other.
The relationship between alleles can be dominant or recessive.
Alleles from both parents and their interrelationship (dominance/recessiveness) determine the child's traits.
Genes and Environments:
Genes (nature) and environment (nurture) interact to influence a child's development.
They influence each other to form patterns of development.
Parents create children's immediate environment.
Parents and children share similar genetic structures, so parental environments likely support children's genetic traits (e.g., painting, playing).
Genes and environment continually act upon each other to form behaviors and patterns of development.
Physical Development in Childhood
Physical development is crucial for children to explore and interact with the world.
Physical growth includes changes in body size, proportions, muscle-fat makeup, and skeleton.
It also includes gains in gross- and fine-motor skills.
Changes in Body Size:
The most rapid changes occur during infancy, with increases in height and weight.
The growth rate slows down in early and middle childhood.
Changes in Body Proportions:
Different body parts grow at different rates and patterns.
The 'head to toe' pattern is the first trend.
e.g., Babies learn to hold up their heads before walking.
Changes in Muscle-Fat Makeup:
Muscle to fat ratio changes.
Body fat increases faster in infancy to maintain body temperature but reduces in early and middle childhood.
Skeletal Growth:
Physical maturity is estimated by skeletal growth and age.
Based on the number of epiphyses (special growth centers at the ends of long bones) and the extent of their merging.
This measure helps understand causes and consequences of individual differences in physical development.
Development refers to changes within an individual's lifespan, from conception to death.
Includes changes in behavioral, social, moral, and intellectual aspects.
Involves growth, referring to physical changes.
Domains of Development
The pattern of child development is generally divided into three domains of development namely physical, cognitive and socio-emotional development.
Physical Domain: Involves biological changes over time, including body size, proportions, appearance, motor skills, and physical health.
Cognitive Domain: Includes changes in intellectual abilities and skills such as thinking, intelligence, creativity, attention, memory, language etc.
Socio-Emotional Domain: Highlights the processes that relate to the changes in a child's relationships with others, feelings, emotions, values, beliefs, and personality.