Paper Presentation on Pastoral Care and
Counselling
Topic:
Developmental Stages of Human Beings and Stagnation.
Introduction:
Developmental psychology is the
branch of psychology that studies intraindividual changes and interindividual
changes. Some development psychologist’s studies developmental change covering
the life span from conception to death. By so doing, they attempt to give a
complete picture of growth and decline. Others cover only a segment and show
the life span—childhood, adulthood, or Old age. In this paper an attempt will
be made to cover in brief all segments and show the important development
changes at different periods during the entire life span and the reasons of
stagnation in each stage. The term development means a progressive series of
changes that occur as a result of maturation and experience.[1] There
are different stages in human life span such as follows:
Infancy:
The first two years of life are
universally recognised as a period of special vulnerability. Thus, the first
developmental task of the infant is to ensure its own survival past this
vulnerable period. Bowlby (1969) proposed that the infant’s attachment to its
mother was shaped through human evolution by the infant’s need for reliable
care.[2] Infancy
is hazardous period, both physically and psychologically. Physically, it is
hazardous because of the difficulties of making the necessary radical
adjustment to the totally new and different environment. The high infant
mortality rate is evidence of this. Psychologically, infancy is hazardous
because it is the time when the attitudes of significant people towards the
infant are crystallised. Many of these attitudes were established during the prenatal
period and may change radically after the infant is born, but some remain
relatively unchanged or are strengthened, depending on conditions at the birth
and on the ease or difficulty with which the infant and the parents adjust.[3]
Most
researchers today agree that although continuity of care is important for infants
and young children, it is possible for infants to form successful attachment
relationships to their mothers and others under a variety of caretaking
arrangements.[4]
Infants must make four adjustments
before they can resume their developmental progress. If they do not make them
quickly, their lives will be threatened. While these adjustments are made,
there is no developmental progress. These adjustments are:
·
Temperature changes: There
is a constant temperature of 100F in the uterine Sac, while temperatures in the
hospital or home may vary 60 to 70 F.
·
Breathing: When the
umbilical cord is cut, infants must begin to breathe on their own.
·
Sucking and Swallowing:
The infant must now get nourishment by sucking and
swallowing, instead of receiving it through the umbilical cord. These reflexes
are imperfectly developed at birth, and the infant often gets less nourishment
than is needed and thus loses.
·
Elimination: The
infant’s organs of elimination begin to work soon after birth; formerly, waste
products were eliminated through the umbilical cord.[5]An
important developmental task for the both the infant and its caretakers is the
establishment of more mature and regular patterns of eating and sleeping.
Cross
– cultural research has shown that there are wide variations in how soon babies
begin to sleep through the night, with much later establishment of mature sleep
through the night, with much later establishment of mature sleep schedules in
culture where babies can easily wake up and nurse during the night. The
location of the infant during sleep also varies cross culturally and within
U.S. society, with co sleeping (in the same Bed or same room) more prevalent
among African American, Appalachian families as well as in other traditional
societies around the world.[6]
Physical
and Psychological Development:
Some
infants are born prematurely and some post maturely, it is obvious that not all
infants will show the same level of physical and mental development. However we
will just focus on normal, full-term infant. Size of an infant at birth, the
average infant weighs 7 and half pounds and measures 19 and half inches in length.
Weight in relation to height is less at birth, on the average. Boys on the
whole, are slightly longer and heavier than girls.
Infantile
features of the infant are the muscles of the newborn infant are soft, small
and uncontrolled. At the time of birth, less development has taken place in the
muscles of the neck and legs than in those of the hands and arms. The bones,
line the muscles, are soft and flexible because they are composed chiefly of
cartilage or gristle. Because of their softness, they can readily be misshapen.
The skin is soft and often blotchy. Frequently, soft downy hair is found on the
head and back, though the latter soon disappears. The eyes of white newborns
are usually a bluish gray, though they gradually change to whatever their
permanent colour will be.
Physiological
Functions — because of the underdeveloped state of the autonomic nervous system
at birth, the infant is unable to maintain homeostasis,
which is one of the causes of the high mortality rate at this time. With the
birth cry, the lungs are inflated and respiration begins. The respiration rates
at first ranges are forty to forty- five breathing movements per minute. By the
end of the first week of life, it normally drops to approximately thirty—five
per minute and is more stable than it is was at first.[7]
Infants
who have been most active as foetuses tend to be most active during the period
of the newborn. A long and difficult labor or heavy medication of the mother
can cause the infant to be relatively inactive for the first few days of life.
Infants delivered by caesarean section are usually the least active of all.[8]
Physical
and Psychological danger to the Infancy:
In
spite of its short duration, infancy is one of the most hazardous periods in
the life span. Hazards at this time may be physical, psychological, or both and
they can affect both present and future adjustment. Some of the physical hazards
of infancy are of only temporary significance, while others can affect the
individual’s entire life pattern. The most serious physical hazards are those
relating to an unfavourable prenatal environment, a difficult and complicated
birth, a multiple birth post maturity, and prematurity, and conditions leading
to infant mortality. Even though psychological hazards tend to have less effect
on the infant’s adjustment to postnatal life than physical hazards, they are
nonetheless important because of their long- term effects. Psychological scars
acquired during infancy can cause the individual lifelong adjustment problems.[9]
Early
Childhood:
Most
people think of childhood as a fair long period in the life span – a time when
the individual is relatively helpless and dependent on others. To children,
childhood often seems endless as they wait impatiently for the magic time to
come when society will regard them as “grown ups” and no longer as children. Childhood
begins at approximately the age of two years, and extends to the time approximately
thirteen years for the average for the average girl and fourteen years for the
average boy. Today it is widely recognised that childhood should be subdivided
into two separate periods—early childhood and late childhood. Early childhood
extends from two to six and late childhood from six to the time the child
becomes sexually mature.[10]Most
parents consider early childhood a problem age or a troublesome age. The reason that behaviour problems dominate the
early childhood years is that young children are developing distinctive
personalities and are demanding an independence which, in most cases, they are
incapable of handling successfully. In addition young children are often
obstinate, stubborn, disobedient, negativistic and antagonistic. They have
frequent temper tantrums, they are often bothered by bad dreams at night and
irrational fears during the day and they suffer from jealousies. Childhood is
often referring to the toy age because young children spend much time playing
with toys and there interest in this decreases when they reach school. As
children are encouraged to engage in games and modified forms of sports, none
of which require the use of toys. However, if they are alone continue to play
with their toys well into the third or even fourth grade.[11]
Edward
suggests that developmental task in this stage include increased autonomy and
independence, the emergence of a sense of self, the beginnings of self control,
and the ability to empathize with others, to earn moral rules, and to identify
oneself in relation to gender.[12]
Physical
development:
Growth
during early childhood proceeds at a slow rate as compared with the rapid rate
of growth in babyhood. Early childhood is a time of relatively even growth,
though there are seasonal variations; July to mid- December is the most
favourable time foe increases in weight, and April to mid- august is most
favourable for height increases. Let’s see some of the physical changes in
early childhood.
Height:
The average annual increase in height is three inches. By the age of six, the
average child measures 4 to 6 inches.
Weight:
The average annual increase in weight is 3 to 5 pounds. At age six, children
should weigh approximately seven times as much as they did at birth. The
average girl weighs 48.5 pounds, and the average boy weighs 49 pounds.
Body
build: Differences in body build become apparent for the first time in early
childhood. Some children have an endomorphic or flabby, fat body build; some
have a mesomorphic or study, muscular body build and some have an ectomorphic
or relatively thin body build.
Bones
and muscles: The bones ossify at different rates in different parts of the
body, following the laws of developmental direction. The muscles become larger,
stronger, and heavier, with the result that children look thinner as early
childhood progresses, even though they weigh more.
There
are daily variations in the amount of sleep young children need, depending on
such factors as the amount of exercise they had during the day and the kinds of
activities they have engaged. Three years olds sleeps approximately twelve out
of twenty four hours. Each successive year during early childhood, the average
daily amount of sleep is approximately one- half hour less than in the previous
year. Early childhood is the ideal age to learn skills. There are three reasons
for this. First, young children enjoy repetition and are, therefore, willing to
repeat an activity until they have acquired the ability to do it well. Second,
young children are adventuresome and, as a result, are not held back by fear of
hurting themselves or of being ridiculed by peers, as older children often are.
Third, young children learn easily and quickly because their bodies are still
pliable and because they have acquired so few skills that they acquired so few
skills that they do not interfere with the acquisition of new ones. Early
childhood may be regarded as teachable moment for acquiring of new ones. If
children are not given opportunities to learn skills when they are
developmentally ready to do so and when they want to do so because of their
growing desire for independence, they will not only lack the necessary
foundations for the skills their peers have learned but they will lack the
motivation to learn skills when they are eventually given an opportunity to do
so.[13]
Moral
development in Early Childhood:
Moral
development in early childhood is on a low level. The reason for this is that
young children’s intellectual development has not yet reached the point where
they can learn or apply abstract principles of right and wrong. Neither do they
have the necessary motivation to adhere to rules and regulations because they do
not understand how these benefit them as well as members of the social group. Because
of their inability to comprehend the whys and wherefores of moral standards,
young children must learn moral behaviour in specific situations. Children may
be told not to do something one day but, by the next day or event the day after
that, they may have forgotten what they were told not to do. Thus what may
appear to the adults to be wilful disobedience is often only a case of
forgetting. 132
In
early childhood stage children are interested in mainly on three things,
firstly, interest in religion as they have some questions regarding the birth,
death, growth and the elements, Secondly, interest in human body as before
early childhood comes to end, most young children have an absorbing interest in
the interiors of their bodies and want to know not only where the heart, lungs,
brain etc., are but also what they do. Thirdly, interest in self, Some of the
most common ways are looking at themselves in mirrors, examining the different
parts of their bodies and their clothes, asking questions about themselves,
comparing their possessions and achievements with those of their playmates ,
boasting about their achievements and possessions, or cutting up to attract
attention.[14]
Hazards
in Early Childhood:
Hazards
can be physical as well as psychological, poor nutrition, for example, may
stunt physical and mental growth, just as excessive family friction can lead to
stress, which can also stunt growth. However, the psychological hazards of
early childhood are more numerous than the physical hazards and are more
damaging to the child’s personal and social adjustments. Because of the “wonder
drugs” and wide spread immunization available today, children’s illnesses are
shorter in duration than past.
Psychologically
they are damaging in two reasons. First, children who are sick for an extended
period of time fall behind in their learning of skills needed for play with
their peers. As a result, they find they are misfits in the play group when
they are able to rejoin it. Second, if parents consider the illness a family
calamity and blame children for the expense and inconvenience the illness has
caused, it will make children tense and nervous. This will not only tend to
prolong the illness but it will also damage parent- child relationship.[15] Accidents, as it leaves a scars or
some disabilities which lead to the feeling of inferiority. Some other are
unattractiveness, awkwardness, obesity, left-handedness, unpleasant emotions specially
anger etc are some hazards.
Late
Childhood:
Late
childhood extends from the age of six years to the time the individual becomes
sexually mature. During the last year or two of childhood, marked physical
changes take place and these, also, are responsible for changes in attitudes,
values, and behaviour as this period draws to a close and children prepare,
physical and psychologically, for adolescence. Although it is possible to mark
off the beginning of late childhood fairly accurately, one cannot be so precise
about the time this period comes to an end because sexual maturity—the
criterion used to divide childhood from adolescence – comes at varying ages.[16]
Many
parents, late childhood is the troublesome
age – the time when children are no longer willing to do what they are told
to do and when they are more influenced by their peers than by their parents
and other family members. Educators call the late childhood the elementary school age. It is the time
when the child is expected to acquire the rudiments of knowledge and when child
is expected to learn certain essential skills, both curricular and
extracurricular. Psychologists explains late childhood is the gang age--- the time when children’s
major concern is acceptance by their age mates and membership in a gang,
especially a gang with prestige in the eyes of their age-mates. Psychologists also call it as an age of conformity[17].
In late
childhood, intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic
manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects. Operational thinking develops
which means actions are reversible, and egocentric thought diminishes. Children
go through the transition from the world at home to that of school and peers.
Children learn to make things, use tools, and acquire the skills to be a worker
and a potential provider. Children can now receive feedback from outsiders
about their accomplishments. If children can discover pleasure in intellectual
stimulation, being productive, seeking success, they will develop a sense of
competence. If they are not successful or cannot discover pleasure in the
process, they may develop a sense of inferiority and feelings of inadequacy
that may haunt them throughout life. This is when children think of themselves
as industrious or as inferior.[18]
Physical
development in Late childhood:
Late
childhood is a period of slow and relatively uniform growth until the changes
of puberty begin, approximately two years before the child becomes sexually
mature, at which time growth speed up markedly. Good health and good nutrition
are important factors in the child’s growth and development. The better the
health and nutrition, the larger children tend to be, age for age, as compared
with those whose nutrition and health is poor. Children who were immunized
against disease during the early years of life grow larger than those who were
not immunized. Emotional tensions likewise affect physical growth.[19]
Boys
begin their puberty growth spurt approximately a year later than girls; they
tend to be slightly shorter and lighter in weight than girls of the same age
until they too become sexually mature. Girls also get their permanent teeth
slightly earlier than boys, while boys’ heads and faces grow larger than girls’.
There are certain developments in late childhood:
Height:
The annual increase in height is 2 to 3
inches. The average eleven year old girl is 58 inches tall, and the average boy
of the same age is 57. 5 inches tall.
Weight:
Weight increases are more variable than height increases, ranging from 3 to 5
or more pounds annually. The average eleven year old girl weighs 88.5 pounds,
and the average boy of the same age weighs 85.5 pounds.
Muscles
fat Ratio: During late childhood, fat tissue develops more rapidly than muscle
tissue which has a marked growth spurt beginning at puberty. Children of
endomorphic builds have conspicuously more fat than muscle tissue while the
reverse is true of than muscle tissue while the reverse is true of those of
mesomorphic builds.
Teeth:
By the onset of puberty, a child normally has twenty- eight of the thirty- two
permanent teeth. The last four, the wisdom teeth, erupt during adolescence.[20]
Adolescence:
Adolescence
is the term which comes from the Latin word adolescence, meaning “to grow” or
“to grow to maturity”. As it is use today, the term adolescence has broad
meaning. It includes mental, emotional, and social maturity as well as physical
maturity.[21]
Often adolescence is divided into three stages (ages 13- 15), middle (ages 16-18),
and late (ages 19- 25or so).[22]
The beginning of the puberty sets off a
host of hormonal changes that affect not only physical development but also the
entire developmental process. Relationship, views of life self- identity, self-
acceptance and a host of other things begin to change, seemingly at the same time.
There are certain developments on the adolescence.
Physical
Development:
Physical
development affects all areas of adolescents’, bodies and continues rapidly,
then slowly, then with great spurts, and eventually stops by the end of later
adolescence. It is conceivable that one 15 year old may look like a 22 year old
while another 15 years old may look like a 10 year old. Neither is abnormal;
this all part of the wide variation of idiosyncratic time tables for physical
development.
Physical
development raises numerous questions and issues for adolescents. They want to
know what is happening to their bodies. They are interested in their own and
their peers’ physical development. Basically for the youth around the world
there is a great concern about whether they are physically attractive.
Adolescents’ also wants to know who to care about their body, how to stay in
good shape so that they are desirable and can feel accepted. They have many
questions about sexual development. Unfortunately they did not find many
resources outside of their peers who are usually equally ignorant and mass
media which is not usually concerned with the moral side of sexual development.
Parents and church are not a major source of sex education.[23]
Social
development:
Adolescents’’
are developing new friendships built on true sharing of self with others. They
are interested in peer- approved behaviours, acceptance, and feeling
comfortable in social situations. They want to talk with whoever will listen
seriously. Usually they have a large number of friends, and they tend to change
friends throughout their adolescent years. As they mature, adolescents tend to
form more permanent friendships that often last life times. Throughout all the
adolescent years peer groups are often the major support group. Social
development stimulates basic questions about relationships. Horrocks and
Benimoff state that “Peer groups are the adolescent’ real world, providing him
a stage upon which to try out himself and others. It is in the peer group that
he continues to formulate and revise his concept of self”.[24] Youth
want to know the meaning of relationships and especially about truthfulness and
faithfulness. Adolescents’ ask who really their friends are. They want to know
how to make and keep true friends, and are concerned that friendship be more
than a social club. They desire to know to which group they belong and how to
get into those groups. They are concern with the relationship with themselves
and the members of the opposite sex as well as forming wholesome relationship
with those of same sex. Adolescents
attempt to be independent yet realise that they need others. They wonder how
they can be both independent and properly related to others without losing
their identity or becoming isolated.
Effective
and Emotional Development:
Psychologists
have observed almost the entire range of human emotions in infants and young
children. Thus the number of emotions that adolescents have in their repertoire
is relatively static. How they demonstrate those emotions, the intensity of
their demonstrations, and how they control their emotions are what set
adolescents apart from children and mature adults. Adolescence emotions are
often chaotic, confused extreme and contradictory. Adolescence has intense
feeling that they often express in abrupt ways. They seek emotional stimuli,
but lack emotional control in many situations. Adolescents often show worry,
anxiety, self-pity, anger, hostility, fear, frustration, loyalty, disloyalty,
love, hate, superiority, inferiority—that is, they experience all the emotions
of any normal human but lack the control is understandable given the enormous
changes that are occurring in every aspect of their loves.[25]
Instead of having temper tantrums, however, adolescents express their anger by
sulking, refusing to speak, or loudly criticizing those who angered them.[26] Adolescents’
are puzzled about why they have contradictory emotions toward the same person,
event, or thing. They sense their fickle emotions but cannot seem to stop them
from occurring. They look for controls, but do not find them easily at hand.
They seek stable emotional relationships with peers and especially with adults
who can help them learn how to control their emotions.[27]
The adolescent unconsciously
explores questions such as "Who am I? Who do I want to be?" Like
toddlers, adolescents must explore, test limits, become autonomous, and
commit to an identity, or sense of self. Different roles, behaviours and ideologies
must be tried out to select an identity. Role confusion and inability to choose
vocation can result from a failure to achieve a sense of identity through, for
example, friends.
Adulthood:
The
term adult comes from the same Latin verb as the term adolescence which means
“to grow to maturity”. However, the word adult is derived from the past
participle of that verb – Adultus – which means “grown to full
size and strength” or “matured”. Adult are therefore individuals who have
completed their growth and are ready to assume their status in society along
with other adults.[28]
A
number of significant researchers have their viewpoints regarding adulthood in order
to demonstrate the breath of opinions which comprise the scope of adult
development. Erik Erikson presented one of the earliest perspectives on adult
development. His work from 1963 and 1982 (childhood and society and the life
cycle completed, respectively) moved the focus of adult education to viewing
adults as having broad- range growth and change similar to that of children.
Erikson eight stages of adult development blend inner maturational plans and
societal demands. In the first five stages adults build upon the completion of
growth. But it is the last three stages of his model that relate specifically
to adult development. The sixth stage of Erikson theory “intimacy and isolation”
is a time of establishing a fully intimate relationship with another. Seventh
stage is “generativity vs. Stagnation” is a time of struggle between feelings
of maintain and perpetuating society and feelings of self- absorption. “Integrity
vs. Despair” places meaningfulness and accomplishments against the dread of
growing old.[29]The
adult hood is divided in three stages.
·
Early Adulthood:
Early adulthood extends from age
eighteen to approximately age forty, when the physical and psychological
changes which accompany the beginning of the loss of reproductive capacity
appear.[30] Young
adults also want and independence from their families in order to develop a
sense of self- identity. This structure for life develops in the young adult
years, but will be utilized throughout their life. Young adults face many
choices as they launch on the vocational voyage. Experiences, interests, and
personality all shape the vocational choices and development of a career.[31] It has been said that Adulthood is the age to
settle down that means settled in some work that could be his/ her career.[32] Seeking opportunities to develop in a
chosen field of work may be hindered by external expeditions of family, church,
or community. These conflicts may also be generated from within especially for
females, where values and desire collide.
The need to balance work and family is not unique to young adult female.
Men may also struggle with this, as do older adults of both genders. Marriage
and the issues of mate selection surface in the young adult’s life. Some find
satisfaction in remaining single and in planning to remain so. Still others are
frustrated in their development, wanting to be married yet for any number of
reasons finding a union unavailable. Isolation can easily occur, but not just
among single persons. Parenthood presents another set of adjustments. Moral
thinking begins to refine itself during the young adult years. Growing in the
areas of empathy, risk taking, and exploration, facing life’s questions and
issues, and gaining a sense of one’s own responsibility seem to trace the moral
development of young adults.[33]
·
Middle Adulthood:
Middle
adulthood, or middle age, begins at forty and extends to age sixty, when both
physical and psychological decline become apparent in the average person. It is
also a longest stage of human development. The midlife crisis is one of the
most notable transitions during these years. Middle adulthood feel like the
“between” generation, since many of them will take care of their parents for as
long as they raise their children. Physical and mental powers usually plateau during
this time period. It is at this stage the most adults expect themselves to be
most productive, and this can lead to frustration as goal and expectation may
have to be adjusted or changed to accommodate events of circumstances of
midlife. In the areas of faith development, evidence supports the idea that
middle adulthood can be a rich time of faith expression. However, many middle
adults are tempted to back off from their faith or lose zeal.[34]
·
Later Adulthood:
Social
insecurity because of financial struggle may occur. Adjusting to physical
decline and health issues is a major concern. Many people do not picture senior
adults as joyful people. This is a gross misconception, as most senior adults
succeed in adjusting to retirement, living on reduced income and discovering
different ways of working. For many the completion of life goals is very
satisfying and enables them to prepare for whatever declines may be ahead. Serving
as wise leader in church, home and community, grand parenting, mentoring and
finding unselfish service to others are admirable opportunities for senior
adults. Health issues and diminishing physical acuity are realities that need
to be faced in addition to death and grieving. Expressing faith in a biblical
way, honouring old age and not despising it, is a very satisfying endeavour of
this age group.[35]
Adults
who are handicapped by poor health cannot achieve what they are capable of in
their vocational or social lives. Overprotected adult in his childhood and
adolescence may find adjustment to adult life difficult. Since there is lot of
responsibilities in family life, occupation, etc there is a great period of
stress and been busy to fulfil the requirements.
Sigmund
Freud Theory:|
Approximate
Ages
|
|
|
Birth
to 1 year
|
Oral Stage
A child's primary source of pleasure is through
the mouth, via sucking, eating and tasting.
|
|
1-3
years
|
Anal Stage
Children gain a sense of mastery and competence
by controlling bladder and bowel movements.
|
|
3-6
years
|
Phallic Stage
The libido's energy is focused on the genitals.
Children begin to identify with their same-sex parent.
|
|
7-11
years
|
Latent Period
The libido's energy is suppressed and children
are focused on other activities such as school, friends and hobbies.
|
|
Adolescence
|
Genital Stage
Children begin to explore romantic relationships.
|
|
Adulthood
|
According to Freud, the genital stage lasts
throughout adulthood. He believed the goal is to develop a balance between
all areas of life. [36]
|
Erikson
theory:
According
to Erik Erikson the developmental changes occurring throughout lives can be
viewed as a series of eight stages of psychosocial development of which for
occur during childhood. Psychological development involves changes in our
interactions and understanding of one another as well as in our knowledge and
understanding of us as members of society. Erikson suggests that passage
through each of the stages necessitates resolution of a crisis a conflict.
Accordingly, each of Erikson’s stages is represented as a pairing of the most
positive and most negative aspects of the crises of the period. Although each crisis
is never resolved entirely – life becomes increasingly complicated as we grow older
– it needs to be resolved sufficiently so that we are equipped to deal with
demands made during the following stage of development:[37]
i.
Trust versus mistrust stage:
When the
parents present consistent, adequate, and nurturing care, the child develops basic trust and realizes that
people are dependable and the world can be a safe place. The child develops a
sense of hope and confidence;
this is a belief that things will work out well in the end. When the parents
fail to provide these things, the child develops basic mistrust, resulting in depression, withdrawal, and maybe even
unable to meet the required in the next stage.[38]
ii.
Autonomy versus shame and doubt stage:
The
age of children may be 2-3 years, toddlers develop independence and autonomy if
exploration and freedom are encouraged, or they experience shame, self -doubt,
and unhappiness if they are overly restricted and protected. According to Erikson,
the key to the development autonomy during this period is for the child’s
caregivers to provide the appropriate amount of control. If the child is more
controlled then he/ she may asserts themselves and developed their own sense of
control over the environment, if no control they may become more demanding and
controlling.[39]
iii.
Initiative versus Guilt stage:
Children can be the age of 3-6 years. If parents understand and
supportive of a child's efforts to show initiative,
the child develops purpose,
and sets goals and acts in ways to reach them, if children are punished for
attempts to show initiative, they are likely to develop a sense of guilt, which in excess can lead
to inhibition. Too much purpose
and no guilt can lead to ruthlessness.[40]
iv.
Industry
versus inferiority:
Children
in this stage are from the age of 6-12. Suring this period, successful
psychosocial development is characterised by increasing competency in all
areas, including social interactions and academic skills. In contrast,
difficulties in this stage lead to feelings of failure and inadequacy.[41]
v.
Identity crises role confusion stage:
Young
adults attempt to develop identity
and ideas about strengths, weaknesses, goals, occupations, sexual identity, and
gender roles. Teens "try on" different identities, going through an identity crisis, and use their
friends to reflect back to them. If they resolve this crisis, they develop fidelity; "the ability to sustain
loyalties freely pledged in spite of the inevitable contradictions of value
systems" (can be friends with very different people). If they fail to
resolve the crisis, they develop identity
diffusion; their sense of self is unstable and threatened; too little
identity and they may join cults or hate groups, too much identity and they may
show fanaticism.[42]
vi.
Intimacy
versus Isolation stage:
Spanning
the period of early adulthood (from post adolescence to early thirties), the
focus is on developing close relationship with others. Difficulties during this
stage result in feeling of loneliness and a fear of relationship with others,
but successful resolution of the crises of this stage results in the
possibility of corming relationships that are intimate on a physical,
intellectual and emotional level.[43]
vii.
Generativity versus stagnation stage:
If you have a strong sense of creativity, success,
and of having "made a mark" you develop generativity, and are
concerned with the next generation; the virtue is called care, and
represents connection to generations to come, and a love given without
expectations of a specific return. Adults
that do not feel this develop a sense of stagnation, are
self-absorbed, feel little connection to others, and generally offer little to
society; too much stagnation can lead to rejectivity and a
failure to feel any sense of meaning (the unresolved mid-life crises), and too
much generativity leads to overextension (someone
who has no time for themselves because they are so busy)[44]
viii.
Ego
integrity versus despair:
Comprises
later adulthood and continues until death. Success in resolving the
difficulties presented by this stage of life is signified by a sense of accomplishment;
difficulties result in regret over what might have been achieved but was not. One
of the most noteworthy aspects theories is its suggestion that development does
not stop at adolescence but continues throughout adulthood, a view that a substantial
amount of research mow confirms.[45]
CONCLUSION:
Development
in human beings has different changes in different stages as it is as mention
is paper physical, emotional, mental, moral etc. Every stage has its character
in development and if it is not fulfilled then the stagnation in development
occurs in the life of the humans. In today’s context we find many
underdeveloped humans in society, reasons may differ in different context and
individual for that. As a Christian leader or ministry we are called to serve
and share the gospel to everyone. Often there is an attempt to fulfil the
spiritual need, physical need etc. But there is also a need for the minister of
God to bring awareness regarding the things needed in certain developmental
stages to prevent the underdevelopment and stagnation in the life of the
people. There is several reasons mention in the paper like lack of proper diet
in childhood, underestimating someone, over protection etc. It is the need of
an hour to bring awareness regarding the Psychological developments and prevent
the stagnation in human developmental stages.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
“Dettoni John M”, “Adolescence”, Dictionary of Christian
Education.. Edited by Michael J. Anthony eds. Grand Rapids: Bakers
Academics, 2001.
Feldman, Robert S. Understanding Psychology. New Delhi: Mcgraw Hill Publishing Company
Limited, 1980.
Hurlock, Elizabeth B. Developmental Psychology: A Life Span Approach. New Delhi: Mcgraw
Hill Publishing Company, 1980).
“Harkness Sara”,
“Developmental Agenda” Encylopedia of Psychology. Edited by Alan
E. Kazdin. Washington D C: University
Press, 2000.
“Dettoni John M”, “Adolescence”,
Dictionary of Christian Education.. Edited by Michael J. Anthony eds. Grand
Rapids: Bakers Academics, 2001.
[1] Elizabeth B.
Hurlock, Developmental Psychology: A Life
Span Approach (New Delhi: Mcgraw Hill Publishing Company, 1980); 3.
[2] “Sara Harkness”,
“Developmental Agenda” Encylopedia
of Psychology, edited by Alan E. Kazdin (Washington D C: University Press, 2000); 1.
[7]Elizabeth B. Hurlock, Developmental Psychology: A Life Span Approach, pg 62.
[9]Elizabeth B. Hurlock, Developmental Psychology: A Life Span Approach, pg 67.
[18]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmental_psychology#Late_childhood
[22]
“John M. Dettoni”, “Adolescence” , Dictionary of Christian
Education. Edited by Michael J. Anthony eds. (Grand Rapids: Bakers
Academics, 2001); 24.
[30]Elizabeth B. Hurlock, Developmental Psychology: A Life Span Approach, pg 265.
[37] Robert
S. Feldman, Understanding Psychology (New
Delhi: Mcgraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, 1980); 373.
[39]
Robert S. Feldman, Understanding
Psychology (New Delhi: Mcgraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, 1980); 373.
[41]
Robert S. Feldman, Understanding
Psychology (New Delhi: Mcgraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, 1980); 374.
[43]
Robert S. Feldman, Understanding
Psychology (New Delhi: Mcgraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, 1980); 393.
[45] Robert
S. Feldman, Understanding Psychology (New
Delhi: Mcgraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, 1980); 393.
