Individual Lifespan Reflection (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

Individual Lifespan Reflection [Author's Name] [Institution] Author Note [Include any grant/funding information and a complete correspondence address] Abstract This paper will discuss the physical, emotional, mental and social development of a person I know from his childhood to his current age. The various forms of human development will be discussed in the light of different theories of development that have been developed by theorists over time. Some important concepts related to human development and my personal experiences related to those concepts will also be discussed in the paper. The paper will conclude with his personal experience with regards to his growth and development in the light of different theories of development. Individual Lifespan Reflection Many theories have been developed by researchers on the development of humans and the stages that they go through during the process of their development. Freud's theory on human development takes a psychosexual approach while Erikson's theory on human development takes a psychosocial approach. Similarly, theories developed by other theorists take different approaches. The person with reference to whom the paper is written is named Richard. According to Piaget's theory, Richard has entered the formal operations stage as he has started using reasoning to deduce results and has become futuristic, while according to Erikson's theory of social development, Richard is currently in the intimacy vs. isolation stage. The intimacy and isolation stage spans between the ages of 18 and 40 years and during this stage, young adults seek love, friends and companions CITATION Eri95 \l 1033 (Erikson, 1995). In this stage, the person either finds love and friends along with a good job and enjoys his life or he becomes isolated from the fear of disappointment. This is exactly what is happening with Richard right now as he is trying to find someone with whom he can establish a strong relationship. Furthermore, he is also trying to secure his future with a college degree while working part-time as well. Also, he tends to get away from people with whom he is not comfortable. These are the things that Erikson identified in this stage in his theory and this confirms the fact that Richard is in the intimacy vs. isolation stage. Everyone passes through certain stages of development before he gets to the age where Richard is. During these stages, a human develops physically, mentally and emotionally. Social development also occurs during certain stages as identified by different theorists. Before discussing the various aspects of development of Richard from his childhood to his current age, there are certain topics that need to be understood. Brief definitions of these topics along with some examples from his personal experience are discussed below. Cognitive Development Cognitive development deals with a child's development related to conceptual resources, language learning, information processing, perceptual skills and other aspects of brain development CITATION JHF85 \l 1033 (Flavell, Miller, & Miller, 1985). Cognitive development of a person occurs during all stages of his development. For example, according to Piaget, a child learns about language and communication during the preoperational stage and this is the most important hallmark of cognitive development during this stage CITATION WHu03 \l 1033 (Huitt & Hummel, 2003). Similarly, during the concrete operations stage, a child starts to learn about concepts related to size, directions and other similar things. For instance, Richard used to tell anyone who was driving the car to turn left or right in order to reach his house when he was 11 years old. He remembers that he used to enjoy this. The things discussed above show that the concepts such as directions were important to him at that time. All such things that a child learns over the period of time, come under the umbrella of cognitive development. At his current life stage which is formal operations according to Piaget, Richard uses rational thinking and logic to deduce results and he assumes certain things when he takes into account the future and this is exactly in accordance with explanation presented in Piaget's theory. Gender Identity Gender identity can be defined as the ability of a person to recognize himself as a male, female or both CITATION IFa84 \l 1033 (Fast, 1984). According to Richard, he was able to identify his gender from the age of 3 or 4. According to Freud, a child develops the sense of his / her gender after the age of 3 CITATION RRH89 \l 1033 (Holt, 1989). This happens when the boys realize they have a penis while girls don't have one. It can be deduced from Richard's experience that Freud was right in his findings. As the child grows, there are other aspects of gender identity that he develops. For instance, Richard remembers that he developed the concept of men being physically stronger than women in most of the cases when he was 10 years old. Piaget's theory that is based on cognitive development, confirms this fact. According to the theory, a child should be able to understand relationships about size by that age. Erikson's psychosocial theory also confirms it as it this age, a child is in the industry vs. inferiority stage and he learns new things by being competitive. Physical Growth Physical Growth can be defined as a process that starts from infancy and ends when the person dies. It includes concepts such as puberty, control over body and physical coordination. The psychosexual theory presented by Sigmund Freud takes into account physical growth very effectively as it enlists various stages based on the development of body and says that physical growth is happening throughout the life. As far as the personal experiences are concerned, Richard agreed to some aspects of Freud's theory on development as he experienced the things he has enlisted in his theory. For instance, when he hit puberty, he had the same feelings and sensations as described by Freud in his theory. Even in the current stage of his life, which is the genital stage (according to Freud's theory), he has the same goals and feelings as enlisted by Freud. Piaget's theory has no remarks about it as it deals mainly with children and does not have anything to say about development after the age of 18 CITATION WHu03 \l 1033 (Huitt & Hummel, 2003). Moral Development Moral development deals with the understanding of principles of right and wrong and other aspects of morality through the different stages of life CITATION Law81 \l 1033 (Kohlberg, 1981). Lawrence Kohlberg gave a theory of moral development that deals with this issue through different stages of one's life. Kohlberg was of the view that there is no moral development in a child until 3 years of age as the child is too young to understand the concept of right and wrong (Kohlberg & Hersh, 1977). According to his theory, Richard is currently in postconventional stage as he has a religious association and he thinks about universal ethics and tries to conform with the norms of the society. Peer Pressure Peer pressure is the influence of a certain group of people on a single person. According to Erikson's psychosocial theory of development, the concept of peer pressure is developed in children during industry vs. inferiority stage. He contends that the children do not have this concept per se, but they are demonstrating it by being competitive and by feeling inferior if they are unable to do something. They fully understand this concept when they enter the identity vs. role confusion stage and from then on, it becomes a part of their lives CITATION LEB08 \l 1033 (Berk, 2008). Richard is of the view that he experiences peer pressure in almost everything that he does. From his activities at college to his social experiences, he feels that his peers have an influence on him. In addition to Erikson's theory, Kohlberg's theory of Moral development also takes into account the consequences of peer pressure in his theory. He contends that social orientations and obligations have an effect on the morality of people and consequently these things have an effect on the choices that a person makes CITATION LEB08 \l 1033 (Berk, 2008). Richard also feels that he has to give up on many of his moral principles in certain situations because of his peers. For instance, when Richard and his friends go out to drink, they bring back a few packs of beer with themselves to their dormitories. By doing this, Richard breaks a rule of the university and violates some of his moral principles. Culture Culture is the sum total of customs, behaviors, values, beliefs, knowledge, experience and ideas of a particular group of people CITATION tam16 \l 1033 (tamu.edu, 2016). As the complete definition of culture takes into account all the things related to the life of a particular person, all theorists have included the impact of culture directly or indirectly in their theories. Erikson's theory that divides the development phases of a particular human being into 8 stages, takes into account the factor of culture in an indirect manner. Starting from stage 1 which is the trust vs. mistrust stage, Erikson has taken into account the factor of culture. In stage 1, when he discusses the development of behavior of babies according to the treatment they get, he is indirectly taking into account the factor of culture as culture dictates what type of treatment will the children get. The same is the case with all other stages identified by Erikson. Richard's experience regarding culture is that everything that happens around him, there is a factor of culture in it. From the food that he eats to the reasoning that he does, from forming relations to his workplace, everything is affected by the culture of the society in which he lives in. For instance, Richard remembers t...