Theories on Lifespan Development

things like nurture, which are environmental and cultural influences, play a lesser role. Certain traits are known to be inherited but is the same true of psychological characteristics?

THEORIES ON LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT

There are several theories on lifespan development. According to Sigmund Freud, personality first develops in early childhood. It was believed that development was discontinuous, with different stages of development. If an individual did not pass a certain stage, they were stuck there. The stages were based on psychosocial development with a focus on different pleasure-seeking areas of the body, such as oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages. Freud s theories were not ever supported by modern research but many believe in the basic principles.

The oral stage is from birth to one year. Libido is centered on the mouth and the child will put things in their mouth. There is breastfeeding, sucking, and biting. Next is the anal stage, from one to three years. There is a great pleasure in defecation. The child is someone individuated and has developed an ego. The major issue is potty training, which can affect later adulthood.

The next stage is the phallic stage, with masturbation and the knowledge of sex differences. There can be erotic attraction to one parent. Boys develop the Oedipus complex and have castration anxiety but identifies with their father. Girls develop penis envy and wish to be boys. They can develop the Electra complex.

The latency stage is from six years to puberty, when the libido is dormant. Sexual energy is sublimated toward friendship, hobbies, and school-related activities. Finally, there is the genital stage, which starts in puberty and continues through adulthood. There is focus on normal sexual relationships and on heterosexual pleasure with another individual. Sexual intercourse is prominent.

Erik Erickson developed the psychosocial theory, which was based on social development. He felt that personality is shaped through one s lifespan. Interaction with others is what develops the sense of self or what s called the ego identity”. There are

eight stages of development, from infancy through the time of late adulthood. There are conflicts or tasks that need resolution.

The first stage of development is trust, which comes in infancy. Infants need to develop trust and they do so with their primary caregivers. If this is not met, there are feelings of fear, anxiety, and mistrust. In the toddler years, children develop preferences. Their main task is autonomy versus shame and doubt. They gather increased independence. In the preschool age years, children increase their social interactions. The task that needs resolving is initiative versus guilt. Self-confidence is gained if the task is mastered.

In elementary school, the main task is industry versus inferiority. Children start to compare themselves with others and develop pride in their work and play activities. If they do not succeed, there is inadequacy and inferiority. In adolescence, the task is identity versus role confusion as well as the development of the sense of self. Values and beliefs are established. If not successful, there will be a weakening of the sense of self.

Early adulthood involves intimacy versus isolation. There is a tendency to want to share one s life with others. This stage requires a strong sense of self that has been achieved in adolescence. Those who have not developed this will feel emotional isolation and loneliness.

Individuals who are between 40 and the mid-60s will have generative versus stagnation as the major task. It involves finding the individual s self-worth and contributing to other people s development. Children are being raised and mentoring is accomplished. If this is not done, there is stagnation and little interest in one s productivity.

From the mid-60s through to the end of one s life, this is late adulthood. The task is integrity versus despair. There is reflection on one s life and a sense of either failure or satisfaction. Individuals can be proud of their accomplishments or can develop regrets with a focus on what could have been. Those who do not master this stage have depression, bitterness, and despair.

Jean Piaget also studied child development based on cognitive theory. He felt that cognition or thinking in children was important. He felt that children in general were extremely inquisitive but do not think like adults nor can they adequately reason. There

are specific stages of cognitive development that are discontinuous. Piaget used the term schemata which were mental models that children use to make sense of the world. Children will assimilate and accommodate new information. Assimilation involves taking in information based on what they already know, while accommodation is the time period when they develop new schemata.

The different stages include the sensorimotor stage, from infancy to two years of age. Children develop object constancy and stranger anxiety. During the preoperational stage of 2 to 6, there is pretend play, language development, and egocentrism. During the concrete operational stage between 7 and 11, there is mathematical transformation and conservation. In ages 12 and up, there is the formal operational stage, where there is abstract logic and moral reasoning.

There are some criticisms to Piaget s work. Individuals believe that the stages are more continuous than Piaget has suggested. In addition, others suggest these stages are achieved earlier than Piaget has suggested. Still others suggest a fifth stage, called the postformal stage, in which logic is more integrated with emotion and contexts are taken into account. Adults and teens, based on these stages, think differently in emotionally charged situations. Problem-solving is better in adulthood than in adolescence.

The psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg took Piaget s stages and added stages of moral development. He studied moral development by posing certain moral arguments to children of different ages. There are different stages of moral reasoning, the highest of which is only reached by a few people.

In pre-conventional morality, there is obedience and punishment, followed by behavior that is reinforced by rewards and personal self-interest. In conventional morality, behavior is driven by social approval as well as obeying authority. In post-conventional morality, behavior is driven by a balance of individual rights and social order. It later becomes driven by moral principles. What you should know is that, what a person says they would do in a situation is not what they actually do.