Psychologists like Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson theorized that humans go through

Question

Psychologists like Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson theorized that humans go through stages in their development throughout life, growing from infancy to old age. Piaget outlined stages of thinking or cognitive development, and Erikson described stages of personality or psychosocial development. How can you use this information to better understand your own life? What stages of cognitive and psychosocial development have you gone through since you were an infant? Which stages will you go through as you develop into adulthood and old age? In a multi-paragraph essay, describe all the different stages of cognitive and psychosocial development throughout your lifespan. Be sure to provide examples to illustrate the thoughts, emotions, and behavior typical of each stage. Include details from class materials, readings, and research on human development to support your discussion.

Explanation / Answer

Jean Piaget, believed that every individual goes through four stages in life that shapes their cognitive development. The four stages being; sensorimotor stage (0-2 years), preoperational stage(2-7 years), concrete operational stage(7-11 years) and finally the formal operational stage(11-adulthood). An individual at birth, in the first stage of cognitive development only relies on his reflexes. It is during the course of time that he learns to imitate actions. It's during this stage that he assimilates and accommodates new information which reflects in his thinking process. It is in the second stage of development, preoperational stage, that a child learns to use language, symbol and gestures for cognitive development. At concrete operational stage an individual is egocentric, It does not mean that he/she is selfish but they focus only on their feelings and thoughts and feel that everybody else around them feel and think the same way. The final stage of cognitive development is the formal operational stage where an individual is capable of making logical decisions and solving abstract problems in a more systematic and logical way.

Eric Erickson's Theory of Psychosocial Development emphasizes on individual's relationship with the social environment for healthy development to occur throughout his lifespan. Erickson developed a theory to understand how a person's childhood, adolescence, adulthood, affects his entire life. He proposed Eight Stages which every person goes through in their life. Each stage is defined by a conflict which involves an individual's relationship with the social environment (mother, father, immediate relatives, peers, colleagues), that must be resolved in for healthy development to occur over a period of lifetime. The eight stages are; Trust vs Mistrust(birth-1year), Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt(1-3years), Innitiative vs Guilt(3-6years), Industry vs Inferiority(6-puberty), Identity vs Role Confusion(Adolescences), Intimacy vs Isolation(Adulthood), Generativity vs Stagnation(Middle Adulthood), Ego Integrity vs Despair(Final Stage).

As a kid, during my preoperational stage of cognitive development, I can now relate to egocentrism as I was very scared of dogs, and felt that every child my age shared the same fear. It is only later that I realized that I emphasized on my feelings and thoughts and generalized them to all the children around.

Taking Eric Erickson's psychosocial theory into consideration, I reckon, I may have not resolved the conflict at stage four, Industry vs Inferiority. I was in general a very mischievous child, but at the same time I was very creative. Every time I made something creative, my parents shunned me, thinking it to be just another mischief. That has lead to, me developing an inferiority about myself. I feel I am incapable of making anything creative and artistic, though I have a flair for it.

I reckon as I grow older, I will definitely go through the seventh stage of Eric Erickson's psychosocial development. As I may make progress to middle adulthood, I am certain of developing Generativity as I am already concerned about guiding the coming generation, and I seem to be concerned about the wellfare and well being of individuals around me. I take an active part in voluteering at NGO's and thus, I arrive to this conclusion.

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