Free Essay on Development Psychology Research

Development psychology looks into the changes that occur in the life of an individual as they grow up. The development of an identity and a personality occurs all throughout the life from childhood to adulthood. These progressive development occurrences are usually influenced by culture, society, parental influences, experiences, and self-introspection (Marcia, 2017). Development psychologists like James Marcia and Erik Erickson have development key significant principles on developmental psychology. James Marcia worked on the psychology of adolescents while Erik Erikson worked on the psychology of growth to adulthood, this focused on childhood development progressing all the way to adulthood. Below is an analysis of the theories development by these two great psychologists and how they would apply in a real life situation.

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Development Psychologists

Developmental Psychology as Seen By Erik Erickson

Erik Erickson was a notable contributor in developmental psychology whose most significant works were brought to light in the 1950 to 1963 period. His proposition to developmental psychology is made up of eight stages from childhood to adulthood. In the course of each stage, the human being involved goes through a psychosocial crisis that would have a negative or positive result for personality development.

Developmental Psychology; a James Marcia Perspective

James Marcia's work was an extension of Erik Erickson's work. He posited that all the developmental stages of psychology could fall under four main phases. According to him, the main aim of psychological identity development is that an individual's sense of identity is determined a great deal by the commitments and choices made concerning social and personal traits.

Human development psychology quiz

This questionnaire was an open-ended one where the interviewee was free to answer all questions and add more thoughts that are originally hers to answer the questions in a more satisfactory manner. The interviewee was issued with a consent form through which she signed her consent into undertaking the interview and answering the question are. It is important that she did sign the consent form to ensure that ethical practices are upheld, and the interviewee is of sound mind.

Interviewee Name: Ebony

Age: 18 Years old.

Work: Part time at MacDonald’s

Counselling History: Yes

Counseling Time: 7 months

Reason for Counseling: Attempted suicide

Questionnaire

Q1: Why did you choose social work?

Q2: Why not teaching?

Q3: Do you understand your depression, anxiety, PTSD, social anxiety?

Q4: What supports do you have in life?

Q5: Friendship, who they are, the reason for it and how close are you to him/her?

Q6: Do you make connections with people, is it hard or easy?

Q7: What do you look for in a friendship?

Q8: Describe your personality traits?

Q9: What are your 3core values in life?

Q10: What are you looking for in a partner?

Q12: Management of failure and success in university

Q13: In the case of stress, whom would you go to?

Q14: Have you made a decision on university majors?

Q15: What is your projection for the 12 months incorporating University, home and work?

Q 16: What is your religious Position?

Q17: How would you maintain friendship and work?

Q18: Do you want to be in a relationship?

Q19: Have you experienced any life changes as an adult?

Q20: What is your life plan at 20, 30, 40?

Questionnaire Analysis

The interviewee responded by saying that she felt like she would be very much more helpful to people as opposed to any other field. She believes that because others out in life have gone out of their way to help her, it is important that she returns the favor. It can be attributed that at this point, the interviewee has learned to appreciate the influence of people in her life. In regards to James Marcia theories of development, she can be described to be in the identity achievement stage, in a big way the interviewee has grown old enough to understand themselves and also the influence of others in her life. It can be regarded as a development of self-identity and environmental awareness.

James Marcia developed four stages of development during adolescent stages of life namely; foreclosure, identity diffusion, moratorium, and identity achievement. Foreclosure stage describes the stage of life where an individual is fixated on what he/she was taught by the parents. These ideologies are usually rigid, and in most cases, they are not good enough to cover us for the challenges that life predisposes (Darling-Churchill & Lippman, 2016).

The next stage is the identity diffusion, this is a stage where an individual has no any defined identity, in this stage, one struggles to develop an identity of self.She affirms that she understands her condition. She affirms to having PTSD and social anxiety. This disorder was propagated by the fact that at the age of 14, her father made her cover up for his affair. It is critical to note that past events in a big way influence the development of a child and their psychology. Her tendencies to have self-hate and self-doubt was developed out of being corrected and criticized by teachers in school. Psychologically, she has difficulties coming to terms with life and hence explains her suicidal tendencies. Ebony was taken for counseling by her parent after she had overdosed on Paracetamol. She was subscribed for sessions with a counselor and mostly receives daily guidance from her mother. This psychological state has improved since then as she has been able to develop to be a better person. Currently, she does not need to visit the counselor anymore, and she is getting herself ready for entry into university.

The moratorium stage marks a little real commitment to certain ways of life or ideologies; it is an experimental stage. It marks an identity crisis in the life of an individual and a constant examination of an individual’s life choices. She clearly states that care, respect of feelings and a funny person would suit her best. She needs a funny man because in most cases of her life, she missed that. Her case of self-doubt contributed to her state of minimalist contact with external individuals. She clearly says that she would breakdown stress in simple solvable parts. Socially, she would open up to people and make friends, and financial challenges will be sorted through getting job shifts. In a big way, one has to acknowledge the growth and maturity from Ebony, her display autonomous confidence in self and a positive outlook on life.She affirms that failure is plausible, she says she would encourage herself to do better and strive towards doing better and be happy with her efforts. This is a display of a sense of maturity and acceptance of the inevitable of life. She confirms that she can confide in her mother or the doctor who counseled her initially. It surely indicates her lack of trust in people; she would handle her issues herself without involving friends if any. She clearly states that she has not made a decision yet, she will explore what would suit her best. It indicates that her anxiety levels are under control and she can plan herself out as time goes.