LESSON TWO HANDOUT PDF

Learning Objectives II. The Theories of Human Development The learner shall be able to: 1. Discuss the main features of the various theories of human development which affect the adolescence period....

Learning Objectives II. The Theories of Human Development The learner shall be able to: 1. Discuss the main features of the various theories of human development which affect the adolescence period. 2. Analyze situations presented by each theory that lead to greater understanding of the physical and psychosocial changes encountered by adolescents. 3. Identify areas of improvement on his/her behavior and determine ways to address them using the different theories of development. Learning Topic II. The Theories of Human Development A. Sigmund Freud’s Psychosexual Theory -Structures of Personality (Id, Ego, Superego) -5 Stages of Psychosexual Development B. Alfred Adler’s Theory Holistic Development -Inferiority feelings and Complex, Compensation and Striving for superiority, superiority complex -birth order and lifestyle C. The Psychosocial Human Development of Erik Erikson -intergenerational learning D. Lawrence Kohlberg’s Moral Development E. Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Learning Content Life has always been compared to a race. An obstacle course would have been a better picture. The moment you are born, the race starts. With different hurdles and challenges, life continues its course. Until finally, at death, you had reached the finish line. Different psychologists proposed various theories that tries to explain the different stages of development a person undergoes. Just like in a race, these psychologists divided life into courses wherein each course will eventually affect our mental process and behavior. Their scientific studies and theories of human development attempt to understand how humans grow in different aspects: physical, mental, emotional, social, behavioral and spiritual among others. A. Sigmund Freud Born in 1856 in the Czech, Freud is well known in the field of psychology. If you will take up psychology in college, it is very impossible that you will not encounter the theories of Sigmund Freud. One of his biggest achievements is to have found the Viennese Psychoanalytic Society. A group of like-minded people who focused on the study of human behavior. Remember that psychology as a scientific field started out quite young. Freud proposed that our minds has three mental levels. He compared these three levels to an iceberg. You could easily see the tip of the iceberg floating in an icy sea and at the same time unaware of the large chunk of ice that is hidden underneath the water. The first level is called the Conscious. It is the mental level wherein everything is perceived by the senses during time that we are awake. To illustrate, as you are read this part of the module, your conscious is working as it tries to understand the lesson. Beneath the water is a larger chunk of ice which figuratively refers to the bigger segments of our memories that we fail to see or notice during the hours when we are awake. Freud tagged this level the Preconscious. Do you still remember the breakfast that you had this morning? How about the breakfast that you had yesterday? Are you still able to remember the best breakfast that you had? The mind is like a computer that stores a lot of memories evident as you were able to answer the previous questions. All experiences that you had, the face of the jeepney driver from last month, the time you heard a good joke from a friend even the greatest concert that you had watched all of these are stored in your mind, in your precocious. Now not all memories are pleasant. There are traumatic experiences that we would have wished to forget. Now these memories are stored in what Freud calls the Unconscious. It is the deepest part of the iceberg where all bad memories and experiences are stored. According to Freud the preconscious and the unconscious manifest themselves through our dreams. Freud also proposed that the mind has three parts. Have you seen a cartoon of a person with an angel and a devil whispering in both ears? It is somehow similar to what Freud proposes but has a third component. 1. The Id- Freud believes that we are subject to pleasure. We always succumb to what is pleasurable and for him this is not something bad. A baby would cry when he is hungry because it is driven by pleasure to drink milk. This Pleasure Principle as Freud called it, enunciates that man is designed to give in to things which are delightful to the senses. When an individual deprives himself or herself of such enjoyments, the consequence would be suffering. Freud believes that our minds have this part called the Id which compels us to defer to pleasure regardless of what the results would be. It demands immediate gratification. The id tells us that pleasure must be satisfied quickly without thinking of its effects to ourselves or to others. 2. The Ego- now we cannot simply follow the Id all the time. If I am hungry, I could not simply barge in a restaurant and eat anything in sight. The Ego is that part of the mind that tells us that yes, we could still achieve pleasure but we could have it in a more acceptable way. 3. The Super Ego- as we grow older, we learn the concept of right and wrong. This and other moral principles are given to us by institutions like the family, the church and the state. The super ego tells us that before we prefer pleasure, we must first analyze if it would be the right thing to do. I always give this example in showing how the three parts of the mind work. Imagine that we are back to face-to-face classes. In the middle of a long two-hour class you suddenly become hungry. You have a small sandwich in your bag. Your id will tell you to eat that sandwich. It will not care that eating during classes is prohibited. Your ego will tell you, why not place the sandwich in your pocket and ask permission from the teacher to be excused for a while from the class. Once you are out o the room, you can eat the sandwich. You were able to follow your drive to eat but in an acceptable manner. Your super ego on the other hand will tell you the concept of respect. You are not supposed to eat in the middle of the class in respect to the teacher. It will further tell you that you are supposed to have eaten your sandwich before the class. Guided with these two theories we could better understand the different stages of Freud’s version of personal development. His theory of development is called Psychosexual Development. Using the pleasure principle, Freud said that each stage of development is governed by a specific pleasure point. This pleasure point must be satisfied. He called this pleasure point the erogenous zone. If a person fails to satisfy or even excessively satisfies this pleasure point it will result to a behavioral problem called fixation. 1. Oral Stage (Birth to 18 mos.)- at this point an infant’s erogenous zone is the mouth. When a child hungry, he/she relieves the unpleasant feeling of hunger every time he/she is given milk. If at this stage, the erogenous is not fully satisfied, the infant will have oral fixation. This means he/she will have behavioral problems that involves the mouth like overeating, extreme diets, excessive smoking, gossiping and nail biting among others. 2. Anal Stage (18 months to three years)- now the baby is experiencing his or her first encounter with discipline. A child will be trained on how he/she urinates and proper bowel movement. This would be the first time the individual will receive praise or reward whenever those actions are done correctly OR experience embarrassment and even punishment if those hygienic routines are executed improperly. The child will notice that the idea of cleanliness and orderliness is measured by how he or she urinates and defecates accordingly. If this stage is not satisfied a child may have an obsession to order, perfection and cleanliness when he/she grows up. 3. Phallic Stage (Three to six Years)- at this stage a child will start to be introduced to the concept of genders. A boy will realize that he is different from a girl and vice versa. The erogenous zone will now move to the genitals. At this point a young boy develops closeness to his mother, since she can provide him food and care. Freud used the term “Oedipus Complex” to describe this attachment of the boy to his mother. Now the boy will realize that the father also gets the attention of the mother. He would start to imitate the father thinking that by doing so he will also get the attention of the mother. It is at this point that the boy will start to “act like a boy”. He would prefer toys, clothes, interests that would manifest his masculinity. 4. Latency (six years to puberty)- at this stage, a person will forget about pleasure for the mean time since his mind and body is now focused to study. Notice that at this stage a child is introduced to school or will be allowed to play outside with other children. At this stage also, a child will most likely to have friends of the same gender. 5. Genital Stage (puberty to adulthood)- according to Freud, at this stage sexual maturity among teenagers occur. The genitals as a pleasure point is reawakened. This is the time when teenagers will start to have crushes and will have the desire to find intimacy with the opposite gender. Failure to have this stage satisfied may result to behavioral problems that may affect a person’s social skills. The Bible tells us a strong warning to: Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. (Romans 13:13) But is this possible? What about people who made “carousing and drunkenness” part of their daily living. Is it that too easy to “kick off a habit”? “No longer do I call you slaves.” John 15:15. You may recall in our lesson on freedom that there are already counter arguments for determinism. A person who is born blind is not subjected to a life of misery since he was born with a handicapped. The same thing goes with impulses and urges. How many times had you felt angry towards someone but still were able to control your impulse to use violence because of your emotion. Sexual impulses undoubtedly is a very strong drive. However, we are not to be enslaved by it. Our faith is a saving faith. Christ and his apostles taught freedom. Freedom from sin. And in the Church’s history we had witnessed men and women of faith who are inflicted and barraged by strong impulses but were able to overcome them. St. Camillus de Lelis was a very violent person specially during his younger years. But after having experienced poverty and sickness he was able to realize that his character is not helping himself or anyone. With the spiritual guidance from St. Philip Neri he was able to manage his temper and was even able to establish a religious order that takes care of the sick for free. And how about St. Mary of Egypt who lived a very sinful life that there was even an account she ‘sometimes even compelled men against their will”. She too thought that it is very impossible not to give in to her desires. But her faith did not abandon her. As the saying goes, God calls us by our name not by our sins. Accounts of St. Mary of Egypt agree that after a religious experience, a pilgrimage, she made a firm resolution to amend her life…and she was able to do so! And sometimes, the world will cast its doubts on you. St. Margaret of Cortona was woman who was also into illicit relationships. When she decided to change her ways, she asked the spiritual direction of the Franciscans. Unfortunately, people doubted her conversion and even accused her of having relationships with the friars. How many times have we tried to change or improve ourselves but people around, sometimes even people who are close to us, cast their doubts that we will ever change. St. Margaret did not mind those who said bad things about her, he continued helping the needy according to the teachings of St. Francis and her name was finally vindicated when she was declared a saint. Overcoming impulses that leads us to sin needs prayer. St. Augustine had a very dark past. A slave to vices and sexual sins, he even fathered a child at the age of 17. Aside from his own volition to change his life, it was the ardent prayers of his mother, St. Monica, that greatly helped his conversion. Remember that overcoming sin is not that easy for some specially with deep rooted causes, it is only through cooperating with the grace of God that we are able to overcome temptations. We should consider the virtue of temperance. One of the cardinal virtues that enables us to control the senses. (Baltimore Cathechism). By controlling ones desires we do not simply deprive ourselves of things that we find satisfying like food, drinks or other pleasures. We are invited to take them in moderation. Indulging too much with this pleasures weakens our spirit and makes us vulnerable in committing sin. B. Jean Piaget Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget breaks the stages of development cognitively. Meaning, he believes that in different stages of our lives the interaction between our bodies and the things around us develops. From a child’s ability in manipulating simple blocks he develops and becomes able to manipulate complex machines when eh grows up. Piaget divided personality development through the following stages: 1. Sensory Motor Stage-(birth to 2 years) at this age an individual is able to manipulate objects through the senses only. A child would place a sweet candy on his/her mouth since his/her senses tells him/her that it is sweet. At this stage, a child would measure existence based on the senses as well. If he sees a ball, he knows that there is a ball the moment he sees it. He/she forgets the “idea” of a ball once the ball is already out of his sight. 2. pre-operational stage-(2 to 7 years) at this stage a child starts to learn about concepts and ideas. Isn’t that at this stage the child starts to learn about the alphabet, identify the basic colors, count from one to ten. At this stage also, the child could only understand things based on his own point of view. A child may thought that giving his/her mother a glass of milk will make her happy since a glass of milk makes the child happy. 3. Concrete-operational stage-(8 to 11) at this point the child can now fully do simple operations and could easily manipulate the things around his/her basing on the concepts that he/she had learned from the second stage. 4. Formal Operational Stage- (11 to 15 years) finally aside from manipulating object, the child can now use his ability to form abstract ideas. Perhaps he learned how to operate scissors at the third stage, now he is able to use this knowledge in creating beautiful artworks made up of cut paper. C. Alfred Adler Alfred Adler was born in 1870 in Vienna and was a contemporary of Freud. He was sickly and frail as a child and this experience was manifested in his theories of human development. He proposed that each child has a feeling of inferiority. A child may be sickly. He/she may feel helpless since he or she has limited mobility and activity. He/she is not able to reach high place. These life conditions may bring up his or her sense of being inferior. For Adler this is not bad and is perfectly normal. In fact, the feeling of inferiority will give the child the necessary motivations to strive to higher level of development. He called this motivation as compensation. Overcoming inferiority will result to what he calls as striving for superiority in which an individual will try his/her best to achieve perfection, completeness, and excellence. Being born with a handicap should not hinder one from being a blessing to others. We have an example of this condition in Blessed Margaret of Castello who was born from a noble family but was blind, a hunchbacked and a dwarf. Her family out of shame, hid her from the world and was treated cruelly. For years she lived like an animal, caged on her room with only a window to receive food. Her parents tried to bring her to a sacred place hoping that she would be healed, but when the sought remedy was denied she was even left by her OWN PARENTS. Imagine that you are sick and then your parents went to Manaoag Pangasinan to ask for healing and when they found out you were not cured, they just leave you there! Fortunately, a group of Dominican nuns were passing by and took her. Even with her frail body she was still able to excel in holiness and her past experience did not stop her to believe that there is still something good in every person. Whenever she can, she would help families who are experiencing hardships by doing menial household chores. Her handicap and her childhood experiences drove her to achieve holiness. During exams we Lourdesians invoke the help of St. Joseph of Cupertino. A Franciscan saint who during his life struggled in fulfilling his academic duties. If you will be able to watch the movie about his life (link below), there is a scene wherein a fellow friar would even whisper the words of the Mass to him. But what he lacks in intelligence, he compensated with prayer and holiness. He was very devoted to his faith and people around were inspired by him even the most learned one. This process of overcoming inferiority must be handled well to avoid the following: 1. Inferiority Complex- the feeling of extreme weakness. An individual persistently thinks that he/she is a failure and that he/she is not able to do something good. 2. Superiority Complex- the feeling that one is above the others. An exaggerated opinion of one’s capacities and skills. Alfred Adler is also a proponent of the Birth Order Theory. In this theory, Adler suggests that a child’s order of birth will have an effect his/her personality. 1. Only Child- an only child will be most likely to be pampered or spoiled. However, if the child was unfortunate to have abusive parents, he/she will have to receive the abuses alone. The only child will lack the sense of competition since he/she has the parent’s full attention. 2. First Child- Most of the time, the first child is always tasked to take care of the younger children making him or her responsible. However, a first child might have a feeling of being dethroned. Remember that for a while he/she enjoys the full attention of the parents. This will be short-lived with the coming of the second child, turning the first child detached or sullen. 3. The Youngest Child- often becomes the parents’ “favorite”. He is the most pampered since aside from the attention given by the parents, he/she also receives the attention of the older siblings. Often times the youngest child will have a strong sense of security thinking that resources will always be readily available. 4. The Middle Child- the middle child will not receive the same level of attention the eldest and the youngest child experiences. This will form in the middle child a strong sense of compensation since he/she will have a feeling that he/she needs to face life alone. References: 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Psychoanalytic_Society 2. http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/adler.html 3. Ramos, Maricel. Moving Up: A Guide to Personal and Career Development. (2016) 4. Santos, Ricardo Rubio. Personal Development. (2016). 5. Magalona, Ethel. Personal Development: Theory and Practice (2016) 6. Kleinman, Paul Psych 101. A Crash Course in the Science of the Mind. (2012) 7. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01141e.htm 8. https://aleteia.org/2020/12/26/saints-who-struggled-with- addiction/amp/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=english_page&utm_medium=al&fbclid=IwAR1 FoOKz3ZuMONoaJ7MTTJkTI5Y1otAtKClkBjzAik2JgRmqDsUjz41XMx0 9. Dongahy, Thomas. Lives of the Saints (1998) 10. https://www.nashvilledominican.org/community/our-dominican-heritage/our-saints-and- blesseds/bl-margaret-castello/ 11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qg_KHusbEo 12. The Baltimore Catechism