Module 3 - Issues on Human Development PDF

Module 3 Issues on Human Development Learning Outcome: At the end of this module, you should be able to take an informed stand/ position on the 3 issues on development. Introduction: Each of us has his/her own informal way of looki...

Module 3 Issues on Human Development Learning Outcome: At the end of this module, you should be able to take an informed stand/ position on the 3 issues on development. Introduction: Each of us has his/her own informal way of looking at our own and other people’s development. These paradigms of human development while obviously lacking in scholastic vigor, provide us with a conceptual framework for understanding ourselves and others. Scholars have come up with their own models of human development. Back up with solid research, they take stand on issues of human development. Activity: State your stand on the following topics and issues. 1. Nature versus Nurture- which has a more significant influence on human development? Nature or Nurture? Nature refers to an individual’s biological inheritance. Nurture refers to environmental experiences. 2. Continuity versus Discontinuity- Does development involve gradual, cumulative change (continuity) or distinct changes ( discontinuity). To make it more concrete, here is a question: Is our development like that of the seedling gradually growing into an acacia tree? Or it is more like that of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly? 3. Stability vs. Change- Is development best described as involving stability or as involving change? Are we what our first experiences have made of us, or do we develop into someone different from who we were at an earlier point in development? Write your answer in 2 to 3 sentences for each number. Analysis: After answering the questions above, talk with your classmates, discuss your answer with them. 1. Who is pro-nature? Or Pro-nurture? Are there additional reasons you can give in favor of nature/nurture? Why? 2. How about continuity? Discontinuity? Can you give additional arguments to defend continuity/discontinuity? Who are between continuity and discontinuity? Why? 3. Who claims stability is more correct than change? Change is more correct than stability? Abstraction: The issues presented can be translated into questions that have sparked animated debate among developmentalists. Are girls less likely to do well in math because of their “feminine” nature or because of society’s “masculine” bias? How extensively can the elderly be trained to reason more effectively? How much, if at all, does our memory decline in old age? Can techniques be used to prevent or reduce the decline? For children who experienced a world of poverty, neglect by parents, and poor schooling in childhood, can enrich experiences in adolescence, remove the ‘deficits’ that they encountered earlier in their development ( Santrocks, 2002)? Each one of you has your own explanations for your stand on the developmental issues. What is the right answer? Up to this time, the debate continuous. Researchers are on-going. But let me tell you the most lifespan developmentalists recognize that extreme positions on these issues are unwise. Development is not all nature or all nurture, not all continuity or discontinuity and not all stability or all change (Lerner, 1998 as quoted by Santrocks 2002) Both nature and nurture, continuity and discontinuity, stability and change characterized our life span development. The key to development is the interaction of nature and nurture rather than either factor alone (Rutter,2001 as quoted by Santrock, 2002). In other words, it is a matter of “both-and” not “either-or”. The message of this quote is crystal clear. “The interaction of heredity and environment is so extensive that to ask which is more important, nature or nurture, is like asking which is more important to a rectangle, height or width. -William Greenough. To summarize, both genes and environment are necessary for a person even to exist. Without genes, there is no person, without environment there is no person (Scarr and Weinberg, 1980, quoted by Santrock, 2002). Heredity and environment operate together or cooperate and interact- to produce a person’s intelligence, temperament, height, weight, ability to read and so on. If heredity and environment interact, which one has a greater influence or contribution, heredity, or environment? The relative contributions of heredity and environment are not additive. So, we can’t say 50% is a contribution of heredity and 50% of environment. Neither it is correct to say that full genetic expression happens once, around conception or birth, after which we take our genetic legacy into the world to see how far it gets us. Genes produce proteins throughout the lifespan, in many different environments. Or they don’t produce these proteins depending on how harsh or nourishing those environments are.(Santrock, 2002) Application: Let’s find out where you can apply what you learned from the discussion of this developmental issues. 1. Convinced of the interactive influence, of heredity and environment on the development of children, talk to your parents and tell them how crucial their role in the development of their children. Remember that heredity is already fixed. Their children have been born and they have passed on these inherited traits at conception and that they cannot do anything anymore to change them. So, concentrate on how they can contribute to their children’s favorable development by creating the environment conducive to development. Like heredity, environment is complex. It includes nutrition as early as conception, parenting, family dynamics, schooling, neighborhood quality and biological encounters such as viruses, both complications, and even biological events in cells. Do not lose sight of the objective of your discussion. At the end of it, the parents should be very much convinced of their role in the development of their children and get very much inspired to do their part. 2. Do the same presentation (in #1) to a class in general Psychology where they discuss the nature- nurture debate or to a group of student teachers. 3. Discuss the implications of this statement: “ The frightening part about heredity and environment is that we parents, provide both”  4. Here is an interesting article titled “ How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of your Life” from the October 4, 2010, Issue of Time Magazine. Read, analyze then answer the following questions:  Does the article agree that heredity, environment, and individual’s choice are the factors that contribute to what a person may become? Read the paragraph that tells so.  Read the paragraph again. Focus your attention on the highlighted word. PERMANENTLY. Relate to the issue on stability versus change issue. Does the word PERMANENTLY convince you that we are what e first experiences have made of us (stability)? Explain your answer.  Big Ideas: Complete the sentence. With regards to nature-nurture, continuity-discontinuity, and change-stability controversies, the wiser stand is______________________________________________________________________. Test your understanding: As far as our discussions are concerned, which statement is correct, and which one is wrong? Put a check (/)before the correct statement and mark (x) the wrong one. If you mark a statement x, explain why. _______________1. Heredity exerts a grater influence on human development than environment. _______________2. What has been experienced in the earlier stages of development can no longer be changed. _______________3. From the perspective of lifespan developmentalist, later experiences are the key determinants of a person’s development. Research 1. Read the published book The Nurture Assumption, by Judith Harris (1998). 2. State in not more than 1 paragraph the thesis of Judith Harris book. 3. A. Watch “Lonely one” in your You Tube. Only children: Debunking the Myths About Single children. B. In 1896 Granville Stanley hall described only children as “deficient on the social side”, “petted”, “ Humored”, “ indulged”, and “ spoiled”. Today, many consider this a MYTH-WHAT DO YOU THINK? For related articles, refer to TIME magazine, July 19, 2020, issue. State in not more than 10 sentences the position expressed in the You tube and in the Time magazine. 4. Read on fetal origin. Child and Adolescent Development Looking at Learners at Different Life Stages ( Corpuz, Lucas, Borabo, Lucido)  MODULE 5: FREUD’s PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY l. Learning Outcomes At the end of this module, the students should be able to : a) explain Freud’s views about child and adolescent development b) draw implications of Freud’s theory to education. ll. Introduction Freud’s views about human development are more than a century old. He can be considered the most well known psychologist because of his very interesting theory about the unconscious and also about sexual development. Although a lot of his views were criticized and some considered them debunked, (he himself recanted some of his earlier views). Freud’s theory remains to be one of the most influential in psychology. His theory sparked the ideas in the brilliant minds of other theorists and thus became the starting point of many other theories. lll. Learning Content Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development Freud is the most popular psychological that studied the development of personality, also probably the most controversial. His theory of psychosexual development includes five distinct stages. According to , a person goes through the sequence of these five stages and along the way there are needs to be met. Whether these needs are met or not, determines whether the person will develop a healthy personality or not. The theory is quite interesting for many because Freud identified specific erogenous zones for each stage of development. These are specific “pleasure areas” that become focal points for the particular stage. If needs are not met along the area, a fixation occur As an adult, the person will now manifest behaviors related to this erogenous zone. Oral Stage (birth to 18 months). The erogenous zone is the mouth. During the oral stage, the child is focused on oral pleasures (sucking). Too much or too little satisfaction can lead to an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which shown in an increased focus on oral activities. This type of personality may be oral receptive, that is, have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, overeat, or oral aggressive, that is with a tendency to bite his or her nails, or use curse words or even gossip. As a result, these persons may become too dependent on others, easily fooled, and lack leadership traits. On the other hand, they may also fight these tendencies and become pessimistic and aggressive in relating with people. Anal Stage (18 months to 3 years). The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage in the anus. The child finds satisfaction in eliminating and retaining feces. Through society’s expectation, particularly the parents, the child needs to work on toilet training. Let us remember that between one year and a half to three years the child’s favorite word might be “No!”. Therefore a struggle might exist in the toilet training process when the child retain feces when asked to eliminate, or may choose to defecate when asked to hold feces for some reason. In terms of personality, fixation during this stage can result in being anal retentive, an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control; or anal expulsive where the person may become messy and disorganized. Phallic Stage (ages 3 to 6). The pleasure or erogenous zone is the genitals. During the preschool age, children become interested in what makes boys and girls different. Preschoolers will sometimes be seen fondling their genitals. Freud’s studies led him to believe that during this stage boys develop unconscious sexual desire for their mother. Boys then see their father as a rival for her mother’s affection. Boys may fear their father will punish them for these feelings, thus, the castration anxiety. These feelings comprise what Freud called Oedipus Complex. In Greek Mythology, Oedipus unintentionally killed his father and married his mother Jocasta. Psychoanalysts also believed that girls may also have similar experience, developing unconscious sexual attraction towards their father. This is what is referred to as the Electra Complex. According to Freud, out of fear of castration and due to the strong competition of their father, boys eventually decide to identify with them rather than fight them. By identifying with their father, the boys develop masculine characteristics and identify themselves as male and repress their sexual feelings toward their mother. A fixation at this stage could result in sexual deviancies (both overindulging and avoidance) and weak or confused sexual identity according to psychoanalysts. Latency Stage (age 6 to puberty). It’s during this stage that sexual urges remain repressed. The children’s focus is the acquisition of physical and academic skills. Boys usually relate more with boys and girls with girls during this stage. Genital Stage (puberty onwards). The fifth stage of psychosexual development begins at the start of puberty when sexual urges are once again awakened. In the earlier stages, adolescents focus their sexual urges towards the opposite sex peers, with the pleasure centered on the genitals. Freud’s Personality Components Sigmund Freud described the personality structures as having three components, the id, the ego, and the superego. For each person, the first emerge is the id, followed by the ego, and last to develop is the superego. The id. Freud says that, a child is born with id. The id plays a vital role in one’s personality because as a baby, it works so that the baby’s essential needs are met. The id operates on the pleasure principle. It focuses on immediate gratification or satisfaction of its needs. So whatever feels good now is what it will pursue with no consideration for the reality, logicality or practicality of the situation. For example, a baby is hungry. It’s id wants food or milk… so the baby will cry. When the child needs to be changed, the id cries. When the child is uncomfortable, in pain, too hot, too cold, or just wants attention, the id speaks up until his or her needs are met. Nothing else matter to the ids except the satisfaction of its own needs. It is not oriented towards considering reality nor the needs of others. Just see how babies cry any time of day and night! Absolutely no regard of whether mommy is tired or daddy is sleeping. When the id wants something, it wants it now and it wants it fast. The ego. As the baby turns into a toddler and then into a preschooler, he/she relates more with the environment, the ego slowly begins to emerge. The ego operates using the reality principle. It is aware that other also have needs to be met. It is practical because it knows that being impulsive or selfish can result to negative consequences later, so it reasons and considers the best response to situations. AS such, it is the deciding agent of the personality. Although it functions to help the id meet its needs, it always takes into account the reality of the situation. The superego. Near the end of the preschool years, or the end of the phallic stage, the superego develops. The superego embodies a person’s moral aspect. This develops from what the parents, teachers and other persons who exert to influence impart to be good or moral. The superego is likened to conscience because it exerts influence on what one considers right and wrong. Topographical Model The Unconscious. Freud said that most what we go through in our lives, emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses deep within are not available to us at a conscious level. He believed that most of what influence us is our unconscious. The Oedipus and Electra Complex dramatic ways. mentioned earlier were both buried down into the unconscious, out of our awareness due to the extreme anxiety they caused. While these complexes are in our unconscious, they still influence our thinking, feeling and doing I perhaps  The Conscious. Freud also said that all that we are aware of is stored in our conscious mind. Our conscious mind only comprises a very small part of who we are so that, in our everyday life, we are only aware of a very small part of what makes up our personality; most of what we are is hidden and out of reach. The Subconscious. The last part is the preconscious or subconscious but is not in our active conscious. This is the part of us that we can reach if promoted, but is not in our active conscious. Information such as our telephone number, some childhood memories, or the name of your best childhood friend is stored in the preconscious. Because the unconscious is so huge, and because we are only aware of the very small conscious at any given time. Freud used the analogy of the iceberg to illustrate it. A big part of the iceberg is hidden beneath the water’s surface. The water, may represent all that we are not aware of, have not experienced, and that has not been made part of our personalities, referred to as the nonconscious. lV. Learning Assessment Write a reflection from the Module on Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ V. References Corpuz, Brenda B., Lucas, Ma. Rita,etal., Child and Adolescent Development: Looking at Leraners at Different Stages, 2005. Santrock, john W., Life Span Development ,8th ed., New York: McGraw-Hill Companies Trawick-Smith,Jeffrey. Early Chjildhhod Development A Multicultural Perspective USA: Prentice Hall, 4th edition,2006.