The following theorists emphasized different aspects of the physical and cognitive development of adolescents, but each has been equally important in establishing the understanding of human development that we have today. Rice and Dolgin (2007) explain that G. Stanley Hall focused on the biological aspect of an individual’s development, believing that it mirrors the evolutionary history of their predecessors. With this in mind he likened infancy to an animalistic state, childhood to the state of a hunter and the state of preadolescence to that of a savage. Once an individual had progressed beyond these developmental phases and entered adolescence, they experienced a significantly emotionally tumultuous period that he called “sturm und drang”. …show more content…
He was of the belief that social interaction helps to develop cognitive skills, and asserted that learning takes place most effectively when an adolescent is paired with a more competent partner and faced with a difficult task. The cognitive development that takes place under these circumstances is accelerated if the more competent individual provides scaffolding (the dynamic where a skilled individual lends their help to a partner accomplish a task, holding back as their partner grows more competent). Because of the presumed effectiveness of this practice, Vygotsky strongly advocated group work over individual work as a teaching mechanism when dealing with …show more content…
In this effort, Bronfenbrenner created an ecological model to explain how external influences affect the adolescent at each level. The most direct facet of this model is the Microsystem, which consists of the individuals that the adolescent comes into direct contact like family members, friends and members of the church they attend that they interact with. Because of its nature, microsystems are subject to change as the adolescent moves in and out of various groups like joining a sports team, starts or stops going to church or starts spending time with a different group of friends. Bronfenbrenner emphasizes the increased influence that peer groups typically have on adolescents, with these either playing positive or negative roles. It’s emphasized by Rice and Dolgin (2007) that healthy microsystems are essential to positive development and success going into adulthood. A second structure that is discussed is the Mesosystem, which refers to reciprocal relationships and best understood as such, for example how friend circles affect an adolescent’s life at home, and vice-versa. These are uniquely significant, since they don’t operate independently as other systems do, but can either have positive or negative effects on multiple facets of life. Another structure discussed by Bronfenbrenner is the
In the essay “What’s Wrong With the Teenage Mind?” psychologist Alison Gopnik explores the issues surrounding young minds in today’s society and why they’re hitting puberty sooner and adulthood later. Gopnik suggest poor diet and lack of exercise could be a potential issues, she also presents various studies blaming brain circuitry and even speculating that the cause of today’s youth problematic mentality could be a result of an “evolutionary feature” in which humans have a prolonged childhood. Gopnik’s main concern about today’s adolescent mind, is a neurological one, Gopnik speculates that there’s an inability to sync their “control system” and their “crucial system”. Gopnik proposes a few solutions to the problem, such as more hands-on experience
We are introduced to adolescence in the 5th stage of development. Adolescence begins for boys around the age of 14 and continues up until the age of 21 years of age. At this stage of development, there are many changes that occur emotionally, physically, sexually and spiritually (McGoldrick, Carter, & Garcia Preto, 2011). At this time, adolescent kids are going through changes in their body. They are dealing with coming into their own sexuality. Skills pertaining to social skills and social relationships are being developed through experience. Adolescents are also increasing their skills of physical and mental coordination, such as learning about the world and working on their own coordination. Adolescence is also characterized by learning their own identity and where they fit in the world, as well as learning their relationship with peers and those around them. Spiritual identity is also developed along with a deeper understanding of life. Independence is something that is also weighing on the mind of an adolescent. Overall changes in the family structure can also occur when a child of this age reaches this
Erikson, E. H. Late adolescence (1959). In S Schlein (Ed.), A way of looking at things (pp.
When studying human development, it is helpful to understand the main developmental domains (i.e physical, cognitive, emotional and moral) and the ways in which people develop within each domain at certain age stages. Use of psychological theories is also helpful to understand the reasons for this development and the ways in which it manifests at different age stages. The objective of this essay is to analyse the influences on development from conception to late adolescence. It will describe theories of lifespan development with information regarding my own development used to support these theories. It will be concluded that theories of lifespan development can be used to explain life experiences in the different developmental domains at different
Theorists such as Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, and Lawrence Kohlberg have studied and documented information about the stages of childhood development. The three main stages of childhood development are early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence. Each stage contains developmental behaviors and characteristics of different age groups. However, the childhood development stage that this paper is focus on is the middle childhood stage. During this phase in a child’s life, they go through a variety of changes. Such changes include; physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes. According to this course text, HDEV (2010), middle childhood comprises children between the ages of 6 to 12 years. In addition, in relation to the information that is presented in this text about the
Psychosocial development throughout the Life Cycle theory (sometimes known as individual development theory) proposes that each individual has the ability to master their environment at all stages of life (Coady & Lehman, 2008; Hutchison, 2008). The theory had its beginnings in Freud’s psychosexual stages of child development; however Erikson is responsible for laying the groundwork for the theory as it is known today, by proposing an epigenetic model of human development (Hutchison, 2008).
Papalia, Diane E, Sally W. Olds, and Ruth D. Feldman. A Child's World: Infancy Through Adolescence. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print. The author is a child development and psychology professor. This is an anthology with strictly objective information. The content is broken down into physical, cognitive, and psychosocial developments of different stages of childhood.
Bee, H. and Boyd, D. (2001). Physical and cognitive development in adolescence. Lifespan Development. 3ed., 292-293.
Adolescence is a transition which has no fixed time limits. However, the changes that occur at this time are so significant that it is useful to talk about adolescence as a distinct period of human life cycle. This period ranges from biological changes to changes in behavior and social status, thus making it difficult to specify its limits exactly (Damon, 2008). Adolescence begins with puberty, i.e. a series of physiological changes that lead to full development of the sexual organs and the ability to breed and sex. The time interval that elapses begins at 11 to 12 years and extends to 18 to 20. However we cannot associate to a 13 with one 18 years. Let us talk about early adolescence between 11 to 14 years, which coincides with puberty, and after a second period of youth, or late adolescence between 15-20 years. Its extension to adulthood depends on social, cultural, environmental as well as personal adaptation.
This approach has become the stimulus for a number of similar theories which share the same assumptions on psychological development, yet differ in detail. (Gross, R, 2007) Erik Erikson, a neo-freudian himself accepted Freud’s theory but whereas the psychodynamic approach focuses on five main stages of development until adulthood, Erikson theorised that development is lifelong and continues throughout life until death. (Psychology for A Level 2000)
In example, according to the Euro-Western view, adolescence is characterised by the interaction between the individual’s biological development and the demands requested by the industrial and post-industrial societies. Although adolescence is globally referred to as the period in life that groups individuals from 12 to 18 years, each individual’s development varies within different countries and cultures. According to the Euro-Western world, adolescence is a time in life that is characterised by experimentation, fun as well as personal growth that will later lead the individual to become a full adult. However, not every young individual experiences this positive and fun side of this life stage. In fact, adolescence is characterised by the hormonal changes that occur during puberty, which are argued to influence adolescents’ behaviour. Hall (cited in Drewery and Claiborne, 2010) argued that due to the effects caused by puberty, young individuals often experience tension, conflicts with their parents and peers, as well as critical mood changes. In line with Hall, Freud (cited in Drewery and Claiborne, 2010) argues that adolescence is a life stage in which it is hard to maintain a steady equilibrium. For these reasons, adolescence can still be considered a “problematic” stage in life, yet it is not necessary true that these conflicts are triggered by biological changes (Drewery and Claiborne,
Last but not least, parents of functional families encourage children in academic affairs and to nurture peer friendships, a very important element while transitioning into adolescence (Merchant, 2001). On the other hand, children from dysfunctional families, tend to miss treating children and not really nurture them as often. This could include single parent homes, drug addicted parents. The following factors have a profound impact on social development for middle childhood children: excessive conflicts within the home, overly authoritarian parents and coldness in the family (Merchant, 2001). As for physical development, the cognitive development of middle childhood is slow and steady.... ...
Carl Pickhardt, Ph.D. "Surviving (Your Child's) Adolescence." 12 December 2011. Psycology Today. 7 May 2014 .
By using Vygotsky’s theory, educators are able to realize what a child is able to do with assistance and they can help a child develop the skills on their own. They are engaged in the discovery process, but they are receiving guidance from a more knowledgeable source.
Throughout our life, it can be marked by developmental changes in every domain of life: our physical, cognitive, social, personalities, and morals. Due to some important researchers such as Erickson, Freud, Piaget we are able to understand the development of each of these domains. Each stage of it’s life has it’s own difficulties and events that can determine a person’s life (Mogler, 2008). During the stages of adolescence, they are very vulnerable to a lot going on in their life such as fitting in, peers, family, school, activities, and society, and not to forget the ups and downs of puberty. Adolescence can be viewed as a huge part of many children’s lives where in this part of their life they try to find teenagers experience physical, cognitive,