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Human Development
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Throughout the twentieth century, valuable research has been carried out in studies related to intellectual, emotional, faith, moral, and biological development of human beings. Notable scholars who have studied these stages extensively are Erikson, Fowler and Kohlberg. It is important for a person to have adequate knowledge of these stages at least at a basic level to have a better understanding of one’s self.
Development theory proposed by Erik Erikson was the extension of five stages development theory of Freud and proposed 8 stages in human life with respect to the development. In the proposed theory, Erickson stresses social and cultural interaction in conjunction with the biological maturation as a driving force in these stages. In each stage, the outcome is dominated by a basic conflict, whether a more negative or positive resolution forming grounds for the upcoming stages. In the eight stages of development proposed by Erik Erickson, one stage is “Young Adult” in which an individual develops the capability to receive and give love and start to develop understanding and ability to make long term commitment in relationships. In this stage, a person is either wants to have intimacy or isolation and is in a constant struggle in defining his role in these two behavioral extremes. Generally, a person lives in this stage between the age of 19-40 and in case of success in this stage, a person finds fulfilment and happiness in relationships ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"rEURPpnQ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Intimacy vs. Isolation}, n.d.)","plainCitation":"(Intimacy vs. Isolation, n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":374,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5OlhLovK/items/GF6J9TCW"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5OlhLovK/items/GF6J9TCW"],"itemData":{"id":374,"type":"webpage","abstract":"Intimacy versus isolation is the sixth stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development. Learn what happens during this stage.","container-title":"Verywell Mind","language":"en","title":"Intimacy vs. Isolation: Forming Intimate Relationships With Others","title-short":"Intimacy vs. Isolation","URL":"https://www.verywellmind.com/intimacy-versus-isolation-2795739","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2020",1,17]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Intimacy vs. Isolation, n.d.). In case of failure, isolation and loneliness are the outcomes. During this stage, forming loving and intimate relationships with other people is the main idea around which major conflict in this period revolves. Based on my age and other tendencies of behaviors related to intimacy and isolation, I find myself in this stage of human development as proposed by Eric Erickson.
Lawrence Kohlberg has worked on the human moral development stages and expanded the works of Jean Piaget. He defined that there are three stages of human moral development called pre-conventional, conventional and finally post-conventional. According to Kohlberg, at the post-conventional stage of human moral development, the sense of human morality is based on more abstract ideas and principles of life and are defined accordingly ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"pyIertkt","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Kohlberg\\uc0\\u8217{}s Stages of Moral Development | Education, Society, & the K-12 Learner}, n.d.)","plainCitation":"(Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development | Education, Society, & the K-12 Learner, n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":376,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5OlhLovK/items/6UYXP42L"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5OlhLovK/items/6UYXP42L"],"itemData":{"id":376,"type":"webpage","title":"Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development | Education, Society, & the K-12 Learner","URL":"https://courses.lumenlearning.com/teachereducationx92x1/chapter/kohlbergs-stages-of-moral-development/","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2020",1,17]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development | Education, Society, & the K-12 Learner, n.d.). In this stage, a person develops an understanding and moral sense which motivates him to judge actions based on their epistemology and fulfilment of natural requirements and needs. A person now believes that some laws and rules are just and some are unjust based on his moral development. I find myself in the post-conventional stage of human moral development because of my ideological, logical and psychological maturity to differentiate between good and bad, write and wrong, and just and unjust.
James Fowler studied the faith development of human beings and defined six stages of human faith development. These six stages are Intuitive project faith, Mythic-literal, Synthetic-conventional, Individuative-reflective faith, conjunctive and finally universalizing faith. As far as my state of faith is concerned, I find myself in the stage of Individuative-reflective of faith which is the 4th stage of development. This stage identifies the transition of a person in late adolescence and it is not defined by other’s values and goals but according to the increased responsibility of one’s own lifestyle and beliefs ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ai9bNZkd","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}What Stage is Your Faith? | Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak}, n.d.)","plainCitation":"(What Stage is Your Faith? | Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak, n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":380,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5OlhLovK/items/Y64Y6TLQ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5OlhLovK/items/Y64Y6TLQ"],"itemData":{"id":380,"type":"webpage","title":"What Stage is Your Faith? | Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak","URL":"https://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthecouch/2014/05/what-stage-is-your-faith/","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2020",1,17]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (What Stage is Your Faith? | Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak, n.d.). A person who undergoes this stage of faith development form an understanding of their own ideology as well as other external factors that are responsible for this. Also, he views and understands the ideology and visions of others in the same way. As I believe that I am going through this stage of development, I can identify that rituals and symbols are way different than before and have much more to do with my personality and character than mere rituals.
As far as my struggle related to this state is concerned, I often find myself in a development conflict the needs to be resolved. The major conflict surrounding my development stage in the young adult stage is intimacy versus isolation which keeps me in a continuous intriguing state. The main question that originates in the mind of a person actively going through such conflict is will I be alone or will I be loved? To be able to get through this stage successfully, a person must adopt some behavioral changes in personality to be able to develop more close, intimate and long-lasting relationships in the future. I often struggle in forging closeness and emotional intimacy with loved ones and friends and making long-term commitments. It is important to commit for a long term to others giving love and affection if one wants to develop a strong relationship. It is observed that people who suffer in developing the previous stages of development of identity versus confusion stage, often have less commitment in relationships and are more likely to face difficulties in the form of depression, loneliness and emotional isolation.
A person’s life direction has a significant influence of culture, faith and life experiences and these factors play an important part in human development. As far as faith is concerned, everybody develops a sense of belief in things which are conventional and synthetic. Having internalized faith principles and ideas from early childhood, when a person wants to practice and implement them in his life during early adolescence, he finds many oppositions in society. Same is the case with me, where I feel that I need a more welcoming and accepting social group to support my practices and beliefs.
Cultural influences are very significant in human development stages. Cultures are shaped by ecologies and they influence the development of personalities. There exist some culture-specific and universal aspect of variation in personalities. Cultural-specific aspects include collectivism, individualism, complexity and tightness. It is transmitted by modelling of behavior and language when conditions are such to permit people to communicate through a shared language, when they are in close proximity with each other and when they share the same place to live. The model of cultural impacts on human development cannot be understood well if biological factors are not taken into considerations. There are considerable links between personality development and socialization practices within the community or society and they impact the overall personality building and character development. As an example, the interaction of parents impacts the world view and perception of a child.
Studies reveal that if parents have an understanding and accepting behavior, their kids become more emotionally stable, sociable, have high self-esteem and a positive world view. On the other hand, if parents are not welcoming and accepting, their kids tend to grow up as adults who are unstable, have a negative world-view, immature, unresponsive hostile and immaturely dependent. While talking about the effects of culture and societies in the human development and the ways in which a person defines a path in his life, it is important to consider whether the culture is based on collectivism or individualism. Individuals growing up in an individualistic environment tend to be highly motivated by success and influenced by high completion as compared to collectivism based society. These are some of the cultural aspects of influence on human development that are important to consider while studying philosophy of human life.
References
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Intimacy vs. Isolation: Forming Intimate Relationships With Others. (n.d.). Verywell Mind. Retrieved January 17, 2020, from https://www.verywellmind.com/intimacy-versus-isolation-2795739
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development | Education, Society, & the K-12 Learner. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2020, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/teachereducationx92x1/chapter/kohlbergs-stages-of-moral-development/
What Stage is Your Faith? | Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2020, from https://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthecouch/2014/05/what-stage-is-your-faith/
Triandis, H. C., & Suh, E. M. (2002). Cultural influences on personality. Annual review of psychology, 53(1), 133-160.
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