Tierra Foxworth

PSC 250

July 30th, 2017

Capstone Application Project

Abstract:

For this project, 4 people were interviewed all in public settings; A 31-year-old female parent, a six-year-old female, a 12-year-old male, and an

81-year-old female. There were formal sit downs, and observing of the interviewees with some direct questioning. After conducting all of the

interviews, you can really see the stages of life and how the different concepts can apply differently to each person. Each one was unlike the other

and the way they developed with each generation really showed in their answers to the questions and their behavior.
 The first interview was with a 31-year-old mother named Kimberley. She has a 5-year-

old daughter and is a single mom. She works every day during the week at a doctor's office and

spends all of her extra time with her girl. Our interview took about 25 minutes while she was at

the park with her daughter. We started the conversation with her just telling me things about

herself. She is divorced and has troubles with her ex. She struggles sometimes with managing

everything with work, friends and her family. She talked about how it was hard for her to accept

that she was becoming a mother. She knew that she was not ready financially as she had not

finished college yet, and had just met the child's father not too long before she had gotten

pregnant. She was carefree and did not have any true responsibilities yet and knowing she was

going to be a mom made her have to grow up quick. I think Kim at that time belonged to the

emerging adulthood group as she was old enough to be an adult but was not quite there yet. She

still lived with her parents at the time and was financially still relying on them for most of her

support. I think the concept of having difficulty with transitioning into adulthood could easily

apply to her. Most people between the age of 18-25 can have a really hard time trying to be an

adult and do everything for themselves (Hawley PowerPoint, 2017 S17). It can be something that

takes longer for some people and for Kim, it definitely did.

Kim also did not know if she was going to finish college or if she even wanted to. She

was in a program to be a phlebotomist but was not sure at all if it was something she really

wanted to do. In the end, she decided that she was going to finish it only because she knew she

needed to make decent money and she was already so close to being done. What she really

wanted to do was become a lawyer but she did not think that she would have what it takes to go

all the way. I think the identity crisis concept can also apply to Kim in some ways. She was so

undecided with what she wanted to do with her life and only made a decision because it was the
most convenient and with having a baby on the way at the time she needed something fast.

(Dunn & Craig, 2013, p. 305)

The last thing we really talked about what the physical changes she has gone through as

she had gotten older. She mainly talked about how having her daughter changed her the most and

being a mom myself I totally agreed with her. She said that she was definitely not as "fit" as she

was before having her daughter. She used to be able to stay up all night and still be productive

the next morning with a hangover and not she can barely stay up until ten o'clock at night. She

thought that the way she carried her weight is different as well and that she felt as if she carried

more weight in her stomach than anywhere else. People grow and change as they get older and

especially women after having a child and just un general as they get older. Usually during these

years, hormone levels are at their peak in both men and women and they are most likely to have

children during this time. Marriage usually happens as well and relationships can become

permanent. (Dunn & Craig, 2013, p. 337). Overall, I think Kim definitely fit the profile of

someone in the early adulthood stage. She is going through a lot but she is handling it for the

most part all by herself and she is succeeding.

The next interview was done the same day and was with a six-year-old little girl named

Bridgette. She was playing in the park and did more jumping and hanging upside on the monkey

bars than talking to me. She belongs in the early childhood stage of development. After talking to

her father who gave me permission to the interview her, I walked over and introduced myself.

She immediately looked away from me and did not want to talk to me at first. She seemed almost

scared of me and after about a minute of me not leaving her alone she ran to her father kind of

upset. He told her who I was and what I was doing but she was still very cautious and shy around

me. This to me showed that she had a fear of strangers. She did not feel comfortable around
people that she did not know and she had to go back to her father to get reassurance that I was

okay to talk to.

After about three minutes, I asked her if it was okay if I played with her and she agreed.

We went underneath of the castle where she told me about a movie she watched called "Sing".

She loved the character called Ash and wanted to play her. I watched her as she started to play a

pretend guitar and sing a song from the movie that the character sings. She also knew some

quotes from the movie and added some of her own and did a complete scenario of the character

and said that there was a whole crowd of people who were there watching her perform. This

went on for a good 7 minutes and she walked away and went back the monkey bars. I think even

though she was acting out a movie I still would apply the concept of private speech. This is

where children engage in speech aloud and in public settings and talk to themselves (Dunn &

Craig, 2013, p. 174). In her mind, she created a scene where people were watching her and

putting on a show. She was fully engaged in it and had conversations with the people but was

only talking to herself.

Towards the end, I asked her about how school was going for her or if she goes to any

type of daycare and answered yes but she didn't like it very much. She went on to tell me that

there is a boy who always gets into trouble because he is mean to a friend of hers. He called the

other girl names and would take her toys and Bridgette knew that that was bad and mean. She

would help her friend when she was sad and try to make her feel better by giving her a doll or

telling it was going to be okay. By her telling me this I knew that she had some type of prosocial

behavior. This is a set of social skills where children do things to benefit or comfort another.

Bridgette knew that the things that the boy was doing to her friend was not the right thing and it

made her friend feel sad and she did things that she thought would benefit her and make her feel
better. (Dunn & Craig, 2013, p. 194). I think that Bridgette was right in the middle of her early

childhood stage. She seemed to know a lot of things and was very sweet. She loved to play and

laugh and when she warmed up to me she really opened up with her stories. Overall, I think she

is on the right path to doing great things.

The next interview was with a 12-year-old boy named Noah. We met at the library and he

was very sweet. We began talking about him and what he liked to do it. He loved to play

baseball and thought he was really good at it. He loves the Baltimore Orioles and thought that

Trey Mancini was the best. I asked him if he thought that he was good at it and what he liked the

most and he agreed that he was "awesome" and was really good at hitting homeruns. He said that

every day he would practice at home with his dad and they had all the equipment needed to

basically have their own baseball park in their yard. I think with Noah I could apply the industry

versus inferiority concept. This is where children learn that hard work produces results and they

want to master their environment. (Dunn & Craig, 2013, p. 252). Noah knew that in order to

become very good at baseball he needed to practice as much as he could and work on the things

that needed improvement. His dad also helped his and told him what he needed to do to fix

things that just weren't quite right.

After talking about baseball, I asked him about his family and friends his relationships.

He thought that his family was awesome. He had another little brother who was 7 who

sometimes got in his nerves but he still loved them. He would help his brother when he needed it,

especially in his baseball skills because he played as well just on another team. Noah knew that

family came first and they would always make time for each other. I think Noah was developing

social responsibility. These are the obligations one has to their family friends and society. (Dunn

& Craig, 2013, p. 254). If he wanted to go to a friend's house or do something he knew that he
should check with his mom or dad first to see if he was allowed or needed to do anything for

them before he left. He knew with his friends if they needed help he could be there to help them.

Most of the time it was baseball related but either way he was there to help.

Noah had a lot of friends and thought that he pretty much got along with everyone around

him. He considered himself to be popular and that a lot of his friends looked up to him. The

concept of popularity applies to him. He was good at sports and school and knew it. He applied it

to the outside world and was very smart. Children who are involved in sports and have good

academic performance often are the ones who are more popular in a peer groups. Overall, I think

Noah was a little more hesitant to opening up to me completely. He mainly talked about baseball

and how he loves to hang out with his friends. In my opinion, he was right where he needed to be

in the middle childhood stage.

My last interview was done with an 81-year-old woman named Lilian. She was a widow

who had lost her husband to mesothelioma in 2003. She had one daughter, one granddaughter,

and two great-grandsons. She saw her daughter often as she was the one who took care of her

most of the time but she did not see her granddaughter or great-grandsons as they lived further

away. She suffers from a cancer in the muscles in her back but she cannot take any type of

treatment because it makes her too weak. She still manages just fine though. She lives on her

own, drives herself around town and runs her errands, and goes out to dinner either by herself or

with friends, almost every day. I think the maintaining identity concept could be applied to

Lilian. This is where a person maintains a clear vision of their physical, psychological and social

attributes. (Dunn & Craig, 2013, p. 473). Even though she has a lot of things going on with her

physically she still maintains her identity of an independent, social person and deals with

everything that comes her way and most of the time she does it on her own.
 Lilian often talked about God and how she will not fight him when he decides it is her

time to die. I think she in the fifth stage of Kubler- Ross's stages of death and dying. This is the

stage where people accept the fact that they are going to die and basically wait for it to happen

(Dunn & Craig, 2013, p. 500). She accepts that it is going to happen sooner rather than later and

does not want to take any chemo for her cancer which she has had for almost two years now. She

wants to live the rest of her life with her family and make every day count as much as she can.

She talks about how she will be ready when it happens is not scared of it at all.

One thing Lilian did mention is that when she goes to her local VFW and sees the people

she grew up with she realizes that they are all old and have something going on with them. She

saw a man she had known all her life walk in with an oxygen tank and a nasal cannula but sit

down at the bar and order a drink. She found it amusing but knew that her generation was the

ones who were considered, "ancient". She thought about everything that she had done with her

life all the time and wondered if there was anything she could have done differently. I think I

could apply the concept of Erikson's stage of integrity versus despair. This is where, according to

Erikson, people think about how their lives have fulfilled their expectations in their earlier years.

(Dunn & Craig, 2013, p. 472). Her husband was abusive and because of it she sometimes is

upset that she did not get her daughter out. She felt like her daughter did not have a good

relationship with her father when he died and she could have changed that. She also felt that she

should have done more with her daughter. They don’t have the best relationship and she thinks

that it's because she did not try hard enough to get to know her when she was younger like she

should have. Overall, she thinks that she has had a great life but there are some things that

happened that she never thought would and wishes she could change. I think with Lilian she is in
the stage of death and dying but is doing fairly well for her age. She is a fighter and strives very

hard to maintain her independence.

After doing all of the interviews I really feel like I could understand each stage of life

better than before. Each stage has their own physical, mental and emotional way of living and

making it in the world and their society. It's amazing to see the process of life and how we grow

as human beings. I learned new things and was able to see how people deal with things like

conflict and emotional issues. Overall, I think this was very successful.
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Dunn, W. L., & Craig, G. J. (2013). Understanding human development. Upper Saddle River,

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Harrison, L. (2017, July 22). [Personal interview].

Hughes, K. (2017, July 16). [Personal interview].