SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Relationships, personal motives, and morality

Social development: refers to the long-term changes in relationships and interaction involving self,
peers, and family. It includes both positive changes, such as how friendships develop, and negative changes, such as
aggression or bullying.

-The social developments that are most obviously relevant to classroom life fall into three main areas:
(1) Changes in self-concept and in relationships among students and teachers, (For development of self-
concept and relationships, it is the theory of Erik Erikson)

(2) Changes in basic needs or personal motives, (for development of personal motives, it is the theory of
Abraham Maslow)

(3) Changes in sense of rights and responsibilities. (For development of ethical knowledge and beliefs, it
is the work of Lawrence Kohlberg and his critic, Carol Gilligan.)

As with cognitive development, each of these areas has a broad, well-known theory (and theorist) that
provides a framework for thinking about how the area relates to teaching.
For development of self-concept and relationships, it is the theory of ERIK ERIKSON;

ERIK ERIKSON: eight psychosocial crises of development

- Like Piaget, Erik Erikson developed a theory of social development that relies on stages, except that
Erikson thought of stages as a series of psychological or social (psychosocial) crises.
- Each crisis consists of a dilemma or choice that carries both advantages and risks, but in which one
choice or alternative is normally considered more desirable or “healthy”.
- Erikson proposed eight crises that extend from birth through old age;

EIGHT PSYCHOSOCIAL CRISES ACCORDING TO ERIKSON

PSYCHOSOCIAL CRISIS APPROXIMATE AGE DESCRIPTION

TRUST AND MISTRUST BIRTH TO ONE YEAR Development of trust between
caregiver and child
AUTONOMY AND SHAME AGE 1-3 Development of control over
bodily functions and activities
INITIATIVE AND GUILT AGE 3-6 Testing limits of self-assertion
and purposefulness
INDUSTRY AND INFERIORITY AGE 6-12 Development of sense of mastery
and competence
IDENTITY AND ROLE AGE 12-19 Development of identity and
CONFUSION acknowledge of identity by others
INTIMACY AND ISOLATION AGE 19-25+ Formation of intimate
relationships and commitments
GENERATIVITY AND AGE 25-50+ Development of creative or
STAGNATION productive activities that
contribute to future generations
INTEGRITY AND DESPAIR AGE 50+ Acceptance of personal life
history and forgiveness of self
and others

CRISES OF INFANTS AND PRESCHOOLERS: trust, autonomy, and initiative

Almost from the day they are born, infants face a crisis (in Erikson’s sense) about trust and mistrust.
They are happiest if they can eat, sleep, and excrete according to their own physiological schedules,
regardless of whether their schedules are convenient for the caregiver (often the mother).

- A young infant is in no position to control or influence a mother’s care giving or scheduling needs;
so the baby faces a dilemma about how much to trust or mistrust the mother’s helpfulness.
Autonomy and Shame: The child (who is now a toddler) may now trust his or her caregiver (mother),
but the very trust contributes to a desire to assert autonomy by taking care of basic personal needs, such
as feeding, toileting, or dressing.
- Given the child’s lack of experience in these activities, however, self-care is risky at first-the toddler
may feed (or toilet or dress) clumsily and ineffectively.

- The child’s caregiver, for her part, risks overprotecting the child and criticizing his early efforts
unnecessarily and thus causing the child to feel shame for even trying.
INITIATIVE AND GUILT: As with the crisis over autonomy, caregivers have to support the child’s
initiatives where possible, but also not make the child feel guilty just for desiring to have or to do
something that affect’s others’ welfare.
- By limiting behavior where necessary but not limiting internal feelings, the child can develop a
lasting ability to take initiative. Expressed in Erikson’s terms, the crisis is then resolved in favor of
initiative.
THE CRISIS OF CHILDHOOD: INDUSTRY AND INFERIORITY: Once into elementary school, the
child is faced for the first time with becoming competent and worthy in the eyes pf the world at large, or
more precisely in the eyes of classmates and teachers. To achieve their esteem, he or she must develop
skills that require effort that is sustained and somewhat focused. The challenge creates the crisis of
industry and inferiority.
Ex. The child must learn to read and to behave like a “true student”. To be respected by peers, he or she
must learn to cooperate and to be friendly, among other things.

- If the child succeed, therefore, he or she experiences the satisfaction of a job well done and of skills
well-learned-a feeling that Erikson called industry. If not, however, the child risks feeling lasting
inferiority compared to others.
THE CRISIS OF ADOLESCENCE: IDENTITY AND ROLE CONFUSION: As the child lasting
talents and attitudes as a result of the crisis of industry, he begins to face new question: what do all the
talents and attitudes add up to be? Who is the “me” embedded in this profile of qualities? These
questions are the crisis of identity and role confusion.
-identity is risker than it may appear for a person simply because some talents and attitudes may be
poorly developed, and some even be may be undesirable in the eyes of others.

THE CRISES OF ADULTHOOD: INTIMACY, GENERATIVITY, AND INTEGRITY

INTIMACY AND ISOLATION: This crisis is about the risk of establishing close relationships with a
select number of others.
GENERATIVITY AND STAGNATION: This crisis is characteristics of most of adulthood, and not
surprisingly therefore is about caring for or making a contribution to society, and especially to its
younger generation.

- GENERATIVITY- is about making life productive and creative so that it matters to others.

INTEGRITY AND DESPAIR- The final crisis, characteristically felt during the final year of life. At the
end of life, a person is likely to review the past and to ask whether it has been lived as well as possible,
even if it was clearly not lived perfectly.