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Katherine Havican

Psyc 225: Human Development

Dr. Edward Boyd

May 1, 2021
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This Human Development course has taught me so much. From the online lectures each

week, to our textbook, and open ended questions. I feel I am way more informed on our

development. The information within this course will definitely serve me well as a future parent,

family member, helping-service provider, citizen, Tax payer, and voter.

I feel this course will help me tremendously in the future when being a parent or even

now in being a family member. Throughout this course we have learned of Erikson’s stages of

development. These stages help children grow into contributing members of society. Erikson’s

psychosocial stages of development are the resolutions of different crises to become a successful

person in society. During these 8 development stages, two conflicting ideas must be resolved in

order for a person to become a contributing member of society. Erikson’s eight stages of

psychosocial development include trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame/doubt, initiative vs.

guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs.

stagnation, and integrity vs. despair. By learning all of these stages of development I feel I am

more prepared with becoming a future parent, as before I didn’t know of all of the ways kids

develop and how they think and learn at these ages. In the book “Lifespan Development” it

explains, “Humans are motivated, for instance, by the need to feel that the world is a trustworthy

place, that we are capable individuals, that we can make a contribution to society, and that we

have lived a meaningful life” (Lindh, 2019). Erikson felt we needed to contribute to society and

live a meaningful life and this is why he created the psychosocial theory dividing life span into

eight stages.

His first stage we learned was Trust vs Mistrust. This stated that an infant must have

basic needs met to gain trust in the world. This occurs from birth to age one. Infants have to

understand that adults can be trusted. Infants at a young age are very dependent upon their
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caregivers and by being a responsive parent I now know this could build trust. Caregivers not

meeting their child's needs can leave them with mistrust and even fear. Erikson's second stage of

development is Autonomy vs. shame and doubt. This occurs in toddlers, Ages 1- 2 years.

Toddlers have newfound freedom and by allowing them to exercise this, they learn some basic

independence. They learn that they can control their actions and act on their environment around

them. This stage can even be called the “me do it stage” because at this age independence is

growing, such as wanting to pick their own outfits out or even dress themselves. His third stage

Initiative vs. Guilt occurs from ages 3- 5. Preschoolers in this stage begin to initiate activities.

They are capable of asserting control over their world through social interactions and play. The

fourth stage we learned was Industry vs. inferiority, which occurs in ages 6-11. Kids now begin

making comparisons between themselves and their classmates. They either develop a sense of

pride and accomplishment within school and activities or they feel inferior because they feel that

they don’t measure up to other kids around them. Erikson's fifth stage learned was Identity vs.

role confusion, this occurs in adolescence. Teenagers are trying to gain a sense of identity. This

stage creates a strong sense of identity and raises questions such as “What do I want to do with

my life?”. His sixth stage Intimacy vs. Isolation occurs in young adulthood. Around our 20s and

30s we make some of our first long-term commitments in relationships. After we have developed

a sense of self in adolescence,many begin exploring life with others. Erikson felt we must have a

strong sense of self before we can develop successful intimate relationships. I feel this is so true

because without self love and truly knowing your self worth you will not get far in a relationship

because your own self doubt and negative thoughts have a strong affect. The seventh stage is

Generativity vs. stagnation which occurs in middle adulthood. In our 40s through 60s we begin

to focus on being productive at work and home. In this stage contributing to the next generation
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is important. Engaging in productive work which contributes positively to society is often a goal.

Integrity vs. Despair is Erikson's last stage of development. This occurs in late adulthood. This is

when we look back on our lives and hope that we have lived well and have a sense of integrity.

This is where we reflect on our lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction or a sense of failure.

Knowing Erikson's stages has taught me so much and will help me as a future parent in

understanding. All eight of these stages I had not previously known allow me to understand our

development throughout life and to be a successful parent later in life. We learned these all

throughout the year within our lectures and these eight stages form a foundation for discussions

on emotional and social development during our lifespan.

Our class lecture on March 25th was also something I had marked as it talked of the

importance of reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is a process that strengthens the likelihood

of a particular response by adding a stimulus after the behavior is performed. In this

reinforcement Something is added to increase the likelihood of a behavior. An example of this

could be giving your kid a toy if they clean their room. By rewarding them they will continue to

do this desirable result. On the other hand there is Negative reinforcement. Which strengthens

the likelihood of a particular response, but by removing an undesirable consequence. This could

be Removing the curfew of a teenager who has proven she is responsible and home on time. By

knowing these different forms of reinforcement I will be more successful as a parent. I now

know how to decrease or increase a certain response. Reinforcement is very important and

understanding how and when to use this can be very beneficial as a parent.

With being a future parent I felt it was important to know the wise uses of punishment

and was a very useful topic discussed within the course. One of our “other special notes” was

discussing what to do and not to do when punishing which can help in the learning process. We
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learned timing is important when punishing. When punishing it is important to punish within the

timeframe of when the action happened. When waiting too long, kids may not associate the

punishment as well as they would with immediate action. Another important part of punishment

is to be consistent. Consistency really is important because if you are strict on a certain behavior

one time and then let a kid do it a few times after they won’t understand. This allows them to feel

like a negative behavior is acceptable. The third use of wise punishment is to always punish with

reason and respect. When punishing we need to recognize the reason for the punishment while

not being so aggressive and having respect for those being punished still. We also need to

remember to avoid corporal punishment, also known as physical punishment. Avoiding this type

of punishment is very important for many reasons such as some can get hurt or even die from

physical punishment going overboard. Ultimately knowing the difference between the correct

uses of punishment and those that should be left out will help me as a future parent.

Information discussed within our lectures I feel can help me so much as a future parent

that I could go on forever, but another topic that I learned alot from was the helpless pattern. One

third to one half of preschools,first graders, and kindergarteners show signs of this helpless

pattern. Some feel ashamed of not being able to do things right, give up easy, and can even think

of themselves as being dumb or in a negative way. As this can occur in many kids at a young

age, being informed on the matter and knowing how to react is definitely important as both a

family member and a parent. We have to first understand not to be so critical. As a parent it is

easy to over criticise and judge out of anger in certain situations and this should be avoided.

Another important way to help those feeling negative about themselves is praise effort and not

just achievement. I see this all the time when parents will only get excited for their kid if they

have achieved something new, but this won't happen right away. I now know this is a long
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process and by praising effort along the way, this will create a sense of accomplishment in a kid

and not the feeling of being a failure. We need to not withhold our love and approval when we

see signs such as a child giving up very easily. All of these ways to help with signs of the

helpless pattern, along with many more we have discussed will be beneficial to me in a variety of

ways.

With having to praise children in order for them to have approval and feel loved, we had

also discussed the order in which to praise them. Knowing the correct and most effective way to

praise a child can also help me in my future. First it is important to praise something as simple as

their being, by this meaning them as a person and the fact they are alive. We need to value kids at

all ages of their lives. We then need to praise them being there with you. The fact that they are in

a particular moment with you and recognizing this is important. Next is their effort. As we had

discussed previously in our special notes it is important to praise effort and not just their

achievement. The fourth thing we should praise is the product. This could be improved within

school, such as a test grade. The last step is to praise the actual accomplishment. We used the

example of a course grade for an example of this as it's more than just a test grade and an end

result of the whole year.

These were all some of the useful topics in this course that I have learned that will help

me as a future parent and family member. Another way in which this course will help me in my

future is as a helping service provider. I feel many of the topics discussed throughout this course

will help me in my future career as a counselor.

In the future I plan on becoming a substance abuse counselor. This consists of working

with people suffering from drug or alcohol addiction. As a counselor it is your job to help these

individuals recover from their addiction. In my future I would have to assess the addiction issue
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and determine other circumstances that might help with in their recovery process. Because every

addict’s situation is different, it’s the counselor’s job to help implement a treatment plan that will

help a certain individual. Although a counselor’s job is mainly on addiction, you also have to

work towards addressing any related issues. In the article “Details on What It’s Like to be a Drug

and Alcohol Addiction Counselor” it explains, “The level of addiction, a person’s age, the family

or support system that they have, the type of drugs they’re addicted to, and any legal

requirements are all taken into consideration when putting together a plan” (Brown, 2020).

Throughout this course I have learned valuable lessons that will help me assist those in a

counseling setting. I have gotten a better understanding of the role and impact family,

background, and support systems play in a person's life.

One important topic that I learned through this course that will help me in my future

career is the ways in which stress can impact our development. Children experience different

types of stressors throughout their life. Children who experience long periods of stress or who

live in extremely stressful situations of abuse can suffer long-lasting effects that can even affect

them later in life or with the decisions they make. In the book “LifeSpan Development” it states,

“The brain exposed to long periods of severe stress can develop a low threshold making the child

hypersensitive to stress in the future. (Lindh, 2019). This showed me just how bad childhood

stress can lead into our older years and it is always beneficial for others to realize these events

and their effects on their lives now.

Another topic in our lecture on April 1st was cultural retardation. While this doesn’t go

directly with a substance abuse counselor, It is important to realize and may help me if I go down

a different counseling field. When I heard the statistic during this lecture that 90% of retardation

is mild I was surprised. It seems that in our society many of us have a different view on this as it
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can be portrayed that these cases are always rare and the worst you can think of. This was

something I will definitely take with me in life because I hate judging others and feel society has

put a view that most cases are rare and very severe when they can be mild. Cultural familial

retardation occurs because of a lack of stimulation and enriching environment. This could range

from poor parenting to a lack of appropriate early childhood education. Topics such as this are

important to teach as they provide a different perspective for many then what they once thought.

From being a future parent to a future helping service provider, what I have learned in

this course will help me alot in my future. Another way in which this course can help me in the

future is as a future citizen, taxpayer, and voter. In the article “Reasons to Register and Vote” it

states “Voting is one of our most important rights as citizens. As long as this country has existed,

communities like ours have had to fight for the right to vote” (Kaynn,2015). This article explains

the importance of voting and puts into perspective the effect of those who don't vote. When

voting we are choosing someone usually who believes in the same things we do and throughout

this course we have expressed different problems in our world today and created a better

understanding for how I feel on certain topics.

In our lecture on April 6th we discussed the need to fix wages, due to dis opportunity in

teachers. This is something I hope to see in the future. Teachers work long hours and have a hard

job teaching kids important life skills and I feel they don’t get paid enough. Many other careers I

don’t feel get paid enough either, if we further education and take years of schooling it doesn't

make sense to me that someone in fast food or even a cashier can make the same as a college

student in certain careers. I have even had times thinking “is college worth it?” due to the fact

that I have multiple friends making a thousand dollars a week with no experience. I feel this is
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something we need to work on to make the money we earn be equivalent to the work we put in.

There is no reason that those going to college should make less than those who don’t.

Talking about topics such as wage increase, assisted suicide, and the need to better

schools will definitely help me as a future citizen, voter, and taxpayer. Topics such as Erikson's

stages of development and reinforcement can help me as a future family member and parent.

This course will even help me within my future career as a counselor, with knowing the impacts

of stress on our future development to learning the stereotypes on cultural retardation. All of

these topics along with many more discussed throughout the year, will better me as an individual

and in my future.
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References:

Lindh, J. (2019). Lifespan development – lindh. Retrieved April 28, 2021, from

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-fmcc-lifespan-development/

Brown, G. (2020, October 05). Details on what It's like to be a drug and alcohol Addiction

Counselor. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from

https://intercoast.edu/blog/addict-counselor/?utm_campaign=details-on-what-its-like-to-be-a-drug-a

nd-alcohol-addiction-counselor&utm_medium=social_link&utm_source=localfinder

Kaynn. (2015). Reasons to Register and Vote. Retrieved 2021, from

https://www.nonprofitvote.org/documents/2015/07/reasons-register-vote.pdf/