Psychology

Developmental theories present a framework designed for thinking concerning the growth of humans, their maturity as well their learning. Have you ever wondered what motivates the thoughts of humans and their conduct These theories of development will assist us to give an insight into individuals and the society at large.

Freuds stages of psychosexual development.
According to Sigmund Freud, personality is mostly in children by about the age of five years. The early experiences of a person play a major role in the progress of their personality and will go on to influence their conduct in their grown-up life.
Freud held that an individuals personality develops throughout a sequence of stages during early days in which the fulfillment of the individual becomes focused on certain erogenous areas.  The psychosexual energy was described as the motivating force behind a persons behavior. Completions of these stages successfully result in a healthy personality. If certain issues are not through at a certain phase, then an individual can become stuck. Where there is continual focus on a previous stage, one will not progress towards the next psychosexual stage. The following are the stages in Freuds theory.
The oral stage
During this period, the infants main source of contact occurs through the mouth. The mouth is essential for consumption plus the infant derives satisfaction from oral stimulation through gratifying actions like tasting as well as sucking. The infant in this period then develops confidence on his caretakers and consequently a sense of faith and reassurance.
The only problem at this stage is that if fixation occurs because of weaning then the individual would have problems with dependency or violent behavior. Oral fixation can be capable of also resulting in drinking problems, smoking or yet lead to nail biting.
Anal stage
During this stage, Freud argued that the libido controlled the bladder as well as bowel movements. The main problem in this stage is teaching a kid how to use the bathroom the child has to be taught to control himherself. Accomplishment in this phase occurred after parents learned how best to approach bathroom training. Parents who praised and also rewarded their children for appropriately using the lavatory had affirmative results. Individuals who have had positive experiences at this stage became resourceful adults, capable and more fruitful. Those who have negative experiences or the parents had improper parental responses in an anal-expulsive character where the person develops to be disorganized, have a destructive personality or become inefficient.
The Phallic stage
During this stage, Freud observed that the prime focus of the libido is on the genitals. Kids begin to discern the differences between males and females. Boys start to perceive their dads as rivals to their mothers love and they develop thoughts of wanting to posses their mums. However, the child worries that they will be punished by their dads resulting to a fright Freud termed as castration nervousness. Freud on the other hand believed that girls experienced penis jealousy. In the long run, kids become close to the identical sex parent as a way of getting to posses the other parent. But Freud believed that a solution to penis envy has never been found as all women remain stuck in this stage.
The latent stage
In this stage the libido interests are censored. The growth of self-esteem and super ego are in this period. The period starts as soon as the kids go to school and have more worry for peer relations, hobbies and new things that interest them. This is the period or discovery in which the sexual power is there but is directed to areas such as societal interactions and academic pursuits. Freud describes this stage as vital in the development of social and communication skills and self-assurance.
The genital stage
This is the final stage of psychosexual development and the person develops a strong sexual interest in the opposite sex. While the earlier stages focused only on individual needs, there is increased interest on the welfare of others in this stage. If an individual had positive experiences in the other stages then he should be caring, well balanced and warm towards other people. The goal of this stage is to establish a balance between the various life areas.
Piagets theory of Cognitive development
This premise describes cognitive growth in children. Cognitive developments involve changes in cognitive procedure and abilities. According to Piaget and Inhelder (1969) cognitive growth entail processes based on events and later progresses in intellectual operations.
The key concepts in this theory are
Schemas- this describes both the psychological and physical events involved in understanding as well as knowing. Schemas are a class of knowledge that helps an individual to interpret and comprehend the world. Piaget believes a schema comprises both category of knowledge plus the process of receiving that knowledge. As experiences take place, this fresh information is used to adjust, change or add to the previously existing schemas.
Assimilation- this is the practice of taking in fresh information to include already existing schemas. The process is however rather subjective as we are likely to alter experience or information to fit with our preexisting values.
Accommodation- this part of adjustment involves changing or shifting our existing schemas as a result of new information. Accommodation thus involves changing existing schemas or thoughts, as an outcome of new information or experiences.
Equilibration- Piaget argued that all kids try to strike a sense of balance between assimilation as well as accommodation, which is achieved during equilibration. As they progress, it is imperative to maintain equilibrium between adaptation and accommodation. This helps to clarify how children are capable of moving from one stage to the next. Piaget (1932) categorized four stages children go through. They were the sensorimotor stage. This is between birth and two years old. The child interacts with his environment through physical interaction. The child in this stage builds concepts about reality but they dont know that the objects still exist even when they are out of sight. The second stage is the preoperational which includes ages 2-7 years. At this stage the kid is not able to conceptualize theoretically and needs solid objective situations. The third stage is the concrete operations which includes children of ages 7-11 years. In this stage, the child starts to create rational structures through conceptualizing. The child develops conceptual problem solving skills like solving arithmetic equations. Lastly is the formal operations stage which begins at age 11-15 years. In the stage the child has developed conceptual reasoning because they now posses cognitive structures.

ENVIROMENTAL THEORYPSYCHOLOGY
This premise examines the interrelationship involving the environments and human conduct. It explores dealings between persons and groups as well as their physical setting. It provides a prominent place to ecological perceptions, attitudes, evaluations plus representation of accompanying behavior. The turf of environmental psychology describes the environment very broadly including everything that is natural on the globe as well as the public settings, built environments, learning environments as well as   informational environments. One should be able to have a model of human nature that predicts the environmental settings under which humans will conduct themselves in a decent and inspired manner if the problems concerning human-environmental relations are to be solved. With the models in place, an individual can be able to manage protect design andor bring back environments that enhance reasonable behavior, foresee what the likely result will be once these conditions are not met and present solutions. This field explores different issues like the outcome of environmental strain on human performance, common possessions, resource organization, human information processing, way-finding in difficult settings, as well as the promotion of long-lasting conservation behavior.


Recurrent Elements in Environmental Psychology
Attention- Understanding the human conduct starts with perceiving how people discern the environment. This includes two types of stimuli, those that unwillingly, even distractingly control human notice and those things, thoughts or places towards which humans must willingly and with some attempt direct their understanding.
Perception and cognitive maps- how people visualize the natural plus the built environment has been of interest from the start. Information is kept in the mind as spatial networks called cognitive maps. The structures connect ones remembrance of experience through perceptions current events, emotions and thoughts. Its through these impartial networks that individuals know and reflect about their surroundings, plan and carry out their plans.
Preferred environments- individuals tend to look for places where they can experience competence plus confidence and also where they can create a sense of the environment even as they also occupy it. Being concerned and wanting to discover an environment is difficult and requires anonymity. Preserving, restoring and additionally creating a preferred surrounding is thought to boost a sense of well being and behavioral efficiency in human beings.
Conservation behavior- ecological psychology has played a key role in bringing mental knowledge to bear upon the issue of mounting an ecological sustainable society. This field explores environmental attitudes, principles, perceptions and in addition, diverse intervention techniques designed for promoting environmentally correct behavior.
Participation- this field is devoted to enhancing civilian involment in reinstatement efforts, environmental design and organization. It deals with promoting citizen understanding of the environmental activities while ensuring their early and true involvement in the design, organization and in addition, modifications of the environment.
Environmental stress and coping- humans can modify their physical or societal setting to build more accommodating environments where they can control the flow of information or strain inducing stimuli. They can also tolerate the stressful period, incurring psychological costs that they can deal with afterwards.
CROSSOVER THEORY
This premise is from a periodical of managerial psychology. Many studies in management psychology have looked at the characteristics of the job environment that might influence job strain or staff engagement. These studies though overlooked an essential source of the staffs well being and individuals in the immediate environment through which the employees frequently interact. At work they include colleagues and at home they consist of relatives.
It involves transmission across persons whereby work demands result in strains and require commitment. Crossover pressure or strain experienced by those at work may lead towards stress or strain being experienced by their spouse at home. Prior studies have acknowledged several mechanisms that may clarify crossover including quality of interaction with the spouse personal differences in receptiveness to emotions of others as well as similarities among the employee and other individuals with whom they work together.
Bakker and Demerouti (2009) carried a study among Dutch working couples and tested Westman and Vinokurs (1998) study that compassion moderates the crossover of job engagement. The outcome showed that perspective taking slows down the relationship between womens and mens job engagement. Hartel and Page (2009) present theoretical and convenient insight into the method of crossover with the proposition that affects strength as an important illustrative mechanism of crossover. They suggest that individual differences that have an effect on intensity may moderate or may perhaps explain the crossover of distinct emotions such as pleasure and fear in the place of work.