Adult Life span Development
There are three fundamental processes in development namely biological process cognitive process and socialemotional process. . In clear terms, the basic dimensions of human development are body, mind and spirit. Therefore, the mind means the cognitive and the spirit means the social and emotional dimension. From a psychoanalytic point of view, behavior does not occur in a vacuum it is always surfaced on certain grounds, not excluding the inherent workings of the mind embedded in it. Erik Erikson believed that human development takes place within the framework of psychosocial stages contrary to Freud theory. Cognitive theories are more concerned with consciousness and the significance of the brain in information processing. In Vygotskys theory, there are tasks that are too complex for one to master alone. They require the guidance of others to be assimilated. Bandura believes that individuals manifest the behavior of others after which they absorb this learned behavior to become their own. Ethologically, it is believed that experiences at given times in a persons life has a big impact on an individuals development.
Whenever there are attempts in carrying out investigations regarding adult development, practitioners should identify which elements or aspects are biological or cognitive or socioemotional, and their timely impact on the person as an adult. This study therefore seeks to deepen more on fundamental theories that have been advanced in understanding an adult as a developing entity. These theories consist of psychodynamism, cognition, learning behaviorism, social learning, ethologic theories, humanism, ecology, moral and religious, career and eclecticism. In this regard, proponents like Freud, Erickson, Piaget, Lorenz, and Maslow among others will be considered. In general, the study seeks to capture human development with a bias in adulthood development.
Developmental Issues
It was stated earlier long that practitioners ought to determine which elements are biological cognitive and socioemotional in the quest to understanding adult development. As such, the aspect of maturation and experience is characterized by the systematic changes embedded in the genetic imprint of a person. Besides, the development process has aspects that are in continuity and on the other hand, there are those aspects that are in discontinuity. Continuity of development is characterized by the gradual and systematic transformations right from the moment of birth to the point of death. Discontinuity of development on the other hand, involves the diverse stages in the life span. It is important to note that, there are early-later experience issues which are connoted by the degree that early or later experiences impact on the process of development.
The aspect of age is another important issue whenever scholars set out to investigate the development process. The notion of age will vary in different respects in that they are viewed chronologically, biologically, psychologically, and socially. This will be deepened more in the course of this study. Just to reiterate what has been illustrated earlier that there are three fundamental processes in development namely biological process cognitive process and socialemotional process. In principle, the growth and development of a human being is always an integral development due to hisher hylemorphic nature. This means that she cannot be regarded just as a corporeal reality but also as a spiritual reality. In clear terms, the basic dimensions of human development are body, mind and spirit. Therefore, the mind means the cognitive and the spirit means the social and emotional dimension.
Theories of Adult Development
In order to understand well the nature of adult development, one should also consider the other stages of development in the earlier stages. From a psychoanalytic point of view, behavior does not occur in a vacuum it is always surfaced on certain grounds, not excluding the inherent workings of the mind embedded in it. The aspects of a human person are id, ego and, the superego. In addition, individuals succumb to defense mechanisms to counter anxiety in their lives according to Freud. He further argues further that there are certain stages that one undergoes before attaining fully fledged adult maturity. In general, the stages are as follows oral stage anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage, and genital stage. These stages shall be used to support some fundamental hypothesis in respect to adult behavior as will be discussed later on.
Erik Erikson believed that human development takes place within the framework of psychosocial stages contrary to Freud theory. He argues further that how individuals are involved in each of these stages determines the balance of personality later in life. The following diagram gives a summary of Freuds and Eriksons stages of personality development.
Jane Loevinger describes seven ego development stages. The figure below gives a summary of these ego development stages.
Cognitive theories are more concerned with consciousness and the significance of the brain in information processing. This is a process that adults undergo in their cognitive development. Piaget has developed stages of cognitive development. The following diagram gives a summary of these stages.
In Vygotskys theory, there are tasks that are too complex for one to master alone. They require the guidance of others to be assimilated. Through scaffolding, an individual tunes the amount of guidance given and this necessarily limits the amount of support given by the external forces. In the long run, language and thought takes center stage in planning, guiding and monitoring behavior in a self-regulatory mode.
Individuals have got a unique way in which they process or develop information in their surroundings. There is a modality in which this processed information gets into the mind how it is stored and transformed how it is recalled and used to solve complex and analytical mental activities.
By and large, behavior is attributed to what is observable. In other words, people develop their behavior in the context of their environment. People are said to behave differently due to their different cultural and economic backgrounds. Skinner makes a distinction between classical and operant conditioning processes. Below is a diagram that best explains the classical mode of conditioning according to Skinner.
Children are believed to have spontaneous habits. Consider the following example a child can begin smiling by herself without any cause. She can just smile while in the cot as she suckles on her fingers. But then, her elder brother may pick her up and in turn start swinging her such that the child smiles even more. In the former case, the childs smile was an accidental response, but in the latter case, the smile is a deliberate response since there is an aspect of reinforcement from the elder brother to the child. This example best explains the instrumental conditioning.
Bandura believes that individuals manifest the behavior of others after which they absorb this learned behavior to become their own. Ethologically, it is believed that experiences at given times in a persons life has a big impact on an individuals development. For instance, one might undergo an experience of hard life, fro instance, hard survival due to divorced parents may cause an adult develop a hard attitude towards life.
The following is a figure describing Maslows Hierarchy of needs.
It can be seen from Maslows Theory that the highest development is when an individual acquires self-actualization. In this context a developing adult acquires spiritual fulfillment, self-esteem, and self-acceptance. She is able to accommodate others, love and even get involved in innovative activities. She will be productive, realistic, autonomous, spontaneous and playful, engage in profound relationships, develop concern for the entire human family, and importantly, she internalizes morality and stops being a conformist.
It is worthwhile to reflect on the moral stages that an individual undergoes in the development process. At preconventional stage, there is no internalization of moral values. Such values are reinforced through punishment and external motivations. This takes place mainly in childhood stages. However, later in life, the individual abides by specific standards outlined by others, for example, the parents or teachers or the government through its laws. In the long run, the individual internalizes morality and in so doing becomes fully authentic in hisher moral judgments. She will explore alternatives and choose which moral code to go by. In summary, the three stages are preconventional reasoning, conventional reasoning, and postconventional reasoning.
The individual also undergoes development in hisher religious journey of life. At the early stages, the individual intuitively develops images of good and evil. Then, in the middle ages, the individual puts in some reason and understanding in hisher faith such that it leads to a coherent belief system. This leads to a more responsible individual in hisher religious convictions and beliefs. Then, she develops more opposing viewpoints and attains an openess to paradox. In the long run, the individual experiences universality in hisher faith where she goes beyond the set belief systems in order to achieve harmony and oneness with all being.
Finally, it is important to consider the career development process of the individual. Indeed, adults find themselves making certain career goals not knowing that it is an aspect in their development. Fantasy jump starts the career journey of the person. Here, the ideals of the career are unrealistic. At tentative stage, the individual is unstable with the choices of life sher makes but then lead to the realistic stage where the individual explores, focuses and eventually, settles for a career.
It is important to note that the image one has about himselfherself determines hisher career choice. If one is very humble then she chooses careers that require humility if one is very arrogant and brave, she may settle to becoming a police or a body guard and so on and so forth. It is at the adolescent stage that individuals understand themselves as pertains to their self-image. In so doing, they develop ideas about work, consolidate their choices, and start to act in ways that reflect the dynamics of the willed career together with taking certain training courses that can grow their career. After this, work for a more consolidated career enhancement.
Individuals should aim at matching their career choices with their personality dispositions. It is also believed that an individual only takes that course which is peculiar to himher. One cannot develop into other types apart from that which hisher nature confers or permeates.
The eclectic theoretical orientation purports that no single approach can be regarded as absolute and so it is good to give a synthesis of all behavioral theories. In addition, no given theory can apply to human development.
Conclusion
We have seen that we cannot explain the development process of an individual just from a biological point of view this extends to hisher psychological, social-emotional and spiritual development. This approach is not due to pedagogical reasons but it is necessarily so because a human person is by nature a body-mind-spirit reality. All the three aspects lie in hisher being as such. We have seen the contrasting theories of Freud and Erik Erikson. In my opinion, both theories are valid in their own peculiar ways. I take this position because they all share a common ground that a failure to live one stage fully sabotages all the other stages. Indeed, an individual who does not explore fully one stage, like in the case of Freuds anal stage or Eriksons initiative versus guilt stage then one is not expected to perform normally in the subsequent stages like in the phallic stage or industry versus inferiority stage respectively. In such instances one will have a deformed kind or personality development. We have also seen from Maslows theory that failure to fulfill other needs may lead to a deformed personality. If one is not well fed, loved, affirmed or self-discovered then it will be almost impossible to realize self-actualization.
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