As human beings, transitioning from childhood to adulthood encompass several changes. The well-being of middle-aged and older adults is anchored on the changing societal roles they are expected to perform based on their enhanced cognitive abilities as well as their emotional response mechanisms to scenarios and problems. The cognitive and emotional aspects of grown adult have a huge bearing on one's wellbeing. Cognitive abilities relate to one's mental functions that are based on logic, and this determines how people see situations and one’s ability to overcome situations. Principally, one’s ability to come up with solutions to problems at work is dependent on his or her cognitive abilities. Emotions are the internal state of being of a person and the involuntary physiological response to situations and scenarios.
Typically, emotional intelligence is a critical tool in navigating challenges in life. Failure or success at overcoming challenges has such a profound effect on a person’s wellbeing. Notably, there are physical changes, emotional growth and mental development as a transition happens from childhood to adulthood. Numerous theories have been postulated to explain the growth and development of human beings. Most of the theories are keen and heavily weigh on certain aspects of human design to explain the changes that come along with growth and development. Ultimately, this paper evaluates some theories of human development, various aspects of growth, and how certain factors affect the wellbeing of middle-aged and older adults.
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Theories of Growth
Theories of human development provide a framework through which scholars perceive the process of growth and development. The theories are lenses through which people interpret various aspects of life. Developmental theories provide the frameworks, principles, and concepts to describe growth. The already existing theories of development highlight and explain why human beings do things the way they do at certain stage of life, while others explain lifelong mannerisms. Kohlberg’s theory of moral development explains the formation of morals in humans. The theory postulates that certain morals are learnt through given moments or processes in life, which are not necessarily meant to be lifelong processes. The theory was postulated by Lawrence Kohlberg as an advancement to Jean Piaget’s theory on how children develop moral reasoning (Girgis, 2018). The theory is keen to elucidate the reasoning behind each action, acknowledging the possibility that similar actions could be based on variant reasoning.
Erik Erickson developed the Erickson's theory of development. Erickson’s work is heavily influenced by the works of Sigmund Freud. The theory, unlike Kohlberg's, explains development throughout the entire life cycle of a developing human. Erickson argues that personality develops in stages from trust versus mistrust to integrity versus despair. Each stage builds upon the preceding stage, which focuses on growth in competency in given areas (Malone, 2016). Besides the developmental theories, there are also mini-theories as well as new theories, all which seek to expound on certain aspects of growth. Each theory and mini theory has an extensive history behind it, hardly do any theories exist in isolation (Gilleard ,2016). The theories endeavor to expound the works of others
Cognition and Emotions
Development of the emotional and cognitive facets of the human being is highly responsible for how adults live their lives. As one ages, due to renewed understanding, they are conscious of what it takes to bring certain realities to pass. This aspect, when reasoned out, demystifies the fundamentals of the decision-making processes that have a bearing on one’s physical, emotional as well as social wellbeing. As a child, one's perception of responsibilities and the duties required of them is usually scanty. While a child may be expected to perform a certain chore at home, they hardly know why they have to do it and what the repercussions of not doing it are. When a child has no idea how to go about a chore, they are freely answered when they ask. The process of growth for most children involves training and sharpening of their cognitive abilities to be able to perform tasks and execute responsibilities. This is done after which the support structures initially accessible to children are withdrawn. While one will gladly show a child how to do something over and over again, he or she is bound to demonstrate resentment towards doing the same for an adult. One is expected by a certain age to be able to handle what is their responsibility with minimal help and supervision.
The expectation of being able to work out one’s own life path, solve problems, and deal with the pains that stems from incompetence emotionally account for an adult’s wellbeing (Roeser, 2012). Most young adults, as well as middle-aged adults define success in terms of being able to do what is expected of them successfully; fly the corporate flag, pay the bills, and be there for family. Those that have career achievements are held in high regard. Career success is highly tied to one’s cognitive abilities and emotional intelligence (Llewellyn, 2008) . While as a child fails to perform a chore merely is that, for an adult failure at the work, school or family means much more. The failure is interpreted as a statement on one’s intelligence and mental make-up results in emotional pain and could even impair one's relationship with colleagues at work. One can easily feel like a burden to others, and this gradually cascades into low self-esteem. To complement cognitive abilities, one's emotional state must be right for their wellbeing. The feelings of accomplishment, success and failure are heavily emotional. Those that can control their emotions through emotional intelligence as postulated by Daniel Goleman have been known to be healthier, happier, and better through the journey of life.
Conclusion
Certainly, there is more besides cognition and emotions that affect the wellbeing of young and middle-aged adults. These two, however, are highly expressed during this stage of life and thus very conspicuous players in one's well-being. Other domains of development especially psychosexual could also play an important role, and more research on that axis would help evaluate the subject.
Annotated Bibliography
Gilleard, C.Paul Higgs (2016). Connecting Life Span Development with the Sociology of the Life Course; A new Direction. Sociology Sage Publications , 301-315.
Paul Higs is based at the division of psychiatry in the faculty of Brain Sciences. Gilleard has also authored numerous other articles in the areas of ageing, dementia, and personhood. The article attempts to create links in the lifespan development psychology and life course sociology. The place of Erickson’s theory is emphasized in creating this link. The continuing changes in theories and perspectives are geared toward establishing this link. The article serves to enhance the place of multiplicities of constantly changing theories in explaining phenomena.
Girgis, F.Darrin J., Jochen Diiterich (2018). Towards a Neuroscience of Adult Cognitive-Developmental Theory. Frontiers In Neuroscience , 1-38.
The article is authored by four senior lecturers. Three based at the University of California. Two of these work at the Department of Neurosurgery in California and University of Toronto while Jochen works at the department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior as well as ta center for neuroscience all at the University of California. The article is an advancement of Piaget’s theory of Epistemology. The paper-like most emergent theories attempts to give a biological case for post-childhood development in one’s cognitive abilities. The paper does a comprehensive literature review of 87 papers on the subject to come up with its conclusions. The paper concludes that cognition has the potential to evolve throughout life. This is important to our research paper as it enables us authoritatively conclude that cognition has a bearing on the wellbeing of an adult since there is a change compared to their childhood
Llewellyn, D. J. Lain A. Lang, Fellicia Huppert (2008). Cognitive Function and Psychological well-being: Findings from a population-based cohort. Age and Ageing; Oxford University Press , 685-689.
The paper is authored by high flying medical and public health specialists from both the United Kingdom as well as the United States. It aims to investigate whether psychological wellbeing is associated with levels of cognitive function. The study was carried out using a nationally representative population based on a study of cohorts. The study was carried out on 11,234 adults who were non-institutionalized and aged over 50 years. Their psychological well-being was assessed using CASP-19 and the cognitive functions assessed using various neurophysiological tests of time, orientation, immediate and delayed verbal memory as well as speed and attention. The modelling of the relationship between the two was done using linear regression. From the results, a conclusion was drawn that higher levels of psychosocial well-being are associated with better cognitive functions. The paper helps strengthen our hypothesis by showing a direct relationship between wellbeing and cognitive abilities.
Malone, J. C, Liu Sr, Valiant Ge, Rentz DM, Waldinger RJ (2016). Midlife Eriksonian Psychological Development; Setting the stage for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Late Life. Developmental Psychology , 498-508.
The authors are based at the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts general hospital and the University of California. They are well versed with the area of research making them competent authority. The paper is based on the Erikson’s model of adult psychosocial development that postulates the essence of proper interactions at the workplace, community as well as family for proper ageing. He theorized on the repercussions s of unmet growth needs. The paper examines the assessed quality of Eriksonian development in midlife and its effect on later life in terms of cognitive and emotional development.One hundred fifty-nine men were used in a 75-year long longitudinal study development. It was found that proper social engagements resulted in lesser rates of depression and fostered emotional well-being. The paper helps illustrate the interrelationship of the various stages of growth and how actions in one stage have effects on a later stage of growth.
Roeser, S. (2012). Emotional Engineers; Toward Morally Responsible Designs. Science and Engineering Ethics , 103-115.
Emotional engineer is a paradoxical title for an article. Sabine Roeser is based at the Philosophy department in the faculty of Technology at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. In the paper, he appeals to the moral values and emotions of beings in a field otherwise thought to be pure logic with no component of emotions. Though a philosophical paper in a highly scientific field, the paper highlights the essence of a balance of logic and emotions in decision making. These two components in the human are not meant to be inseparable or one suppressed for the sake of the other. To thus be well one must be able to fully function using both.
Soenens, B, Vansteenkiste Maarten (2010). The development of the five mini-theories of self-determination theory; An historical overview, emerging trends and future directions. Advances in Motivation and Achievement , 105-165.
References
Gilleard, C.Paul Higgs (2016). Connecting Life Span Development with the Sociology of the Life Course; A new Direction. Sociology Sage Publications , 301-315.
Girgis, F.Darrin J., Jochen Diiterich (2018). Towards a Neuroscience of Adult Cognitive-Developmental Theory. Frontiers In Neuroscience , 1-38.
Llewellyn, D. J. Lain A. Lang, Fellicia Huppert (2008). Cognitive Function and Psychological well-being: Findings from a population-based cohort. Age and Ageing; Oxford University Press , 685-689.
Malone, J. C, Liu Sr, Valiant Ge, Rentz DM, Waldinger RJ (2016). Midlife Eriksonian Psychological Development; Setting the stage for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Late Life. Developmental Psychology , 498-508.
Roeser, S. (2012). Emotional Engineers; Toward Morally Responsible Designs. Science and Engineering Ethics , 103-115.
Soenens, B, Vansteenkiste Maarten (2010). The development of the five mini-theories of self-determination theory; An historical overview, emerging trends and future directions. Advances in Motivation and Achievement , 105-165.
