The Stages of Human Development

Several scholars have studied the topic of human development, with each drawing their conclusions about the same. They all coin the fact that people grow from infancy to adulthood amidst many struggles with some dwelling on the positive pole of life and others dwelling on the extreme opposite. This paper explores the Erickson's eight stages of human development and adds another study on infancy and adolescence stages alongside the social growth that occurs in childhood and adolescence stages 

Erickson's Eight Stages Of Human Development 

Erikson divided the human life span into eight stages and stated that each of the stages requires human beings to master some tasks. Moreover, he indicated that each of the eight stages has its emotional and social conflicts (Kalat, 2011). Additionally, Erickson posited that the failure of an individual to master a duty in a particular stage meant unfortunate consequences later in their lives. In this, he gave an example of the trust vs. mistrusts stage where he stated that infants who grow in supportive homes from a secure parental attachment, and this has a positive influence in their future relationships with other people. On the other hand, he stated that a kid who grows up being mistreated fails to from trusting relationships and has issues forming close ties with people later in life. On the other hand, he said that when people reached puberty and adolescence identity became the main problem. For young adults, on the other hand, intimacy and isolation from a basic struggle where one chooses to live alone or form a good relationship with other people. A good decision here determines how happy the rest of one's life becomes. In middle adulthood, generativity vs. stagnation is the key issue where one loves producing regarding either kids or job. Stagnation, on the other hand, leads to no production, in the former one takes pride in their success while in the latter; one regrets and hurts the rest of their lives. 

Moreover, Erickson stated that each of the eight stages is characterized by a crisis or a situation that requires the individual to be more orientated towards one of the two poles. Louw, Van, Louw (1998) posit that each crisis is brought about by the interaction that happens between the individual and the society. Case in point, when people mature, they desire new possibilities and develop new needs (Greene, 2008). The society also sets specific corresponding expectations and offers some possibilities. The solution of each of the crisis is the synthesis of two poles in a higher level. The name of each stage indicates the positive and negative poles of the crisis, and the word in bracket signifies the synthesis. 

Trust Vs. Mistrust (Hope) 

The stage occurs when the child is in its first year of life, and they must then develop a certain level of basic trust. At the same time, they need to overcome a level of mistrust. For the first time, the child is exposed to the world, which proves to be cold and threatening as compared to the comfort of the womb. However, the mother and society are normally ready to give care to the infant. In this stage, a child's relationship with its mother is important in developing trust (Greene, 2008). Later their interaction with the environment becomes more active as their physical and motor growth proceeds. A healthy synthesis of the stage makes the child more courageous while dealing with life situations as they develop hope, which is vital throughout their lives. 

Autonomy Vs. Shame And Doubt (Will-Power) 

This covers the second year of child's life when they have the task of developing a sense of independence or autonomy and at the same time, overcome any feeling of doubt or shame. There is rapid physical growth that assists the child to have a greater level of self-control and movement than they previously did. For example, they have more control over excretory function, and they learn to walk. Similarly, the society in this stage has more expectations of the child, and it makes greater demands on the children too with the aim of developing the child's motor and physical abilities. The greater freedom and autonomy in children makes them face more standards and rules for their behavior. The possibility also comes with another likelihood of failure, which would result in doubt and shame about the child's ability. Louw, Van, & Louw (1998) state that it is vital for the parents or caregivers to strike a good balance between discipline and freedom for the growth of the child's moral conscience. Although children should allow the kids to exercise autonomy, they should also deal sympathetically with their failures so that they raise their self-confidence to develop what Erickson has called will power. 

Initiative Vs. Guilt (Purpose) 

This stage lasts from age three to age six, and the child is entrusted with the task of learning to show initiative while at the same time overcoming guilt. The children can now move, and they have autonomy, and they have higher chances of exploring the world with a sense of purpose that they in initially lacked. They also begin to learn their gender roles in this stage and identification with their parent of the same sex is vital. This is the stage where there is a clear difference between the roles played by boys and girls (Greene, 2008). A boy is more interested in the material aspect of life as he is more interested in machinery and tools, while a girl gains charm and wants to catch people's affection by being attractive. The main achievement in this stage is purpose and parents must assist. 

Industry Vs. Inferiority (Competence) 

This occurs mainly in the ages between five and 12 years and the children desire to bring things to completion, and they want to use technology in the stage. Failure to achieve this makes them feel inferior. They try to do things right and to be on their best behaviors. The main tasks here include reading, learning and such like behaviors. 

Identity Vs. Confusion (Reliability) 

Erickson stated that individuals should be sure of what their identity is and they should know that there are other identities, which lie within them. Here kids care about how they appear to the others, and the stage falls between 13 and 19 years. They also develop a sexual identity at this stage among other identities and inclinations in life. 

Intimacy Versus Isolation (Love) 

In early adulthood, the individual desires to develop a feeling of intimacy or close relationships, and this include marriage. They also desire to get over the feeling of isolation or protect themselves against all sorts of close contact. Love is described as the intimate relationship with a person of opposite sex with whom a person has mutual trust, relaxation, and reproduction. This helps in the development of the couple as well as that of their children. 

Generativity Vs. Stagnation(Care) 

The concept of generativity includes creativity, passing on of culture, and creativity, and it is only attainable when the other stages have been achieved. It is only possible for the people who enriched themselves and now desire to enrich other people. The people can do this by educating children in another generation or producing cultural products. Moreover, those in this category put much value in the human race and the future of others. 

Ego Integrity Vs. Despair (Wisdom) 

When an individual has lived all the other stages successfully, they can at this stage looks back with peace of mind and this wisdom according to Erickson is called integrity. Others who never made such achievements are afraid of death, and they live in despair. 

In another study, infancy and childhood are studied alongside the social development that takes places in childhood and adolescence. 

Infancy and Childhood 

Kalat (2011) states that attachment in human beings begins in the infancy stage. Bowly in Kalat (2011) states that an infant who forms one, or more healthy attachments grow with a feeling of safety and security. These children can make explorations of the world, and they quickly return to their attachment figures when they are distressed or frightened. On the other hand, Bowly states that the infants who fail to develop close attachments are unable to form any future close attachments and they may have problems even exploring the world, as they are afraid. Furthermore, Kalat (2011) introduces the Strange Situation test that was pioneered by Mary Ainsworth in 1979. In this test, a mother with her infant who was between 12 and 18 months came into a room with very many toys, and when a stranger entered the room, the mother left. She later and returned before leaving again with the stranger. Later the stranger came back, and after a while, the mother came in. Based on the experiment, a psychologist made the following observations: 

A Securely Attached Child uses the mom as a base to explore, chuckling at her, showing her the toys and making eyes contact with her. The child is also distressed when the mother leaves and cries very briefly if at all. Upon her return, the child goes to her, cuddles her a bit, and returns to his toys. 

On the other hand, An Anxious or Resistant Child shows fluctuating responses towards the mother that range between happy and angry. When she leaves the child cries very profusely and clings to the mom as if it is worried she will not return. When she returns, the baby clings to her and does not use her as a base for toy explorations. The author notes that this kind of child has many fears especially of strangers (Sadock, Kaplan, & Sadock, 2007). 

Thirdly, the Avoidant Child does not stay near the mom when she is present and has little interactions with her. This child may cry or not cry when the mother leaves, but they do not go to her when she returns. 

The fourth type is described as the Disorganized Child, and they seem not to notice the mother or look away while they need to approach her. They also cover their faces or lie on the floor. Their behavior alternates between avoidance and approach and they show more fear than affection. 

The prevalence of an attachment style is said to alternate in different populations, but in America the secure type it is the most common. This may suggest that the behavior of parents and people in the surrounding determine the attachment type that occurs in the child. The study further reveals that the quality of one relationship works to determine how the others work as they are correlated (DeRobertis, 1997). For example, the way children behaved with the mom also determined how they would behave with their fathers and others. Moreover, children with secure relationships with their parents at this stage also continue to have healthy relationships with them later in life. Moreover, the infants who had secure attachment are likely to have high-quality romantic relationships in their adulthood, unlike the others. Moreover, they form mutually supportive and close ties with friends and others while the avoidant and anxious types may fail as they worry a lot about rejection and fail to seek help during their times of distress. The genetic information is also said to determine the attachment type that children form. However, the greatest determinant is the responsiveness of the parents to the kids' needs like touching and holding. A gentle touch is said to reassure the kids (DeRobertis, 1997). 

Social Development in Childhood and Adolescence 

The social development in children and adolescents is highly dependent on their friendships. As they grow old, they no longer identify with their parents as they do with those in their age groups. Adolescence begins at puberty and the role of adolescents matter according to their society. Case in point, in the societies that are non-technological, teenagers are married and working as their parents marry them off early. These are forced to move quickly into adulthood, as was the case in America and Europe in the 1800s. However, today the economic situation in America allows people to postpone and stay in school longer giving them a longer period of physical maturity, yet without adult status. Adolescence is declared as a time of stress and storm and in the period people show increased moodiness, they get into constant conflicts with their parents, especially in early adolescence stages, and genes have a lot to do with the conflicts as per the research reports that have been so far collected. Reports also show that the cultural and family influences also determine the level of conflicts exhibited by adolescents. Those that receive sympathetic understanding and support have fewer conflict cases with their parents. Moreover, adolescents also like undertaking risk-taking behaviors and not only among men but all species. Albeit they know the risk of the behaviors they embark on, they love to take them anyway. Case in point, adolescents more than adults, are likely to race through yellow lights and the tendency raises more when they know that their friends are watching. Their risk-taking behaviors are therefore associated with peer pressure (DeRobertis, 1997). 

Identity development is a critical stage in adolescents just as Erikson posited. In this stage, adolescents try to find themselves, and the main question that goes through their mind is who am I? The children in the western society are more likely to feel this stage because their parents allow them the freedom to choose their political, religious, educational career, etc. affiliation, while in some other societies these are chosen by their elders. The frightening stage of making choices is normally called the identity crisis, implying emotional turbulence. Identity diffusion occurs to those that have not given any seriousness to thinking about decisions, and they have no clear identity. They are also not actively concerned with their identity, have low self-esteem, and are pessimistic and hopeless in life. On the other hand, those considering the issues of identity not having made any decision are said to be in identity moratorium. People in this stage imagine themselves in various roles, but they make no choice to be there. Moratorium stage is categorized into two stages: those searching for a decision to make and those delaying decisions. On the other hand, identity foreclosure refers to the state of reaching steady and firm choices without giving much thought to it. 

References  

DeRobertis, E. M. (1997).  Humanizing child developmental theory: A holistic approach . New York: iUniverse, Inc. 

Greene, R. R. (2008).  Human behavior theory & social work practice . New Brunswick, N.J: AldineTransaction. 

Kalat, J. W. (2011).  Introduction to psychology . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. 

Low, D. A., Van, E. D. M., Louw, A. E., & Botha, A. (1998).  Human development . Cape Town: Kagiso Tertiary. 

Sadock, B. J., Kaplan, H. I., & Sadock, V. A. (2007).  Kaplan & Sadock's synopsis of psychiatry: Behavioral sciences/clinical psychiatry . Philadelphia: Wolter Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.