PSY 357 Assignment Developmental Periods Essay
PSY 357 Assignment Developmental Periods Essay
Physical Development Socioemotional Development Cognitive Development Concerns or Issues
Prenatal and Infancy
Increase in height, weight, chest circumference, and head circumference.
Development of motor skills from head to tail and from the center of the body outwards.
They learn to control the head and neck before learning to maneuver their limbs. They learn to move arms before learning to manipulate their fingers.
They learn to move the torso before learning to move their limbs (Goodway, Ozmun & Gallahue, 2019). Erickson’s Theory by Erik Erickson.
Trust vs. Mistrust: Infants develop a sense of trust, which results in virtue of hope that when new crises arise, there is a possibility that there will be support from other people. Failure to develop the virtue of hope results in the development of fear and a sense of mistrust.
A child develops a belief that the environment can be relied on to meet one’s basic physiological and social needs (Zhang, 2015).
Piaget’s theory by Jean Piaget
Sensorimotor Stage: The most significant achievement at this stage is Object Permanence, which knows that something exists even when it is hidden. This requires the infant to create a mental representation, also known as a schema, of an object.
Infants experience the world through senses and actions such as touching, looking, mouthing, and grasping. They also have stranger anxiety (Müller, Ten Eycke & Baker, 2015).
Failure to thrive.
Infant abuse and neglect (Griggs & Jackson, 2017).
Early Childhood This stage is characterized by marked growth or an increase in size.
Gross motor skills develop with the children being able to control large muscles, which enable them to walk, run, jump, and climb.
Fine motor skills also develop, enabling them to control small muscles. (Goodway, Ozmun & Gallahue, 2019) Toddlers can feed themselves, draw, and manipulate objects (Griggs & Jackson, 2017). Initiative vs. Guilt: A child at this stage begins to explore, imagine, and also to feel remorse for his or her actions. Children assert themselves frequently.
A child begins to make plans and initiate activities. When given this opportunity, they develop a sense of initiative and security in the ability to make decisions and lead others. If denied an opportunity through control or criticism, they create a sense of guilt (Zhang, 2015).
Piaget’s theory: Preoperational Stage
At this stage, young children think about things symbolically. They make a word or an object to represent something. Thinking at this stage is egocentric, and an infant has difficulty accepting the viewpoint of others. They use intuitive instead of logical reasoning. The development phenomenal at this stage includes pretend play, egocentrism, and language development.
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Temper tantrums.
Child abuse and neglect.
Inadequate learning opportunities (Griggs & Jackson, 2017).
Middle and Late Childhood Children build on and improve their gross motor skills, including the large scale body movement skills

acquired during earlier developmental stages such as walking and running. Boys develop the skills faster than girls except for skills that involve balance and precise movements such as jumping, hopping, and skipping.
Fine motor skills develop that require hand-eye coordination. Girls develop fine motor skills faster than boys.
They develop the ability to draw complex and detailed pictures incorporate depth cue.
Industry vs. Inferiority:
A child learns how to do things correctly based on a standard or to what others are doing. Children begin to feel industrious when they are encouraged and reinforced for their initiative and gain confidence in their ability to attain goals. However, if the initiative is not supported, a child begins to feel inferior and starts doubting his/her abilities and may not reach their potential (Zhang, 2015).
Piaget referred this as the Concrete Operational Stage.
The stage marks the start of operational or logical thought, but the logic is only applied to physical objects.
The child can figure things internally in mind rather than trying out things physically.
A child can conserve, which means that he or she can understand that something remains the same in quantity even if its appearance changes.
Although children can solve problems logically, they are generally not able to think hypothetically or abstractly (McLeod, 2018).
Child abuse and neglect by caregivers.
Bullying in schools
Inadequate learning opportunities (Griggs & Jackson, 2017).
Adolescence The adolescence is characterized by rapid physical changes, such as gains in height and weight and the development of secondary sexual characteristics and functions. Identity vs. Role Confusion: An individual begins to develop a sense of self in relationship to others and to own internal thoughts and desires. Adolescents have a social identity that focuses on a group that one will identify with and also a personal identity that focuses on abilities, possibilities, and goals.
Failure to gain a sense of identity in the society may lead to Role confusion where an individual is not sure about oneself or their position in society (Zhang, 2015).
Formal Operational Stage.
This stage begins during adolescence and lasts through adulthood. At this time, individuals develop the capacity to think about abstract concepts and to test hypotheses logically.
Developmental phenomena at this stage include abstract logic and potential for mature moral reasoning (Müller, Ten Eycke & Baker, 2015). Adolescents are vulnerable to various risk factors, such as tobacco and alcohol use, eating disorders, and depression.
Bullying in school.
Negative peer-pressure (Griggs & Jackson, 2017).
Early Adulthood
Early adulthood is characterized by physical maturation. Height and weight may slightly increase. The physical abilities are at peak, including reaction time, sensory abilities, muscle strength, and cardiac functioning.
The aging process, though not visible, begins during early adulthood at around 30 years. Various changes start to occur in different body parts. There is decreased sensitivity to sound, the immune system weakens, reproductive capacity starts to decline, and hair starts to thin and gray. Intimacy vs. Isolation:
Individuals develop the ability to give and receive love. They begin to make long-term commitments in relationships with others.
The major conflict at this stage lies in forming intimate, loving relationships with others.
Fearing commitment and avoiding intimacy and relationships may lead to loneliness, isolation, and even depression.
Success in this stage leads to the virtue of love (Zhang, 2015).
Formal Operational Stage:
In early adulthood, there is the stabilization of cognition. There is relativistic thinking whereby young adults become aware of complex views of right vs. wrong. Individuals begin to view ideas and concepts from multiple, and they understand that a question can have multiple right answers. There is pragmatic thinking which involves using logic to solve real-world issues, and they accept contradictions and imperfections (Müller, Ten Eycke & Baker, 2015).
Psychological distress
Alcohol and drug abuse.
Work problems.
Ineffective coping (Griggs & Jackson, 2017).
Middle Adulthood At this stage, there is a steady decrease in muscular strength, sensory abilities, reaction time, and cardiac output. At around 50 years, females experience menopause while males experience decreased hormonal production.
The skin becomes drier, making it prone to wrinkles and age spots and blood vessels become more evident. Muscle to fat ratio changes with the accumulation of fat in the abdomen area (Goodway, Ozmun & Gallahue, 2019).
Generativity vs. Stagnation: Individuals begin to develop an interest in guiding the development of future generations. Individuals experience a need to nurture things that will outlive them, and they create positive changes that will benefit others.
Success at this stage leads to a sense of importance and accomplishment and a virtue of Care. Failure results in minimal involvement in the world (Zhang, 2015).
Formal Operational Stage:
Cognitive changes are numerous during this period. Crystallized intelligence holds steady throughout middle adulthood.
It entails the knowledge and experience that one has accumulated over the years, such as information, strategies, and skills. Fluid intelligence, which involves the information-processing skills, begins to decline during middle adulthood. There is a decline in cognitive processing, as well as the ability to solve problems and divide attention.
Problem-solving skills increase, which is required to solve real-world issues (Müller, Ten Eycke & Baker, 2015).
Lifestyle diseases.
Psychological distress.
Ineffective coping (Griggs & Jackson, 2017).
Late Adulthood During late adulthood, hearing perception and sense of smell begin to diminish. In addition, there is a decline in muscle strength, reaction time, and stamina. Neural processes slow down, especially those that involve complex tasks (Goodway, Ozmun & Gallahue, 2019).
Ego Integrity vs. Despair: Individuals develop a sense of acceptance of the way life was spent. They create a sense of the importance of the people and relationships developed over the lifespan.
If an individual sees his/her life as unproductive, one feels guilty about their past or feels that he did not achieve his life goal. Individuals become dissatisfied with their lives, which often leads to a state of depression and hopelessness (Zhang, 2015).
Formal Operational Stage: Various cognitive abilities begin to decline in late adulthood. General knowledge and vocabulary increase as one age.
Intelligence remains relative as an individual age. There is a decline in fluid intelligence, which is the ability to reason speedily but crystalline intelligence, which is the accumulated knowledge and skills do not decline (Müller, Ten Eycke & Baker, 2015).
Elder abuse.
Psychological distress e.g., Depression.
Loneliness.
Increased dependency.
Memory loss.
(Griggs & Jackson, 2017)
End of Life Reduced immunological function.
A decline in fine and gross motor skills.
Failure of multiple body organs.
Decreased muscle strength (Goodway, Ozmun & Gallahue, 2019). There would be dissatisfaction with one’s life if he /she did not have any accomplishments during their lifetime.
There is bargaining and depression when one approaches death (Zhang, 2015). A decline in reasoning ability. Decline in knowledge and skills. Ineffective coping.
Depression.
Increased dependency.