Biographical Human Development Paper

Running head: BIOGRAPHICAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT PAPER 1

BIOGRAPHICAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT PAPER 2

Biographical Human Development

Sabrina Edwards

Nova Southeastern University

Biographical Human Development

Introduction

Human development has been defined in several visions; however, in the approach towards human growth and psychological developments, it is defined as the growth from birth to maturity. The growth may include psychological, physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development (Salkind, 2004). Every individual goes through developmental stages that consist of various elements of development. These elements include cognitive, biological, and socio-emotional development. Human actions and behaviors fall under the socio-emotional aspect, which expresses someone’s emotions and inner feelings. Emotional actions comprise of avoidance of aggressive behaviors and appreciate other members of the community. Individuals may also be compelled to handle challenging activities in their environment. Besides, biological development consists of changes in the physical life of a person, such as body developments and an increase in motor skills.  Comment by Anna Owens: This need to be backed up with a citation. You cannot make a statement that is not supported by literature (a cited reference) Comment by Anna Owens: Same as above, must use a citation…you make it more of your opinion.

Moreover, personal development may also be affected by environmental aspects. However, development may be hindered by parity in gender, race, socio-economic status, and religion. Different magnitudes also influence development by the school environment, home environment, and technology (Karmiloff-Smith, 2018). Many theories regarding human development have been formulated to explain developmental stages and significant activities. I will focus on the various aspects of my lifespan development in this paper. My focus also will be on my personality development and major influences in my life to date. When lifespan is broken down into various stages, it shows the developmental stages of a person. 

Early Childhood Comment by Anna Owens: You must demonstrate knowledge of human development by synthesizing and integrating theories of development with events and influences in his/her life. Student relates the events and influences to human development theories.Rubic item #1. You have to pick a theorist and then apply it to event in your life.Most student use Erikson stages.

I am now a thirty-year-old African-American lady who was brought up in Georgia and Florida. I am born into a family of three. As I grew up, I was accustomed to my mother, who spent most of her time with me. There was no day that I did not feel the lovely touch of my mother’s hands. I could sometimes ask myself if she really loved me, but that did not matter because she provided me all that I wanted and offered me the protection that I deserved. However, I did not keep a good record of what transpired at this stage of life ad that enabled me to get into the social world.  Comment by Anna Owens: You can still use all of this! But it must be supported with a theory. You cannot simply tell your like story. Rather how do you

School-age child and adolescents

What I remember at this age are my school days. The first day that I went to school, I felt things were unusual. The resources that we used were offered by local charity organizations, and the activities we participated in were sitting, playing, learning, gym, and napping. Besides, I met new friends for the first time in life, and I had a great tendency to work with the group I was placed in for the rest of the years. We worked well with my friends, and we were guided by great understanding and teamwork. At this point, parents also introduced us to other family members. Most of the decisions that were made came from our parents, and no one had control over them. However, the choices made were mainly for our wellbeing. 

In the third grade, we began to experience a change that was instilled in us by the teachers. We experienced new challenges in education, especially learning skills, as well as new learning environments and different teachers. My personality developed at this stage when I started to select new social groups to associate with and interact with. For instance, I made friends with individuals who embraced what I enjoyed or liked. These traits continued and improved until I was in grade six. 

Expanding My Social Life

After graduating from grade six, I tend to expand my social life. I went to a high school in Florida. I was fortunate to attend the same high school with my close friend, and it happened that we shared a hostel with her. At this stage, we got an opportunity to interact with students from various backgrounds and races. I interacted more easily with them and made a significant number of friends from strangers. Most of the students in the school were whites, and a few like me were blacks. We shared all the resources in the environment, but this became unique in my life because it was my first time to face racial issues. These socio-cultural issues left a long-lasting impact on my life by teaching me the value of appreciating others regardless of their backgrounds. 

Young and middle adulthood stage

At the age of nineteen, I faced a tough reality due to the death of my mother. This was a major turn-over in my life because I had lost someone who cared for me the most and did everything to please me. This situation affected my mental health for some time by causing depression and anxiety. It also laid a long-lasting impact on my emotions like anger and lack of psyche. Since then, I learned to live without my mother, and I accepted reality and worked my best to resolve the crisis. Solving this issue enabled me to have basic strength and proceed to the next stage of life. 

Besides, I made up my mind and accepted that I was a grown-up and not to be guided by friends and teams again. I failed to notice that a great life test was awaiting me, that is, a transition to adulthood. I then developed a better understanding of myself, the environment, and those around me. I came to realize the challenges of my behavior concerning my friends and those I loved when I was between 22 and 28 years. 

Human Development Theories Comment by Anna Owens: What about rubric # 2. Many student use Bandura.Review the rubric #2 Student did not specify the ideal learning theory and explains why this is important to him/her.

The study of human development has been enhanced by Freud and Erikson’s formulation of psychosexual and psychosocial stages of development. According to the psychosexual perspective of Freud’s theories, development in human beings is affected by conscious and unconscious mind interaction. Chung (2018) points out that Erikson’s theories define the psychosocial development stage, which states the role of relationships and social interactions in the development of personality.  Comment by Anna Owens: Tie this into rubric item #3 Theories of Normal and Abnormal Personality DevelopmentStudent focused on personality development and applied it to his/her life development.Don’t forget to make it personal. You want to intertwine your lifespan development to the stages of development.

The psychosocial development theory of Erikson defines the socio-cultural elements that influence personality development. This theory divides personal development to different psychosocial conflict stages that should be resolved by an individual to have a smooth transition to the next stage. Individuals can successfully adjust to their environment by completing every stage. Whenever there is a crisis, Erikson suggests that an individual has no choice but to accept reality and deal with the situation. According to Batra (2013), an individual may have an undermined psychosocial development if he or she fails to overcome the crisis. This definition justifies the action I took when I lost my mother and when interacting with racist students in high school. I was able to move to the next stage because I accepted the crisis. 

Moreover, ages are connected to the stages of development, as seen through observations and self-evaluation. As an individual move from one stage to another, personality also changes. This is evident from my transition from childhood to my current adulthood. Moreover, there are both positive and negative influences in the social environment of an individual (Baumert, Schmitt, & Perugini, 2019). For instance, positive influences enable an individual to be seen from a positive perspective and thus moving through stages successfully. Negative influences lead to a negative outlook and thus undermining life experiences. Individuals with negative influences move through developmental stages slowly. For instance, I moved through stages successfully because I had a positive influence on the social environment. 

Furthermore, Erickson’s theory states a healthy personality and attainment of basic virtues can be developed by completing developmental stages. An example of basic virtues is the ability of an individual to overcome the future crisis. An individual may face difficulties in completing future stages if he or she fails to try to complete the current stage successfully. The incompletion of development stages may lead to low self-esteem and unhealthy personality. According to Batra (2013), an individual can still complete the skipped stages in the future.  Comment by Anna Owens: Again, you can still use this…but you need to relate the theory to your own lifespan development. Comment by Anna Owens: Typically, when you quote an author, you then need an additional statement afterwards- supporting the statement,.

Conclusion Comment by Anna Owens: Need to add Rubric Item #4Currently, you have not met the criteria and will receive 0 points in this section. You need to discuss your projection for future stages of life. Student did not effectively project how they might expect to complete the life stages to follow, and failed to discuss factors that affected or will affect his/her development.

The study of human development has been enabled through the development of psychosocial and psychosexual stages by Erickson and Freud, respectively. I focused on the major developmental stages in my lifespan. Therefore, it is essential to reflect on various elements such as interaction with the environment, events that occurred in a certain period in life and development, relationships, cultural differences that shaped live to understand human development. These life development stages have also shaped my personality and thus, enabling me to work with future clients effectively. My wellness plan will consist of aspects such as physical, mental, emotional, environmental, social, occupational, and intellectual. The aspects of the wellness plan will help me to cope with the next stages in life.  Comment by Anna Owens: This is not a wellness plan. Look at rubric item # 6. You need to idenify at least 3 activities, then have a broader discussion. Student identified and discussed at least three wellness activities and discussed an overall

Comment by Anna Owens: This paper still needs work. It is best if you set your paper up according to the rubric items that way you know that are hitting all keep elements required in the paper.Also, this paper needs to be at least 5 pages long- not included title and reference pages.

References

Batra, S. (2013). The Psychosocial Development of Children: Implications for Education and Society — Erik Erikson in Context. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 10(2), 249–278. https://doi.org/10.1177/0973184913485014

Baumert, A., Schmitt, M., & Perugini, M. (2019). Towards an explanatory personality psychology: Integrating personality structure, personality process, and personality development. Personality and Individual Differences, 147, 18–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.04.016

Chung, D. (2018). The Eight Stages of Psychosocial Protective Development: Developmental Psychology. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 08(06), 369–398. https://doi.org/10.4236/jbbs.2018.86024

Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2018). Development itself is the key to understanding developmental disorders. In Thinking Developmentally from Constructivism to Neuroconstructivism(pp. 97-117). Routledge.

‌ Salkind, N. J. (2004). An introduction to theories of human development. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.

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