¶ … Human Being, Development and Change
l. What does being human mean: internally, relationally and in a wider social contest?
There are many different viewpoints on what it means to be human, but most boil down to the struggle between right and wrong and the role of personal responsibility. Internally, human beings struggle daily with "good" versus "bad" impulses; responsible human adults have learned to delay gratification and make use of the control they exercise over their own lives, in order to make a worthwhile contribution to society. Relationally, human beings struggle with genuine intimacy -- the ability to share oneself openly and honestly in meaningful communication with another. This is where the adage "you're only as sick as your secrets" comes into play; if someone is engaging in thoughts or behaviors he is ashamed to share with friends, family, or romantic partners, he cannot share himself fully and genuinely. And without truthful human connections, people begin to feel isolated and lonely, leading to other psychological problems and coping mechanisms. Finally, in a wider social context, being human means finding your "niche" -- a constructive, valuable role that is meaningful and fulfilling to you as a unique individual. "It takes all kinds" is true; the world cannot flourish without many different people finding joy in many different occupations. Being human means being aware of one's authentic self and freely expressing that self in fulfilling ways that also serve the needs of others (Spirkin 1983).
In summary, in an ideal world, every human being would be in touch with their authentic self, would be comfortable with that self and able to give and receive love freely, and would look forward to every day as an opportunity to share their unique gifts with society for the greater good.
2. How do you think about lifespan development? How does a person grow?
Human development over a lifespan is highly complex. Many different researchers and psychologists have developed theories regarding the environment and experiences necessary to produce a healthy, fully-functioning adult. For example, Erik Erikson gained fame for his social-cognitive theory of emotional development, consisting of eight interrelated stages (Lerner 1997). A student of Freud, Erikson managed to incorporate Freud's famous psychosexual stages of emotional development into his own theory (Lerner 1997). The result is an outline of human sexual, emotional, and social development in the following eight stages: oral-sensory, anal-musculature, genital-locomotor, latency, puberty and adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood, and maturity (Lerner 1997). According to Erikson, human beings go through various "critical periods" during development, in which certain supportive internal and environmental conditions must be present for a person to successfully "graduate" to the next level of development. Erikson listed these supportive conditions as basic trust, autonomy, industry, identity, intimacy, generativity, and integrity (Arieti, 1974). If any of these conditions are absent, lacking, or faulty, a person will develop some kind of psychological problem in order to cope (Lerner 1997).
While effective parenting is not the only factor involved in personal growth during childhood, it is vital, whether from a biological parent or other caregiver. Some proven techniques for effective parenting include: consistency in discipline with a focus on positive reinforcement rather than punishment, effective listening and response to what children have to say, treating a child as an individual and respecting their differences, and "practicing what you preach" (Owens, 1995). Put another way, healthy emotional development is dependent upon "consistent, involved, encouraging, and secure parental involvement during the early years," leading into healthy intimacy in social relationships later on (Bellack & Hersen, 1998).
3. How do human beings function? What are healthy ways of being?
According to Freud, human beings function as a result of the complex interplay between internal psychological drives and the external world (Lerner 1997). The different "drives" he is famous for defining include: the id, or emotional and irrational immature drive for pleasure and satisfaction; the ego, or the rational drive that guides a person's ability to function within the context of reality; and the superego, which consists of both conscience and ideals (Lerner 1997). Put another way, according to the philosopher Emmanuel Kant, human beings must struggle daily to reach a compromise between "the world of natural necessity and that of moral freedom" (Spirkin 1983). A healthy human being is able to successfully manage the daily struggle between these different drives and achieve a satisfactory, fulfilling balance. If a person achieves this balance, he should be able to succeed as a mature, responsible adult. He will be capable of giving and receiving love through intimate relationships,...
Human Development In order to learn about the development of males in their late teenage stage, between the ages seventeen and twenty, an eighteen-year-old male was interviewed. An individual of this age was chosen since it is believed as the age that acts as a transitory period between teenage and adulthood thus the developmental features are explicitly displayed at this age within the period targeted. The individual interviewed was a student
Hence, this has influenced her behaviour and coping mechanisms. Although there is considerable disagreement about the verifiability of behaviourism and external influence as the exclusive determiner of human development, Lilly's case should, at least initially, be regarded with this approach in mind. The main reason for this is Lilly's drastic behaviour change since the hospitalization of her mother. Clearly, external influences have caused her to form coping mechanisms such as
human Development Canadian edition spencer a.Rathus Shauna longmuir Cohabitation Society has changed dramatically in the last decades and has enabled some of the core principles to suffer modifications. These include nowadays discussions about same sex marriages, allowance or banning of physical expression of religious beliefs in schools, debates on the actual purity of ministers and people of the Church, among other things. Another issue under debate and acceptance is the "cohabitation"
Human Development in Classroom We all started in school having no knowledge at all about the learning that we obtained throughout our years of attending educational institutions. However, after finishing our studies, all of us are able to acquire knowledge at different levels. Such differences in level at which how much we are able to attain knowledge is dependent, according to researches and studies, on two major factors. These are
(Bouman; Castaneda; Bhuiyan, 2002) Likewise another research by Berg, Tran et al. (2001) has shown that there is arsenic contamination of the Red River alluvial tract in the city of Hanoi and this happens owing to the nature of the subsoil that contains iron. There was observed about average concentration of 430 ?g/L. Analysis of raw groundwater pumped from the lower aquifer for the 'Hanoi water supply yielded arsenic levels
Human Development In order for me to provide my own personal view on human development and aging over the life span, I have provided a review of several key research theories pertaining to human development. My own personal model of human development is a hybrid of other prominent sociological theorists. Because it is important to consider the theoretical underpinnings of human development, I will incorporate a review of the scholarly research
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