The human development cycle is a lifelong process in which both biological forces and environmental experiences intervene that manifest themselves. throughout various stages, from the prenatal phase (formation of the human being inside the mother’s womb) to old age.
Before birth, The individual is not only exposed to toxic agents that the mother could transmit to him due to inappropriate practices during pregnancy (such as drug and alcohol consumption), he is also subject to stress and anxiety, factors that may influence the formation of his temperament. and extend even to childhood and adolescence.
Studies have proven that (HPA, for its acronym in English), serving as a predictor of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
It can be said, therefore, that the prenatal stage sets the physical and temperamental precedents of the human being throughout his or her entire life. But what happens after birth? How is the individual’s personality formed and what elements intervene in shaping his character?
Childhood and childhood
The stage of infancy and childhood is characterized by changes at the physical, motor, cognitive, moral, linguistic, social and sexual role levels. However, mWhile physical and motor development is linked to biological growth, the rest goes hand in hand with complex mental processes. Cognitive development, for example, involves the child’s adaptation to the environment and is subdivided, according to Piaget’s theory, into four stages:
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Sensorimotor
From birth to 2 years. Where the child is only aware and focuses on the stimuli that are immediately shown in front of him.
Preoperational
From 2 to 7 years old. where the child develops fantasy games in which a column of chairs becomes a train and waving your hand is the symbolic gesture that sounds a railroad horn.
A natural egocentrism linked to a difficulty in contemplating the world from different angles of perception also manifests itself during the preoperational phase. This is why a 5-year-old child will remain standing in front of the television even if it blocks the vision of a secondary viewer. Since he does not experience any inconvenience viewing the screen, he assumes that no one else does.
Specific operations
From 7 to 11 years old. At this stage, the individual begins to demonstrate logical reasoning skills and becomes more aware of events occurring outside of his or her internal world, making him less egocentric and more empathetic.
Formal operations
From 11 to 15 years old. The last stage of childhood and childhood according to Piaget corresponds to a greater capacity for the use of symbolic language, that is, abstract concepts essential for the understanding of algebra and science.
At this age, the individual is expected to be able to formulate hypotheses, consider possibilities, and establish relationships between concepts such as tolerance and justice.
Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
According to Lawrence Kohlberg, author of the theory of moral development, moral reasoning is formed at three levels: preconventional, conventional and postconventional.
Preconventional level
It is subdivided into two stages:
- The punishment and obedience stage (heteronomy), where decisions are made to avoid punishment and not harm objects or people. It is a purely egocentric approach and the intentions of the acts are not considered.
- The purpose and exchange stage (individualism), where decisions are based on the satisfaction of a need, that is, in the fulfillment of a purpose that justifies the act. It is recognized at this stage that each individual has personal interests, which is why moral relativism and the idea of looking after the needs of others so that one’s own can be satisfied make sense.
Conventional level
It is subdivided into two stages:
- The stage of expectations, relationships and interpersonal conformity (mutuality), where the premise consists of acting while being able to put yourself in the other’s place. Agreements, feelings and mutual expectations intervene.
- The stage of the social system and consciousness (law and order), where the individual makes decisions based on the norms of behavior established by the social system. Failure to comply with the rules is only considered permissible when they harm or conflict with other pre-established social duties. Of special importance at this stage is the degree to which the individual can contribute to society or the group to which he belongs.
Postconventional level
It is subdivided into two stages:
- The stage of prior rights and the social contract (utility), where the individual self-concept responds to that of a rational person with values and rights that go beyond any social agreement. Justice consists of recognizing and respecting the multiplicity of personal opinions, but also respecting the rules to ensure the stability of the social contract (except when previous values or rights, such as freedom and life, are violated). The premise is utilitarian: “what is useful is what is good”.
- The stage of universal ethical principles (autonomy), where the individual considers, from a rational perspective, that every subject must categorically recognize the freedom of others and respect their essence without this implying a personal interest in obtaining any advantage. Decisions respond to universal ethical principles arrived at through logical reasoning (e.g. The Declaration of Human Rights).
Kohlberg’s theory of the development of moral reasoning, of course, has an important gap: cultural diversity.
What Kohlberg proposes is a standard model that allows classifying the degree of moral development that the individual presents throughout the cycle of human development, however, morality is a concept entirely subject to the process of perceptual interpretation and all the impartial factors that this entails.
Language development
Language development is a process that begins with babbling during the first months of life and continues with the formation of holophrases (For example: amagua to say “Mom, I want water.”
The most striking thing about this stage is the innate need in human beings to name everything they perceive in their environment; This is especially evident during the second year of life, when children begin to expand their vocabulary by naming everything they see (either following a real concept taught by their parents or inventing a name for objects they do not know).
For BF Skinner, language development occurs through operant conditioning: parents reinforce their children by hugging them, kissing them or encouraging them when they have said a word correctly or correcting them when they have made a mistake; The child eventually learns which words generate “reward” and those are the ones that stick.
Noam Chomsky, on the other hand, points out that we are born with a language acquisition device that is activated according to the demands of the environment to learn a language and communicate with our peers.
Social development
Social development includes parent-child relationships in childhoodthe parent-child relationships in childhood and relationships with other children.
Parent-child relationships in childhood are characterized by the formation of attachment, which can be secure or insecure depending on the role played by the paternal, maternal or caregiver figure. According to Erikson, secure attachment occurs with the development of basic trust, this occurs in the first year of life when babies learn that their parents or whoever is in charge of them will be there when they need it; In contrast, the distrust or insecure attachment occurs when babies’ needs have not been met, so a fearful and anxious character is formed in them.
Secure attachment is essential for children to develop autonomy, that is, the ability to be self-sufficient that comes from the feeling of support provided by their parents or caregivers. This security allows them to venture out to try new things and also motivates a defiant posture around the second year of life, a rebellious behavior that Erikson considers necessary because it precedes the socialization.
The child’s rebellion and resistance against his parents or certain norms allows him to discern between socially accepted and unacceptable behavior, and in this way assimilates the bases for living in society.
Subsequently, there are parent-child relationships during childhood, which are characterized, according to Erikson, by something called initiative versus guilt.
At this stage, the child dares to start new tasks (on the basis of a secure attachment). The achievement of this behavior will depend on the parents’ position: if the child receives encouragement and support, she will experience a feeling of joy associated with the act of initiating new tasks, pBut if, on the other hand, they are continually criticized and punished for the things they do wrong, they are prone to developing strong feelings of insecurity, guilt, resentment, and lack of dignity.
Regarding relationships with other children, three phases are gone through that are linked to the infant’s socialization capacity: solitaire game (when the child is only aware of himself), parallel game (between the first year and a half and two years, when they play next to each other doing the same or similar things but without interacting much) and cooperative game (at three or three and a half years, when the games involve group participation). Finally, when children start going to school, they are organized into groups; this is called peer group.
Development of sexual roles
The development of sexual roles occurs during infancy and childhood, and is made up of the following elements:
- Gender identity, either a girl’s notion that she is a girl and a boy’s notion that he is a boy.
- Gender proof, that comes to light when the child understands that his gender depends on the genitals and that it cannot be changed.
- Awareness of gender roleswhich consists of a gnosis of the behavior that society expects of a man and a woman.
- Sex-typed conductwhich is the awareness that children acquire of gender roles and stereotypes.
Adolescence
The transition from childhood to adolescence involves more changes, both physically, hormonally and cognitively. It is the latter that makes adolescence considered the most difficult stage of the development cycle, since the individual must deal with a multiplicity of external and internal stimuli to define his or her personal identity.
James Marcia typifies this very complex phase in his theory of identity crisisaccording to which the process of assimilation of the Self is manifested through the following…