SWO 350-Human Behavior & The Environment I-Part II-"Adolescence"-Chapter 7-"Psychological Development in Adolescence"

Importance of achieving identity:

-Adolescents struggle with developing a sense of who they are, what they want out of life, and what kind of people they want to be, -Arriving at answers to such questions is among the most important tasks people face in life, -Without answers, a person will not be prepared to make such major decisions as which career to select; deciding whether, when, or whom to marry; deciding where to live; and deciding what to do with leisure time.

Two issues that command special attention as they relate to adolescence and youth are:

-Assertiveness, -Suicide.

Stage 6: Morality of individual principles and conscience

-Behavior is based on internal ethical principles, -Decisions are made according to what is right rather than what is written into law.

Level 2: Goodness as Self-Sacrifice

-Involves putting aside one's own needs and wishes, -The well-being of other people becomes important, -The "good" thing to do is to sacrifice herself so that others may benefit. *A woman at this level feels dependent on what other people think. -Often a conflict occurs between taking responsibility for her own actions and feeling pressure from others to make her decisions.

Moral issues

Matters that deal with what a person judges to be right or wrong.

Stage 4: Authority Orientation

Right and wrong is determined by society's rules and laws, which should be obeyed rigidly.

Erik Erikson

-1902-1994; -Field: neo-Freudian, humanistic; -Contributions: *Created an 8-stage theory to show how people evolve through the life span; *Each stage is marked by a psychological crisis that involves confronting "Who am I?"

Assertive speakers

-Take into consideration both their own value system and the values of whoever is receiving their message, -They consider their own points to be important; yet they also consider the points and reactions of the communication's receiver important.

Spirituality

"One's values, beliefs, mission, awareness, subjectivity, experience, sense of purpose and direction, and a kind of striving toward something greater than oneself. It may or may not include a deity."

Care perspective

"Views people in terms of their connectedness with others and emphasizes interpersonal communication, relationships with others, and concern for others."

Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

-18 months to 3 years, -Children strive to accomplish things independently, -They learn to feed themselves and to use the toilet, -Accomplishing various tasks provides children with feelings of self-worth and self-confidence. -On the other hand, if children of this age are constantly downtrodden, restricted, or punished, shame and doubt will emerge instead, -Self-doubt will replace the self-confidence that should have developed during this period.

Resistance & immersion stage

-"Movement into this stage is characterized by the resolution of the conflicts and confusions that occurred in the previous stage", -The person's awareness of social issues grows along with a growing appreciation of his or her own culture. -"A large amount of anger and hostility is also directed toward White society, -There, in turn, is a feeling of dislike and distrust for all members of the dominant group".

The R/CID asks:

-"Who do you identify with and why; -What minority cultural attitudes and beliefs do you accept or reject and why; -What dominant cultural attitudes? -And beliefs do you accept or reject and why; how do your current attitudes and beliefs affect your interaction with other minorities and people of the dominant culture?"

Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion

-11-22 years. -Who am I? -Family, friends, teachers, coaches, mentors -Where do I fit in? -What do I want to do? -What do I believe? -Answering these questions for yourself leads to knowing who you are

Identity diffusion

-Describes a person with no sense of identity or motivation to engage in identity exploration, -Associated with an external locus of control, -Although they go through an identity crisis, they never re- solve it, -They are not able to make clear decisions concerning either their personal ideology or their career choice, -These people tend to be characterized by low self-esteem and lack of resolution.

Introspection stage

-During this stage, the individual "discovers that this level of intensity of feelings is psychologically draining and does not allow time to devote energy into understanding one's racial/cultural group; -The individual senses the need for positive self-definition and a proactive sense of awareness, -A feeling of disconnection emerges with minority group views that may be rigid. *Group views may start to conflict with individual views...The person experiences conflict because she or he discovers there are many aspects of American culture that are desirable and functional, yet the confusion lies in how to incorporate these elements into the minority culture".

Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood)

-During this time of life, people become concerned with helping, producing for, or guiding the following generation, -Generativity involves a genuine concern for the future beyond one's own life track, although it does not necessarily involve procreating one's own children. -Rather, it concerns a drive to be creative and productive in a way that will aid people in the future. -Adults who lack generativity become self-absorbed. *They tend to focus primarily on their own concerns and needs rather than on those of others.

Transition 2: From Goodness to Reality

-During this transitional period, women begin to examine their situations more objectively, -They draw away from depending on others to tell them what they should do, -Instead, they begin to take into account the well-being of everyone concerned, including themselves. -Some of the concern for personal survival apparent in level 1 returns, but in a more objective manner.

Lawrence Kohlberg

-Famous for his theory of moral development in children; -Made use of moral dilemmas in assessment.

Preconvential morality

-First level of Kohlberg's stages of moral development in which the child's behavior is governed by the consequences of the behavior, -Avoiding punishment.

Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust

-For infants up to 18 months of age, learning to trust others is the overriding crisis, -To develop trust, one must understand that some people and some things can be depended on, -Parents provide a major variable for such learning, -Later in life, people may apply this concept of trust to friends, an intimate partner, or their government.

James Fowler

-He is a theologian interested in the study of the development of morals and religious faith, -His Faith development theory, firstly described in 1981, is based on findings obtained via in-depth interviews conducted with adults and children, -According to this theory, faith develops through seven stages: Primal or Undifferentiated faith (from birth to two years); Intuitive-Projective faith (three to seven years); Mythic-Literal faith (from seven to puberty); Synthetic-Conventional faith (adolescence to young adulthood); Individuative-Reflective faith (young adulthood to late thirties); Conjunctive faith (during mid-life crisis); and "Universalizing" faith or enlightment (middle to late adulthood).

4 major ways in which people cope with identity crisis:

-Identity achievement, -Foreclosure, -Identity diffusion, -Moratorium.

Ego integrity

-If they appreciate their life and are content with their accomplishments, they are said to have ego integrity—the ultimate form of identity integration, -Such people enjoy a sense of peace and accept the fact that life will soon be over.

Mortarium

-Includes people who experience intense anxiety during their identity crisis, yet have not made decisions regarding either personal values or a career choice, -However, moratorium people experience a more continuous, intense struggle to resolve these issues. Instead of avoiding the decision-making issue, they address it almost constantly, -They are characterized by strong, conflicting feelings about what they should believe and do.

Morality

-Involves a set of principles regarding what is right and what is wrong, -Often, these principles are not clearly defined in black or white, but involve various shades of gray.

Assertiveness

-Involves behavior that is straight-forward, yet not offensive, -The behavior can be either verbal or nonverbal, -Involves taking into account both your own rights and the rights of others.

Aggressive communication

-Involves bold and dominant verbal and nonverbal behavior in which a speaker presses his or her point of view as taking precedence over all others, -Aggressive speakers consider only their views as important and devalue what the receiver has to say, -Aggressive behaviors are demanding and most often annoying.

Level 3: Morality of Nonviolent Responsibility

-Involves women thinking in terms of the re- percussions of their decisions and actions, -At this level, a woman's thinking has progressed beyond mere concern for what others will think about what she does. *Rather, it involves accepting responsibility for making her own decisions; *She places herself on an equal plane with others, weighs the various con- sequences of her potential actions, and accepts that she will be responsible for these consequences. -The important principle operating here is that of minimizing hurt, both to herself and to others.

Criticisms of Kolhberg's Theory

-Kohlberg places primary emphasis on how people think, not what they do, -Culturally bias.

Stage 5: Morality of contract, of individual rights, and of democratically accepted law

-Laws are considered necessary, -However, they are subject to rational thought and interpretation, -Community welfare is important.

Level 3: Self-Accepted Moral Principles

-Moral decisions are finally internally controlled, -Morality involves higher-level principles beyond law and even beyond self-interest.

Nuevo Puente

-New Bridge, -That involved obtaining input from all sectors of the Puerto Rican community. -Major content areas were identified through... [a survey,]...interviews, focus groups, meetings, and discussions with community leaders, parents, and educators. -The curriculum included knowledge development and skills building that were culturally relevant for Puerto Rican youths. -Participants received 72 hours of training over a seven-month period in cultural pride (Puerto Rican history, values, culture, arts, and traditions); group leadership skills (recruiting and leading groups); self-sufficiency and self- determination; communication and relationship skills (conflict resolution and identifying situations that lead to violence and other risk-taking behaviors); [and] strategies to deal with substance abuse (increased awareness of alcohol and other drugs).

Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair

-Old age: 65-85, -How have I lived my life? -Finding the meaning in one's life, -Going within, -During this time of life, people tend to look back over their years and reflect on them.

Identity achievement

-People undergo a period of intense decision making, -After much effort, they develop a personalized set of values and make their career decisions, -The attainment of identity is usually thought of as the most beneficial of the four status categories.

Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adulthood)

-People who do not attain intimacy are likely to suffer isolation, -These people have often been unable to resolve some of the crises of earlier psychosocial development.

Integrative stage

-Persons of color in this stage "have developed an inner sense of security and can appreciate various aspects of their culture that make them unique, -Conflicts and discomforts experienced in the previous stage are not resolved, hence greater control and flexibility are attained, -Individuals in this stage recognize there are acceptable and unacceptable aspects of all cultures and that it is important for them to accept or reject aspects of a culture that are not considered desirable to them.

Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt

-Preschoolers aged 3 to 6 years must face the crisis of taking their own initiative. *Children at this age are extremely active physically; the world fascinates them and beckons them to explore it. -They have active imaginations and are eager to learn. -Preschoolers who are encouraged to take initiative to explore and learn are likely to assimilate this concept for use later in life. *They will be more likely to feel confident in initiating relationships, pursuing career objectives, and developing recreational interests. --Preschoolers who are consistently restricted, punished, or treated harshly are more likely to experience the emotion of guilt. ---They want to explore and experience, but they are not allowed to. Instead of learning initiative, they are likely to feel guilty about their tremendous desires to do so many things. ---In reaction, they may become passive observers who follow the lead of others instead of initiating their own activities and ideas.

Fowler's 7 stages of faith development

-Primal/Undifferentiated Faith (Birth-2 Years), -Intuitive-Projective Faith (Ages 2-6), -Mythical-Literal Faith (Ages 6-12), -Synthetic-Conventional Faith (Ages 12 & Older), -Individuative-Reflective Faith (Early Adulthood and Beyond), -Conjunctive Faith (Midlife & Beyond), -Universalizing Faith (Midlife & Beyond).

Both Erickson & Marcia

-Provide interesting insights into people's behavior and their interaction with others, -Provide a framework for better understanding "normal" life crises and events, -Emphasize the importance of identity formation.

Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority

-School-age children 6 to 12 years old must address the crisis of industry versus inferiority. -Children in this age group need to be productive and succeed in their activities, -In addition to play, a major focus of their lives is school. *Therefore, mastering academic skills and material is important; *Those who do learn to be industrious master activities. -Comparison with peers becomes exceptionally important. *Children who experience failure in school, or even in peer relations, may develop a sense of inferiority.

William Glasser

-The developer of reality therapy and choice theory, -His ideas, focus on personal choice, personal responsibility and personal transformation.

Phinney's Model of Ethnic Identity Development

-The foundation for the commonly accepted model of ethnic identity proposed by Phinney (1989), who defined ethnic identity in three stages: 1. Commitment and attachment-the extent of an individual's sense of belonging to his or her group, 2. Exploration-engaging in activities that increase knowledge and experiences of one's ethnicity, 3. Achieved ethnic identity-having a clear sense of group membership and what one's ethnicity means to the individual.

Foreclosure

-The only ones who never experience an identity crisis as such, -They glide into adulthood without experiencing much turbulence or anxiety, -Decisions concerning both career and values are made relatively early in life. *These decisions are often based on their parents' values and ideas rather than their own.

Nonassertive speakers

-The opposite of aggressive, -Speakers devalue themselves, -They feel that what the other person involved thinks is much more important than their own thoughts.

Identity confusion

-This confusion can be expressed in a variety of ways. *One is to delay acting like a responsible adult; *Another is to commit oneself to poorly thought-out courses of action; *Still another way is to regress into childishness to avoid assuming the responsibilities of adulthood.

Transition 1: Transition from Person's Selfishness to Responsibility

-This first transition involves a movement in moral thought from consideration only of self to some consideration of the others involved, -During this transition, a woman comes to acknowledge the fact that she is responsible not only for herself but also for others, including the unborn.

Level 1: Orientation to Personal Survival

-This level focuses purely on the woman's self-interest., -The needs and well-being of others are not really considered, -At this level, a woman focuses first on personal survival. What is practical and best for her is most important.

Dissonance stage

-Usually initiated by some cri- sis or negative experience, the person during this stage "becomes aware that racism does exist, and that not all aspects of minority or majority culture are good or bad. For the first time, the individual begins to entertain thoughts of possible positive attributes" of his or her own culture and "a sense of pride in self", -Suspicion about the values inherent in the dominant culture grows.

People may be classified in these 4 categories (identity achievement, foreclosure, identity diffusion, & moratorium) on the basis of 3 criteria:

-Whether the individual experiences a major crisis during identity development; -Whether the person expresses a commitment to some type of occupation; -Whether there is commitment to some set of values or beliefs.

13 steps to help establish assertive behavior:

1. Examine your actions, 2. Make a record of those situations in which you felt you could have behaved more effectively, either more assertively or less aggressively, 3. Select and focus on some specific instance when you felt you could have been more appropriately assertive, 4. Analyze how you reacted, 5. Identify a role model, and examine how he or she handled a situation requiring assertiveness, 6. Identify a range of other assertive responses that could address the original problem situation you targeted, 7. Picture yourself in the identified problematic situation, 8. Practice the way you envisioned yourself being more assertive, 9. Review your new assertive responses, 10. Continue practicing steps 7, 8, and 9, 11. Try out your assertiveness in a real-life situation, 12. Continue to expand your assertive behavior repertoire until assertiveness becomes part of your personal interactive style, 13. Give yourself a pat on the back when you succeed in becoming more assertive.

Racial/Cultural Identity Development Model (R/CID)

A general model that covers all forms of identity development and addresses how one relates to self/ others/ and the dominant group.

Glasser says that there's a single basic psychological need faced by everyone

A need for an identity.

Level 2: Conventional Morality

Adolescents and adults -internalize standards of role models -Authority is internalized -Good interpersonal relationships -Maintaining social order.

Synthetic-Conventional Faith

Adolescents who have a capacity for abstract thinking and manipulation of concepts which affects the process of developing both identity and faith.

Mythic-Literal Faith

Ages 6-12, belief and understanding come from a wider circle of parent substitutes, learn stories of faith, literal interpretation of the bible, understanding on a concrete level, aware that there are different ways of understanding faith.

Foreclosed identity

Avoid conflict (conflict is healthy for relationships).

Failure identity

Comes from a pattern of behavior that causes distress and personality disorder; for an example an addict who uses because it makes them more sociable.

Gilligan

Criticized Kohlberg's research on moral theory because she felt it was biased against girls.

Facial expressions

Did you have a serious ex- pression on your face? Were you smiling or giggling uncomfortably, thereby giving the impression that you were not really serious?

Eye contact

Did you look the person in the eye? Or did you find yourself avoiding eye contact when you were uncomfortable?

Voice tone, inflection, volume

Did you speak in a normal voice tone? Did you whisper timidly? Did you raise your voice to the point of stressful screeching? Did you sound as if you were winning?

Confirmatory bias

During this stage, people identify closely with the dominant white society. "Physical and cultural characteristics that are common to the individual's racial or cultural group are perceived negatively and as something to be avoided, denied, or changed. In this stage, the person may attempt to mimic 'White' speech patterns, dress, and goals. A person at this stage has low internal self-esteem".

Justice perspective

Each person functions independently and makes moral decisions on an individual basis.

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

Each stage builds on tasks of the previous stage, successful mastery leads to sense of self.

Role confusion

Erikson's term for a failure in identity formation, marked by the lack of any sense of a future adult path.

Psychosocial moratorium

Erikson's term for the gap between childhood security and adult autonomy that adolescents experience as part of their identity exploration.

Analyze how you reacted.

Examine closely your verbal and nonverbal behavior.

Timing

It is best to make an appropriately assertive response just after a remark is made or an incident happens. It's also important to consider whether a particular situation re- quires assertiveness. At times it might be best to remain silent and just "let it go."

Picture yourself in the identified problematic situation.

It often helps to close your eyes and concentrate. Step by step, imagine how you could handle the situation more assertively.

Stage 3: Good-Boy/Good-Girl Orientation

Good behavior is what pleases/helps others and is approved of by them = can earn approval by being nice.

Examine your own actions.

How do you behave in situations requiring assertiveness? Do you think you tend to be nonassertive, assertive, or aggressive in most of your communications?

Intuitive-Projective Faith

In early childhood, kids form ideas of good and evil and don't discern between fantasy and reality.

Give yourself a pat on the back when you succeed in becoming more assertive.

It's not easy changing long-standing patterns of behavior. Focus on and revel in the good feelings you experience as a result of your successes.

Moratorium identity

Little evidence of ongoing exploration, may be experiencing ethnic identity crisis.

Primal (Undifferentiated faith)

Infants learn early on whether their environment is safe or not, whether they can trust or not. Are they being cared for in warm, safe, secure family environments? Or are they being hurt, neglected, and abused? People begin to develop their use of language to express thought and distinguish between themselves and others. They start to develop relationships and ideas about what those relationships mean.

Diffused identity

No commitments have been made, and consequently the individual has not yet achieved a coherent, stable identity.

James Marcia

Psychologist who developed the four stages of identity statuses.

Religion

Refers to a set of beliefs and practices of an organized religious institution" (e.g., organized churches under Roman Catholic, Muslim, or Methodist denominations).

Assertiveness training

Techniques that train people how to be appropriately assertive in social situations; often included as part of health behavior modification programs, on the assumption that some poor health habits, such as excessive alcohol consumption or smoking, develop in part to control difficulties in being appropriately assertive.

Ethnic identity

The aspect of individuals' sense of identity concerning ancestry or racial group membership.

Conjunctive Faith

The fifth faith stage in James Fowler's theory of faith development, a stage when individuals look for balance among competing moral systems, recognize that there are many truths, and open themselves in service to others.

Universalizing Faith

The final stage of James Fowler's theory of faith development; a stage in which individuals lead selfless lives based on principles of absolute love and justice.

Individuative-Reflective Faith

The fourth stage of James Fowler's six-stage model of faith development, a stage when adults no longer rely on outside authority and look for authority within the self.

Conventional level of moral development

The second level of moral development, in which people make decisions that conform to societal expectations.

Crises

The society in which one lives makes certain psychic demands at each stage of development.

Gilligan's Theory

The theory suggesting that there is a different process of moral development in women than in men.

Social learning perspective

The theory that individuals learn behavior they will later exhibit by observing what others do and seeing the consequences of these actions.

Success identity

The understanding that a person has that they have needs for happiness and success and that they are responsible for their behaviors and the positive and negative consequences of them.

Postconventional morality

Third level of Kohlberg's stages of moral development in which the person's behavior is governed by moral principles that have been decided on by the individual and that may be in disagreement with accepted social norms.

Select and focus on some specific instance when you felt you could have been more appropriately assertive.

Visualize the specific details. What exactly was said? How did you feel?

Looking Glass Self (Cooley)

We base our perception of self by how we think other people see us.

Body posture

Were you standing up straight, or were you slouching? Were you leaning away from the person sheepishly? Were you holding your head up straight as you looked the person in the eye?

Gestures

Were your hand gestures fitting for the situation? Did you feel at ease? Or were you tapping your feet or cracking your knuckles?

Identify a role model, and examine how he or she handled a situation requiring assertiveness.

What exactly happened during the incident? What words did your model use that were particularly effective? What aspects of his or her nonverbal behavior helped to get points across?

Identify a range of other assertive responses that could address the original problem situation you targeted.

What other words could you have used? What nonverbal behaviors might have been more effective?

Content

What you say in your assertive response is obviously important. Did you choose your words carefully? Did your response have the impact you wanted it to have? Why or why not?

Continue to expand your assertive behavior repertoire until assertiveness becomes part of your personal interactive style.

You can review the earlier steps and try them out in an increasingly wider range of situations.

Practice the way you envisioned yourself being more assertive.

You could target a real-life situation that remains unresolved. For example, perhaps the person you live with always leaves dirty socks lying around the living room or drinks all your soda and forgets to tell you the refrigerator is bare. Or you can ask a friend, teacher, or counselor to help you role-play the situation. Role-playing provides an effective mechanism for practicing responses before you have to use them spontaneously in real life.

Glasser & Zunin (1979) define the need for an identity as:

[T]he need to feel that each of us is somehow separate and distinct from every other living being on the face of this earth and that no other person thinks, looks, acts, and talks exactly as we do.