Analyzing Erikson’s and Kohlberg’s Development Models for Youth Guidance
Section 1: Moral Development
Question 1: How Can Erikson’s Moral Development Theory Help Resolve Adolescent Dilemmas?
Dilemmas are of many types that can harm the entire personality of a person. In many cases, it has been that some particular types of dilemmas have caused suicide as well. Therefore, it is necessary for every person that has a dilemma to get recognized properly and proceed accordingly. In this aspect, a friend of Amy has been found to have a proper dilemma regarding stealing money from her parents. It has been an effective issue, or in other words challenge that can drive their friend Amy to face terrible challenges in the future.
The possible reasons that Amy has determined signify that the boyfriend of Amy's friend has no money on him and is a person who is homeless. The boyfriend has been suffering from a lack of money and proposes to Amy's friend for bringing him money in a consistent manner. Getting too attached emotionally to that person, Amy's friend did not recognize what she actually needs to do for developing her boyfriend's drastic situation (Pratt and Matsuba, 2018). This particular approach from Amy's friend has been developing consistently and it will surely harm her in her life. Amy knows all these things as she has been her best friend of hers and that has been the reason Amy is quite worried. Amy cannot find out what she actually needs to do to pull her friend back from this drastic situation. Instead, she has been quite confused regarding the situation of her friend.
In this aspect, there is a clear need and necessity for the application of a moral development theory that can help to find out the reasons behind the situation of Amy's friend's dilemma. Erikson's moral development theory can be the probable best choice for Amy's friend to understand what situation she has been facing and what she needs to do for developing her future. The theory describes the psychological development of proper morality which is learned by the child. These moralities will follow the rest ethical areas of the child in adulthood. After considering the theory it has been noticed that a friend of Amy did not get any sort of effective lessons regarding morality in her childhood. Lack of effective morality has caused her to do whatever she has been doing nowadays.
Erikson has successfully examined and mapped the personal development of humans across their entire lifelines. Apart from that, Erikson has also examined that each child needs effective moral support in their childhood along with that the child needs to be taught proper moralities slowly but effectively. These factors assist any particular child to think about what the child is doing. Apart from that, this initial process will assist the child to determine the difference between right and wrong (Pratt and Matsuba, 2018). According to Erikson, morality in childhood will assist children to get enriched and develop ethics in the future. The model of Erikson's moral development theory has eight different yet effective stages that signify psychological growth. Most importantly, each of the stages is influenced by psychological, biological, and some social factors that help a child to develop accordingly to adulthood.
Unlike other effective moral development theories, the transformation ofpersonality did not finish with adolescence; still, it may arise from the conflict and continued to further finality. Erikson also argued that the social experience also has an effective impact on the behavioral pattern of a child. Specifically at the time a child is developing and starting to understand things, the child can learn wrong things as well. In this particular stage, parents need to be aware of the things that the child has been learning. This particular challenge has been faced by Amy's friend at the initial stage and probably it has put a massive impact on her mound of her. From an emotional point of view, she has successfully learned to help others but did not consider finding the right ways of it. She does not have any sort of idea that stealing has been an effective offense that can destroy the future of the child. Considering the moral development theory of Erikson, it can be said that the lack of morality in childhood and proper guidance has developed a lack of ethics in adulthood for Amy's friend. This has been the reason she has been stealing for her boyfriend.
Section 2: Personality Development
Question 1: What Does Erikson’s Theory Reveal About Jack’s Personality Development?
Jack has been found to be quite choosy regarding his hairstyle, dress, and other staff. Sometimes he has been found to get upset quickly if he cannot get what he perceives. He loves to be looked good and attractive in every situation and it has been a matter of fact that he needs attractive clothing and hairstyles for that. On each and every occasion he needs different dressing so that he can look unique yet attractive to everyone. This particular factor has become an effective issue for him that makes him upset sometimes. A proper change in his behavior started to be seen in him which signifies his future. This chapter has been developed here to signify the behavioral pattern of Jack and also to understand the possible reasons behind this. According toPratt and Matsuba, (2018), emerging adulthood properly examines a fine period of life starting at the age of 18 years. According to the authors, there is a need to examine the struggle and other effective aspects that might help to find out the complex situation of the person.
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The moral development theory of Erikson here can be used as well to signify behavioral pattern of Jack. Jack has been found to get upset effectively if he did not get whatever he wants regarding his dressing and grooming. The sixth stage of Erikson's moral development theory signifies the behavioral pattern of Jack. The stage signifies that between the ages of 18 to above, people conceive a mindset to impress others according to their choices and behaviors. Apart from that, the person needs to get indulged in a relationship with others and want to carry forward that positively. Choices of dressing, hairstyles, and other aspects are the basic factors that the person in this age group needs to anticipate properly. During this particular time period, some major conflicts might arise as the adults need to form a longer-term commitment. Adults usually took decisions without taking any strong discussions with their parents. They actually need to grow as per their own likes and dislikes.
In some cases, it has been seen that adults are getting involved in conflicts with their parents on a serious note. Proper guidance at the initial stage from the parents along with providing effective lessons regarding life to the children has been the most crucial factor. It successfully establishes the future career of a particular child. However, in the case of Jack, all these things have not been found properly which has uttered some challenges for Jack. Not getting what the person want at the right time causes drastic changes in the behaviors of the person (Crocetti et al. 2016). The person might get angry and sometimes he can get disturbed properly. Considering the issue of Jack, this particular matter has been seen. Therefore, it can be said that Jack at his childhood stage did not get proper ethical or moral support from his parents and that is why he has been getting upset dramatically in the situation discussed previously.
The book used for this part clarifies that adult’s need personality development so that they can overcome issues that they have been facing. According to Erikson, there is a massive role of parents, society along with teachers for developing the personality of adults. The pre-lived experiences of the individuals properly shape the fine trajectories of their life. Young people such as Jack attempts to draw proper meaning from the experiences during this particular time for helping to answer questions of their life. The ordering of those individuals' pre-lived experiences makes up their own life history (Santrock, 1987). Without any sort of proper doubts, it can be said that understanding the nature of the adults along with understanding their behavioral patterns will assist to recognize the development of those emerging adults. The authors of this used book provided a strong yet theoretical lens along with a review of existing literature for providing the foundation for the study. Jack in this aspect, was found to be too demanding which has occurred effective issues for him and he has been getting upset in the mentioned situation every time.
Section 3: Application to stimulus
Autonomy for teenagers has been a matter of fact that needs to be discussed properly unless it puts a serious impact on the behaviors and mentality of the individual. It is necessary for adults to provide teenagers a proper yet specific autonomy so that they can easily proceed with their performance in the future. It has been a well-known fact that teenagers are the most sensitive parts and that has been the reason they need to be kept properly and smoothly (Coleman, 2022). Adults need to provide great value to teenagers so that they can feel valued and important. Specifically, in the case of education, adults need to listen to teenagers regarding what they think about any particular matter. Their own perception along with their point of view needs to be valued by the adults. These things can assist teenagers to be effective for their future and at the same time, adults can get proper control over them. Apart from that, adults along with teenagers need to be responsible so that it can assure their future development.
Key features of Kohlberg’s moral development theory
In this particular context, implementation of Kohlberg’s moral development theory can be an effective choice to understand the behavioral; patterns of teenagers along with adults. The fine process of developing moral activities among children has been the major concept of this theory. According to Kohlberg, moral development among children occurs in a particular series of six defined stages. However, obedience and punishment, self-interest, social contact along with universal ethical principles have been the most effective features of this particular theory of moral development. However, in some cases, complying with the rules and regulations becomes way difficult for adolescents (Coleman, 2022). Social contact would be the most particular choice in this case for the teenagers to get contacted effectively by their adults. It will develop their mindset and at the same time, it will also bring out effective knowledge to them.
Complying with the rules and regulations sometimes feels complex for adolescents as their social interaction and self-interests got harmed. This can be an effective outburst from their native society or the elders around them. In the case of autonomy, they feel quite disturbed as well. Along with that, not understanding the universal principles and ethics has also been one of the other most effective causes that develop difficulties for adolescents.
However, developing social contact along with making them familiar with the universal ethics and principles can be the probable best steps to develop responsibilities among teenagers and adolescents. According to Kohlberg, the more teenagers interact with others and involve them socially, the more there the chances for them to become responsible. Developing self-interest has been the other effective factor that can accommodate teenagers to get responsible in their lives. Adolescences need a good amount of concern regarding them in each case and developing self-interest might assist them to know about them properly.
Evaluation of the theory
The possible strengths of this particular theoretical application have been that it can assist adolescents to know the unknown and know a lot about them. Apart from that, this theory will describe moral behavior and signify what ethics the teenagers and adults need to follow for their future development. On the other hand, some effective weaknesses that can come across through this theory and nurture the autonomy case for adolescents are it sometimes makes things difficult and complex to understand (Van der Graaff et al. 2018). This particular factor makes them way back from achieving autonomy and makes their mindset fragile and confused as well. The theory explains the need for social involvement for adolescence as it can assist them to develop their future and enrich them with effective morals and ethics. On the other hand, the theory does not explain that social rights have been the most effective factor this particular moral development theory of Kohlberg not explains.
References
Coleman, J.C., 2022. Relationships in adolescence. Taylor & Francis.
Crocetti, E., Moscatelli, S., Van der Graaff, J., Rubini, M., Meeus, W. and Branje, S., 2016. The interplay of self–certainty and prosocial development in the transition from late adolescence to emerging adulthood.European Journal of Personality,30(6), pp.594-607.
Pratt, M.W. and Matsuba, M.K., 2018.The life story, domains of identity, and personality development in emerging adulthood: Integrating narrative and traditional approaches. Oxford University Press.
Santrock, J.W., 1987.Adolescence: an introduction. Wm C Brown Publishers.
Van der Graaff, J., Carlo, G., Crocetti, E., Koot, H.M. and Branje, S., 2018. Prosocial behavior in adolescence: Gender differences in development and links with empathy.Journal of youth and adolescence,47(5), pp.1086-1099.
