Human Development Theories: New Zealand’s Score Card on Resilience
Student
Institution
Date
Human Development Theories: New Zealand’s Score Card on Resilience
Human development theories provide a context for behavior interpretation. For instance, the theories explain that children and young people can feel overwhelmed by a number of things that they undergo during different times of their developmental stages (Sigelman & Rider, 2014). Among the stressful situations are sudden changes, unsafe neighborhoods, relationship difficulties, isolation feelings, discrimination, hectic schedules, and serious challenges among others. This explanation can be used to measure the actual progress of a population with regard to human development (Masten, 2014). It is for this reason that this paper focuses on New Zealand’s score card on resilience.
Resilience refers to the ability to move through life challenges that are serious and come up with better ways of bouncing back and thriving positively. Each and every person is born with the capacity for resilience. However, resilience is not something that people do have or something that they do not have. It is something that they have to work for throughout their lives (Green & Piel, 2015). Every person should start working for it as early as possible. When it comes to developing the resilience of children, parents should ensure that they are at the forefront in doing this. This is because children and young people learn so much and a lot from watching their parents and others around them. Parents who cope properly with stress that they come across teach their children how to do the same. It is very important for children and young people to develop resilience (Sigelman & Rider, 2014). Resilience brings in a very big difference in the lives of people. Individuals who go past hardship with resilience are:
– Happier in their relationships with others
– Happier and live longer compared to those who are not resilient
– Are more successful in school and different kinds of work
– Are less likely to get depressed
Most things that support a healthy development of children and young people have the ability to promote or build their resilience. Among some of these things are opportunities related to taking part in activities that are meaningful, a secure bond with an adult or adults who are caring, good relationship with positive role models, and opportunities that enhance learning of skills (Masten, 2014). The paper will focus on areas where resilience is found in human development theories.
Resilience in Human Development Theories
New Zealand’s Score Card on Resilience is in jeopardy. The first explanation for this is that the country has not yet prioritized issues of early child development. The second explanation for the country’s score card is that the country has not allocated enough human resources on programs and services pertaining to early child development. Another reason that explains the country’s score card is that New Zealand is putting less effort in its fight of poverty which is the main cause of stress. It is important to note that Resilience in this case refers to the ability to move through stages appropriately can be seen different human development theories (Satherley & Huang, 2015). Below is a discussion of human development theories which help to confirm the claim.
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
Piaget through his cognitive theory talks about how a child constructs a mental model of the world. As stated earlier, resilience is not something the people have or something that people do not have. It is something that people have to work for throughout their lives. This also applies to the cognitive development of children and young people. According to Piaget, intelligence is not something that is fixed. In other words, it is not a fixed trait. Cognitive development is a process that takes place as a result of moving from one stage to another and interaction with the environment. Moving from one stage to another can be termed as biological maturation.
According to the Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, there are four stages of development. These four stages of development reflect the increasing sophistication in the thoughts of a child. Moving through the stages properly makes the sophistication of one’s though to increase. This shows the element of resilience, which is moving through the stages (Belsky & Pluess, 2013). The resilience will be seen through going through the stages, where the development of a child will be determined by biological maturation as well as interaction with the environment. There is no stage that should be missed by a child. The ability to bounce back and thrive brings in the differences when it comes to the rate at which children and young people progress as they move through the stages. Those who are not able to bounce back and thrive will not be able to reach the later stage of cognitive development theory. This is a clear indication of lack of resilience. The following are the four stages of cognitive development according to Piaget:
1. Sensorimotor stage – the state is from birth to age 2. The action that contributes to resilience here is object prominence. Object prominence is acknowledging that an object is in existence, even if it is hidden. Having the ability to form a mental representation relating to the object is a clear indication of resilience in this stage.
2. Pre-operational stage – underwent between 2yrs and 7yrs. A child being able to think about something symbolic shows resilience. One should make things stand for something other than itself. Those that will not be able to think symbolically will not be showing resilience in this stage.
3. Concrete operational stage – this stage is between 7yrs and 11yrs. Resilience in this stage should be shown through the cognitive development of a child. The challenge that one should try to move past in this stage are those relating to operational and logical thought. A child should work out things in his or her head. They should conserve number, mass, and weight. Resilience is contributed by attaining cognitive development.
4. Formal operational stage – seen at age 11+ – adolescence and adulthood, and it is the formal operational stage. This will last into adulthood. Resilience is contributed by developing the ability to think about abstract notions. Also, trying to test to test hypotheses logically is a sign of resilience in this stage. Failing in all these will mean that there is no sign of resilience.
Erikson’s psychosocial development
Resilience in human development can also be evident from Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. There are eight stages as per Erik’s psychosocial development. These eight stages are from infancy to adulthood. Going through all these stages shows resilience since, in every stage, a person will go through a psychosocial crisis. This crisis may have negative or positive result in the personality development of a person (Newman & Newman, 2014).
Moving through the stages of life and solving or going past serious life challenges shows resilience in a person. This is similar to Erik’s theory which argues that successful completion of each stage of the eight stages leads to a healthy personality as well as the acquisition of basic virtues. Forming basic virtue is very important to one since it is a characteristic strength that ego relies on in resolving subsequent crises. Inability to complete a stage will reduce the ability to complete other stages. Hence, there will be unhealthy personality. Furthermore, the sense of self will be reduced. There are those children or individuals that will manage to resolve some stages at a later time (Sigelman & Rider, 2014). The following are the eight stages that have to be completed successfully to show resilience in one:
1. Trust vs. mistrust (infancy to 1) – a child will develop a sense of trust only if interaction with other provide affection, care, and reliability. The action that contributes to resilience here is the development of a sense of trust. The development of mistrust due to lack of affection, care, and reliability is a sign of failure in the stage, thus no element of resilience.
2. Autonomy vs. Shame (1 to 3) – actions that show resilience in this stage are the development of a sense of personal control when it comes to physical skills. Also, the development a sense of independence is a sign of resilience.
3. Initiative vs. Guilt (3 to 5) – showing power and control over the environment through facing challenges, planning tasks and accomplishing them are good actions indicating resilience. Moving past then properly will create a sense of purpose. Failure results to guilt (Belsky & Pluess, 2013).
4. Industry vs. inferiority (5 to 12) – the action that shows resilience here is being able to cope with new social demand and learning.
5. Ego identity vs. role confusion (12 to 18) – an important thing that should be established in this stage is a sense of self. This is important because it is the sign of resilience in the stage.
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (18 to 40) – the major crises here are forming a loving and intimate relationship with others. Loving and intimate relationship are actions that contribute to resilience.
7. Generativity vs. stagnation (40 to 65) – striving to create positive change that will benefit other people is an action that contributes to resilience. Those who will go past the life challenge here will feel useful.
8. Ego identity vs. despair (65 and above) – in this stage, one reflects on his or her life. The reflection will either make one feel happy and satisfied or have a sense of regret. Feeling happy and satisfied are signs of resilience here.
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory
Resilience can also be found in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. The theory states that personality develops through a series of stages. Each stage has a particular internal psychological conflict. Going through all the stages successfully develops one’s personality. The theory also talks about going through stages and finding a solution to the internal psychological conflict in every stage. This is a clear indication of resilience.
Freud through his psychoanalytic theory argued that human behavior is the outcome of the interactions various component parts of the mind. The component parts of the mind are id, ego, and superego. The conflict that arises in the different parts of mind helps to shape personality and behavior.
The personality of a person develops during childhood. This is according to Freud’s theory. This development of personality is shaped by a series of 5 psychosexual stages. In each and every stage, a child will have to face a conflict between social expectations and biological drives. Mastery of each developmental stage will result from the successful navigation of the stages together with conflicts that one will come across. Resilience will enable one move through the stages success; hence, there will be the development of full personality. The five psychosexual stages that a child goes through are oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages. The conflict that arises are caused by the id, ego, and superego (Green & Piel, 2015). However, nature of conflict changes with time as a child grows to become an adult.
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory
This theory attempts to explain how everything in a child as well those that are in the child’s environment impacts the manner in which as a child grows and develops. There are different levels of the environment that influence the development of a child. These levels, according to the ecological system theory, are the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, and the macro-system. The level that applies when it comes to the matter of resilience is microsystem. The microsystem is the small and immediate environment surrounding a child (Sigelman & Rider, 2014). How a child interacts with this small or immediate environment will determine his or her development. This means that going through this stage successfully will shape positively the developmental process of a child. The argument here is similar to that of resilience. The resilience in one will start to be shaped during this level. The microsystems of children are organizations they interact with or any immediate relationships, such as daycare, schools, or immediate family. Good interaction will produce good results, especially with regards to how a child grows. Moreover, how a child acts or reacts to those who are in the microsystem will determine how others in larger society will treat one. In order to succeed in other stages and develop positive relations cum interactions with others, this microsystem level should be completed positively (Skinner, 2014).
Bowlby’s attachment theory
Bowlby believed that behavioral and mental problem are attributed to early childhood. He argued that children are born while programmed, that is, biologically to form an attachment with others. This is because the attachment determines their survival. The attachment behaviors in children are instinctive. They can easily be activated by conditions that are likely to threaten the attainment of proximity. There are consequences that are associated with the attachment. Failure to initiate or breakdown the maternal attachment produces a negative outcome, such as affectionless psychopathy. This means that one will not have gone through the initial stage as it was expected. Resilience will not properly build due to the failure of undergoing the process properly (Green & Piel, 2015).
References
Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2013). Beyond risk, resilience, and dysregulation: Phenotypic plasticity
and human development. Development and Psychopathology, 25(4pt2), 1243. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/openview/fa14a23084bdd7c150d7375d5cb22300/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=30453
Green, M. G., & Piel, J. A. (2015). Theories of human development: A comparative approach.
Psychology Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=n_MoCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR2&dq=Green,+M.+G.,+%26+Piel,+J.+A.+(2015).+Theories+of+human+development:+A+comparative+approach.++%09Psychology+Press.&ots=hE3wTr9Tz9&sig=FbqQ-ZHr0Y1fNZsxCnALUWlR7N8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Sigelman, C. K., & Rider, E. A. (2014). Life-span human development. Cengage Learning. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ad8bCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=Human+development+theories+2014&ots=u-oNrlloWS&sig=VLpOTvBKBosBnJg3YjoPUABAPN4&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Human%20development%20theories%202014&f=false
Masten, A. S. (2014). Global perspectives on resilience in children and youth. Child
development, 85(1), 6-20. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12205/full
Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (2014). Development through life: A psychosocial approach.
Cengage Learning. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=UOMbCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=human+development+theories+erikson&ots=m4XeI6Cp3E&sig=Jah477qcXjqM2FojUKhYRyBzZjc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=human%20development%20theories%20erikson&f=false
Satherley, N., Milojev, P., Greaves, L. M., Huang, Y., Osborne, D., Bulbulia, J., & Sibley, C. G. (2015). Demographic and psychological predictors of panel attrition: evidence from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study. PloS one, 10(3), e0121950. Retrieved from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0121950
Skinner, N. (2014). Ecological systems theory. Retrieved from
http://www.naspjournals.org/doi/abs/10.17105/spr-15-0092.1?code=naps-site
