Developmental Autobiography
My name is Rita Dawn Roberts, and I was born in Dixons West Hospital in Lagrange. Lagrange is a small town at the heart of Texas. The wee hours of Thursday, April 1986 is when I was conceived into this world, making me 33 years as I write this paper. I was brought home to our apartment in Lagrange by my mother and an aunt who died seven years later from cervical cancer. My father, Alonzo Recio, was not present in the maternity word nor anywhere around the Dixons West Hospital when I was delivered. I am a female with pure white complexion. My mother gave birth to me when she was only 18 years old. At her adolescence, she was on a runway home when she met Mr. Alonzo Recio, and they became lover birds. They were both whites who lived in Texas. However, my father was sentenced by the courts of law for being on the wrong crown. Therefore, he Spends 23 years in jail, which meant my infancy was taken care of by my then single mother. She bought me a puppy when I was six months old and named it Nolido. Nolido was the same age as I was, and we became great friends.
I could quickly write here and tell how difficult my life has been though I do not want it to be a sob story. As noted, I was born in Langrage, Texas, but the first place I lived with the recollection of existing was in Flatonia. My mother had gotten a job in Bryan, and we had to move closer to her home of work. She couldn’t live me at Lagrange since I was still young. People grow up in varying and different environments, around different people, and varying circumstances, which all play together to cause different and diverse effects in lives. I am who I am today because of my childhood experiences and the people who hang around me. It was just my mother and me since my father was serving a sentence. I never met him until when I was 23 years old. Of course, this was after his release. However, my mother feared to face the odds of having her only daughter to become the stereotypical kid with a single parent that went down the wrong path. She attempted several relationships. The first one was in Spring, Texas, an abusive relationship due to alcohol and drugs. My mother, Carol, was not happy with the relationship. Therefore, she chose to get married again to a man living in Ohio. I appreciate that Mr. James Bissler, my stepfather for 23 years, welcomed me and my mother, Carol Bissler. I was privileged to have both parents and four siblings despite having a rough time as a kid, teenager, and now a young adult. My biological father died three years ago.
Erik Erikson was a German Psychoanalyst. He played essential and vital roles by making contributions in human growth and development, and psychology. Erickson is widely known for his developmental theory in psychology. He is credited for developing the eight psychological stages that human beings experience throughout their growth and development. According to Erickson, each of the eight stages of mental development plays a particular role in shaping people’s characters. He noted that “every one of these stages builds towards one’s personality, characteristics, and lives in general.” According to developmental theory, as propounded by Erick Erickson, each of the eight stages of development deals with two types of crises in human life. According to the method, the first crisis is the successful way of experiencing a particular scene, while the second way is to fail the stage. In his theory, Erickson notes that individuals who complete an initial are ready to carry on throughout life in the best methods and enter the next stages until the eight are completed.
The doyen of developmental theory propounds that the early stages of life are more significant in the inclusive growth and development. That’s not to say that later steps are not necessary. They are equally crucial as they contribute towards determining why some individuals behave the way they do. Since I am only 34, I have not completed the eight stages of development; my paper will only reminisce on the stages that I have experienced, experienced, overcome, and discovered the person I am today.
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Autonomy versus shame and doubt comes second after the trust and mistrust stage of Erick Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development theory. According to Erickson, the stage occurs when a child is between 18 months to three years (18 months-3 years). The doyen of the opinion notes that children become more focused on developing senses of controlling their physical skills, environment, and developing strong feelings of independence at this stage. Children start to develop self-esteem and autonomy as they integrate with others and learn new skills (Lewis & Abell, 2020). Developmental theory suggests that children at this stage begin to determine what is right and wrong. Those who build autonomy become sure of themselves, carry their heads high, and find pride in their achievements. Those children who fail to develop independence become vulnerable, shameful, and develop low self-esteem (Lewis, & Abell, 2020). The psychosocial development theory further suggested that the inability to learn skills and control the environment causes shame and doubt. A child may show stubbornness, throw tantrums, and break down due to emotions. Erickson noted that success in this stage leads to the will’s virtue, unlike on the first stage, where success solely depended on trust as the causal lead to happiness (Leal et al. 2017). Therefore, he suggested that parents and guardians must allow children to explore the limits of their abilities and failures within an encouraging environment that tolerates failure. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development proposed four-stage of development. The sensory and motor stage is experienced between (18-24 months). Motor activities happen without symbols, preferably experience, trial, and error.
According to my mother, Carol, and stepfather, I experienced autonomy more than how I experienced shame and doubt in my early childhood. My parents informed me that the moments where I would experience embarrassment and doubt I would break down crying, throw tantrums, and lock myself in my room. She also told me that I started asserting my independence by walking away from her, selectively chose what toy to play with, and made my choices on what clothes I wanted to put on, and the food I wanted to eat. If my options were not granted, however, my mother Carol said I used to throw tantrums. On her part, she put me on the floor in my room and left me there. I would later find her after I had finished my tantrums. My parents informed me that that’s how they taught me that I was not going to have my way by crying and throwing up tantrums. When we were introduced to Kohlberg’s theory in class, I started tying it to my early childhood experiences, as explained by my mother. I realized that neither my mother nor my stepfather punished me for my tantrums; neither did they reward me for the same. The experiences taught me yet another lesson. I learned that crying and throwing tantrums earned me nothing except puffy eyes and injured hands. I never got what I wanted. My mother taught essential life lessons in my early childhood. I want to say that’s why I have learned that nothing comes on a silver platter throughout my life. I believe that if I want something, I must work hard to get it instead of getting upset, crying, getting puffy eyes, or pitying myself.
Initiative vs. Guilt
Initiative versus guilt is the third stage of Erick Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development. According to Erick Erickson, children in the initiative versus guilt stage assert themselves more frequently through playing and direct interaction with parents, friends, and relatives. The stage is associated with children at the bracket of (3-5 years). These are the years that children start schooling. The initiative versus guilt stage is particularly lively. It is categorized by rapid child development and its time of vigorous actions and behaviors that can be viewed as aggressive (Dunkel, & Harbke, 2017). Erick Erickson noted that children in this stage desire to copy everything their parents, guardians, or adults do and fit their identities, hence causing creative plays throughout. The original plays may include dress ups, building blocks, playing Barbie’s, and cooking/parenting games. Under the psychosocial developmental theory, children in the initiative versus guilt stage develop mindsets that wonder and wander, as the word “why” becomes central in all actions they execute (Krebs, 2019). If the parents and guardians treat the questions as a nuisance, embarrassing, trivial, or demeaning, they develop a sense of guilt and being a nuisance. Children begin to plan activities, make up games and initiate actions with other children. Erickson noted that if provided with opportunities, children develop initiative senses and capabilities and feel secure in making their decisions and leading their friends. However, if children tend to make decisions, play, and lead others is squelched through control and criticism, they overly and conversely develop a sense of guilt. Therefore, they overstep the marks in forceful methods and attract restrictions and punishments from their parents and guardians. Erickson suggested there should be a healthy balance between initiative and guilt since success in this stage leads to the virtue of purpose and a sense of guilt in case of failure.
Another essential developmental aspect that can be adopted in this stage is found in the Electra and Oedipus complex we covered in class. The Oedipus complex is a psychoanalytic theory that explains that children at this stage begin to develop “sexual desires with the parent of the opposite sex and a concomitant rivalry with the parent of the opposite sex” as children try to discover their identities. Jean Piaget’s stage of Preoperational happens in this category. Children start developing memories and imaginations and become egocentric (Tourmen, C. 2016). Jean Piaget noted in his 1936 theory that children’s main achievement at the preoperational stage is the ability to attach meaning to different objects while using language and think symbolically.
Growing up as a girl at the heart of Texas, in a family of four with a step farther, and my mother Carol, I did not experience the Electra complex. I was never jealous of my mother towards my stepfather, but instead appreciated the roles both parents played in my life. I must note that I have not yet recognized and comprehended the Oedipus and Electra complex. I found both of them to be very odd in society and human growth and development. However, I looked forward to my parents, teachers, and adults staying in our neighborhood for construction and role identification. I am the type of girl who always watched her mother doing house chores such as washing utensils, clothes, dusting the house, cooking, lighting, and styling her friends’ hair and putting on makeup. I loved dressing up and playing imaginary games with my young brother Charlie and other children in the neighborhood.
I remember my mother took me several occasions to the hospital, where she worked as a nurse. I watched her put on nursing attires, white aprons, and caps, and how she administered treatments to her patients. Coming back home, I would also put on aprons, gather my Barbie dolls or friends, take imaginary drugs or needles, and attend to my imaginary clients. I once injured my brother using a thorn that I was using to administer my fanciful treatment.
Infancy development
The infancy stage of development in the human being is significantly defined by the time between birth and one year. This is when one develops various survival aspects of a human being, like motor skills, communication skills, and other aspects of maintaining and improving infant survival techniques. Based on my life autobiography in relation to psychological concept, I remember little information about my infancy development but based on the data from parents, siblings, grandparents, family photos, baby books, video records, scrapbooks, reports cards and medical records I can define some factual information about how dramatic my infancy life was. Regarding the information from various sources about my infancy development in life, my mother told me that I was born when she was eighteen years old when she was previously in a runaway home. That’s how she met my biological father. Unfortunately, my infancy life experienced various challenges because my father was arrested, and I had to survive. Most of my stories were narrated to me about my infancy life by my mother.
Cognitive development based on Piaget’s
Based on my infancy and childhood life, Piaget’s cognitive development stage gives an accurate picture of infancy cognitive development theoretically. According to the cognitive development stage of infants based on Piaget’s stage, this information facilitates in describing the infancy stage. Children learn through the various process involved in their life since birth. They undertake multiple practices and experiments to learn about the world through observations to understand everything around them as they learn the worldly life. According to Piaget’s theory, every child undergoes four stages; preoperational, sensorimotor, concrete operational, and formal. About my infancy life, which is adding up in my developmental biography, most of the sensorimotor stage aspect I have already forgotten due to my poor memory. In my infancy development, I remember the part that I sued to do thumb sucking. As a result, my mother could come after me through a profound shout and punishment to try and make me stop the habit.
Regarding the information given to me by my mother about my infancy, the life she told me that I used to suck anything within my hands, which she was trying to stop from accruing into a strong-bad habit. Based on the thematic psychological concerns of infancy life, my bad habits of sucking things within my hands or anything that I can reach are connected to the sensorimotor stage of development where many infants keep redoing a particular thing pleasures them. My grandparents reminded me of how I used to need many things when I was an infant. Though various necessary actions such as listening, grasping, sucking, and looking, this is the time when I learned about the world and how to explore the world regarding my healthy surrounding. Besides, I realized how various things happen and what causes them and how to deal with some small staff to survive. However, although the infancy stage is a short period, it is a profound developmental stage with an excellent growth aspect.
Trust vs. Mistrust
Based on Erikson’s development theory, trust and mistrust are other stages that can be identified in the autobiography in infancy development life. The trust and mistrust stages in life happen in infancy development between birthday and the age of eighteen months—every human being experiences trust and mistrust issues during the infancy stage. According to Erikson’s development stage, trust is the fundamental thing that every child requires to survive in this stage. During this stage, the infant develops confidence, optimism, and trust-based on their surrounding environments. The factor that leads to failure in this stage is the mistrust factor, which happens in a case where the parents do not take care of their infants, which result into developing unfortunate mistrust aspect in their life. Every human being started in this stage based on Erikson’s developmental stage. If an individual misses a single part of the infant stages, people end up suffering later in life. The relationship between the infant and their parents determines the trust and mistrust level to create a strong bonding that may reflect every individual’s future growth.
My Elementary school – Anderson Elementary Spring tx. Sedalia Elementary in Ohio. Middle Schools- spring middle school, Dueitt middle school, Splendora middle school, New Caney High school, Splendora High School. It was always rough leaving a school, but since I had left spring so often, the ones who grew up knew I’d be back eventually. Teenage live/adolescent experiences (good and bad) Teen years were not the best. My mother kept us very sheltered- Id assumes because she didn’t want me to grow up the way that she did. (Personal level – my grandmother was raped when she was about 17 years old. She had my mother but then resented her later on in life. My grandmother was very mean to her. Did things like pulling her hair, hitting her with contact force, and with objects? She was in foster care for a year or two but never went back to my grandmother until a later date. She ran away several times. I ended up in a runaway shelter, and that’s where she met my father. Back to teen years. I was very sheltered, which made me act out and rebellious. I was always grounded and began to hate my mother and to be in the house.
In terms of my life based on the infancy stage of development, including the psychological stage of Erikson’s stage is based on my life from the beginning of my life. Since I was born before my mother was arrested, I have grown around various supportive members, loving friends and family, parents, cousins, and grandmothers, among other kin. However, after my mother was arrested, I had to change my life deal strategy since my life changed completely. The trust that I had towards my mother was more compared to other people that I was left with after she was arrested. Psychologically I was mentally affected by the fact that I grew up without my mother’s care. Based on the psychological aspect of nature, Vs. Nurture is involved in an individual’s life affected by the environmental basics where one grows and develops. The experience that I have gone through my infancy development stage, through interacting among various elders and the environment taught me and made me a healthy person.
Adolescents’ development
The adolescent stage of development is the stage of transition from childhood to adulthood’s phase of life. However, although the teenage stage of growth seems to be more of a turbulence stage of life, this is the time when people get engaged with the world in complexity (Fernández & Vega, 2017). Typically during the adolescent stage, this is the period when people grow physically, think critically, try new things, and develop various relationships complexions. Significantly, the teenage stage of development periods is generally based on the development as far as the transition from childhood to adulthood is conserved. Basing the psychological concept upon my autobiography, this is the stage that is experienced various challenges and learned many things about life survival techniques.
Social contact
My life has been generally experienced various issues since my mother was arrested, and I was left to deal with life on myself. I had a rough life during the adolescent stage of life, and I had my first child when I was 18 years old. However, I got engaged through various abusive life habits such as abusive relationships, drugs, and alcohol abuse. Although life experiences were tough during the adolescent stage, I managed to pull out of the habits and normalized my life. Social identity was the aspect that mostly occurred within my adolescent developmental life. The challenges and mishaps that I underwent while I was adolescent created another perspective of life.
This was the stage when I developed more intimacy with my peers; thus, I had to part with parenting and kin around my life. However, the result of all this was not much pleasing, simply because I was influenced by my peers more than I listened to my guardian in my life. My life was turning out to be more miserable. Most of the time, I could ask many rhetorical questions about my life and how, ideally, I can deal with peer pressure issues to avoid there impact (Rutten,2017). Life becomes too hard as time went by since I went ahead and disobeyed my teacher’s advice about my education. Most of the time, dilemma situations could be faced since the advice from both my guardians and peers were the two things to consider.
Sincerely this was the most challenging part of my life that has ever happened. Psychologically I was mentally tortured with the adolescent stage and having difficult times to choose the best option.
Identity vs. Role Confusion
Identity and role confusion stage of development, this I the stage when children grow throughout their adolescent period based on their environment socially. This is the time when what is in the surrounding environment in terms of social environment disposition starts becoming an essential aspect of their life. When an individual is around 12-18 years of age, which is an adolescent age bracket, this is when identity and role confusion aspect impact on their life. During this stage, the teenagers try out all the methods to discover who they are and their purpose in life. In my life, I experienced this stage since I had to undergo this process by associating with my fellow peers while exploring my abilities and skills. Within the adolescent stage, the issue is, if one will be able to identify who they are, moving to the next level becomes easy. In contrast, if you fail to identify themselves, they face the aspect of confusion considerably, which may affect their life.
Psychologically, during this stage, the teenagers’ concern is generally based on how people think about them and the type of image they possess back to society. The egocentrism aspect is best expressed during this adolescent stage, which plays a significant role in the aspect of role confusion and identity (Rutten et al., 2017). In my life, I was deeply affected during this stage since I was concerned by the fact that how people think about me matters more than me reality. The identity and role confusion significantly played a significant role in my life, in reference to my life, I had no clue about my life. Throughout my life in high school, I went through various friend groups. This is what affected me psychologically since when I started drug and alcohol abuse was a result of the bad company of friends who influenced me to join.
Early Adulthood development
The early adulthood stage of development is the busy stage part of life. This was the period when I married, and I heard to start my own family through marriage. I have four children in which two are boys and two girls; this is the time when I was serious in my life.
Intimacy and solidarity vs. isolation
Even though it is based on Erikson’s developmental stages, this is the fourth stage, and it has a significant impact on people’s lives. In my life, I have experienced these two stages; intimacy solidarity and isolation. Psychologically during this stage this when individuals are in need of companionship, express love, and even starting marital life after the election. Through psychological concepts, lack of this stage can have an advanced effect on the people throughout their lives (Weimer et al., 2017). I am 33 years of age married and one infant. My life has been excellent and good, but since I married, the psychological problems have reduced. For example, psychologically, when she cheated on me, I was experiencing the aspect of identity and role of the confusion stage. However, my intimacy and solidarity development life pattern has been through ups and downs until I have reached 33 years of age.
Conclusion
Human life development undergoes various psychology stages to synthesize a sufficiently complex human being, who has all that it is required within the cognitive, physical, and social aspects for survival. Although psychologists have been trying to understand all the life stages of development, there is still a gap to learn more about human being’s psychological development. My life has been through a lot, but I have been able to conquer them. Every stage of psychological human development based in my autobiography handled every task with appropriate measures needed to tackle it. Lastly, human developmental stages based on psychology literary defined life and how to handle all life situations.
References
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