Theories and Role in Life Development - Literature review Example

Self-Awareness Reflection Paper Introduction In the last nine weeks, I have delved into reflecting on the events and occurrences that have had tremendous impact shaping the person I am today. I personally view this as a unique experience where my emotions were stable enough to enable me to divulge into incidences that there before went unnoticed. With emotional stability comes objectivity which enabled me to revisit experiences that were too painful for me to open up about and were often buried deep inside me. This self-awareness moment can be compared to that time in one’s life where one experiences freedom, freedom from all the emotional insecurity, fear of failure, anger, rejection, regret and loneliness which had engraved and altered my perception. Wong (2008) proposed self-awareness as the most effective approach to recognizing our individual personalities, strengths as well as weaknesses. When we become self-aware, we are able to realize occurrences in our lives that might at times result to feelings of stress or pressure. Theories and Role in Life Development Sigmund Freud’s theory of explains personality as dependent on the interactions of three fundamental constructions namely the ego, superego and the id (Blerk, 2010). Throughout the human life, we strive to find a balance between the three conflicting structures which largely influences our desires ultimately negating how we behave and our view of the world. According to Blerk (2010), the id is the primitive part of the mind where sexual aggressiveness originates. At the same time, memories are hidden in this part of the brain. Moral conscience is governed by the super-ego aspect of the mind while the ego is the balancing part that ensures that the desires of the id and the superego are balanced. After internalizing the psychoanalytic theory, I have learnt to accept and face some something that I used to evade. For the better part of my life, my grandmother has raised me and was the only family I resonated with until I attained 19 years. Not spending time with my biological mother and father scarred me a lot especially when growing up although my grandmother was exceptionally good at playing the guardian role. The biggest challenge in my adolescent life was how to balance the relationship between my grandmother and my biological parents who I had never interacted with nor known them on a personal level. Kline (2014) suggested that for one to get closure, you should focus less on our individual life histories. Freud's theory further proposes the need to find a balance in the different social situations we face since it ensures conflict resolution between two tendencies and behaviours that are overarching (Fonagy, 2010). Similarly, by finding a balance, drives such as our pleasure seeking and biological aggressiveness as well as our socialized internal control are normalized. Piaget theory seeks to expound on human development especially in relation to cognitive development. According to Dweck (2013), Piaget’s first theory of cognitive development is concerned with explaining the aspects and development of human intelligence. Although Piaget proposed four stages, that is, the sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete operational and Formal operational, it is in the concrete operational stage that I started to grow and apply rationality in my thinking. Arnett (2014) noted that in addition to rationale thinking children at this stage tend to be firm since a majority of the time they are battling subjective and theoretical ideas. I could confirm that it is during this stage that I started becoming curious about my surroundings and the social structures especially the composition of family units. I managed to Find my dad at age 9, decide to spend some time with him and ended up running away because of physical abuse since he had already created a family of his own. In addition, during this stage, I faced several challenges that weighed me down, for instance, for one i started working at the age of 12 which was even far much younger to be employed in my country. Working as a child was not something I imagined but it can be attributed to the fact that we faced difficulties in raising finances which often resulted in me missing school and monumental exams. Although during formal operational stage according to Piaget’s theory one should experience increased thinking capability since deductive reasoning and knowledge of subjective concepts begins at this point I delivered my first baby at the beginning of this phase which helped me realize the career I wanted to venture in. I can openly attest that it was the moment of self-realization and awareness since I was able to express myself more as well as make life-changing decisions. Additionally, the period came with increased independence. Currently, I am a surgical tech still pursuing my bachelors where I'll become a registered nurse and afterwards my masters where I will become a certified nurse anesthesiologist. The psychodynamic perspective can be demystified by assessing Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory. According to Berk (2010), human development is highly influenced by society and culture. This theory is similar to Sigmund Freud's theory in that human development is continuous although in Erik’s theory it occurs in eight stages. The infancy stage is characterized by trust versus mistrust normally in the infancy stage. Berk (2010) noted that the during epigenetic model proposed by Erik one faces psychosocial crisis that may either result in a positive or negative outcome during personality development. Arnett (2014) explained that the crisis emerges from conflicting psychological needs against society needs. The Erik eight stages of development maintain that in each stage the two conflicting ideas must successfully be resolved to ensure that one develops confidence and positively contributes to the society (Dweck, 2013). Feelings of inadequacy arise when one is unable to balance the two ideas. In my infancy stage, I had a responsive and attentive caregiver that is my grandmother resulting in mutual trust. Broderick and Blewitt (2010) argued that the fifth stage, which is the adolescent stage, is the most critical since it signifies identity realization or role confusion. In this stage, I was able to explore and identify what I wanted to do in life which is becoming a surgical tech. In conclusion, personal development plays an important role in enhancing self-knowledge and identity. The idea of self-development and self-awareness is critical to ensure future development, especially in their respective career perspective. Reference Arnett, J. J. (2014). Adolescence and emerging adulthood. Boston, MA: Pearson. Berk, L. E. (2010). Exploring lifespan development. Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. (2010). The lifespan. Human development for helping professionals. Dweck, C. S. (2013). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Psychology Press. Fonagy, P. (2010). Psychoanalytic theories. The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology, 1-4. Kline, P. (2014). Psychology and Freudian theory: An introduction. Routledge. Wong, W. K. (2008). How much time-inconsistency is there and does it matter? Evidence on self-awareness, size, and effects. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 68(3-4), 645-656. Read More