THE DOMAINS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT( the physical, cognitive, emotional and social development) AND THE CHALLENGES OF OLD AGE
INTRODUCTION
In
the inquisitive affairs of our developing world, the mind frame of countless
number of people (particularly children) has been consistently perturbed with
the question of the strange but familiar trend of behaviours, attitudes and mannerisms of most
aged individuals whose existence tend to visibly portray some awkward operations of the human
activity.
Adulthood
still remains a mystery yet to be unraveled by most children and on some few
occasions some matured individuals as well find this very disturbing too. A
young boy asking his parent why old people (especially his grandmother) behaves
and act like a baby is not to be looked at with an astonishing judgement with
regards such question. This explains why the subject matter of adulthood is a
never ending discourse in the field of study of developmental psychology. Invariably, the stage of adulthood is the last
phase of human development. Although there is no clear point when adulthood
begins and it is universally agreed that adolescence gradually fades into young
adulthood and at a later point, full adulthood begins.
In
this paper, we will have a look at the domains of development (the physical,
cognitive, emotional and social development) and the challenges at the old age.
As a systematic format the content of this paper will be as follows; a brief
discourse on what is psychology and developmental psychology, the domains of
development, the experiences of adulthood, challenges faced by aged people and
a possible care for them and then conclusion. It is on this note that I venture
into the discourse: "Domains of Human Development and The Challenges at
Old Age."
PSYCHOLOGY
The question why I am the way I am
leads us to define Psychology as the study of people; how they think, act,
react and interact. Psychology is concerned with all aspects of behaviour and
the thoughts, feelings and motivations underlying that behaviour. It studies
the internal and external nature of human behaviour and how the mind and human
behaviour inter-relate with each other[1].
In their search for the causes of diverse forms of behaviour, psychologists
take into account biological, psychological and environmental factors.
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
This is an aspect of psychology
which deals with the development, growth and behaviour in human beings right
from the time of conception to the period of adolescence when most of the
functions of the body become matured. It also deals with the factors which
determine what a child will become in future.[2]
DEVELOPMENT
This refers to the qualitative
changes in an organism. It is a progressive series of orderly and coherent
changes in human beings. Progressive in that the changes are distinct and leads
to a continuous trend of development and orderly and coherent because there is
a definite relationship between a given stage and the stages which follow it.
It can be described as a complex process of integrating many structures and
functions in an organism[3].
It is seen as patterns of change over time which begin at conception and
continue throughout the life span. Development occurs in different domains,
such as the biological (changes in our physical being), social (changes in our
social relationships), emotional (changes in our emotional understanding and
experiences), and cognitive (changes in our thought processes). As a result of
the integration, changes are dependent upon what preceded them and they in turn
affect what comes after.
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Human development can be simply
defined as a process of enlarging choices. Every day human beings make a series
of choices – some economic, some social, some political, some cultural. If people
are the proper focus of developmental efforts, then these efforts should be
geared to enhancing the range of choices in all areas of human endeavour for
every human being. Human development is
both a process and an outcome. It is concerned with the process through which
choices are enlarged, but it also focuses on the outcomes of enhanced choices.
DOMAINS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
We have three domains of human
development which are social development, physical development, cognitive
development and social development. These different domains of development do
not occur in isolation, they go hand in hand with each other. As children grows
cognitively, physically, the children also grows emotionally and socially[4].
These developments occur together and not in different time and space.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
This involves the values, knowledge and skills
that enables children to relate with others effectively and also help them to
participate positively in the family, school and community in general. Through
social development children build a sense of who they are and of the social
roles available to them. As a child develop socially, they both respond to the
influence around them and play an active part in shaping their relationships. Statistics
from most psychological research have shown that children who have the ability to
interact with what is in the society and also develop an inter-personal
relationship among peers are those that involve themselves in social
development.
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
It refers to changes in body-size
and structure, functioning of various
body systems, brain development, perceptual and motor development. This process
start in infancy and continues into late adolescence, concentrating on gross
and fine motor skill as well as puberty. It helps the child to gain self
confidence thus promoting social and emotional development.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
In line with both physical and
cognitive development, all the children progresses through phases of emotional
development. Children are different in their emotional development. Emotions
are not easily noticed like cognition and the action of parents towards their
children plays a vital role in the emotional development of their wards. It is
an emergence of a child's experience, expressions, understanding and regulation
of emotions from birth through late adolescence. It involves how growth and
changes in these processes concerning emotions occur.
Though
these expression of emotions all start at different stages in a child's life, but
are all present in adolescence. Such emotions as shame, self recognition are
more present in adolescence. These emotional developments lead to a strong
sense of independence and self recognition. Emotional expressions are largely
non verbal, although some emotions are verbal. At different stages, individuals
express their emotions differently, a toddler may cry in expression of emotions
or throw tantrums, in the case of adolescence or an adult emotions are
expressed in a different ways or manners. Temperament plays a vital role in the
expression of emotions and the child's capacity to control impulses can be
regulated by emotions. Peer interaction often offer natural opportunities for
adolescents to control their emotions.
Social
and emotional developments are strongly linked and sometimes they are studied
together. Not only parents but other people in the social environment play
important roles in a child's emotional development. Some emotional expressions
include; smile, anger, joy, happiness, love, fear, distress, pleasure, are all
categorized under the variety of emotions[5].
Emotional
development grows alongside with other domains in the form of neural, cognitive
and behavioural development.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
It
refers to the development of cognitive and intellectual processes, including
memory, attention, intelligence , academic knowledge, problem solving,
imagination and creativity. It also includes development of language. It
involves in the construction of thought process which include problem solving,
decision making which runs through childhood to adolescence and adulthood. According
to Piaget's theory on cognitive development who rightly posits that development
occurs in a series of four distinct, universal stages, each characterized by
increasingly sophisticated and abstract levels of thought[6].
The stages are:
INFANCY
(SENSORY MOTOR STAGE): Here intelligence is demonstrated through motor activity
without the use of symbols. Knowing the world is limited but is developing
TODDLER
AND EARLY CHILDHOOD (PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE): At this stage intelligence is demonstrated
through the use of symbol, usage of languages and memory and imagination are
developed but thinking is done in a non logical and non reversible manner.
ELEMENTARY
AND EARLY ADOLESCENCE (CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE): Here intelligence is shown
through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete
objects.
ADOLESCENCE
AND ADULTHOOD (FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE): Intelligence here is demonstrated
through the logical uses of symbols related to abstract concepts.
CHALLENGES AT OLD
AGE
From
adulthood stage to senescence, all the systems in the body begin to decline
both in function and structure. This involves physical, cognitive and
emotional. The physical challenges are as follows and enlisted below.[7]
VISUAL ACUITY
Number of other factors may account for visual
impairment at adulthood like; refractive errors, accident, muscle impairment,
diseases, cataract, glaucoma among other visual impairments. Aging is the most critical factor. Many
adults need reading glasses for near vision with increasing age and have
difficulty seeing in weak light and in the periphery of vision due to loss of
red cells in the retina after middle age.
HEARING ACUITY
Our
ability to hear high-pitched tones declines after 20 years, with loss of
ability to hear low- pitched sounds beginning in the 60s. There is an
experience of a rapid decline in hearing which often starts at the age of 20
when the Central Nervous System begins to decline in function.
SENSE OF TASTE
Our
sense of taste remains much intact into late life though many adults often
report that the taste of their food most times have bland taste and this is
relative to the fact that the sense of smell declines with aging.
REACTION TIME
Reaction
time measures the time interval between receiving a stimulus and reacting to
it. Reaction time increases from early childhood, which reaches its maximum at
about 18 and then significantly declines beyond 40s[8].
CEREBRAL ARTERIOSCLEROSIS:
(hardening of the arteries)
This
results in serious loss of intellectual ability. The rate and extent of these declines differ
markedly from individual to individual depending partly on the level of healthy
exercise and activity that the individual maintains during adulthood. Between 42 and 50, there is a decline in the
strength and speed of movement in the heart. Oxygen supply to the brain also
diminishes with increasing age. All these will affect the capacity of an adult
to learn.
COGNITIVE CHALLENGE
Cognitive
development continues to take place during adulthood. Small but steady
improvement occurs from 20s to 70s in the components of crystallized
intelligence such as knowledge of facts and word meanings. No declines occur
before about age 75 in such fundamental aspects of intelligence as the ability
to reason about everyday problems, and understand mathematical concepts, or to
learn and remember meaningful information.
Declines
do occur in fluid intelligence and short term memory during later adulthood.
Older adults tend to perform slightly well (in a rather lower performance) than
younger adults in abstract problem solving, divergent thinking and cognitive
tasks that must be performed quickly. The cognitive performance of older adults
is generally slow than younger adults. Older adults, however, do better than
younger adults on tasks of word meaning and decision making and perform equally
on learning and reasoning about every day concepts.
EMOTIONAL CHALLENGE
The
challenge here is to find meaning in our generative activities which may
be work, family life, religion,
community activities. The focus is now more on others rather than self. This
could be the most productive and creative period in ones live. This generative
activity is a matter of reaching out rather than being self-centered. A person
who is self-absorbed in this period will stagnate and find that life looses
much of its meaning during middle adulthood.
CLIMACTERIC
CHALLENGE
This
is another challenge at old age, it refers to the biological and psychic
changes that accompany the termination of the reproductive period in female and
normal diminution of sexual activity in male. The early years in adult is the
time of increase in sexual activity. It is maintained till middle thirties from
when the vigour decreases till late adulthood.
The
climacteric changes is discovered differently in both male and female and the changes
that occurs in men are less notable than that of women. There is a decline in
the number of sperm cells produced and slight changes in the pattern of sexual
arousal, but the decrease in sex hormones that occurs during the climacteric
period appears to have few psychological or sexual effects on men[9].
There are some factors that can lead to this as stated by Masters and Johnson (1966):-
Monotony,
which has to do with a long-standing sexual relationship that may lead to lack
of interest on the part of the male, loss of attractiveness of the female, and
failure of the relationship to develop. Male pre-occupation with careers, physical
or mental fatigue, excessive alcohol consumption, physical and mental
dysfunction of either partner and fear of failure to perform.
For
women the decrease in the level of sex hormones eventually leads to the end of
menstruation (a stage that is genealogically referred to as Menopause). During
menopause, the reproductive organs are atrophied, the virginal wall thickens,
and there is a decrease in virginal lubrication during sexual stimulation. It
is sometimes accompanied by “hot flashes”, anxiety, depression and insomnia.
Many women do have an increased interest in sex at this period because they are
no longer exposed to the possible risk of getting pregnant.
INTEGRITY AND
DESPAIR
The
older adult who sees meaning in his or her life when considered as a whole
continues to live a satisfying existence instead of merely staying alive.
However, the person who sees life as a collection of unmet goals, unanswered
riddles and disappointment, may despair in an attempt of ever achieving a
meaningful life and will then withdraw and live out the remaining years like a
prison sentence.
DEATH AND DYING
The
life cycle begins with the life of a single cell and ends with the death of the
being that unfolded from the cell. Everything has an end, including each of our
lives. Contemplating and planning for one’s death is a normal part of our
existence. Older adults often come to accept its inevitability with little
anguish. Highly religious individuals experience the least fear of death while
those that do not consistently practice their faith experience the greatest
fear of dying[10].
CONCLUSION
Crossing
through the lines of the stages of the human developmental processes, there is
always that conscious need to be mindful of the various channels of advancement
pertaining to our existence that man must necessarily pass through from the
very moment of our conception to the utmost climax of our extinction-
"death," that which inescapable physiological occurrence in one's own
life. Mindful of a certain exception, that the human person cannot
progressively proceed to this aspect of nature without undergoing the
descending moment or period of "Old Age."
In
the explanatory pages of this paper, several ideas has been essentially examined ranging from a brief
discourse on psychology, the domains of development (relating to the physical,
cognitive, emotional and social development), and the challenges faced by aged
people, all of which are related to subject matter of discussion.
Whatever
is experienced and observed in the developmental stages of the human person
should be valued, embraced, and accepted by every distinct individual as a
psychological input, structure and make-up that is unique and inevitably
subsumed in the human person and its existential nature.
[1] www.encyclopedia.com
[3] The Principles of
Developmental Psychology, an introduction to child development
[4] Paul Henry, John Janeway
Conger, Jerome Kajan, Aletha Carol Huston, Child development and personality
7th ed.(Harper and Row Publishers, New York)
[5] Developmental Psychology
(PDE 102) 193
[6] Paul Henry, John Janeway
Conger, Jerome Kajan, Aletha Carol Huston, Child development and personality
7th ed.(Harper and Row Publishers, New York)
[7] Developmental Psychology
(PDE 102)195
[8] Developmental Psychology
(PDE 102) 195
[9] Developmental Psychology (PDE
102)195
[10] Developmental Psychology
(PDE 102)198
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