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Theories assist us to a clearer understanding of adolescent psychology.
Answering
the question of what adolescence is like today is not as simple as it may at
first appear.
It
has only been within the present century that coherent theories of adolescent
development have been formulated. Scientific methods must be used to verify or
refute all aspects of such theories. Only evidence gathered in the real world
and carefully analyzed can tell us whether or not theories are correct. In this
particular article we descried following theories: biopsychological, social,
psycho social, biopsychosocial.
Stanley
Hall (1844-1924) is known as the father of adolescent psychology. He is one of
the chief architects of biopsychological concept. Building upon Charles Darwin's
ideas about evolution, Hall constructed a psychological theory of teenage
development. It was published in two volumes and entitled Adolescence (1904).
Hall posited four discrete periods of development, which he felt correspond to
the four lengthy stages of development of our species: infancy/animal;
childhood/anthropoid (humanlike apes); youth/half-barbarian; and
adolescence/civilized. Thus, the period from 8 to 12 years corresponds to the
more settled life of the agricultural world of several thousand years ago. This
is the time when children are willing to practice and to discipline themselves;
this is when routine training and drills are the most appropriate—especially
for language and mathematics. Hall made a major point of the "contradicting
tendencies" of adolescence experience of violent mood swings, which he
felt tended to make youth more human. Some of the turbulent variations he noted
are:
• Energy and enthusiasm vs. indifference and
boredom
• Gaiety and laughter vs. gloom and
melancholy
• Vanity and boastfulness vs. humiliation
and bashfulness
• Sensitivity vs. callousness
• Tenderness vs. cruelty
Hall
felt that the development of most human beings stopped short of this adolescent
stage, in which appreciation of music and art are achieved. Hall believed that
adolescence is the only period in which we have any hope of improving our
species. He felt that placing teenagers in enriched environments would improve
their genes, which their children would then inherit. His theory is considered
wrong. His theory most particularly does not present a true picture of
adolescence. Since Hall looked only at American culture, and since most
individuals in the culture did develop similarly, he mistakenly thought that
genes were responsible for this similarity. In more than one hundred years of
psychological research, it is impossible to think of anyone who has played a
larger role than Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).
adolescence - the genital stage (12 years old and older), there is a
surge of sexual hormones in both genders, which brings about an unconscious
recurrence of the phallic stage (3 to 5 years old). Normally, however, youths
have learned that desire for one's mother is taboo, and so they set about
establishing relationships (bumblingly at first) with agemates of the opposite
sex. Freud believed that if these five stages are not negotiated successfully,
homosexuality or an aversion to sexuality itself results. A trained
psychoanalyst like her father, Anna Freud (1895-1982) believed that his
definition of adolescence was too sketchy. Anna Freud saw the major problem of
adolescence as being the restoration of the delicate balance between the
superego and the id, which is established during latency and disrupted by
puberty. The problems brought about by this internal conflict cause the
adolescent to regress to earlier stages of development. Anna Freud discovered
two primarily adolescent defense mechanisms: asceticism, in which, as a defend
against the sexual, "sinful" drives of youth, the teenager frequently
becomes extremely religious; and intellectualization, in which the adolescent
defends against emotional feelings of all kinds by becoming extremely logical
about life. Perhaps the best known of the newer psychoanalytic theorists is
Peter Bios. He holds that changes in relationships with others, rather than
physihological changes such as the development of the sexual system, play the
most important role. The early adolescent begins to form close relationships
with friends of the same sex. In some cases, these early friendships do involve
some sexual experimentation, but they are mainly ways of defending the ego from
the fearful changes in self-concepts. As adolescents enter the middle period,
they begin to relate more to opposite sex friends. Because of the intensity of
these new relationships, adolescents also tend to be "narcissistic,"
taking an intense interest in themselves, including their appearance and their
thoughts». They become self-absorbed, and very defensive about any criticisms.
This is because their image to others is so intensely important to them in this
new stage.
Albert
Bandura, one of the chief architects of social learning theory, has stressed
the potent influence of modeling on personality development. He calls this
observational learning. Observational learning means that the information we
get from observing other people, things, and events greatly influences the way
we act. Bandura holds that adolescent development does not happen in
predictable stages but as a result of social stimuli from the environment.
Robert Havighurst (b. 1900), a sociologist at the University of Chicago, became
a major spokesperson. He suggested that there are specific developmental tasks
at each stage of life, which lie midway between the needs of the individual and
the goals of Western society. He defined these tasks as skills, knowledge,
functions, and attitudes that are needed by an individual in order to succeed
in life. As with Freudian theory, the inability to negotiate successfully any
particular stage interferes with success at all succeeding stages. For the
adolescent stage, Havighurst (1951) describes nine developmental tasks:
• Accepting one's physique and accepting a
masculine or feminine role.
• Forming new relations with agemates of
both sexes.
• Achieving emotional independence of
parents and other adults.
• Achieving assurance of economic
independence.
• Selecting and preparing for an occupation.
• Developing intellectual skills and
concepts necessary for civic competence.
• Desiring and achieving socially
responsible behavior.
• Preparing for marriage and family life.
• Building conscious values in harmony with
an adequate scientific world-picture.
Erikson was one of beginner of psychosocial concept. According to Erikson, human life
progresses through a series of eight stages. Each of these stages is marked by
a crisis that needs to be resolved so that the individual can move on. He uses
the term crisis in a medical sense. It is like an acute period during illness,
at the end of which the patient takes a turn for the worse or better. At each
life stage, the individual is pressured, by internal needs and the external
demands of society, to make a major change in a new direction. Each of the
crises involves a conflict between two opposing characteristics. Erikson
suggests that successful resolution of each crisis should favor the first of
the two characteristics, although its opposite must also exist to some degree.
Crisis of Identity and Repudiation
versus Identity Confusion at the age of 12 to 18 years old. The main task of
the adolescent is to achieve a state of identity. Psychologist John Coleman (b.
1942) offers a compromise view of adolescent development, which he refers to as
his focal stage theory (1978). Adolescents tend to restrict themselves to being
upset about one issue at a time. As he puts it, adolescence is not phenomenon,
but, as the evidence shows, is a period in the life cycle which contains
difficulties; and where stress is experienced, though of a minor rather than a
major nature. There is conflict with parents, over mundane domestic issues,
rather than over fundamental values. Many young people experience feelings of
unhappiness but on the whole these go unnoticed by parents or teachers.
Adolescents do worry over their future identities as they become older, but
these worries rarely cause an identity crisis. Although focal theory is
intended to explain the ups and downs of life for the great majority of
adolescents, Coleman does recognize that there are those for whom it does not
apply. For example, the late mature may well find that because conflicts over
such issues as sexuality, puberty, and growth spurt have been delayed, they hit
all at once. For this person, adolescence is, at least for a while, a period of
"storm and stress."
Psychologist
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) spent most of his career examining the development
of needs. He is one of the chief architects of biopsychosocial theory. Maslow
believed that we have six such basic instincts. These instincts are manifested
in the form of needs, some very strong, and some much weaker. They appear in
overlapping stages, with the basic needs present at birth and higher-order
needs showing up as the person grows older. Furthermore, satisfaction of these
needs (physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem
needs, self-actualization needs, aesthetic needs) are sequential; the basic needs must be met before later, more
complex needs can be successfully fulfilled. Clearly, belongingness and esteem
needs are of greatest relevance during adolescence. Yet teachers and parents
often overlook these needs as they pressure a youth to be more
self-actualizing. As Maslow's theory makes evident, there can be no hope that
teenagers will begin fulfilling their potential until these lower-level,
deficiency needs are reasonably well met.
1) Dacey, J.,& Kenny, M. Adolescent Development. / J. Dacey, M. Kenny- Wm. C. Communication, Inc., Kerper
Boulevard, Dubuque. – 1994, 536 p.
2) Richard, R.
Psychology today: an introduction / R. Richard. – McGrow – Hill. USA. – 2008,
728p.
3) Papalia, Diane E.,
Olds, Sally Wendcos. A child’s world. Infacy through adolescence / New York:
McGran – Hill. – 1990, 597p.