Development Theories to Life Experiences Essay

In a person's lifespan, development is divided into various distinct stages that are categorized as individual behavioral changes at each phase. Theories of development are explanations given by different psychologists about the differences in behavior as one grows and mature. Some of them include moral and psychosocial development theories created by Lawrence Kohlberg and Erik Erikson respectively. Erik's psychosocial approach entails primarily the challenges that an individual faces and must overcome them in one way or the other to avoid encountering other complex problems in the future (2009). Kohlberg's moral theory describes one's ability to distinguish between the right and the wrong, and it is associated mainly with the things a person learns and experience when growing up and maturing. Both theories are divided into various stages that relate to the differences in one's behavior (Walrath, 2011).

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I experienced significant behavioral transformation during my adolescence and early adulthood years that relate in one way or the other to the theories by the two psychologists. At the age of eleven years, a series of events happened in my life of which had a significant impact on my development from childhood to adolescence.

One adolescence experience that affected me significantly after we relocated from a predominantly black neighborhood to another that was a white's dominance. It was during this time I enrolled for guest courses where I was the odd one out because of color. The exemption prompted me to work harder than my classmates since I needed to prove to everyone that racism could not hinder me to achieve my education goals. Hence, despite being a girl in a male-dominated society, I was not willing to let anything or anybody be my weakness and prevent me from excelling. Kohlberg's moral theory in the conventional level, he suggests that the morality of a child is tied to personal and societal relationships. An adolescent at this stage is obliged to accept the rules irrespective of whether they are fair or not since she needs the approval of others of which relates to my case since I did not want disapproval because of failure from those around me including my family and peers (Walrath, 2011). I needed to mask my color, and this could be done by excelling in studies and show anyone who might have undermined me because of being colored. Correspondingly, Erik's psychosocial theory depicts that a child with a sense of identity always feel like she knows and is aware of the right path to follow (Sokol, 2009). The aspect of identity foreclosure prompted me to realize that I had goals that had to be achieved regardless of the apparent condition. I was a self-esteemed adolescent willing to accomplish my ambitions irrespective of the nature of the surrounding environment.

The restriction of parents to visit any of my friend's home was another experience that affected my life positively to some extent. I had to look after my foster siblings after our parents went to work. The responsibility boosted my maturity rate because I was like a parent to them. The aspect that I had the identity of foreclosure as illustrated in the psychosocial developmental theory motivated me to remain focused to the dreams I was longing to achieve; hence, I obediently performed my duties at home to avoid unnecessary conflicts that could ruin my sense of purpose. Moreover, I did not want disapproval from parents due to disobedience; thus, I had to maintain good behavior. Kohlberg terms it as 'a good boy, nice girl orientation' in the third stage of the moral developmental theory.

I have two life experiences of my early adulthood that I can relate to Erik's and Kohlberg's developmental theories. They include two crucial decisions that had to be made since I was looking out for my future. First, as I was joining the college as an adolescent, I had no experience on identity crisis and had to follow whatever my parents needed of me, and this prompted me to choose a major I did not want. However, years later I realized was living other people's life while I had mine to focus on and had to disobey and follow my ethical principles. Kohlberg in his theory in the third level of post-conventional describes this as self-realization where one differentiates herself from the society to have an own moral evaluation. It is where one decides to live according to own set of ethical rules while at the same time recognizing the existing fundamental human rights such as justice, fairness and freedom (Walrath, 2011). Second, I had to choose what I thought was best for me at the time and in future, and that is when I decided to pursue psychology; I have always wanted to study it since it is where my passion lies. I was willing to give up anything since to me what I love comes first; thus, I was not triggered by what others thought about my decision. According to the moral development theory in stage five, one is obliged to choose the ethical principles to use as guidelines in one's life, and the outcomes will be the determiner of whether they are right or wrong. If the policies are misguided, then an individual will ultimately feel guilty, but if they are right, then it is the decision maker's right to feel proud of her actions. Consequently, I believe that I made the right decision by giving up marketing since am now pursuing what I love and not what is being imposed on me against my will.

References

Sokol, J. T. (2009). Identity development throughout the lifetime: An examination of Eriksonian theory. Graduate Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1(2), 14.

Walrath, R. (2011). Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development. In Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development (pp. 859-860). Springer, Boston, MA.