I wasnt sure how my professor for my human growth and development class would take my discussion board posting. It kind of contradicts some of the psychological ideas of the class. But she actually replied to my post with this statement, hhmm.... Kandy.... you make some great points in your posting. I especially like the gived you grace that your son did. :) Certainly grace and love are developmental and signs of spiritual growth. As I am at this particular psychosocial stage of life (per Eriksen), I can sing (in the shower of course - lol) the Gaither song, The longer I serve Him the sweeter He grows. Life experience certainly teaches us along the way to be conformed more to Him (Romans 12:2). Very thought provoking posting. Dr. A This is my original post: Jean Piagets cognitive perspective of development and its offspring and alternative, the information processing approach, are based upon thinking or intellectual ability at various ages and stages (Feldman, 2014). Both theories focus on the idea that childrens intellectual ideas expand at different stages (Feldman, 2014). Whereas Piaget believed, based upon his research, that cognition is a single system comprised of cognitive abilities; information processing approaches (the new-Piagatian theories) contend cognition is comprised of individual skills of the experiential and the intellectual (Feldman, 2014). Piaget believed cognitive growth occurred in various stages. Neo-Piagatian theory, however, says that experience affects development and cognition in developmental stages (i.e. abilities in language arts and mathematics may not develop simultaneously). (Feldman, 2014). While cogntitive development theories are based upon empirical research and have good points, it is this students and educators opinion that they do not take into account individual differences. These theories often lead to the idea that the goal of psychology and education is to ensure everyone follows these individual stages. They do not take into account human attributes that are beyond cognition. As I read the textbooks first example - Why does it rain? (Feldman, 2014, p. 19) - I thought of my own sons, who are nine and eleven. When I asked my eleven-year old son, Why does it rain?, he first told me it is to clean the air and then added information about the water cycle. All ages may give an answer such as, It waters the flowers (Feldman, 2014, p. 19), depending upon something deeper, more spiritual than cognition. While cognition is a part of development, it is far from the only aspect of an individual upon which to base all our undertanding of development. Another group of developmental theories backed by empirical data is the behavioral perspective. Both classical conditioning that is based upon the work of Ivan Pavlov and operant conditioning, made famous by B.F. Skinner, are examples (Feldman, 2014). Classical conditioning contends that conditioning causes behavior. Pavlovs infamous experiment with dogs, meat, and a bell epitomizes this theory. After ringing a bell when offering the dogs meat for a specific period of time, the dogs began salivating at the sound of the ringing bell, even if no meat was offered (Feldman, 2014). Operant conditioning expands on the idea of classical conditioning by saying that people are conditioned by the effects of positive reinforcement and negative punishment (Feldman, 2014). Some theories of spiritual development coincide with operant conditioning, particularly in the middle childhood to adolescent phase known as mythic literal faith (Roehlkepartain, King, Wagener, & Benson, 2006). According to Roehlkepartain, King, Wagener, and Benson (2006), in this phase, God is often constructed on the model of a consistent and caring, but just ruler or parent. In this stage one often sees a sense of cosmic fairness at work: The child believes that goodness is rewarded and badness is punished (Roehlkepartain, King, Wagener, and Benson, 2006, p. 39). As the author also points out, however, these ideas can backfire when children realize that bad things do happen to good people. We have coined the term eleven-year old atheists for children who, in having this latter experience, temporarily or permanently give up belief in a God built along the lines of a simple cosmic moral retribution (Roehlkepartain, King, Wagener, and Benson, 2006, p. 39). For this student and educator, the idea that children must develop this mindset of reinforcements and punishment is often nurture over nature. In our family, we speak quite frequently of grace. We emphasize helping one another rather than consistently using reinforcements and punishment. I will probably always remember the time my nine-year old, who was then maybe six or seven, told me, Mom, I gived you grace. I asked him how he gave me grace. He told me, Do you remember those clothes you had on the floor in your room? I picked them up and put them in the basket for you. I gived you grace. Of course, I praised him for helping and thanked him. Just today, he showed me another example of grace when he requested that we stop and give $5.00 to a homeless man that was sitting at a busy intersection. We did. In fact, he is the one who got out of the car to give the man the money. Again, this student believes that this understanding of grace and love is a sign of developmental and spiritual growth. As the authors point out, it is faith, not necessarily belief, that illustrates spiritual development (Roehlkepartain, King, Wagener, and Benson, 2006). Lastly, a theory that is often criticized due to the fact that it does not illustrate distinct developmental stages or changes is the humanistic perspective. The humanistic approach contends that people have an innate ability to make life decisions and control their own lives. They have internal motivation to reach the next level. This motivation exists due to the individuals need for love and respect (Feldman, 2014). While there is not as much empirical research to back this theory, this student believes it is based upon real life, where the other theories are based upon fixed research. The personal, more spiritual examples given above coincide well in many ways with the humanistic perspective. For example, in the story about my young son picking up my clothes for me, he sought my joy at his giving grace. Today with the homeless man, however, he did not seek that. He wanted to give because he felt it was the right thing to do, whether I would agree or disagree. References: Feldman, R. (2014). Development across the life span. (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Roehlkepartain, E., King, P.E., Wagener, L., & Benson, P. (Eds.). (2006). The handbook of spiritual development in childhood and adolescence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 08:54:31 +0000
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