Developing the Whole

Lesson 2
Person

Adolescence is the stage of development that is believed to be the transition stage -

from childhood to adulthood. It is also observed that most of the aspects of an individual have
already reached a great progress but still needed to be refined and be completely
understood.
In this lesson you will be familiar with the five varied aspects of stages of development. You
will definitely know that these stages have their respective nature but are very much
connected to one another as we talk about how they affect the well-being of a person. Here
are the five stages of development:
Stages of Development

Physiological Development. This is the stage of development that has been fully
developed for the person reached the late adolescence.

The three main physical changes that come with adolescence are 1.) The growth spurt
(an early sign of maturation); 2.) Primary sex characteristics (changes in the organs directly
related to reproduction); 3.) Secondary sex characteristics (bodily signs of sexual maturity
that do not directly involve reproductive organs).

Boys and girls will definitely experience different sets of physical changes. Like boys
may tend to change their voices, or start to experience facial hair growth while girls will start
to see their breast being developed and the broadening of their hips and having the monthly
period called menstruation. There are changes that occur which are common to both sexes
like rapid growth in their height and big changes in their body structure particularly growth in
their bones.

Physical development is the stage of development that a person may notice first for
this more obvious and human being find it easier to seek assistance for they can ask
questions regarding the changes that occurs in their body. However, some physiological
changes may be not so pleasing for them thus adolescents find themselves behaving
differently as compared to their previous years. This is where behavioral changes occur.

Cognitive Development. This is also known as intellectual changes. It is during this stage
that an adolescent is capable of using his/her higher level of thinking. Rather than asking
questions of what, why and how just like most of the children do during the childhood stage
teenagers are capable of making their hypothesis and investigate for the truth and not being
satisfied of believing what is said to them.

The stage of cognitive development also means how a person thinks, explore and
figure out things. It is the development of knowledge mental skills like problem solving and
arriving at conclusion or decision making. Therefore, we can say the brain development is
also part of this stage.

Intellectual development may also affect other stages of development like spiritual and
social development. For these, things also affect how an individual decide on things. He/she
will use the standard of the society in making some logical actions or judgements for where
the he/she utilizes his/her spirituality and socialization with others before pronouncing his/her
thoughts and beliefs.

The theory of Jean Piaget toward cognitive development of a child further promotes the
child’s ability to solve problems and reason logically and this ability particularly takes place
during the middle adolescence and continuously being strengthen as the child reach his/her
maturity.

The stages of cognitive development as proposed by Piaget are as follows:

1. Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years
2. Preoperational stage: ages 2 to 7
3. Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11
4. Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up

These stages are contributory to child intellectual state as he/she reaches maturity.
Piaget believes that as adolescent enters the last stage, he/she develops ability to test
hypotheses in a mature and scientific manner.
Adolescent in this stage is already capable of engaging to a serious talk communicating
his/her thoughts following ethical standards. The adolescent can also compose his/her
thoughts in his/her minds with an ease. Teenagers can elaborate on abstract ideas and
discuss them organizing their thoughts mentally.

Psychological Development. There are various theories that may somehow explain this
stage of development among these is Erik Erikson’s and Lev Vygotsky. Although, the two
have their different concentration on this stage of development. Erik Erikson’s Theory of
development attempted to explain the changes that occur in child’s psychosocial
development while Lev Vygotsky Theory of development concentrated on psychological
development.

Though, Erik Erikson’s theory is generally influenced by Sigmund Freud’s Theory

Erikson’s theory focuses on psychosocial development rather than psychosexual
development.

Psychosocial Development for Erikson is a series of stages in which a child experiences

conflict that serves as primary element for his/her development. If the child has successfully
dealt with these conflicts, it will contribute much to his/her well-being particularly on how
he/she will optimistically live his/her live in later years. He/she will manifest positive behavior
and good disposition in life that makes him/her feel good about him/herself. However, if
he/she fails to deal with the conflict effectively he/she may not develop skills needed for
him/her to see a great sense of individuality.

The eight stages of Psychosocial Development according to Erikson are as follows:

1. Trust vs Mistrust (birth to 8 months)
2. Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt (2 to 3 years)
3. Initiative vs Guilt (3 to 5 years)
4. Industry vs Inferiority (6 to 11 years)
5. Identify vs confusion (12 to 18 years)
6. Intimacy vs Isolation (19 to 40 years)
7. Generativity vs Stagnation (40 to 65 years)
8. Integrity vs Despair (65 to death)

During your stage, the late adolescence most of the teenagers really long for the
feeling of belongingness. Thus, most of you engaged to peer-romantic relationship and
sisterhood or brotherhood for company. Your desire to having good relationship tend to
become the main component of your being. Success leads teenagers to be part of a good
relationship. Failure delivers the individual to negative emotions like loneliness, depression or
isolation.

The success of an individual depends on his/her how well he/she deals with the
experiences he/she encounters. It is really unpredictable how an individual can positively
move on to the next stage of development. The environment and social nature of the
individual has really a great impact on his/her personal development.
 Spiritual Development. This stage plays a big role in the development of an
adolescent. A child basic assessment towards him/herself is will give him/her sense of
meaning, purpose and direction in life. When this happen, the child will feel that he/she is
connected to the world he/she lives in.

Spirituality is significantly related to child’s moral and ethical concept toward self.
Thus, this must really be part of his/her personal growth. Spiritual growth is the process of
becoming fit for higher level in the spirit world.

This stage of development helps an adolescent to cope up with inner conflicts they are
struggling to overcome. It is in this stage that they tend to think about so many abstract
things like asking about life. They find it difficult to grasp their thoughts to answer practical
questions that leave them confused. They ask questions such as: Why do people have to
love? Why do people exist? What is my purpose of living? and so many other questions from
only life and positive outlook can possibly give them a sense of relief.

This stage does not illustrate a specific path or direction that one can take for careful
realization of this type of personal growth. On the other hand, frequent meditation and
reflective way of connecting to your inner self is suggested. It is through spiritual growth that
we help ourselves grow and know ourselves better.

Spiritual growth has a lot of positive effects toward individual’s life. It is when we grow
spiritually that we obtain optimistic point of view about the world. This feeling will have
domino effect. As we see the world with so much positivism a lot of changes favorable to us.
Positive changes also constitute positive emotions vice versa. With this kind of personal
growth people learn to practice or observe good traits which are appealing for others. This
state will also imbibe good reactions and responses among people. Spiritual growth though
may not easily gain is indeed equally important as the other stages of development for a
person to attain happiness and good life.

Social Development. Lev Vygotsky’s psychological development emphasizes that

consciousness is the end product of socialization. For him, socialization is essential in
cognitive development. He also explains that the cognitive development may rely on the zone
of proximal development of ZPD. This is the level of development attained when children
engage in social behavior. One can exceeds what can be attained alone with the presence of
the guidance of peer or adult.

Therefore, complete social development requires a person to social interaction and

thus it entails an individual to be socially active. On the one hand, meeting a lot of people
does not mean being socially active. One should be able to assess other people’s behavior
and deal with the conflict one may encounter and learn from this situation.

As we learn from identifying our strengths and weaknesses, or own sets of behavior we
enhance ourselves by learning the other people respective behavior. Using our learning from
our way of socializing with others must lead us to our success.

Emotional Development involves learning what feelings and emotions are,

understanding how and why they occur, recognizing your own feelings and those of others,
and developing effective ways for managing those feelings. Factors affect emotional
development in adolescence are; how people feel about themselves–or the way they perceive
their own talents, characteristics, and life experiences–can affect their sense of their own
worth. An adolescent's self-esteem can be influenced by approval from family, support from
friends, and personal successes.
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to manage both your own emotions and
understand the emotions of people around you.