Running Head: EPSY 5103 FINAL 1

EPSY 5103: Human Development in Psychology Final Paper

Kristin L. ODell

Oklahoma State University

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In this class I learned many theories related to human

psychological development. I also researched the patterns of behavior

and beliefs in my family to better understand my own development. In

this paper I will connect three major theories to examples from my

development. Eriksons theory of Identity VS Role Confusion crisis,

Banduras social cognitive theory, and Bronfenbrenners theory of

bioecological systems will be the three main theories discussed in this

paper.

Erik Erikson theorized human development as stages in which we

overcome crises. Each stage has its own crisis that must be resolved in

order to progress. The crisis that Erikson observed in adolescents is

Identity VS Role Confusion. At this stage, children between the ages of

thirteen and nineteen are searching for their identities. They do this by

exploring different ideas and activities. I can remember wrestling with

identity issues in my own adolescence.

In late elementary and throughout middle school, I desperately

wanted to be friends with the popular girls and to have a boyfriend like

they all did. I had very few opinions of my own about the world. I

simply followed what everyone else was doing. This was a time in my

life when my parents were working all of the time and my sisters,

cousins, and the neighbor kids were all much younger than me. It was

a lonely time for me. I had no real friends, so I stuck to the edge of
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other girls friendships, never really being accepted into their groups or

getting invited to anything.

The strongest evidence of my Identity VS Role Confusion Crisis in

adolescence was my choice of music. In fifth grade, my friends liked

Backstreet Boys, so I liked Backstreet Boys. At that time, everyone had

to take a side on the boy band issue: Backstreet Boys or NSYNC. When

I followed that group of girls into sixth grade, there was one girl in my

small group of friends that would always take my spot if I had to step

away from the group for a moment. No one in the group ever stood up

for me, so I made the decision to leave that group of friends. From

what I can remember, that was the first time I ever made a decision

about what I felt was acceptable or unacceptable friend behavior.

At that point I tried to be a part of another small group of friends.

There was a girl that I knew in first grade before I switched schools.

Now that both elementary schools filtered into one middle school,

perhaps I could join her friend group. I did become part of their group,

and they became my first real friends. But they liked NSYNC. Suddenly

my Backstreet Boys tape, that I could sing every word of, was replaced

with an NSYNC CD. I learned to love NSYNC with the same passion

that I had for Backstreet. Unfortunately, in 7th grade, the same thing

happened. Another girl came into our group and wedged me out. My

friends actually took me aside at our first school dance to tell me they

did not want to be my friend anymore.

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A girl that I had sat with many times in class, but did not spend

time with during lunch, noticed me sitting alone one day. She invited

me to sit with her. Her name was Christy. She had always been nice to

me, and I enjoyed talking to her during class, but she was farther down

the social ladder than my previous friends. But an uncool friend was

still better than no friend at all, so I started to sit with Christy and her

friends at lunch. I got along better with that group than I did any of my

previous friend groups. I did not feel pressured to be just like them. I

was free to figure out what I liked. Christy asked me if I liked

Backstreet Boys or NSYNC. I did not know what to say. Both, I guess? I

owned music from both groups and knew all of the words to all of their

songs. It turned out that Christy preferred Backstreet Boys, so I started

to lean more toward them again, but I was comfortable saying that I

also liked NSYNC. Reflecting on it now, I realize that I took a large step

toward discovering my true self that year. That year I stopped listening

to boy bands and pop music and discovered my love of alternative rock

and indie. I found myself talking about bands that none of my friends

knew of or liked, and that was okay.

In middle school, there were three elective class choices:

athletics, band, and art. Popular kids played sports. Nearly popular kids

were in band. Losers took art. Having a physical disability precluded

me from athletics. Knowing my family could not afford an expensive

musical instrument, I really had no choice but to take art. The girls in
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my first group of friends were in softball, basketball, and/or band. The

second group of friends were in band, golf, and cheerleading. I never

actually wanted to be in band or athletics, but if my friends picked up

the forms to be in a sport, I would get the same forms. I nearly joined

golf and almost had to try-out for cheerleading.

When I became friends with Christy, and discovered that a real

friendship was better than popularity, I was free to find what I actually

liked. I finally allowed myself to like art. My 8th grade year, I took

creative writing because it sounded fun. By 9th grade I realized that I

was smarter than many of my peers, and I identified strongly with

being an intellectual, artsy type. Throughout high school and college I

continued to form a sense of identity, but the crisis was most

prominent during my middle school years as I switched my musical

tastes and interests to fit the roles that I thought my peers wanted

from me. By the age of 16, I had a sense of identity solid enough to

deviate from what was popular in order to express my true self.

Albert Bandura developed a social cognitive theory to explain

how people learn from watching others and how a persons judgments

about themselves and others can affect what they learn. According to

his theory, when children pay attention to the actions of adults and

peers, they learn how the world works and what they are able to

achieve. By making judgments or witnessing negative consequences,

children can learn what not to do as well as what to do. By noticing

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patterns, children may form ideas about what they are capable of

doing or what they are expected to do considering how they fit into the

pattern (e.g. women are not scientists, so I will not be a scientist). I

believe Banduras theory can explain a lot about my development.

My mother and my uncle were the adults closest to me as I grew

up. My immediate family and my uncles immediate family spent a lot

of time together. These frequent get-togethers shared many common

features: kids playing outside, adults playing cards or dominoes, adults

smoking cigarettes, food prepared by my uncle, and stories from their

high school days. Both of their houses were small, unkempt, and

rented. The food was good, but it was served on paper plates and

paired with generic Kool-Aid. The games were fun and full of laughter,

and the stories were always about the way things used to be.

By high school I had started to put together the pieces. Neither

my mother nor uncle enjoyed their jobs. They did not have bad lives,

but I could tell that their lives did not reflect the dreams they might

have had when they were younger. Their lives did reflect the

consequences of their high school lives. They had some great times

with friends, but they also barely passed high school and had kids

before they were ready. These two factors cost them the kind of life

that my mothers youngest brother has. My other uncle, being too

young at the time to be involved in his siblings mischief, was an

athlete and a good student. He went to college and then began a

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teaching career. He moved out of our small town, bought a nice home,

and lives a fulfilling life doing something he enjoys.

My mother and my two uncles were the models for adulthood

that I had. Fortunately, I was able to identify that the life my mother

and Daniel live is not what I want. I would rather have a life that is

closer to what Robert has. According to Bandura, I observed the

mistakes that my mother and uncle made and learned from them.

Already identifying as an intellectual, I looked to Robert as a model of

what I should do. He came from the same kind of environment that I

am in. If he can do it, then so can I.

I made a lot of decisions in high school based on what I learned

from watching the adults in my family. I took hard classes, like Robert

did, and I made the highest grades possible because that is not what

Mom and Daniel did. I never picked-up a cigarette, took any drugs, or

drank alcohol in high school. I did not want to put myself in a situation

where I might make the mistakes that they did. I was afraid that drugs

and alcohol would hurt my intellect, and I absolutely despised

cigarettes. I also took every precaution to be sure that I would not

suffer the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy like my mom did

when she had me.

As a child, I watched Daniel go through a nasty divorce. As an

adolescent I lived through my parents divorce. My observations from

Mom and Daniel taught me a few lessons about love and relationships.
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Relationships are not magic. Relationships are likely to end. My views

on relationships had an effect when I met David in high school. We fell

in love, and although I was crazy about him, I held onto a dose of

skepticism. Somehow at the same time, I could not imagine spending

my life with anyone but him, but could not imagine a high school

relationship lasting past graduation. As a result, I set clear boundaries

for the progression of our relationship and communicated my thoughts

and feelings openly.

My high school days were full of self-imposed responsibility. I

prided myself in being hard working, responsible, and a good role

model for my sisters. All of it has been worth it because today I am

living a life that I love. My job brings me fulfillment, and I am happily

married to David.

Urie Bronfenbrenner developed his theory of bioecological

systems to explain how the different relationships and the connections

between relationships affect development. The systems are always

changing as situations change, relationships change, and people grow.

According to his theory, there are microsystems, which include

consistent face-to-face relationships with people. Each relationship is

its own microsystem and can have an effect on development. When

there are fewer microsystems, the microsystems can have larger

impacts than if there were many microsystems. Mesosystems are the

interrelations between microsystems. For example, a microsystem

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exists between my mother and me, a microsystem exists between my

grandmother and me, and a mesosystem for my development is the

relationship between my mother and grandmother. Exosystems are

settings or groups that can affect my life, but I am not directly involved

in (e.g. my mothers workplace). Macrosystems are wider cultural

standards or belief systems that exist where I live.

Growing up with a single-mother and no older siblings, I had

fewer microsystem influences than most of my peers. My closest

relationship to an adult was with my mother. I was also close to my

grandmother, grandfather, and my two uncles. My mother and

grandmother were both hard-working and responsible women. They

seemed to be the leaders of our family. My grandfather and uncles

seemed to hold great respect for my grandmother as the matriarch of

our family. I believe that I internalized a strong unspoken view that

women are successful leaders. The microsystems and mesosystems in

my life were strong enough that the gender stereotypes present in the

macrosystems around me did not affect me.

I believe my love of math and science can be in some way

attributed to the fact that as a young girl the notion that girls are not

good at math and science never occurred to me. From my perspective,

girls and boys were equally capable in all areas. Many of my

characteristics might be related to the strong women in my family. I am

a good leader and I am not afraid to speak up. I probably would not
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have had the confidence to pursue my dreams if it had not been for

internalizing the idea that women are strong, capable, leaders.

This semester I learned that human development is vastly

complex. Psychologists have been making observations and testing

theory after theory in order to understand bits and pieces of the puzzle

of human development. As a group we have learned so much, but that

which we know is small compared to all that we still do not know,

however we gain in our understanding with every study. With new

ideas, new perspectives, and new research methods coming out all the

time, the domain of human psychology is both interesting and

important. It is important because understanding is powerful.

Applying theories of human development to ones own life is

powerful. By analyzing the events and relationships that have

impacted my development, I have become more aware of who I am

and how I got to where I am today. With the understanding of how

people can still affect me in my adult life, I can pay particular attention

to who I allow in my closest circles. With the understanding of how my

words and actions can affect the people I encounter each day, I am left

with a responsibility to take care of my fellow humans, especially the

ones that have been entrusted to me in my classroom.