My first Psych mini-paper!

Psychoanalytic Theory - a theory based on the idea that development stems from the internal drive reacting to experiences in infacy and childhood. Both Freud and Erikson believed that the relationship between infant and caregiver played a large part on development through adulthood. However, Freud focused more on the idea that development is more like a chain reaction. The body makes a demand which leads to actions to achieve the satisfaction of that demand but becomes more complex if the 'superego' is unable to rationalize the need for that demand to be fulfilled. Erikson, although he agreed with Freud on some levels, believed that life is more in stages than a chain reaction. For a person to truly be healthy, he must achieve success within each stage by facing certain crises and being able to overcome them. For instance, an infant quickly learns wether to place trust in his caregiver or if mistrust develops it plays a large role in how he achieves success in the later stages.

Learning Theory - the theory that our behavior is conditioned by 'operant conditioning' or through 'observational learning'. A certain behavior can either be encouraged by reinforcement or even extinguished by ignoring it. For instance, while driving my children to school I can either get frustrated and argue with them because of their continued fussing, or I can ignore it and they notice that it has not gained my attention and therefore, they move on to get my focus another way. If I argue with them and give them attention then they will most likely continue to fuss the next morning because they got a response out of me, positive or negative. If I ignore them, they are forced to change their behavior and thus the fussing is now extinguished, meaning they are less likely to do it again tomorrow.

Cognitive Theory - the theory that our image of the world develops from our mind processing the why's and how's of certain circumstances. We use our thinking to determine the cause and effect. We learn to 'accomidate' ourselves to the world around us based on previous experiences. A child often learns a hot stove is not to be touched by infact touching it. My 3 year old son did not listen to my instruction to stay away from the stove because it was hot and instead wanted to understand what I meant. He placed his hand flat on the burner for only a moment and burnt his hand severly. His cognitive resolution is to never touch the stove again. He learned through experience and used his mind to determine how to protect himself in the future. He not only learned to not touch the stove, but learned the meaning of 'hot' and how to prevent future burns. One incident caused him to stay far away from things that are hot and that listening to my advice infact does benefit him.
Erik Erikson

Erikson described life in stages and that through each stage the person must face and successfully navigate through certain crises. For instance, the middle adulthood crisis is "Generativity versus stagnation". I wake up everyday in that exact stage. I am a single mom of three small children and I have a choice to make eachday. I can better myself by helping develop the lives of my children to be successful adults or I can view my life without purpose and push them furthur from having a healthy adulthood. Truly, eachday is a challenge. I wake up before the sun and get ready, get the kids up and ready for school, go to work, get off work and pick them up, go to their afternoon activities, home to eat dinner, get them ready for bed and then, now, I have added additional hours to my day by studying. I could allow my life to become so mundane and self-absorbed that I am no benefit to my children, or I can realize that as I continue to grow, it is infact pushing them toward a lifestyle of never giving up. I am serving the next generation by raising healthy, successful adults that will continue the cycle and one day raise healthy, successful adults.