Rakhi Banerjee is a 17-year-old adolescent female. Through Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory, Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development, and Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development, I will explore the stages of development that she is currently in with regard to different aspects of her life.
Erikson’s Theory Erik Erikson proposed eight stages that are followed from birth through adulthood, with each stage discussing a challenge that people face at an age range. The eight stages of his psychosocial developmental theory are: basic trust vs. mistrust (birth to 1 year), autonomy vs. shame and doubt (1 to 3 years), initiative vs. guilt (3 to 6 years), industry vs. inferiority (6 years to adolescence), identity vs. identity confusion (adolescence), intimacy …show more content…
She is able to think abstractly and hypothetically about complex topics, using logic, deductive reasoning, and advanced problem-solving techniques to make discoveries and solve problems. She is currently conducting scientific research at Michigan State University, using her ability of hypothetically thinking to form hypotheses about the outcomes of her experiments. Rakhi can also consider the possible outcomes and consequences of her work, demonstrating the ability to think abstractly. Her problem-solving skills can be seen through her work to develop a program to compile 729 data points related to her research in the coding program Python; although at the beginning she had no idea where to start, she developed an organized approach to solve the problem, running her program multiple times until she was able to work out any bugs and cut down its run time from 12 minutes to 4 minutes. Rakhi’s developed cognitive abilities put her in the formal operational thought stage of Piaget’s …show more content…
At school, her moral reasoning is largely based on interpersonal norms; her aim is largely to be liked and to win the approval of her peers and teachers, as is described in stage 3. She behaves like a “good girl”, which has gained her a reputation of being a kind and virtuous person. She lives up to the expectations of others, knowing that they expect her to act like a respectable, compassionate human being. In other instances, however, she bases her moral reasoning on social system morality. When asked about the dilemma of having to steal medicine to save the life of a family member, Rakhi said that she would steal the drug because she would rather go to jail than let her family member down and not uphold the responsibility she has to care for them. Her answer is consistent with the ideology behind stage 4: that social roles, expectations, and laws exist to maintain order within society and to promote the good of all people. Rather than go against the expectation that she would care for her family in every way possible, Rakhi would follow the actions that are expected of her. She is known to be a meticulous rule follower, as she thinks it is safest way to live. For example, a California law states that a minor must hold their license for one year before driving other minors – even though we know many people who do not follow that law and Rakhi is a safe driver,
Erikson’s Theory Erik Erikson proposed eight stages that are followed from birth through adulthood, with each stage discussing a challenge that people face at an age range. The eight stages of his psychosocial developmental theory are: basic trust vs. mistrust (birth to 1 year), autonomy vs. shame and doubt (1 to 3 years), initiative vs. guilt (3 to 6 years), industry vs. inferiority (6 years to adolescence), identity vs. identity confusion (adolescence), intimacy …show more content…
She is able to think abstractly and hypothetically about complex topics, using logic, deductive reasoning, and advanced problem-solving techniques to make discoveries and solve problems. She is currently conducting scientific research at Michigan State University, using her ability of hypothetically thinking to form hypotheses about the outcomes of her experiments. Rakhi can also consider the possible outcomes and consequences of her work, demonstrating the ability to think abstractly. Her problem-solving skills can be seen through her work to develop a program to compile 729 data points related to her research in the coding program Python; although at the beginning she had no idea where to start, she developed an organized approach to solve the problem, running her program multiple times until she was able to work out any bugs and cut down its run time from 12 minutes to 4 minutes. Rakhi’s developed cognitive abilities put her in the formal operational thought stage of Piaget’s …show more content…
At school, her moral reasoning is largely based on interpersonal norms; her aim is largely to be liked and to win the approval of her peers and teachers, as is described in stage 3. She behaves like a “good girl”, which has gained her a reputation of being a kind and virtuous person. She lives up to the expectations of others, knowing that they expect her to act like a respectable, compassionate human being. In other instances, however, she bases her moral reasoning on social system morality. When asked about the dilemma of having to steal medicine to save the life of a family member, Rakhi said that she would steal the drug because she would rather go to jail than let her family member down and not uphold the responsibility she has to care for them. Her answer is consistent with the ideology behind stage 4: that social roles, expectations, and laws exist to maintain order within society and to promote the good of all people. Rather than go against the expectation that she would care for her family in every way possible, Rakhi would follow the actions that are expected of her. She is known to be a meticulous rule follower, as she thinks it is safest way to live. For example, a California law states that a minor must hold their license for one year before driving other minors – even though we know many people who do not follow that law and Rakhi is a safe driver,