(Prelim)

LESSONS

Unit 1 – The Learner-Centered Psychological Principles

Objectives:
 Explain the 14 learner-centered psychological principles;
 Identify ways on how to apply the 14 principles in instruction as a future teacher.

Introduction
The learner is the center of instruction. This module introduces the 14 Learner-centered
psychological principles which shall be used throughout this module as a guide to determine appropriate
pedagogies for learners at different life stages.

Advance Organizer

Cognitive
and
Metacogni
tive
Factors

Developm 14 Motivatio
ental & Learner- nal &
Social centered Affective
Factors principles Factors

Individual
Differences
factors

The learner-centered psychological principles were put together by the American Psychological
Association. It has 4 aspects:
1. They focus primarily to the internal factors that are inherent to the child, but they also consider
the interaction of the external environment or the contextual factors.
2. They are intended to deal holistically with the learners in the context of real world learning. No
principle is viewed in isolation.
3. They are divided into: cognitive and metacognitive; motivational and affective; developmental
and social and the individual differences factors that influence the learners and learning.
4. They are intended to apply to all kinds of learners, teachers, administrators, parents and the
community who are involved in the educational system.

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I. The Cognitive and metacognitive Factors
1. Nature of the learning process – the learning of complex subject matter is most effective
when it is an intentional process of constructing meaning from information and
experiences.
 There are different types of learning processes such as learning that involves the
generation of knowledge or cognitive skills and learning strategies.

 Learning in school emphasizes the use of intentional processes that students can use
to construct meaning from information, experiences and their own thoughts and
beliefs.
 Successful learners are active, goal directed, self-regulating and assume personal
responsibility for their own learning.
2. Goals of the learning process – the successful learner, overtime and with support and
instructional guidance, can create meaningful, coherent representation of knowledge.
 The strategic nature of learning requires students to be goal directed.
 To construct useful representations of knowledge and to acquire the thinking and
learning strategies needed for continued learning, students must generate and pursue
personally relevant goals by transporting their short term goal to a long term or
lifetime goals,
 Educators must assist learners in creating meaningful learning goals that are valuable
to educational and personal interests of the learners.
3. Construction of knowledge – the successful learner can link new information with
existing knowledge in meaningful ways.
 The student’s new knowledge must be integrated with his prior knowledge and
understanding by building links. These links can be varied in forms: adding to,
modifying or reorganizing existing knowledge or skills.
 Educators can assist learners in acquiring and integrating knowledge by applying a
variety of strategies such as concept mapping, thematic organization or categorizing.
4. Strategic Thinking – the successful learner can create and use a repertoire of the thinking
and reasoning strategies to achieve complex learning goals.
 Learners use strategic thinking in their approach to learning, reasoning, problem
solving and concept learning.
 They can understand and use a variety of strategies to help them reach learning and
performance goals and to apply their knowledge in novel situations.
 They continue to expand their repertoire of strategies by reflecting on the methods
they use to see which works best for them, by receiving guided instructions and
feedback, and by observing or interacting with appropriate models.
 Learning outcomes can be achieved if educators assist learners in developing,
applying and assessing their strategic learning skills.
5. Thinking about thinking – higher order strategies for selecting and monitoring mental
operations facilitate creative and critical thinking.
 Successful learners reflect on how they think and learn, set reasonable
learning/performance goals, select potentially appropriate learning strategies or
methods and monitor their progress towards these goals.
 They know what to do if a problem occurs or if they are not making progress towards
their goals. They can generate alternative methods to reach their goals.
 Instructional methods that help learners develop higher order (metacognitive)
strategies enhance learning and personal responsibility for learning.
6. Context of learning – learning is influenced by environmental factors, including culture,
technology and instructional practices.

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  Learning does not occur in a vacuum. Teachers play a major interactive role both
with the learner and the learning environment.
 Cultural or group influences on students can impact educationally relevant variables,
such as motivation, orientation toward learning and the learning environment.
 Technologies and instructional practices must be appropriate for learner’s level of
prior knowledge, cognitive abilities and their learning and thinking strategies.
 The classroom environment, particularly to the degree to which it is nurturing or not,
can have significant impact on learning.
II. Motivational and Affective Factors
7. Motivational and emotional influences on learning – what and how much are learned is
influenced by the learner’s motivation. Motivation to learn is influenced by the
individual’s emotional state, beliefs, interests and goals, and habits of thinking.
 The rich internal world of thoughts, beliefs, goals and expectations for success or
failure can enhance or interfere with the learner’s quality of thinking and
information processing.
 Motivational and emotional factors influence both the quality of thinking and
information processing as well as the individual’s motivation to learn.
 Positive emotions like curiosity enhance motivation and facilitate learning and
performance, but negative emotions (like anxiety, panic, rage, insecurity,
worrying about failure, fearing punishment, ridicule or stigmatizing labels)
detract motivation, interfere with learning and lead to low performance.
8. Intrinsic motivation to learn – the learners creativity, higher order thinking and natural
curiosity all contribute to motivation to learn. Intrinsic motivation is stimulated by tasks
of optimum novelty and difficulty, relevant to personal interests, and providing for
personal choice and control.
 Curiosity, flexible and insightful thinking and creativity are major indicators of
the learner’s intrinsic motivation to learn.
 Intrinsic motivation is facilitated on tasks that learners perceive as interesting and
personally relevant and meaningful.
 Intrinsic motivation is facilitated on tasks that are comparable to real world
situations.
 Educators can encourage and support learner’s natural curiosity and motivation
to learn by attending to individual differences in learner’s perceptions.
9. Effects of motivation on effort – acquisition of complex knowledge and skills requires
extended learner effort and practice. Without learner’s motivation to learn, the
willingness to exert this effort is unlikely without coercion.
 Effort is another major indicator of motivation to learn. The acquisition of
complex knowledge and skills demands considerable learner energy, strategic
efforts and persistence over time.
 Educators need to be concerned with facilitating motivation by strategies that
enhance learner effort and commitment to learning, and to achieving high
standard of comprehension and understanding.
 Effective strategies include purposeful learning activities, guided by practices
that enhance positive emotions and methods that increase learner’s perception
that a task is interesting and personally relevant.
III. Developmental and Social Factors
10. Developmental influences on learning – as individuals develop, there are different
opportunities and constraints for learning. Learning is most effective when differential
development within and across physical, intellectual, emotional and social domains is
taken into account.

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  Individuals learn best if material is appropriate to their development level and is
presented in an enjoyable and interesting way.
 Because individual development varies across intellectual, social, emotional and physical
domains, achievement in different instructional domains may also vary.

 Overemphasis on one type of developmental readiness such as in reading readiness may

preclude learners from demonstrating that they are more capable in other areas of
performance.
 The cognitive, emotional and social development of individual learners and how they
interpret life experiences are affected by prior schooling, home, culture and community
factors.
 Early and continuing parental involvement in schooling and the quality of language
interactions and two-way communications between adults and learners can influence
these developmental areas.
 Awareness and understanding of developmental differences among children with and
without emotional, physical or intellectual disabilities, can facilitate the creation of
optimal learning contexts.
11. Social influences in learning – learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal
relations, and communication with others.
 Learning can be enhanced when the learner has an opportunity to interact and to
collaborate with others in instructional tasks.
 Learning settings that allow for social interactions and respect for diversity encourage
flexible thinking and social competence.
 In interactive and collaborative instructional contexts, individuals have an opportunity to
perspective taking and reflective thinking that will lead to higher levels of cognitive,
social and moral and self-esteem development.
 Quality personal relationship that provides stability, trust and caring can increase
learner’s sense of belonging, self-respect and self-acceptance that provide for positive
climate for learning.
 Family influences, positive personal support and instruction in self-motivation strategies
can offset factors that interfere with optimal learning.
 Positive learning climates can help to establish contexts for healthier level of thinking,
feeling and behaving. If learners feel safe and accepted they will willingly share ideas,
and participate actively in class activities.
IV. Individual Differences Factors
12. Individual differences in learning – learners have different strategies, approaches, and
capabilities for learning that are a function of prior experience and heredity.
 Individuals are born with, and develop their own capabilities and talents.
 Through learning and social acculturation, they have acquired their own preferences for
how they like to learn and the pace in which they learn.
 Educators need to help students examine their learning preferences and expand or modify
them if necessary.
 Educators need to be sensitive to individual differences and adapt instructional methods
and materials.
13. Learning and Diversity – learning is not effective when differences in learners’ linguistic,
cultural, and social backgrounds are taken into account.
 The same basic principles of learning, motivation, and effective instruction apply to all
learners. However, language, ethnicity, race, beliefs and socio-economic status can
influence learning. Teachers must be careful in considering these factors in learning.

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  When learners perceive that their individual differences in abilities, background,
cultures and experiences are valued, respected and accommodated in learning
tasks and contexts, the students’ level of motivation are enhanced.
14. Standards and assessments – setting appropriately high and challenging standards and
assessing the learners as well as the learning process are integral parts of the learning
process.
 Assessment provides important information to both the learner and the teacher at
all stages of the learning process.
 Effective learning takes place when the learners feel challenged to work towards
appropriately high goals.
 Ongoing assessment of the learners’ understanding of the curricular material can
provide valuable feedback to both learners and teachers about progress in the
learning tasks.
 Standardized assessment of learning progress and outcomes assessments provide
one type of information about achievement levels both within and across
individuals, a variety of assessment methods provide a wide range of information
on students’ achievement level.
 Performance assessments can provide other sources of information about the
attainment of learning outcomes.
 Self-assessment of learning progress can improve students’ self-appraisal skills
and enhance motivation and self-directed learning.

Alexander and Murphy gave a summary of the 14 principles and distilled them into five areas:
1. The knowledge base –one’s existing knowledge serves as the foundation of all
future learning. The learner’s previous knowledge will influence new learning
specifically on how he represents new information, makes associations and filters
new experiences.
2. Strategic processing and control - learners can develop skills to reflect and regulate
their thoughts and behaviour in order to learn more effectively (metacognition
application).
3. Motivation and effect – factors such as intrinsic motivation (from within), reasons
for wanting to learn, personal goals and enjoyment of learning tasks all have crucial
role in the learning process.
4. Development and individual differences – learning is a unique journey for each
person because each learner has his own unique combination of genetic and
environmental factors that influence him.
5. Situation or context – learning happen in the context of the society as well as within
the individual.

RESEARCH IN CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT

You have another course in research, but in this module it is important to revisit your prior
knowledge in research because we will apply this in the various topics throughout the course.

Why do teachers need to conduct research?

Teachers are consumers and end users of research. It gives teachers and the educational
policy makers important knowledge to use in decision making for the benefit of the learners. Well
informed teachers are able to use and integrate the most authoritative research findings. It enables the
teachers to:
 Come up with informed decision on what to teach and how to teach;

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  Apply to teaching innovative educational policies, curriculum, and effective teaching-
learning process, and
 Fit their teaching methods with the developmental levels of their learners.

Identifying the research problem is the first step, followed by stating a tentative answer to
the research problem (hypothesis). If your research problem is determining the cause of an effect or
phenomenon, you have to gather and analyze data derived from an experiment; this is true with
qualitative research like experimental research. But if your research problem is concerned with describing
data and characteristics about the subject or phenomenon you are studying, you do not need to perform an
experiment, this is descriptive or qualitative research. After you analyzed data, you formulate your
conclusion. Compare your conclusions to your original hypothesis if your original hypothesis is correct or
not. If your original hypothesis jibes with your finding and conclusion, affirm your hypothesis. If your
original hypothesis does not jibe with your finding or conclusion, reject your original hypothesis.

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

Just as we have the code of conduct for teachers (Code of Ethics), there is also ethical
standards that guide the conduct of research. Details of these ethical principles are found in the following;
please search from given sources and read and reflect on them.

1. Ethical Standards of the American Educational Research Association

_http://www.aera.net/uploadedFiles/About AERA/Ethical_Standards/EthicalStandards.pdf
2. Ethical Standards for Research with Children – Society for Research in Child Development
(USA) http://www.sred.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=110
3. Standards of the American Psychological Association Concerning Research
http://www.1csc.educ/policy/Policy/1.112a.PDF

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The Data Privacy Act of 2012 (R.A.10173) – this law was passed in the Philippines in 20212 to “protect
the fundamental right of privacy of communication while ensuring free flow of communication to
promote innovation and growth” . For further information, read R.A. 10173.
(Note: The application of these principles will be throughout the course plan or module. Always
relate these principles to all the concepts that you will learn and to all activities you are required to
accomplish and submit).

Activity 1. Research connection – surf the internet and read a research related to the Learner-centered
Psychological Principles (LCP) and fill out the matrix below.

Research Problem or title Research methodology

Source/bibliography

Findings Conclusions

Activity 2. Answer this question with 50 essential words.

Question: How are the findings of this research useful to you as a future teacher?

Activity 3. Reflection: From the discussion of the 14 principles, what have you realized?

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UNIT 2- BASIC CONCEPTS ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Objectives:
 Define human development
 Distinguish between the traditional and the life-span of development

Introduction
In this unit, you will be introduced to the process of human development and the developmental
tasks that come along with each developmental stage. As you go on reading this module, you are as well
undergoing the process of development.
Take note of the following quotations, you will give your reflection at the end of the unit.

By virtue of being born to humanity, every human

being has a right to the development and fulfilment of
his potentialities as a human being.
-Ashley Montagu -

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and entrances, and one man in
his time plays many parts.
- William
Shakespeare

Learning Essentials

Approaches to Human Development

The characteristics of human development is according to Paul Bates – a life-span expert (Santrock,
2002)
1. Development is lifelong – development does not end in adulthood.
2. Development is plastic - plasticity refers to the potential for change. Development is possible
throughout the life span, no one is too old to learn.
3. Development is multi-dimensional – it consists of biological, cognitive and socio-emotional
dimensions
 Development as a process is complex because it is the product of biological, cognitive
and socio-emotional processes
 Development is relatively orderly – (http://www.cdipage.com/development.htm.) . It
follows the proximodistal pattern –the muscular control of the trunk and the arms
comes earlier as compared to the hands and fingers. It also follows the cephalo-caudal

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 pattern –during pregnancy, growth occurs at the top-the head and gradually work it way
down from top to bottom.
 Development takes place gradually – it takes years before an individual develops into a
full grown person, no one grows instantly is the law of nature.
 Physical development the observable changes in the body.
 Cognitive development involves changes in the individual’s thoughts, intelligence
and language.
 Socio-emotional processes includes changes in the individual’s relationship with
other people, changes in emotions and in personality.
These biological, cognitive and socio-emotional processes are inextricably intertwined.

4. Development is contextual – individuals are changing beings in the changing world, they
respond to and act on context. These contexts include the individual’s biological make-up,
physical environment, cognitive processes, historical, social and cultural contexts.
5. Development involves growth, maintenance and regulation – growth, maintenance and
regulation are the three goals of human development. The goals of individuals vary among
the developmental stages. For instance, a growing child has different perspective when the
child grows into adolescent and into adulthood.

ACTIVITY 4. – Research connection: View on you Tube of Helen Pearson: Lessons from the longest
study on human development. Fill out the matrix below.

Problem Research methodology

Sources/ bibliography

Conclusions
Findings

Activity 5. Answer this question with 50 words:

Question: How are the findings of this research useful to you as a future teacher?

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Activity 6. What does this mean? “Growth is an evidence of life”. Relate your answer to yourself as a
student and as a teacher in the future.

Activity 7. In one complex sentence, write the characteristics of human development shown in this Venn
diagram.
Cognitive
progress

Socio- Biological
Emotional
progress
progress

Activity 8. Give the meaning of the quotations written at the introduction of this unit.

Activity 9. Search further from the internet about proximodistal and cephalocaudal patterns of
development, illustrate both patterns by drawings or diagrams.

Activity 10. Reflection: Answer the following in one simple paragraph each.

1. You are a bundle of possibilities. You are meant to develop like any other living thing.
Remember “Growth is an evidence of life”? Are you on your way to development? How?

2. Like you, each of your future students is a bundle of possibilities. How should you look at
them in terms of development?

Unit 3 – Developmental Theories and Other Relevant Theories

Objective: Explain Freud’s view about child and adolescent development.

As a person grows, the personality is also formed. Here are some of the many
psychologists who present views about how personality develops. Read on and somehow it
will lead you to understand more of your own personality.

A. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory – Sigmund Freud is the most popular psychologist who
studied the development of personality, but he is also the most controversial. According to
Freud a person goes through the sequence of five stages that along the way there are
needs to be met. Freud identified specific erogenous zones for each stage of
development; these are the “pleasure areas” that become focal point for the particular
stage. If needs are not met along the area, a fixation occurs. As an adult, a person will
now manifest behaviours related to his erogenous zone.

Oral Stage – (birth – 18 months) the erogenous zone is in the mouth, the child is focused on
oral pleasures- the mouth as in sucking. Too much or too little satisfaction can lead to an

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 Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which led to increased focus on oral activities. This type
of personality may be oral receptive- such as the strong tendency to smoke, drink
alcoholic drinks, overeat; oral aggressive – characterized by the habit of biting
fingernails, use curse words, or even gossiping. These kinds of persons have the
tendency to be dependent to others, easily fooled, and lack leadership traits. But they can
fight these tendencies and become pessimistic and aggressive in relating with people.
Anal Stage – (18 months to 3 years) the child’s focus of pleasure in the stage is the anus,
the child finds satisfaction in eliminating and retaining feces. Parents need to provide
toilet training. Between the ages one and one half to three years, the child’s favourite may
be “No”, therefore, there is a struggle in the toilet training. The child may retain feces or
urine when told to eliminate these or defecate when ask to retain feces for some reasons.
Personality in this stage may become anal retentive- an obsession with cleanliness,
perfection and control; or anal expulsive – where the person become messy and
disorganized.

Phallic Stage – (ages 3-6) the pleasure or erogenous zone is the genitals. In this age, children
are interested in in what makes boys and girls different. They sometimes may be seen
fondling their genitals. Freud believe that during this stage boys develop unconscious
sexual desire for their mother. Boys see their father as a rival for mother’s affection and
they fear that their father will punish them for these feelings. Thus the castration anxiety.
These feelings is called by Freud as Oedipus complex. In Greek Mythology, Oedipus
unintentionally killed his father and married his mother-Jocasta. Freud believe that boys’
fear of castration eventually decide to identify with their father rather than fight them. By
identifying with their father they develop masculine characteristics and identify themselves
as males.

Psychoanalysts believe that girls may also have similar experiences, developing unconscious
sexual attractions towards their father, this is referred to as Electra Complex.

According to psychoanalysts, a fixation at this stage may result in sexual deviancies (both over
indulging or avoidance) and weak or confused sexual identity.

Latency Stage – (age 6 to puberty) during this stage, sexual urges remain repressed, the
children’s focus is in the acquisition of physical academic skills. Boys usually relate more with
boys and girls with girls.

Genital Stage – (puberty onwards) this takes place during the start of puberty where sexual
urges once again awakened. In the earlier stage, adolescents focus their sexual urges towards
the opposite sex peers, with the pleasure centered at the genitals.

Freud’s Personality Components

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Freud described the personality structure as having three components – the id, the ego and
the superego. For each person, the first to emerge is the id, followed by the ego, and the last
to develop is the superego.

The id - Freud said that the child is born with the id. The id plays a vital role in one’s personality
because as a baby, it works so that a baby’s essential needs are met. The id operates on the
Pleasure Principle. – an immediate gratification of the needs. The id works when the baby
needs food, needs to be changed with comfortable clothing, in pain, uncomfortable or when
needing attention – the baby cries to get satisfaction. The immediate satisfaction of the needs
what matters in the id, without considering for the needs of others. When the id wants
something, it wants it now and it wants it fast.

The ego – as the child turns into a toddler and eventually into a pre-schooler, he relates more
with the environment, the ego begins to emerge slowly. The ego operates using the Reality
Principle. It is aware that others also have needs to be met. It is practical because it knows that
being impulsive or selfish can result to negative consequences later. So it reasons and
concerns the best response to situations. As such, it is the deciding agent of the personality.
Although it functions to help meet the needs of the id, it always takes into account the reality of
the situation.

The Superego – Near the end of the preschool years, or the end of the phallic stage, the
superego develops. The superego embodies a person’s moral aspect. This develops from what
the parents, teachers and other persons who exert influence impart to be good or moral. The
superego is likened to conscience, because it exerts influence in what one considers right or
wrong.

The Three Components and Personality Adjustment

Freud said that a well- adjusted person is one who has strong ego, who can help satisfy
the needs of the id without going against the superego while maintaining the person’s sense of
what is logical, practical and real. It is not easy for the ego to do all that and strike a balance. If
the id exerts too much power towards the ego, the person becomes too impulsive and pleasure-
seeking behaviour takes place. On the opposite direction, one may find the superego so strong
that the ego is overpowered. The person becomes so harsh and judgemental to himself and to
other’s action. The person’s best effort to be good may still fall short of the superego’s
expectations.
The ability of the learner to be well-adjusted is largely influenced by how the learner was
brought up. His experiences on how his parents met his needs, the extent to which he was
allowed to do things he wanted to do, and how he was taught about right or wrong, all figures to
the type of personality of an individual is formed early during the childhood period.

Topographical Model
The Unconscious – Freud said that most what we go through in our lives – emotions, beliefs,
feelings and impulses deep within are not available to us at a conscious level. He believe that

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most of what influence us is our unconscious. The Oedipus and the Electra complexes were
both buried down in the unconscious, out of our awareness due to the extreme anxiety they
caused. While these complexes are in our unconscious, they will influence our thinking, feeling
and doing in perhaps dramatic ways.
The Conscious – Freud said that all that we are aware of is stored in our conscious mind. Our
conscious mind only comprises a very small part of who we are, so that in our everyday life, we
are only aware of a very small part of what makes up our personality; most of what we are is
hidden and out of reach.

The Subconscious – the last part is the pre-conscious or the subconscious. It is the part of us
that we can reach if prompted, but is not in our active conscious. Its right below the surface, but
still “hidden” until we search for it. Information such as our telephone number, some childhood
memories or names of childhood friends are stored in our subconscious.
Because the unconscious is so huge, and because we are only aware of the very small
conscious at any given time, Freud used the analogy of the iceberg to illustrate it.
The small part of the iceberg is what that is seen that floats on the ocean, it represents
our conscious personality. A big part of the iceberg is hidden beneath the water surface, it
represents our preconscious, the superego, the ego the unconscious and the id.

Conscious

Preconscious

Superego
Ego

Unconscious

Id

Activity 11. Analysis

1. Search
the internet and look for Freud’s case studies. Read one of his studies and write a
reaction paper on how he explained the personality development of the individuals in
the case study. (Cite your internet search)
2. Search www.loc.gov, click “Exhibitions”; click “View all exhibits”, go to “Sigmund
Freud: Conflict and Culture” and do the following:
 Describe Freud’s family background,

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  Describe the composition of his family,
 Give a reflection on what you think was it like for Freud growing up in his
family.

B. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Theory of Development is truly a classic in the field of educational
psychology. This theory fuelled other researches and theories of development and learning. Its
focus is on how individuals construct knowledge.
For sixty years, Jean Piaget conducted research on cognitive development. His research method
involved observing a small number of individuals as they respond to cognitive tasks that de
designed. These tasks were later known as the Piagetian Tasks. Piaget called his theoretical
framework “Genetic Epistemology” because he was interested on how knowledge develop among
humans. He examined the implications of his theory not only to aspects of cognition but also to
intelligence and moral development. His theory has been applied widely to teaching and
curriculum design especially in the preschool and the elementary curricula.

Basic Cognitive Concepts

Schema – Piaget use the term ‘schema” to refer to the cognitive structures by which individuals
intellectually adapt to and organize their environment. It is an individual’s way to understand or
create meaning about a thing or experience. It is like the mind has a filing cabinet and each
drawers has folders that contain files of things he has had an experience with. For instance, if a
child sees a dog for the first time and someone tells him it’s a dog, he creates his own schema of
what a dog is, it has four legs, a tail, it barks and its furry. The child then puts this description of a
dog “on file” in his mind. When he sees a similar dog, he “pulls out” the file (his schema of a dog)
in his mind, looks at the animal and says in his mind – four legs, barks, has a tail – “it’s a dog”.

Assimilation – this is a process of fitting the new experience into an existing or previously
created cognitive structure or schema. If the child sees another dog, this time, a smaller one, he
would make sense of what he is seeing by adding this new information (a different looking dog)
into his schema of a dog.

Accommodation – this is the process of creating a new schema. If the same child now sees
another animal that looks a little bit like a dog, but somehow different. He might try to fit it into his
schema of a dog and say “look mommy’ what a funny looking dog, its bark is funny too”, then an
adult person or mommy will say “that’s not a funny looking dog, it’s a goat”. With mommy’s further
description, the child will now create a new schema, that of a goat. He now adds a new file in his
filing cabinet.

Equilibration – Piaget believe that people have the natural need to understand how the world
works and to find order, structure and predictability in their life. Equilibration is finding proper
balance between assimilation and accommodation. When our experience do not match our
schemata (plural of schema) or cognitive structures, we experience cognitive disequilibrium.

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This means there is a discrepancy between what is perceived and what is understood. We then
exert effort through assimilation and accommodation to establish equilibrium once more.

Cognitive Development – involves a continuous effort to adapt to the environment in terms of

assimilation and accommodation. Piaget’s theory is similar in nature to other constructivist
perspectives of learning like Brunner and Vygotsky.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Stage 1. Sensori-motor Stage – (from birth to infancy) this is the stage where a child who is
initially reflexive in grasping, sucking and reaching becomes more organized in his movement and
activity. It focuses on the prominence of the senses and muscle movement through which the
infant comes to learn about himself and the world. In working with children in the sensori-motor
stage, teachers and parents should provide a rich and stimulating environment with appropriate
objects to play with.

Object Permanence – this is the ability of the child to know that an object still exists even when
out of sight. (More discussion on this stage in Infancy and Toddlerhood)

Stage 2. Pre-operational Stage – (from 2 to 7 years) intelligence in this stage is intuitive in

nature. The child can now make mental representations and is able to pretend. The child is now
closer to the use of symbols. This stage is highlighted by the following:

Symbolic function – this is the ability of the child to represent objects and events. A symbol is a
thing that represents something else. A drawing, a written word or a spoken word comes to be
understood as representing a real object like the real MRT train. Symbolic function gradually
develops in this period. A two year old child may pretend that he is drinking water from a glass
which is really empty. The glass remains to be a glass, but after pretending drinking from a glass,
the child urns the glass into a rocket ship or a telephone. At 6 – 7 years old, a child may pretend
to play with object that exists only in his mind. For instance, a boy will play spider man without
costume or props or a girl may play dancing in a ballroom or ballet without a music.

Egocentrism - this is the tendency of the child to only see his point of view and assumes that
everyone also has the same point of view. The child cannot see the perspective of others. For
instance, a 5 year old boy will insist to buy a toy truck as a gift to his mother’s birthday, nor a 3
year old girl cannot understand why her cousins called her daddy uncle and not daddy.

Centration – this refers to the tendency of the child to only focus on one aspect of a thing or
event and exclude other aspects. For example, when a child is presented with two identical
glasses with the same amount of water, the child will say they have the same amount of water.
However, when water from one of the glasses is transferred to a taller and narrower glass, the
child might say that there is more water in the taller glass. The child only focused or centered only
one aspect of the new glass, that is, it is a taller glass. The child was not able to perceive that the
taller glass is also narrower. The child only centered on the height of the glass and not with its
width in determining the amount of the same amount of water.

15
Irreversibility – pre-operational children still have the inability to reverse their thinking. They can
understand that 2 + 3 is 5, but cannot understand that 5 – 3 is 2.

Animism – this is the tendency of children to attribute human-like traits or characteristics to

inanimate objects. When at night, the child is asked, where the sun is, he will say that “Mr Sun is
asleep” because it is already night time.

Transductive Reasoning - this refers to the pre-operational child’s type of reasoning that is
neither inductive nor deductive, reasoning appears to be from particular to particular – “if A
causes B, then B causes A, example: Since a child’s mommy comes home at 6 o’clock in the
evening, when the child is asked “why it is already night?” the child may answer “because my
mommy is already home.”

Stage 3 – Concrete-operational Stage – (8-11 years) this stage is characterized by the ability of
the child to think logically but only in terms of concrete objects. This stage is marked by the
following:

Decentering- this refers to the ability of the child to perceive the different features of objects and
situations. No longer is the child focused on one aspect or dimension. This allows the child to be
more logical when dealing with concrete objects and situations.

Reversibility – in this stage of concrete operation, the child can now follow certain
operations that can be done in reverse. Example, they can already comprehend the commutative
property of addition, they can also understand that a ball of play clay shaped into a dinosaur can
be remodelled to other shapes or back to a ball of play clay.

Conservation – this the ability to understand that certain properties of objects, like
number, mass, volume or area, do not change even if there is a change in appearance. The child
now progresses to attain conservation abilities being a pre-conserver, transitional thinker and then
a conserver.

Seriation – this is the ability of the child to order or arrange things in a series based on
one dimension such as weight, volume or size. Example, to arrange things from smallest to the
biggest.

Stage 4- Formal Operational Stage – (12 to 15 years) in this stage, thinking becomes more
logical. They can now solve abstract problems and can hypothesize about a problem and to
gather and weight data in order to make a final decision or judgement. These can be done in the
absence of concrete objects. The individuals can now deal with “what if” questions.

Analogical Reasoning – this is the ability to perceive the relationship in one instance and
then use that relationship to narrow down possible answers in another similar situations or
problem. They can make an analogy. For example: If United Kingdom is to Europe, then
Philippines is to _____? The individual will reason that since the UK is found in the continent of
Europe, the Philippines is found in what continent? Then he will realize that the correct answer is
Asia. Through reflective thought and even in the absence of concrete objects, the individual can
now understand relationship and do analogical reasoning.

16
 Deductive Reasoning – this is the ability of the individual to think logically by applying a
general rule to a particular instance or situation. For example, all countries near the North Pole
have cold temperatures. Greenland is near the North Pole. Therefore, Greenland has a cold
temperature.

From Piaget’s findings and comprehensive theory, the following principles are derived:

1. Children will provide different explanations of reality at different stages of cognitive

development.
2. Cognitive development is facilitated by providing activities or situations that engage
learner and require adaptation, example; assimilation and accommodation.
3. Learning materials and activities should involve the appropriate level of motor or
mental operation for a child to given age, avoid asking students to perform tasks that
are beyond their current cognitive capabilities.
4. Use teaching methods and actively involve students and present challenges.

Activity 12. Analysis

1. Choose a story you want to use for this activity. It can be a story you have read, a
telenovela or a movie you have watched. Use the given matrix to accomplish this
activity.

Title of the story/ movie _____________________________________________

1.1 Write a brief summary of the story;

1.2 Fill up the matrix; connect your answers with Piaget’s theory

Character Description Piagetian Connection

Father What is his stage of cognitive development?

17
 Example: Cite instances why you say he is in this stage
(what

he thought, how he thought, his reactions and attitudes)

Mother What is her stage of cognitive development?

Example: Cite instances why you say she is in this stage

(what

she thought, how she thought, her reactions and

attitudes)

Children What is his/her stage of cognitive development?

Example: Cite instances why you say he/she is in this

1 stage (what he/she thought, how he thought, her

reactions

and attitudes)

What is his/her stage of cognitive development?

2 Example: Cite instances why you say he/she is in this

stage (what he/she thought, how he thought, her

reactions

and attitudes)

What is his/her stage of cognitive development?

3 Example: Cite instances why you say he/she is in this

stage (what he/she thought, how he thought, her

reactions

and attitudes)

Other important What is his/her stage of cognitive development?

characters Example: Cite instances why you say he/she is in this

stage (what he/she thought, how he thought, her

reactions

and attitudes)

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C. Erickson’s Psycho-social Theory of Development
Erik Erickson’s psychosocial theory of development is a very relevant and highly
regarded meaningful theory. Life is a continuous process involving learning and trials which help
us to grow.

Introduction to the 8 stages

1. Erickson’s psychosocial term is derived from the two source words- psychological or
the root, psycho- relating to the mind/brain; and social- means external relationship
and environment – both at the heart of Erickson’s theory. Occasionally, we will see the
term extended to “bio psychosocial” in which bio refers to life.
2. Erickson’s theory was largely influenced by Sigmund Freud, but Erickson extended the
theory and incorporated cultural and social aspects into Fred’s biological and sexually
oriented theory.
3. It’s also interesting to see how his ideas develop overtime, perhaps aided by his own
journey through the “psychological crisis” stages model that underpinned his work.
4. Like other influential theories, Erickson’s model is simple and well-designed. The
theory is a basis for broad or complex discussion and analysis of personality and
behaviour, and also for understanding and facilitating personal development of self
and others. It can help the teacher in becoming more knowledgeable and at the same
time understanding of the various environmental factors that affect his own and his
students’ personality and behaviour.
5. Erickson’s 8 stages theory is a tremendously powerful model. It is very accessible and
obviously relevant to modern life, from different perspective for understanding and
explaining how personality and behaviour develop in people. As such, Erickson’s
theory is useful for teaching, parenting, self-awareness, managing and coaching,
dealing with conflict, and generally for understanding self and others.
6. Various terms are used to describe Erickson’s model: Erickson’s bio-psycho-social
theory; Erickson’s human development cycle and variation of these. All refer to the
same 8 stages of psychosocial theory, it being the most distinct work and remarkable
model.
7. The epigenetic principle – as Boeree explains, “This principle says that we develop
through a predetermined unfolding of our personalities of eight stages. Our progress
through each stage is in part determined by our success or lack of success, in all the
previous stages, a little like the unfolding of a rose bud, its petal opens up at a certain
time, in a certain order, which nature, through its genetics has determined. If we
interfere in the natural order of development by pulling a forward prematurely or out of
order, we ruin the entire flower.” Erickson’s theory delved into how personality is

19
 formed and believed that the earlier stages served as a foundation for the later stages.
The theory highlighted the influence of one’s environment, particularly on how
experiences gradually build upon the next and result into one’s personality.
8. Each stage involves a psychosocial crisis of two opposing emotional forces. A helpful
term used by Erickson is “contrary dispositions”. Each crisis stage relates to
corresponding life stage and its inherent challenges. Erickson used the word “syntonic”
for the first listed positive deposition in each crisis, example – Trust, and “dystonic” for
the second listed negative disposition, example - Mistrust. To signify the opposing or
conflicting relationship between each pair of forces or disposition, Erickson connected
them with the word “versus”.
9. If a stage is managed well, we carry away a certain virtue or psychosocial strength
which will help us through the rest of the stages of our lives. Successfully passing
through each crisis involves “achieving” a healthy ratio of balance between the two
opposing disposition that represent each crisis.
10. On the other hand, if we don’t do so well, we may develop maladaptation and
malignancies, as well as endanger our future development. A malignancy is the
worse of the two. It involves too little of the positive and too much of the negative
aspect of the task, such as a person who can’t trust others. A maladaptation is not
quite as bad and involves too much of the positive and too little of the negative, such
as a person who trusts too much.
11. The crisis stages are not sharply defined steps, elements tend to overlap and mingle
from one step to the next and to the preceding stages. Its broad framework and
concept, not a mathematical formula which replicates precisely across all people and
situations.
12. Erickson was keen to point out that the transition between stages is “overlapping”.
Crisis stages connect with each other like interlaced fingers, not like a series of neatly
stacked boxes. People don’t suddenly wake up one morning and be in a new life
stage. Changes are graduated, mixed together and organic.
13. Erickson also emphasized the significance of “mutuality” and “generativity” in his
theory. Mutuality reflects the effects of generations on each other, especially among
families, and particularly between parents and children and grandchildren. Everyone
potentially affects everyone else’s experiences as they pass through the different crisis
stages. Generativity, actually a named disposition within one of the crisis stages
(Generativity vs. Stagnation – stage 7), reflects the significant relationship between
adults and the best interest of children – one’s own children, and in a way, everyone
else’s children, the next generation.

Erickson’s Eight Psychosocial Stages of Development

Stage 1
Infancy

Maladaptation: Malignancy:
Sensory Psychosocial Crisis Withdrawal
Maladjustment Trust vs. Mistrust

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 Too much trust Too much distrust
Virtue:
Hope

Stage 1
Psychosocial Crisis – (birth to 18 months) approximately at this age, the crisis is Trust vs.
Mistrust. The goal is to develop trust without completely eliminating the capacity for mistrust. If
the parents can give the baby a sense of familiarity, consistency and continuity, then the baby
will develop the feeling that the world is a safe place to be, that people are reliable and loving. If
the parents are unreliable and inadequate, if they reject the infant or harm it, if other interests
caused the parents to turn away from the infant’s need to satisfy their own instead, then the
infant will develop mistrust. The infant becomes apprehensive and suspicious around people.

Maladaptation/ Malignancy
We have to remember and understand that the parents are not really perfect. In fact,
parents who are overly protective of the child, who are there the minute the child cries will lead
the child into maladaptive tendency – sensory maladjustment: overly trusting, gullible, this
person cannot believe that anyone can mean harm to them, and when harm is done to them,
they will find reason to excuse the person who harmed them. Worse is when the child is tipped
over to the mistrust side, they will develop the malignant tendency of withdrawal – characterized
by depression, paranoia or even psychosis.

Virtue – if the proper balance is achieved, the child will develop the virtue of Hope – the strong
belief that even when things are not going well, they will work out well at the end. One of the
signs that the child is doing well is when the child is not overly upset by the need to wait a
moment for the satisfaction of his needs: He trust “mom and dad that even if they can’t be here
immediately, they will be here soon”, “things may be tough now but they will soon work out”.
This is the same ability, that in later life, gets us through disappointments in love, in our career,
and many other domains in life.

Stage 2

Stage 2
Early Childhood

Maladaptation: Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy:

Impulsiveness Autonomy vs. Compulsiveness
Shame & Doubt

Too much autonomy Too much shame and doubt

Virtue:
Will power/
Determination
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Psychosocial Crisis - (from 18 months to 3 or 4 years old) the task is to achieve a degree of
autonomy while minimizing shame and doubt. If parents or caregiver permit the toddler to
explore and manipulate his or her environment, the child will develop a sense of autonomy or
independence, the parents should not discourage the child, but neither should they push. A
balance is required. People often advise new parents to be “firm but tolerant”. This way, the
child will develop self-control and self-esteem. On the other hand, it is rather easy for the child
to develop instead a shame or doubt, if the parents are hard on any attempt to explore and be
independent. The child will soon give up with the belief that he cannot and should not act on his
own. We should keep in mind that even as innocent as laughing at the toddler’s effort can lead
the child to feel deeply ashamed and to doubt his capacities.

Maladaptation/ Malignancy
A little shame and doubt is both inevitable and beneficial, without it, you will develop the
maladaptive tendency Erickson called impulsiveness – a sort of shameless wilfulness that leads
you, in later childhood, to jump into things without proper considerations of your abilities. Worse
of course is too much shame an doubt which leads to the malignancy called compulsiveness -
ones feeling that the entire being rides on everything they do and say and so, everything must
be done perfectly. There must be a balance on the autonomy and shame and doubt.

Virtue
If you get the proper balance of autonomy and shame and doubt, you will develop the virtue of
will power or determination. This means that a person has the will power or determined to do
things within their capacities without being boastful or arrogant.

Stage 3
Stage 3
Early Childhood

Maladaptation:
Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy:
Ruthlessness Initiative vs. Inhibition
Guilt
Too much initiative Too much
guilt
Virtue:
Sense of purpose/
courage

22
Psychosocial Crisis – (from 4 to 6 years) the task is to learn initiative without too much guilt.
Initiative means a positive response to the world’s challenges, taking on responsibilities,
learning new skills, and feeling purposeful. Parents can encourage initiative by encouraging
children to try out their ideas, accept and encourage fantasy and curiosity and imagination. This
is a time for play, not a formal education. The child id now capable of imagining a future
situation. Initiative is the ability of the child to make the non-reality a reality.
If children can imagine the future, if they can plan, then they can be responsible as well, and
guilty. The capacity for moral judgement has developed.
Example: If my two-year old child flushes my wrist watch on the toilet, I can safely say
that there was no “evil intentions”. It was just curiosity of a shiny object that has small hands that
move around the watch surface. But it would be different if a 5 year old child do this. The 5 year
old knows what will happen to a wrist watch flushed in the toilet, and the child would be guilty
and knows of the consequences of the action. He knows that mom and dad may become angry
and he knows what would happen to her. He develops guilt and become morality aware of his
actions. The parents have the responsibility to encourage the child to “grow up, you are not a
baby anymore”. But if this process is done harshly and too abruptly, the child feels too guilty
about his feelings and actions.

Maladaptation/ Malignancy
Too much initiative and too little guilt means a maladaptive tendency called ruthlessness - the
ability to be heartless or “without mercy”. The ruthless person has the initiative, but they don’t
care who they step on to achieve their goals. The goals are the only things that matter to them,
and that guilty feelings and mercy are only signs of weakness. The extreme form of
ruthlessness is sociopath.
Ruthlessness is very hard to others but relatively easy to the ruthless persons. Harder on the
person is the malignancy Erickson calls inhibition – this the feeling of persons who are afraid to
start and take a lead on a project because they don’t like to feel guilty about failure. To them
“nothing ventured, nothing lost”, they feel that if they failed, they will be blamed.
Virtue – a good balance initiative and guilt leads to psychosocial strength of purpose. A sense
of purpose is something many people crave for in their lives, yet many do not realize that they
themselves make their purposes, through imagination and initiative. The better word for this
virtue is courage- the capacity for action despite a clear understanding of one’s own limitations
and past failures.

Stage 4

Stage 4
Childhood

Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy:

Maladaptation:
Industry vs. Inertia
Narrow virtuosity
Inferiority
23
 Too much industry Too much
inferiority
Virtue:
Competency

Psychosocial Crisis – (6 to 12 years old) the task is to develop capacity for industry while
avoiding an excessive sense of inferiority. Children must “tame their imagination” and dedicate
themselves to education and to learning the social skills the society requires of them. In this
stage, there is a much broader sphere, the parents and other family members are joined by
teachers, peers and other members of the community, Parents must encourage, teachers must
care, and peers must accept. Children must learn that there is pleasure, not only in conceiving a
plan, but also in carrying out the plan. They must learn the feeling of success, whether in
school, or on the playground, academically or socially.
To know the difference between children in the stage 3 with that of the child stage 4 is how they
play games. The one in the stage 3 may know and like the game but not know and understand
the rules of the game. The child in stage 4 focuses on the rules in playing the game and insist
that the rules be followed.

If the child is allowed too little success, because of too strict parents, harsh teachers, or
rejecting peers, the child may develop a sense of inferiority or incompetence. Another source of
incompetence according to Erickson are racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination, and
bullying from peers.
Maladaptation/ Malignancy – Too much industry leads to the maladaptive tendency called
“narrow virtuosity”, this is observed in children who were not allowed to “be children”, those
children who were pushed by parents and teachers into one area of competence without
allowing the development of broader interests. Included are the kids without a life of their own:
child actors/ actress, child athletes, child musicians and child prodigies of all sorts. Their
industry is much admired but if we look closer, their lives seemed empty.
Much more common malignancy is inertia – include person suffering from “inferiority complex”
(Alfred Adler). There are the persons who would not try to do a task again if at first they don’t
succeed, they don’t like to do a task because they fear failure. These persons never develop
social skills- the most important skill, and so, they never go out in public. They become inert.

Virtue – If the right balance of industry and inferiority, that is – mostly industry and a touch of
inferiority- to keep us sensibly humble, then we develop the virtue called competency.

Stage 5
Stage 5
Adolescence

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 Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy:
Maladaptation:
Identity vs. Repudiation
Fanaticism
Role Confusion

Too much Ego Identity Too much role

confusion

Virtue:
Fidelity

Psychosocial Crisis – (18-20 years old or adolescence) the task here is to develop ego identity
and avoid role confusion. Ego identity means knowing who you are and how you fit into the rest
of the society. It requires that you take all you have learned about life and yourself and mold it
into a unified self-image, one that your community finds meaningful.
To develop acceptable social behaviour, there must be a mainstream adult culture that is worthy
of the adolescent’s respect, one with good adult role model and open lines of communication.
Further, society must provide clear rites of passage – certain accomplishments and rituals that
help to distinguish the adults from the child. Boys and girls may be required to go through
certain tests of endurance, symbolic ceremonies, or educational events. In one way or another,
the distinction between the powerless and irresponsible time of childhood and the powerful and
responsible time of adulthood are made clear.
One of Erickson’s suggestions for adolescence in our society is the psychosocial moratorium
– this is allowing the young adults to take a break, take a breather, go to vacation. They may
stop schooling and go to get a job, quit the job
and continue schooling. Allow them to achieve success gradually, not so fast. This way, they
will develop a sense of self confidence and they know what they like, and figure out success
and how to achieve this.

Maladaptation/ Malignancy
The adolescent may develop too much ego identity if he is so involved in a particular role in a
particular society or subculture that there is no room left for tolerance. Erickson calls this
maladaptive tendency fanaticism – this is the belief of a person that his way is the only way. A
fanatic person is known for being idealist and for seeing things in black –and-white. These
persons will gather people around them and promote their beliefs and life-styles without regards
to others’ right to disagree.
Lack of identity is more difficult, it leads to repudiation – or to reject. People who lack in identity
reject their membership in the world of adult, and worse, they reject their need for identity. Some
adolescents prefer to go to groups that go against the norm to form their identity: religious cults,
militaristic organization, groups founded on hatred, groups that have divorced themselves from
the demands of the mainstream society- destructive activities, drugs, alcoholism or withdraw
into their own psychotic fantasies.

25
Virtue – if this stage is successfully negotiated, the virtue of fidelity is developed. Fidelity
means loyalty- the ability to live by societies’ standards despite their imperfections and
incompleteness and inconsistencies. We are not talking about blind loyalty, because if we love
our community, we would like to see it become the best that it can be. But fidelity means that
you have found a place in the community where you are allowed to contribute for its betterment.

Stage 6
Stage 6
Young Adulthood

Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy:

Maladaptation:
Intimacy vs. Exclusion
Promiscuity
Isolation

Too much intimacy Too much isolation

Virtue:
Love

Psychosocial Crisis - (18 to about 30 years old) this stage is the young adulthood – the much
fuzzier stage than in childhood. The task is to achieve some degree of intimacy as opposed to
remaining in isolation. Intimacy is the ability to be close to others, as a lover, a friend or as a
participant to the society. Because you are already a clear sense of who you are, you don’t fear of
“losing” yourself. The “fear of commitment” some people seem to exhibit is an example of
immaturity in this stage. Many people are always putting off the progress of their relationship: “I’ll
get marries or have a family after I graduate school, I’ll get married if I get a job, as soon as I have
a house, as soon as ….. so many excuses. A teenage relationship is often a matter of trying to
establish identity through “couple hood”, the young adult relationship should be a matter of two
independent egos wanting to create something larger than themselves.

Maladaptation/ Malignancy

Erickson calls the maladaptive form promiscuity – the tendency to become intimate too freely,
too easily and without any depth of intimacy. This can be true with your relationship with friends
and neighbours and the whole community as well as with lovers. The malignancy is exclusion –

26
which refers to the tendency to isolate oneself from love, friendship and community, and to
develop a certain hatefulness in compensation for one’s loneliness.

Virtue – if this stage is successfully negotiated, the virtue of psychosocial strength which is love is
developed. Love in this context is being able to set aside differences and antagonisms through
“mutuality of devotion”. It includes not only the love we find in a good marriage, but the love
between friends and the love of one’s neighbour, co-workers, and the country.

Stage 7
Stage 7
Middle Adulthood

Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy:

Maladaptation:
Generativity vs. Rejectivity
Overextension
Stagnation

Too much extension of love Too much Stagnation

Virtue:
Caring

Psychosocial Crisis – this stage, the middle adulthood, is hard to pin the ages, but it include the
period during which we are actively involved in raising children, may be around the middle 20’s to
late fifties. The task is to develop a proper balance between generativity and stagnation.

Generativity – is the extension of love into the future, it is a concern for the next
generation. It generally less selfish than the intimacy of the previous stage which is a love of
peers, friends, lovers that are mutual. In generativity, the individual, like a parent, does not expect
to be repaid for the love he gives to his children. Few parents expect “a return on their investment”
from their children. Generativity is observed in many other ways, not only in raising one’s own
children: teaching, writing, inventions, arts and sciences and even social activism – anything that
contributes to the welfare of the future generation. Stagnation - is self-absorption, caring for no
one but himself. The stagnant person stopped to be a productive member of the society.

Maladaptation/ Malignancy

27
The maladaptive tendency called overextension illustrates that some people try to be generative
that they no longer allow time for themselves, for rest and relaxation. The person who is
overextended no longer contributes well, those who are devoted to many causes or take many
jobs that they can no longer focus on them. The malignant tendency is rejectivity – which is too
much stagnation, persons which do not want to contribute to the society – to the meaning of life.

This is the stage of “midlife crisis”, a time when men and women ask themselves “what I am doing
all these for?” They ask this question because their focus is on themselves – not “whom do I do all
these for”? Classic example to this are men who made their wives suffer, leave them and live a
happy life of his own.

Virtue

If this stage is negotiated successfully, the virtue of caring is developed. Caring – is

the capacity for love others while loving oneself.

Stage 8
Stage 8
Maturity or
Late adulthood

Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy:

Maladaptation: Integrity vs.
Presumption Disdain
Despair

Too much integrity Too much despair

Virtue:
Wisdom

Psychosocial Crisis – this is the final stage which begin upon retirement, after the kids have
gone and have their own families. Some older folks will say it starts only when you feel old, but
this attitude in getting old is a youth- worshiping culture, those who do not like to be labelled as
old or senior citizen. Erickson says that reaching this stage is a good thing. The task here is to
develop ego integrity with a minimal amount of despair. This stage seem to be difficult because
it may involve detachment from society, from a sense of usefulness, some retire from jobs they
held for years, others find their duties as parents coming to the end or finding their decisions no
longer matter. There is also a sense of biological uselessness and the illness of old age.

In response to this despair, some older people become preoccupied with the past, with their
failures, their regrets and the bad decisions they have made. Worse, they do not have the
energy to reverse these feelings which lead to depression, paranoia, hypochondriacally or the
developing the patterns of senility.

28
Ego integrity – means coming to terms with your life and therefore coming to terms with the
end of life. If you are able to look back and accept the course of events, the choices made, your
life as you lived it, and then you can still be happy that you are still alive. You do not fear death,
but rather accept it as part of our lie cycle.

Maladaptation/ Malignancy

The maladaptive tendency in this stage is presumption – is when the person “presumes” ego
integrity without actually facing the difficulties of old age. The person in old age presumes and
believes that he alone is right. He does not respect nor accept the ideas and views of the
younger people. The malignant tendency is called disdain – the person’s attitude to contempt
life, one’s own or anyone’s. The person becomes very negative and hates life and other people.

Virtue – someone who approaches death without fear has the strength of wisdom – Erickson
calls it a gift to children because “healthy children” will not fear life if their elders have integrity
enough not to fear death. There are people who can teach a great deal in life, not because of
their intellect or wisdom, but with their gentle approach to life and death, and by their “generosity
of spirit”.

Activity 13. - Analysis

Write your own life story using the stages of psychosocial development as framework.
Go through each stages 1 to 6. Ask information from your parents and other significant persons
in your life.

Include in your portfolio the result of your activity 3. D below. Write a narrative for each
stage.

Activity 14. Reflection

This activity contains selected items from Rhona Ochse and Cornelis Plug’s Self-report
Questionnaire assessing the personality dimensions associated with Erickson’s 6/8 stages of
psychosexual development. Answer honestly, follow the instructions in scoring and write a
paragraph about what you have discovered in tour self- based on your answers to the
questions. Read the instructions on scoring before you answer at the end of the
questionnaire.

Indicate how often each statement applies to you by using the following scale.
0 – Never applies to you
1 – Occasionally or seldom applies to you
2 – Fairly often applies to you
3 – Very often applies to you

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Stage 1 – Trust vs. Mistrust Score

_____ 1. I feel pessimistic about the future of humankind

_____ 2. I feel the world’s major problems can be solved.

_____ 3. I am filled with admiration with human kind

_____ 4. People can be trusted

_____ 5. I feel optimistic about my future

Total score in stage 1

Stage 2 – Autonomy vs. shame and Doubt Score

_____ 6. When people try to persuade me to do something I don’t want to,

I refuse

_____ 7. After I have a decision, I feel I have made a mistake

_____ 8. Am unnecessarily apologetic

_____ 9. I worry that my friends will find fault with me

_____10. When I disagree with someone, I tell them

Total score in stage 2

Stage 3 – Initiative vs. Guilt Score

_____11. I am prepared to take a risk to get what I want

_____12. I feel hesitant to try out a new way of doing something

_____13. I am confident in carrying out my plans to a successful conclusion

_____14. I feel what happens to me is a result of what I have done

_____15. When I have difficulty in getting something right, I give up

Total score in stage 3

Stage 4 – Industry vs. Inferiority Score

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_____16. When people look at something I have done, I feel embarrassed

_____17. I get a great deal of pleasure from working

_____18. I feel too incompetent to do what I would really like to do in life

_____19. I avoid doing something difficult because I feel I would fail

_____20. I feel competent

Total score in stage 4

Stage 5 – Identity vs. Identity diffusion Score

_____21. I wonder what sort of person I really am

_____22. I feel certain about what I should do with my life

_____23. My worth is recognized by others

_____24. I feel proud to b a sort of person I am

_____25. I am unsure as to how people feel about me

Total score in stage 5

Stage 6 –Intimacy vs. Isolation Score

_____26. I feel that no one has ever known the real me

_____27. I have a feeling of complete “togetherness” with someone

_____28. I feel it is better to remain free than to become committed to

marriage for life

_____29. I share my private thoughts with someone

_____30. I feel as though I am alone in the world

Total score in stage 6

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Scoring: Scores from each sub-stage range from 0-15. With high scores reflecting
greater strength on a particular personality dimension.

1. The response to item 1 should be reversed (0=3; 1=2;2=1;3=0)

Then added to the numbers given in response to items 2.3.4.& 5 to obtain a trust score.
2. Responses to items 7, 8, & 9 should be reversed and added to items 6 &
10 to assess autonomy.
3. Answers to 12 & 15 should be reversed and added to items 11, 13 & 14
to measure initiative.
4. Answers to 16, 18 &b19 should be reversed and then added to 17 & 20 to
calculate industry.
5. Responses to 21 & 25 must be reversed and added to 22, 23 & 24 to
obtain a measure of identity.
6. Answers to 26, 28 and 30 are to be reversed and added to 27 & 29 to
obtain a measure of intimacy.
Now you know your strength and weaknesses in a particular dimension. Answer the following to
come up to your analysis of yourself.

Which virtue are you strong, and which are you weak?

1. What will you do with your strong points and with your weak points?
2. What have you found about yourself?

D. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg was interested in and studying the development of moral reasoning, he
based his theory on the findings of Piaget in studying cognitive development. Like Piaget,
Kohlberg believes that children form ways of thinking through their experiences which include
understanding of moral concept such as justice, rights, equality and human welfare. Our ability
to choose right from wrong is tied with our ability to understand and reason logically.

According to Kohlberg, moral development occurs in six stages

Level Stage Description

Pre-conventional Level- Moral reasoning Punishment/ Obedience –

is based on the consequence/result of the one is motivated by fear of
act, not on whether the act itself is good or 1 punishment. He will act in order
bad. to avoid punishment.

Mutual benefit – one is

2 motivated to act by the benefit
that one may obtain later. “you
scratch my back, I scratch

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 yours”.

Conventional – moral reasoning is based Social Approval – one is

on “conventions” or “norms” of society. 3 motivated by what others
This may include approval of others; Law expect in behaviour – “good
and order. boy, good girl”. The person acts
because he/she values how
he/she appears to others.
He/she gives importance on
what may people will think or
say.

Law and Order – one is

4 motivated to act in order to
uphold law and order. The
person will follow the law
because it is the law.

Post Conventional – moral reasoning is Social Contract – Laws that

based on enduring or consistent 5 are wrong can be changed.
principles. It is not just recognizing the One will act based on social
law, but the principles behind the law. justice and the common good.

Universal Principles – this is

6 associated with the
development of one’s
conscience. Having a set of
standards that drives one to
possess moral responsibility to
make societal changes
regardless of consequences to
oneself. Examples of persons
with this morality are Mother
Theresa of Calcutta and Martin
Luther King Jr.

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Activity 15. (Analysis)
Read the moral dilemma and answer the question after it.

Ryan, 17, has been saving up money to buy a ticket for this concert of rock band. His
parents have discouraged him from going as the concert will surely be a rowdy crowd. The band
is notorious for having out-of control audience who somehow manages to get drunk and stoned
during the concert. Ryan agreed not to watch anymore. But a day before the concert, Nic, the
15 year old brother of Ryan, saw a corner of what appeared to be a concert ticket showing in
the pocket of Ryan’s bag. Nic examined it and confirmed it was indeed a ticket. Looking at
Ryan’s bag, Nic also found an extra shirt and 2 sticks of marijuana. So he figured Ryan will go
to the concert after all. That night, Ryan told his parents that he was spending tomorrow night at
a classmate’s house for a school requirement. Then later that evening, he told Nic of his plan to
go to the concert. Nic didn’t say anything, but he found it difficult to sleep that night thinking
whether to tell their parents or not.

Questions:
1. If you were Nic what would you do?
2. Why would you choose to do that? What were the things you considered in
deciding what to do?
Examine the answers you gave, compare it the responses provided and analyse your level of
morality. Write a reflection paper about your discovery of yourself.
Stage 1 – “Yes I will tell our parents. Because if they found out that I knew, for sure they will get
Angry and most likely punish me.”
“No I will not tell because Ryan will make my life difficult and also punish me for
telling.”

Stage 2 –“ Yes I will tell my parents because they will reward me for it. I will subtly ask for that
new I pod that I am wishing to have”.
“No I will not tell because Ryan will surely grant me a lot of favors for not telling. He’ll not
Also squeal on me.”

Stage 3 – “Yes I will tell so my parents will think I am such an honest boy.”
“No I will not tell, Ryan will think of me as really a cool brother.”

Stage 4 – “Yes I will tell, because we should follow the rules that our parents say.”
“No I will not tell because it’s been our rule to keep each other’s secrets.”

Stage 5 – “Yes I will tell because Ryan might be hurt or get in trouble and his welfare is our
priority”.
“No I will not tell because he is big enough to question our parents’ decision not to let him go.
Stage 6 – “Yes I will tell because lying is always wrong and I want to be true to what I believe
in.”
“No I will not tell because I believe brothers watch out for each other. If he trusted me, I
should stay true to him and not say anything.”

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