Category: Psychology and Education

Erikson explained this as a group of crucial problems which persons must sort as they walk through every one of the eight stages of life. Each crisis comprises a choice or dilemma that carries both risks and advantages, in which one alternative or choice is generally considered healthier or more desirable.

Crises of infants and preschoolers: Infants face a crisis about trust and mistrust. They’re happiest if they can sleep, eat, and excrete according to their physiological schedules, irrespective of whether those schedules are suited to the caregiver. As young infants cannot influence or control a caregiver’s scheduling needs, they face a quandary about how much to trust or mistrust their caregivers’ helpfulness. 

Once this crisis is resolved, a new one forms over autonomy and shame. The toddlers might now trust their caregivers, but the trust contributes to a desire to establish autonomy by taking care of fundamental personal needs like feeding, dressing, or toileting. However, given a kid’s lack of experience in those activities, self-care is risky at first. Then the kid’s caregiver risks overprotecting the kid and criticizing the early efforts unnecessarily, thus causing the kid to be ashamed of those efforts. 

Eventually, during kids’ preschool age, the autonomy exercised during the earlier period becomes more extended, elaborate, and concentrated on things and individuals other than the kids and their fundamental physical needs. Their desires and projects develop a crisis of initiative and guilt because they realize that acting on desires or impulses can sometimes negatively affect others.

Crisis of childhood: Once into elementary school, children are faced with becoming worthy and competent in the eyes of teachers and classmates. To achieve their esteem, they must develop skills that require sustained and somewhat focused effort. The challenge generates the crisis of industry and inferiority.

Crisis of adolescence: As kids develop lasting attitudes and talents due to the crisis of industry, they start to face new questions that generate the crisis of identity and role confusion. Describing identity is riskier than it might appear because some attitudes and talents might be poorly developed, and some might even be undesirable in others’ eyes. Conflicts in resolving these crises might generate a personal misunderstanding of an individual’s talents and attitudes.

Crises of adulthood: People continue psychosocial development beyond the school years by encountering additional crises. For instance, young adults encounter a crisis of intimacy and isolation. This is about the risk of developing close relationships with some selected persons. Whether the relationships are homosexual, heterosexual, or not sexual at all, their qualities are sustainability and depth. 

A person risks feeling isolated without them. Once they resolve the crisis on the side of intimacy, they encounter a crisis of generativity and stagnation. This is a characteristic of the majority of adulthood and is about contributing to or caring for society, particularly to its younger generations. Generativity involves making life creative and productive so that it matters to others. One sure-fire method for some to accomplish this feeling is raising kids, but there’re also lots of other methods to contribute to others’ welfare.

These are a group of ideas and principles that is worked in a way a social context is related to psychological development. It is common to associate Erik Erikson with this theory.

The psychosocial theory comprises the following eight stages.

Trust vs. mistrust: This stage starts at birth and continues to around 18 months of age. Infants depend solely upon their caregivers. Therefore, if caregivers are sensitive and responsive to their infants’ needs, it helps them develop a sense of trust. Indifferent caregivers who don’t fulfill their babies’ needs might cause the infants to develop feelings of mistrust, anxiety, and fear and consider the world unpredictable.

Autonomy vs. shame and doubt: This stage happens between 11/2 and 3 years of age. If kids are allowed to grow at their own pace at this stage, they can acquire self-confidence and self-reliance. However, if parents are overprotective, inconsistent, or overcritical, the kids might doubt their ability to control their world and themselves.

Initiative vs. guilt: The third stage occurs during preschool, between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Children can develop initiative via social interactions and by directing play and other activities. If their pursuits don’t succeed or are criticized, feelings of guilt and self-doubt might arise.

Industry vs. inferiority: It occurs between the ages of 5 and 12 years. At this stage, children start to compare themselves with peers. They learn to be protective and acknowledge the assessment of their efforts. In turn, they may develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their academic work, social activities, sports, and home life. If children feel they don’t measure up, they might develop feelings of incompetence or inferiority.

Identity vs. role confusion: A person develops a sense of self by trying out different social roles between the ages of 12 and 18. An adolescent who successfully develops a positive, cohesive identity will have a powerful sense of identity. Adolescents who are pressured into an identity or don’t search for an identity might develop a poor sense of self and experience role confusion.

Intimacy vs. isolation: This stage occurs between late adolescence and early middle age. A powerful sense of self has to be developed in adolescence to develop intimate relationships with others. Adults who don’t have a positive self-concept might experience loneliness or emotional isolation.

Generativity vs. stagnation: This stage occurs between the ages of 40 and 65. People have a positive objective of generativity during this stage. In most cases, this leads to procreation alongside the fulfillment of social and parental responsibilities, while failure leads to superficial involvement in the world.

Integrity vs. despair: The final stage occurs during old age when an individual reflects on life. A person can either form a feeling of satisfaction in life or despair over wasted time and missed opportunities.

Erikson’s theory also comes with limitations. One major downside of the theory is that the exact processes for resolving conflicts and moving from one stage to another aren’t well described. It fails to describe exactly what kinds of experiences are required at every stage for effectively resolving the conflicts and moving to the next stage.

This is a domain of psychology that has to do with studying teaching and learning. In other words, it’s the study of how students learn and covers instructional processes, teaching methods, and individual differences in learning. The objective of educational psychology is to understand the way students learn and preserve new information.

This domain of psychology isn’t limited to the learning process of early childhood and adolescence. Instead, it covers the emotional, social, and cognitive processes too, which are involved in learning throughout an individual’s entire lifespan.

Educational psychology integrates several other disciplines, including behavioral psychology, developmental psychology, and cognitive psychology. Some major perspectives in educational psychology are:

The Behavioral Perspective

This perspective works on the theory that students will learn when they are rewarded for “good” behavior and reprimanded for “bad” behavior. For instance, teachers could give students tokens as a ‘reward’ for learning that they can exchange for popular items such as toys or candy. Though behavioral perspective can encourage learning in some cases, it has been criticized for its failure to consider aspects like emotions, attitudes, and inherent motivations for learning.

The Developmental Perspective

The emphasis of this perspective is on how students attain new skills and knowledge as they grow intellectually. By focusing on how students think at various stages of development, it becomes easier for educational psychologists to understand what they are capable of achieving at each point of their growth. This helps educators create instructional materials and methods best-suited to particular age groups.

The Cognitive Perspective

This considers how beliefs, memories, motivations, and emotions contribute to the learning process. The cognitive perspective supports the idea that students learn due to their intrinsic motivation, not because of external rewards. Its objective is to understand how students learn, think, process, and remember information. Thus, educational psychologists focusing on this perspective try to understand how students become inspired to learn, how they retain information, and how they find solutions to problems, among others.

The Constructivist Approach

This approach focuses more on the cultural and social influences that impact students’ learning. Those following the constructivist approach believe that what students already know creates the biggest impact on how they learn new information. In other words, this approach suggests that new knowledge can only be acquired and understood in terms of knowledge that students already possess.

Experiential Perspective

According to this perspective, a student’s own life experiences determine how he understands new information. The experiential perspective is similar to cognitive and constructivist perspectives as it considers the learner’s thoughts, experiences, and feelings.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to finding true happiness, as each person’s path to contentment is unique. However, there are a few key things most psychologists believe will help you find happiness.

1. Seek meaning in your life.

Happiness comes from having a purpose or goal, something you are passionate about. If you don’t have a clear idea of what makes you happy, look for things that make you happy at the moment, regardless of how small they may seem.

2. Establish healthy relationships.

Happiness is often found in close relationships with supportive, kind, and loving people. Ensure to get enough sleep, exercise, and eat a healthy diet to maintain healthy relationships.

3. Appreciate the small things in life.

It’s easy to get bogged down by the big issues in life, but it’s important to take the time to appreciate the small things too. Focusing on the good in life makes the bad days a little easier to bear.

4. Live in the present.

You won’t be very happy if you constantly dwell on the past or worry about the future. So live in the present and let go of negative thoughts.

5. Be grateful for what you have.

Regardless of your situation, take a moment to think about all the good things in your life. This will help you to be happier and more content with what you have.

Albert Bandura is considered one of the pioneers of agentic positive psychology. He has extensively researched self-efficacy and how it relates to personal well-being. His research has shown that high self-efficacy leads to increased motivation and optimism, which leads to positive outcomes.

Bandura’s research has shown that self-efficacy is a learned skill. It can be developed through experience and learning. People with high self-efficacy can see themselves as capable and able to achieve their goals. They are also optimistic and believe they can achieve anything they set their minds.

Self-efficacy is the belief that one can produce desired outcomes. It can be considered a person’s confidence in their ability to do something. Self-efficacy can be developed through experience and reflection, and it can influence individual and collective behavior.

When it comes to personal success, self-efficacy is key. Individuals with high self-efficacy are likelier to achieve their goals, regardless of the challenge. In addition, they have more self-confidence and are more likely to take action toward their goals.

Self-efficacy can also be beneficial for groups. Individuals with high self-efficacy are more likely to take action and contribute to group success. This is because they have a greater sense of ownership over their success and are more likely to be motivated to contribute. While self-efficacy is important, it is not always easy to develop. It can take time to develop a strong sense of self-efficacy and can be affected by various factors. However, with the right approach, self-efficacy can be developed and improved.

One of the key tenets of agentic positive psychology is the idea that individuals can cultivate strengths and abilities to help them achieve their goals. One way to do this is to focus on developing positive attitudes and behaviors toward oneself. According to Seligman, being positive about oneself allows individuals to be more effective and satisfied in their lives.

Another key aspect of agentic positive psychology is creating positive relationships. Seligman says positive relationships are key to a successful and fulfilling life. To have positive relationships, individuals need to be able to trust and rely on others. Agentic positive psychology helps individuals build positive relationships by emphasizing the role of relationships in both individual and collective well-being.