Psychosocial Development

Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is one of the best-known theories of personality in psychology. Much like Sigmund Freud, Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages.
Unlike Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages, Erikson’s theory describes the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan.

One of the main elements of Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory is the develoment of ego identity.1 Ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction. According to Erikson, our ego identity is constantly changing due to new experience and information we acquire in our daily interactions with others. In addition to ego identity, Erikson also believed that a sense of competence also motivates behaviors and actions. Each stage in Erikson’s theory is concerned with becoming competent in an area of life. If the stage is handled well, the person will feel a sense of mastery, which he sometimes referred to as ego strength or ego quality.2 If the stage is managed poorly, the person will emerge with a sense of inadequacy.

In each stage, Erikson believed people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. In Erikson’s view, these conflicts are centered on either developing a psychological quality or failing to develop that quality. During these times, the potential for personal growth is high, but so is the potential for failure.
Psychosocial Stage 1 - Trust vs. Mistrust

* The first stage of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development occurs between birth and one year of age and is the most fundamental stage in life.2

* Because an infant is utterly dependent, the development of trust is based on the dependability and quality of the child’s caregivers.

* If a child successfully develops trust, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world. Caregivers who are inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting contribute to feelings of mistrust in the children they care for. Failure to develop trust will result in fear and a belief that the world is inconsistent and unpredictable.

Psychosocial Stage 2 - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

* The second stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development takes place during early childhood and is focused on children developing a greater sense of personal control.2

* Like Freud, Erikson believed that toilet training was a vital part of this process. However, Erikson's reasoning was quite different then that of Freud's. Erikson believe that learning to control one’s body functions leads to a feeling of control and a sense of independence.

* Other important events include gaining more control over food choices, toy preferences, and clothing selection.

* Children who successfully complete this stage feel secure and confident, while those who do not are left with a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt.

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Information and Treatment of Depression

Depression is one of the most common psychological problems, affecting nearly everyone through either personal experience or through depression in a family member.
Each year over 17 million American adults experience a period of clinical depression. The cost in human suffering cannot be estimated. Depression can interfere with normal functioning, and frequently causes problems with work, social and family adjustment. It causes pain and suffering not only to those who have a disorder, but also to those who care about them. Serious depression can destroy family life as well as the life of the depressed person.
Impact of Depression:

* Causes tremendous emotional pain
* Disrupts the lives of millions of people
* Adversely affects the lives of families and friends
* Reduces work productivity and absenteeism
* Has a significant negative impact on the economy, costing an estimated $44 billion a year

Depression and bipolar depression are presented separately on this website because of the unique problems encountered with bipolar disorder. Individuals interested in information about bipolar disorder should also review the information on depression, as bipolar disorder usually includes depressive episodes as well. Bipolar disorder was formerly called manic-depressive disorder. It is a type of depression, and it characterized by the presence of mood swings, especially "manic highs" that often result in high risk, self-damaging behavior. Most individuals with bipolar disorder have both depressive episodes and hypomanic episodes.

Depression is a psychological condition that changes how you think and feel, and also affects your social behavior and sense of physical well-being. We have all felt sad at one time or another, but that is not depression. Sometimes we feel tired from working hard, or discouraged when faced with serious problems. This too, is not depression. These feelings usually pass within a few days or weeks, once we adjust to the stress. But, if these feelings linger, intensify, and begin to interfere with work, school or family responsibilities, it may be depression.

Depression can affect anyone. Once identified, most people diagnosed with depression are successfully treated. Unfortunately, depression is not always diagnosed, because many of the symptoms mimic physical illness, such as sleep and appetite disturbances. Recognizing depression is the first step in treating it.
Nearly two-thirds of depressed people do not get proper treatment:

* The symptoms are not recognized as depression.
* Depressed people are seen as weak or lazy.
* Social stigma causes people to avoid needed treatment.
* The symptoms are so disabling that the people affected cannot reach out for help.
* Many symptoms are misdiagnosed as physical problems
* Individual symptoms are treated, rather than the underlying cause.

Clinical depression is a very common psychological problem, and most people never seek proper treatment, or seek treatment but they are misdiagnosed with physical illness. This is extremely unfortunate because, with proper treatment, nearly 80% of those with depression can make significant improvement in their mood and life adjustment.

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Characteristics of difficult problems

As elucidated by Dietrich Dörner and later expanded upon by Joachim Funke, difficult problems have some typical characteristics that can be summarized as follows:

* Intransparency (lack of clarity of the situation)
o commencement opacity
o continuation opacity
* Polytely (multiple goals)
o inexpressiveness
o opposition
o transience
* Complexity (large numbers of items, interrelations, and decisions)
o enumerability
o connectivity (hierarchy relation, communication relation, allocation relation)
o heterogeneity
* Dynamics (time considerations)
o temporal constraints
o temporal sensitivity
o phase effects
o dynamic unpredictability

The resolution of difficult problems requires a direct attack on each of these characteristics that are encountered.

In reform mathematics, greater emphasis is placed on problem solving relative to basic skills, where basic operations can be done with calculators. However some "problems" may actually have standard solutions taught in higher grades. For example, kindergarteners could be asked how many fingers are there on all the gloves of 3 children, which can be solved with multiplicatio

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Mind-body problem

The mind-body problem can be stated as, "What is the basic relationship between the mental and the physical?"
For the sake of simplicity, we can state the problem in terms of mental and physical events: "What is the basic relationship between mental events and physical events?" It could also be stated in terms of the relation between mental and physical states and/or processes, or between the brain and consciousness.

There are three basic metaphysical positions: mental and physical events are totally different, and cannot be reduced to each other (dualism); mental events are to be reduced to physical events (materialism); and physical events are to be reduced to mental events (idealism). To put it in terms of what exists "ultimately," we could say that according to dualism, both mental and physical events exist ultimately; according to materialism, only physical events exist ultimately; and according to idealism, only mental events exist ultimately. Materialism and idealism are both varieties of monism, and of monism there are two further varieties, namely dual-aspect monism and neutral monism.

The absence of an empirically identifiable meeting point between the non-physical mind and the physically extended body has proven problematic to dualism and many modern philosophers of mind maintain that the mind is not something separate from the body.[1] This approach has been influential in the sciences, particularly in the fields of sociobiology, computer science, evolutionary psychology and the various neurosciences

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