In psychology, a fable is a common belief in adolescents that they are special and none of the common problems others have, such as struggles in school, will affect them. Adolescent egocentrism is the inability of adolescents to tell the difference between their perception of what other think about them and what other really think about them. Imaginary audience is when an adolescent believes there is a large group of people attentively watching them.
In my life, I have preformed adolescent egocentrism, fable, and imaginary audience. One example of imaginary audience was earlier this school year when I was watching a hockey game on the couch around eleven at night. Without noticing, I started saying every play that was happening, like I was a commentator. This woke up my mom and she came into the other room and asked why I was talking to the TV. An example of personal fable was last year when I was in math. Everyone who had taken the class before me said it was hard and I shouldn’t sleep, but I figured they were just bad at math and I would be fine. I slept quite a bit the first quarter, and my grade suffered as a result.
I entered Piaget’s formal operational stage around eleven years old, which was in seventh grade. One reason I think this was the year I made the transition was because that was the year I took the SAT for the first time. I ended up doing fairly well on it, even getting many of the math problems, which I hadn’t yet learned, correct. This was also the year I became interested in philosophy and began to think more critically about things. A third reason is because this was also the year I started to get better at chess. This was the first year I could consistently beat both of my parents in chess because of the ability to think more moves into the future. This allowed me to make better moves and get better overall. All of these examples show me in the formal operational stage by displaying an increase in critical thinking.
I think I am in the post conventional stage of Kohlberg’s moral development stages. More specifically, I think I am in the social contract driven portion of that stage. This means one understands and respects that people have different perspectives and their main concern is making things acceptable for the greatest number of people. An example showing this stage is my political leanings. As I grow and mature, I am beginning to find myself becoming more moderate on the political spectrum as I begin to understand the validity of everybody’s statement. This means I resolve to find compromise in political conversations. Another example is in my work as a summer camp counselor. When two campers have a dispute, I no longer see things as one camper being right and one being wrong. I am starting to be able to see both sides of an argument and help to mitigate the argument with a compromise. A third example is my tendency to avoid confrontation such as when two of my friends are fighting. This situation makes it very difficult to make both parties happy, so I find the best solution is to avoid the situation entirely.
Marcia’s theory of development is a refined and improved version of Erikson’s eight stages of identity and psychology development. Her theory of development mainly focused on adolescent development. She came up with four identity statuses of psychological development. These are achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion. Foreclosure is when you have done little exploration of your identity but you committed to it anyways, such as accepting the religion of your parents without trying other ones. Diffusion is when you do little exploration and have little commitment to your identity, otherwise know as not caring. Achievement is when you have high exploration and high commitment to your identity. Moratorium is when you have explored your identity highly but are not committed. I am in the stage of moratorium. One example of why I’m in this status is because I have put a lot of thought into the profession I want to go into. Even with this thinking, I’m still not sure what I want to do so I am going to plan my future with a large amount of leniency so I’m not backed into a corner by my major. Another example is the people I surround myself with. There is a lot of variety in the personality of my friends which shows I have explored my options but am not sure what traits I prefer in friends. A third example is the sports and activities I choose to occupy my free time with. I have tried around 15 sports or activities in my life but haven’t exclusively stuck with one.
Growing up, I could be described the most easily by the slow-to-warm-up child. Generally, I was a rather well behaved and consistent child in most aspects. When placed in new situations, I was very uncomfortable and acted abnormally. One example of this was my first day in kindergarten. At the time we had just moved from North Dakota to North Carolina and I didn’t know anyone at the new school. This was also the first time I could remember that I was left with someone I wasn’t comfortable with. This led me to be very uncomfortable for the first couple weeks of kindergarten. Another example was the first time I was dropped off at summer camp. I had never been in that situation and I didn’t know anyone. This led to me being very quiet and reserved, which was atypical for me. Overtime I grew more comfortable and eventually ended up getting a job at that camp. Another example was when I was in freshmen year in my fourth period. Most of the class was older than me. Because I didn’t know anyone, I was very reluctant to talk for the first semester or so. When I got more comfortable with the people around me, I gradually became more and more social.
Out of Erikson’s eight stages of development, stage five and stage six are most difficult hurdles for adolescents to overcome in their development journey. Stage six, which is intimacy vs isolation, is even more difficult to overcome than stage five, which is identity vs role confusion.
Stage five is called identity vs role confusion. This stage is generally experienced between ages thirteen and twenty-one. This is the first stage that one’s own actions can affect, according to Erikson. During this stage, one faces challenges in find one’s identity, stuggles with social interactions, and forms their own sense of morality.
...(download the rest of the essay above)