PChristine Valentine
I will explain the psychological theories I have used, to describe the developments of Steven throughout his life experiences, showing his needs and explain how the theories have given me a stronger understanding of his development and behaviours.
Before birth some parts of our personality is being formed Sigmund Freud (hnc in social care 2009)called this the ‘id’ it is the first stage in development, and is present at birth and is the impulsive, subjective and pleasure seeking part of you. It operates pleasure principles it demands mediate gratification, for instance if a baby cries we pick them up to feed or comfort satisfying them. Steven is also learning trust and distrust at this early level of development through his Mother he trusts his Mother will feed him when required. When looking at Erickson’s stages of man, Steven had both parents present to show him how to relate to others through smiles, social interaction, showing attachment behaviour which is a deep emotional bond the connects one person to another. (saul 2009) Going into Erickson’s second stage Stevens father leaves the home, and it is up to Stevens Mother to look after Stevens development which Erickson states Autonomy v Shame and Doubt Steven needs his parents more than ever to show him some willpower and self-control, this could be in explaining, he could have a treat after he eats his lunch, or once he tidies his toys away he would get a story. This is giving Steven the option to make choices for himself giving him a bit of independence. Freud’s second stage comes into play here as well the ‘ego’ which give Steven the choice whether to be good or bad within his child’s mind he thinks no I’m not putting away my toys then he doesn’t get a story that has been his choice. If at this point in Stevens development he was not getting enough stimulation he could become impulsive, compulsive, doubting and no ability to cope according to Erickson’s theory. Steven is moving onto Erickson’s third stage this stage shows Steven should be shown, initiative v guilt and getting shown purpose and direction, his Mother has a new partner living in the household so both should be showing Steven, how to cope with new demands and new experiences and explore, but without this he could harbour feelings of guilt fear of punishment and become ruthless. Stevens little brother David is born and Steven starts school which he loves, Steven would also be going through Erickson’s stage four, where competence and method should be learned, this would be learned mainly through school, the positive outcome being, success at school and getting acknowledged by other people, the learning of skills and knowledge all of which Steven loves.
During this time in Stevens development that Steven relationship with his Step Father started to deteriorate, although Steven did show any negative signs of development no narrowing of interests no feelings of inadequacy. Steven was also developing Freud’s third stage ‘super ego’ this may have been partially responsible for the friction between Steven and his Step Father through new rules, morals, a simple clash of personalities. The ‘super ego’ also instils guilt when we do something wrong and rewards us with pride when we do something right.
Stevens home life starts to go downhill fast his Step Father loses his job through drinking heavily. His parents start to argue more, then his Step Father goes on to inflict domestic violence on Stevens Mother and Steven, it is not uncommon for victims of domestic violence and abuse to take long time to realise what is happening to them it becomes the norm, even when children do realise it is wrong they can’t mention it as they are scared, ashamed, embarrassed and confused. (barnardos n.d.) Stevens behaviour at school becomes anxious and withdrawn which his teachers start to notice, but when spoken to Steven was adamant nothing was wrong. During a period of four weeks Steven remained the same anxious and withdrawn and on the fifth week, turned up at school with a black eye, severe bruising on his face and arms, again Steven denied anything untoward had happened, and blamed it on his Brother hitting him with a toy. The school reported this to the social work department ad an investigation was undertaken, Stevens Mother and Step Father tried to say they were just shouting at each other but David confirmed that was not true. An emergency child protection order was issued. Sharing a secret with someone outside the family is the first step of breaking the cycle of violence and abuse. (blaguru 2014). The boys were sent to an emergency Foster Parents the boys stayed here for eight months. During this time they lost contact with their Mother as she had also started drinking heavily, Steven was thriving at school but did not get on with his new foster Father, Steven started to show signs of negative development according to the Erickson’s scale, Steven was being cruel to his little Brother David and was becoming aggressive toward his Foster Father which ties up again with Erickson’s stage four negative outcome feeling of guilt ruthlessness fear of punishment Steven was trying to make his Brother Feel how his Father and Stevens Step Father had made Steven feel. It was decided by Stevens Social worker that Steven be moved to a children’s unit and David stay with the foster Parent to enable David to grow and live in a safe environment. Steven was 10 years old when he moved to the unit, he was still thriving at school Steven also became attached to two workers at his unit.
Mary who showed Steven the arts and encouraged Steven in this field which he enjoyed, and Craig who was a gentle man who helped Steven with his football and social skills. Stevens life so far only reaches Erickson’s fifth theory Steven should be getting shown how to find his identity and role confusion which Mary and Craig are doing, by trying to help Seven develop himself, and help him try new roles as Steven is writing a book and doing the illustration about his development and experience’s so far.
Steven has not reached the later stages of Erickson’s theories which are level six intimacy and isolation firming a bond with another person level seven generativity v stagnation and last level eight ego-integrity v despair. Whereas Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is not set out in years and is more generic
1. Biological and Physiological needs – air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep
2. Safety needs – protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, which Steven finds at school
3. Love and belongingness needs – friendship, intimacy, affection and love, – from work group, family, friends Steven is missing out on these things due to not living within a family environs. If you do not have a firm grasp on the things above, then you may find it difficult to thrive or develop on the next four steps
4. Esteem needs – self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence
5. Cognitive needs – knowledge, meaning.
6. Aesthetic needs – appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, Which Steven if finding out through his love of art and making of his book.
7. Self-Actualization needs – realizing personal potential, personal growth
8. Transcendence needs – helping others to achieve self-actualization. (maslow n.d.)
In this section I will look at Personality and Identity and explain the behaviours of both
Personality is made up of the characteristic, patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviours that make a person unique. In addition to this, personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life. “although no single definition is acceptable to all personality theorists, we can say that personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behaviour” (fiest 2009)
Identity carl Rogers describes this as a description of personality which concentrates on the self. Rogers stated that self-knowledge was the basis of personality. Also we learn and develop from our environment and other people he also went onto coin the word congruence which means where someone’s self-experiences are the same as how they original feel, for example ‘I like what feels good’ and positive regard for example approval of others becomes part of the way a child sees themselves that is the self-concept. The self-concept is the building block to his theory which is in three parts.
The ideal-self is how you would like to be thinner, taller, brown eyes
The self-image is the way people see themselves
Self-esteem is the value people put upon themselves. (coleg n.d.)
I am going to go over Eysenck and Banduras theories regarding the nature nurture theory. I will then apply the theories to Stevens situation.
Eysenck’s theory of personality is firmly based on the nature side he stated we have three genetically programmed traits that are seen as ways we react and respond to in our own particular way. The first of which is Introversion this involves directing attention on inner experiences, while extroversion involves directing attention to the environment. So an introverted person might be quiet and reserved, where an extrovert might be sociable and outgoing. The second theory is Emotional Stability this relates to moodiness to even temperedness. The third is Neuroticism this refers to a person who is emotionally unstable. The fourth theory is Psychoticism this person would have a problem dealing with reality may be anti-social, hostile, manipulative. Every person will have some aspects of the four theories above it depends which ones you have that will identify your personality. (eysenck n.d.)
On looking at Stevens personal circumstances we can see by Eysenck’s theory, about the introvert/extrovert brain power, shows that when Steven saw his Step father inflict violence on his Mother and then onto Steven, these actions had made Steven become introverted, Eysenck states that extroversion and introversion is the balance between inhibition and excitation in the brain itself, inhibition is the brain trying to calm down after being over stimulated, while excitation is the brain waking itself up and getting ready to function. Which means the extrovert has a traumatic experience the brain will inhibit or numb itself, they will feel no mental trauma or distress, on the other hand the introvert would have weak inhibitions when they are faced be a traumatic experience, the brain does not react quickly enough instead the brain remains alert and they remember everything that happened. Steven will remember this for the rest of his life and when he comes up against and authority figure like his Step Father he will react to it.
Bandura stated the Nurture aspect of how we develop our personalities he found children learn by what they observe and behaviour is rewarded more than punished. Banduras Social Learning theory follows a four step patterns. (bandura n.d.)
Attention, the individual notices something in the environment
Retention, the individual remembers what was noted
Reproduction, the individual produces an action copy of what was noted
Motivation, the environment gives a consequence that changes the probability the behaviour will be emitted again (reinforcement and punishment)
But you are not going to act any of this out unless you are provoked to do so. Stevens case study shows that he and his Foster Father did not like each other, I feel Steven was responding to how his Step Father acted against him Steven reproduced this in how he treated his Step brother, and the only way to break this cycle was to split the two brothers up, which happened and David and Steven both thrived on their break.
Drawing on two of Stevens life events I will show the impact this could have on Steven using the Holmes and Rahe scale.
Holmes and Rahe developed a questionnaire called the Social Readjustment Rating Scale for identifying major stressful life events. (mcleod 2010)
The first life event was change in family member for Steven this happened seven times firstly when his father left, then he was left with his Mother, then his Step father moved in, then his Step Brother was born, Steven and his Brother were moved to foster Parents twice each time he changed family members he scored 39 on Holmes and Rahe’s scale which takes his score to 273 the second life change is moving house which again Steven moved eight times From the parental home then just with his mother then when his step family appeared, Steven was move to two sets of foster parents then lastly onto the children’s unit which is 25 time eight giving a score of 200 so Steven is at this point ten years old and is already scoring a 473 which means he has a 80% chance of suffering from a stress related illness for a child of ten is through the roof.
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