Complete a worksheet where you will apply developmental theories to a case study and use research to explain how the theory helps to understand a person’s development and situation.
We all know personality and we know intelligence when we see it demonstrated, but can we define it? What are the unique and stable qualities that people would use to describe you? That is your personality: the consistent and ongoing characteristics that make you unique. You will have the opportunity to learn what personality is and how it is formed, and to learn about how intelligence is defined.
Human development is a subfield of psychology, and overlaps with other areas of psychology, such as counseling. Understanding human development is valuable in many areas of life, such as being a parent, a teacher, or counselor. By understanding human development, we can better understand our children and other family members, friends, ourselves, and our clients. While all human beings are individuals and unique, we also develop in somewhat predictable patterns or stages. A simple example is that a child typically learns to crawl, then walk, and finally run. Many theorists have organized their ideas of how humans develop in specific areas, such as cognitively, socially, emotionally, and morally. These theories and the concepts that make up the theories are then put to the test through research. Research helps us to confirm the accuracy of theories and concepts, or helps us to refute and modify them based on the findings.
For this assessment, you will explore the many areas that have an impact on human behavior and development. You also examine the full range of human development, including early development of children—such as language, emotional, moral, and cognitive development—through the tasks that need to be mastered in each phase of life in order to obtain satisfaction as we age. Finally, in your assessment, you will apply theories and research findings to a hypothetical case of a boy in adolescence, or a woman at midlife.
Psychology professionals such as caseworkers and therapists often think in terms of human development when assessing problems that individuals, couples, or families bring to them. A caseworker, therapist, or other psychology professional may take notes to document the situation and make interpretations and recommendations. This assessment will give you the opportunity to apply developmental theories in a hypothetical clinical setting while imagining yourself in one of these roles.
Step 1: Choose Your Case Study
View the Human Development Case Studies multimedia piece. For this assessment, select one of the case studies to analyze, either Brenda or Emilio. Based on the information presented, consider the developmental challenges the person is facing. Then, identify at least two developmental theories (such as attachment, cognitive development, moral development, psychosocial development, et cetera), and apply the theories to understand the person in the scenario.
Step 2: Locate Sources
Part of this assessment requires you to use scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles to support your claims. You will need at least three sources for this assessment. Be sure to choose at least one resource that supports your theory and at least two resources that explain what the research says. Note that your textbook is a good source to provide information on the theories that you will use to apply to the case.
Below are articles you can use for one of your scholarly sources. You will need to find one other scholarly article in the Capella library to provide the additional information you will need about research on the topic.
Emilio
Finan, L. J., Ohannessian, C. M., & Gordon, M. S. (2018). Trajectories of depressive symptoms from adolescence to emerging adulthood: The influence of parents, peers, and siblings. Developmental Psychology, 54(8), 1555-1567.
Rogers, A. A., Updegraff, K. A., Iida, M., Dishion, T. J., Doane, L. D., Corbin, W. C., Van Lenten, S. A., & Ha, T. (2018). Trajectories of positive and negative affect across the transition to college: The role of daily interactions with parents and friends. Developmental Psychology, 54(11), 2181-2192.
Szwedo, D. E., Hessel, E. T., Loeb, E. L., Hafen, C. A., & Allen, J. P. (2017). Adolescent support seeking as a path to adult functional independence. Developmental Psychology, 53(5), 949-961.
Brenda
Chen, J., Krahn, H. J., Galambos, N. L., & Johnson, M. D. (2019). Wanting to be remembered: Intrinsically rewarding work and generativity in early midlife. Canadian Review of Sociology, 56(1), 30-48.
Gallardo-Flores, A., Sánchez-Medina, J. A., & Fernández-Portero, C. (2018). Perception of health, well-being, and quality of life in female caregivers: Comparative study of a sample of adult and older women in Spain. Journal of Women & Aging, 30(5), 382-398.
Miller, L. R. (2019). The perils and pleasures of aging: How women’s sexualities change across the life course. Sociological Quarterly, 60(3), 371-396.
Case Study 1
Emilio is an 18-year-old senior in high school. It is the end of the school year, and after feeling excited to graduate most of this past year, lately he is not sure he is ready to leave high school. He has been feeling more irritable than usual and has been especially grouchy with his family. Everything his parents tell him annoys him.
He misses his girlfriend, who recently broke up with him. He is supposed to be leaving for college in August, but he is feeling nervous about it. Before, he was convinced he wanted to go into engineering, but now he is not so sure. He feels pressure to go to college, but right now all he wants to do is stay in the area and get a job and an apartment so he can hang out with his friends who are not going away to college.
Sometimes he is so frustrated he feels the urge to break things. A few days ago when no one else was home, he punched the doorframe of his bedroom.
Case Study 2
Brenda is 43 years old and wants to make some life changes. She is unhappy with her career in marketing and with her relationship status. She was divorced five years ago from Robert, whom she met during her senior year of college. They had delayed marriage until after Robert finished medical school, and were married when Brenda was 27. They had discussed having children, but Robert never felt that the time was right.
Even though Brenda feels alone, she is not comfortable dating. She would like to go back to school, but is not sure what career she is interested in. Plus, she has been spending a great deal of time taking care of her aging mother, with whom she has had a strained relationship over the years.
Lately, she has been thinking something is wrong with her. The kind of identity issues she is facing seem more typical of a teenager, not a 43-year-old woman. She is beginning to withdraw and to feel lonely. She feels like she has failed compared to acquaintances who are married, have children, and seem to be enjoying their careers.
Using the scenario and theories you selected, download and complete the Human Development Worksheet [DOCX] by addressing the following:
Give a brief overview of the chosen scenario in your own words.
Describe the stage or stages of each theory that are most applicable to the current phase of life of the person discussed in the case study. Describe in some details the stage of life according to the theory. (For example, in Erikson’s psychosocial development theory a child who is four years old is in the stage of “initiative versus guilt.”)
Explain how the theory helps to understand their development and their situation.
Search the library for at least two scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles (or search for the library for one and use one from the list above) that provide research about the concerns faced by the person in the chosen case study.
Describe how the research from the articles applies to the person in the scenario you selected.
Apply the theories to describe how they help us to better understand this particular person at the current point of life based on the concerns and their impact on the person’s well-being.
Written communication: Writing should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: References and citations should be formatted according to current APA style and formatting.
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies:
Competency 1: Apply foundational theories in psychology to current issues in the field of psychology.
Summarize developmental theories.
Describe a life stage based on a developmental theory.
Competency 2: Apply research findings from scholarly literature to current issues in the field of psychology.
Apply findings from scholarly research to a case.
Competency 4: Write using a clear purpose, organization, tone, and sentence structure.
Communicate clearly with appropriate purpose, organization, tone, and sentence structure.
Use in-text citations that include author and year.
Provide references that include author, year, and title.
