The table below summarizes the various theories of how humans develop from infancy to late adulthood:
Major Developmental Stage Theories
There are several theories in psychology that cover different aspects of child development. For example, Sigmund Freud developed a theory of the psychosexual stages of childhood, Erik Erikson translated Freud’s psychosexual stages into a theory of emotional and social development, and Jean Piaget wrote about intellectual development.
While the theories of child development are better known, there are also several theories of how adults change across the lifespan. Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages extend across the entire lifespan. Daniel Levinson and Roger Gould have also written about adult development.
We will start with Sigmund’s Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages as it is the oldest and best known developmental stage theory. Moreover, it influenced later theories, particularly Erikson’s. Freud proposed five psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Freud’s general theory of psychology (often referred to as his metapsychology) is difficult to understand in modern terms. He wrote in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and framed his concepts in the physical science of the day. It was very important to him that his work was seen as having scientific merit.
From a modern vantage point, however, some of his theories seem like he was trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Each stage of Freud’s theory refers to a part of the body known as an erogenous zone. This refers to the area of the body where libido (loosely translated as sensual pleasure) is most powerfully concentrated. Personality traits accompany each erogenous zone. For example, the anal stage is associated with either a rigid need for order or a messy lack of self-discipline. Later theorists interpreted his psychosexual stages less literally, seeing his ideas in more metaphorical terms. Erikson translated these ideas into social constructs.
The oral stage occurs during the first eighteen months of life. During this time the child’s primary erogenous zone is in the mouth. The personality traits associated with this stage include dependency and a kind of oceanic and all-encompassing emotional experience. When emotions are felt, they seem to take over the whole world. If we look at babies of this age, we can see why Freud called it the oral stage. For one thing, nursing is a central part of their life. Moreover, as any parent can tell you, babies love to put things in their mouth. Additionally, we expect dependency from children at this age. As they are incapable of surviving on their own, they have intense and continuous need of parental attention.
In this picture the infant is mouthing a toy. Infants’ tendency to put any object they can find into their mouths is highlighted in Freud’s notion of the oral stage (iStock).
The anal stage takes place from age eighteen months to approximately three years. At this point the child’s erogenous zone transfers from the mouth to the anus. This is a time of toilet training, when the child is expected to exercise control over his or her feces. The quality of parental discipline during this process can influence the child’s development through this stage. If the parent is too strict, the child might become anal retentive, focused too much on controlling and holding in feces. In personality terms, this translates to an overemphasis on control, self-discipline, neatness, and stinginess with regard to money. If the parents are insufficiently strict around toilet training, the child can become anal-explosive, inadequately focused on controlling feces. The associated personality traits include messiness and a lack of self-discipline.
The phallic stage takes place from around three to around six years of age. Freud believed this to be a critical phase in the development of neurosis, which he understood to reflect a conflict between instinctual urges and societal restraints. In this phase, the erogenous stage moves from the anus to the phallus (or the penis). This is the first psychosexual stage in which gender becomes an important factor. The fact that half the population does not have a phallus evidently did not deter Freud from naming this phase after an exclusively male body part. The personality traits associated with this phase include initiative and aggressiveness, which is associated with the intrusive action of the penis during intercourse. If parents react to this stage with excessive punitiveness, the child will be overcome with guilt and suppress his or her own initiative and ambition.
Freud based many of his ideas on themes from ancient Greek literature. This picture shows a bust of Sophocles, the famous Greek dramatist who wrote plays about Oedipus and Electra. Sophocles lived in the fifth century B.c.E.(iStock).
Freud put a lot of emphasis on the Oedipal complex, which he believed to be a universal drama that children undergo during the phallic stage. The Oedipal complex is best understood in boys, though Freud also proposed an Electra complex for girls. Both complexes are named after characters in classical Greek plays. Oedipus was the Greek prince who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother. When he realized what he had done, he gouged out his own eyes in remorse. In little boys, the phallic stage brings an increased interest in their own genitals. Along with this, they start to become interested in their mothers as romantic partners. Recognizing their fathers as rivals for their mother’s exclusive attention, they fantasize about getting rid of their fathers, even of killing them. However, they also love their fathers, so the tension between feelings of love and hate cause them much conflict and guilt. They project their guilt feelings onto their fathers and fear that their much larger and more powerful fathers will retaliate against them by cutting off their now highly valued penis. This fear is known as castration anxiety.
As a means of resolving their conflict, they identify with their fathers, aiming to become just like their big and strong fathers when they grow up. They also internalize the moral code of their father. This newfound respect for authority reflects the development of the superego, the part of the mind that adopts parental rules as the basis of a moral code. Freud attributed many aspects of adult personality to the successful resolution of the Oedipal complex. These include capacity for ambition, aspiration, guilt, and morality.
Freud had a hard time accounting for girls’ Oedipal complexes. Because he tied psychological processes so tightly to specific body parts, he ran into trouble when he focused too narrowly on the penis. How can a girl have an Oedipal complex if she has no penis to be castrated? His solution was the Electra complex, named for a character in a Greek tragedy who conspired with her brother to kill their mother in order to avenge the murder of their father. In Freud’s view, the little girl realizes that her mother does not have a penis. She loses respect for her mother and turns to her father, whom she now values more than her mother. She is tormented with penis envy herself and blames her mother for her own lack of a penis. She resolves this dilemma by identifying with her mother’s childbearing abilities. She realizes that she will grow up to have a baby just like her mother and accepts that as consolation for her lack of a penis. Freud infamously concluded that because girls cannot be influenced by castration anxiety, they were likely to have weaker superegos than boys.
After the drama of the phallic stage, the child goes into a period of relative calm. This covers the period from about age six to puberty. The sexual or libidinal impulses go underground at this stage; they lie latent. Instead, libidinal energy is translated into nonsexual pursuits, such as school, peer relationships, games, etc. Libido does not rise up again until puberty.
The genital stage begins at puberty, in the early teens. At this stage the genitals become the primary erogenous zone. Of note in this stage, Freud does not restrict his focus to male genitals only. The earlier erogenous zones do not disappear, however; instead they are integrated into fully mature genital sexuality. Oral and anal pleasure remain but they are subordinate to genital pleasure. Successful entrance into this stage allows the person to attain pleasure through sexual intercourse. The personality traits that have been associated with genital sexuality include the capacity for mature, reciprocal, and intimate relationships—the capacity for give and take.
Much has changed in psychoanalytic circles since Freud’s day. In general, Freud essentially equated particular personality traits with specific body parts. Even though Freud’s erogenous zones do play important roles in childhood (the mouth in infancy, toilet training during the toddler years, and genitals in adolescence), the psychological tasks of child development cannot be reduced to parts of the body. Moreover, although sensual and sexual pleasure does play some role in childhood, there are few psychologists today who would put sexual pleasure at the heart of childhood development as Freud did.
Erik Erikson (1902-1994) was a psychoanalyst who translated Freud’s psychosexual stages into his own set of psychosocial stages. He also extended his stages into adulthood. In effect, he interpreted Freud’s emphasis on sexual body parts as a metaphor for emotional and interpersonal processes. His eight psychosocial stages include: Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt, Industry vs. Inferiority, Identity Development vs. Role Confusion, Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generativity vs. Stagnation, and Integrity vs. Despair. The first four stages take place in childhood while the last three stages cover adulthood.
The first four stages cover childhood and parallel Freud’s psychosexual stages. Trust vs. Mistrust parallels Freud’s oral stage and takes place during the first year and a half of life. This is when the child’s fundamental sense of the safety and benevolence of the world is formed. If the child is well cared for and his or her needs are met, the child will experience the world as a generally safe and positive place. If the child does not receive this basic level of care, it sets the stage for a general experience of mistrust; the world will be seen as cold and dangerous. This fundamental world view forms the foundation of all later psychological development.
The stage of Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt parallels Freud’s anal stage and takes place from about age 18 months to about age three. During this period there is new demand for self-control and for control of bodily functions. The process of toilet training is an important example of this. With these new demands, for the first time the child is exposed to the possibility of shame. Additionally, it is a time of greater independence, when the child demands greater autonomy. Depending on the parents’ responses to the child’s behavior, the child either develops a rudimentary sense of autonomy or becomes excessively constrained by shame and doubt.
The next stage, Initiative vs. Guilt, parallels Freud’s phallic stage and takes the Oedipal complex into account. This stage takes place during the pre-school years, from about age three to age six. At this stage, the child has developed the capacity for initiative, to set goals and intentionally pursue them. However, the child also becomes aware that not all goals are socially acceptable, marking the beginning of moral development. The child’s sense of right and wrong depends on a simplistic and black-and-white understanding of parental rules and prohibitions. Depending on parental reactions to this stage, the child will develop confidence in his or her own initiative, or become overwhelmed and stifled by guilt.
This stage parallels Freud’s latency stage and takes place during middle childhood, from about age six to about age twelve. As Freud noted, children of this age are less emotionally tumultuous. This is a relatively calm time in a child’s development, where the basic skills of self-regulation and interpersonal behavior have been mastered. This is a time for the child to learn how to participate in the wider world. In industrialized countries this mainly involves school-based education. When children feel successful in these endeavors, they develop confidence in their own industry, in their capacity to work. If they cannot master the tasks expected of them at this stage, they feel inferior and incapable.
This stage takes place in adolescence. It is the first psychosocial stage to extend beyond childhood. One of Erikson’s particular interests was the concept of ego identity. He was interested in the manner in which people develop a concept of themselves within their social world. In late adolescence, people are expected to leave the shelter of their family and start to take their place within the larger society, to take on an adult role in society. Part of this process involves the development of an identity. What kind of adult will I be? What kind of career will I have? What are my values? My beliefs? While it is important that adolescents not shut down this search too soon, thus imprisoning themselves into an overly rigid identity, they also need to narrow their options enough to choose an adult path. People who have trouble with this process struggle with a diffuse and confused sense of their role in society.
Another of the challenges of early adulthood involves the capacity for romantic intimacy. Erikson believed that it was necessary to consolidate a personal identity before committing to a life partnership. We need to have a sufficiently solid sense of self before we can endanger it by merging our lives with another person. If the young adult cannot manage the task of intimacy, the cost is isolation. While Erikson mainly focused on heterosexual love and marriage, he also included the capacity to commit to a social group in his notion of intimacy. It is important to consider, however, that Erikson published his theory of psychosocial stages in 1950, when most people married and had families in their early twenties. The average age of marriage in the United States has increased significantly since then, as has the percentage of people who remain single or choose not to have children. Thus while Erikson’s theories are still well regarded, they must be considered within the context of the culture.
This stage takes place in mid-life. By this point, people have generally established a solid sense of self, a clear role in society, and a stable romantic partnership. Up until this point, people focus on themselves and on establishing their own adult lives. However, in this new stage, the adult turns his or her attention to the next generation, to helping other people establish their lives. This new need for generativity can be met through parenting, through mentorship of younger people in the workplace, or through other forms of contributing to one’s community. The opposite of generativity is stagnation, a feeling of being stuck in a rut.
This stage occurs in late life. At this point the adult is facing the end of life. In other words, the adult is facing the reality of his or her own death. Life is not infinite, it has an end and the end is getting closer. This is a time of reflection, a time to review one’s whole life. Has it been what you expected? Were there things you were disappointed about? What was meaningful? If people can come to terms with their own life as lived, they can begin to accept the reality of death. They can reach a sense of integrity, of wholeness. If they cannot accept the reality of their life, if they are plagued by a sense of unfinished business or of disappointment, they can only face death with despair.
Margaret Mahler (1897–1985) was a Hungarian-born psychoanalyst who immigrated to the United States in 1938. In 1975, she published a book with Anni Bergman and Fred Pine called the Psychological Birth of the Human Infant. This book was very influential in psychoanalytic circles because of its use of the direct observation of children. In other words, Mahler applied the scientific method to clinical theory, some thing few psychoanalytic theorists had bothered to do previously. Mahler was roughly contemporary with John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, the founders of attachment theory, who were also pioneers in this domain.
Placing babies in a room with toys and their mothers, Margaret Mahler studied how young children go through the separationindividuation process (iStock).
Like many psychoanalysts of her time, Mahler believed that the foundation of adult personality was created in the childhood relationship with the mother. Mahler was focused on independence, how the child grows from an entirely dependent being to one who is relatively independent, both physically and psychologically. She called this developmental process separation-individuation. Mahler was most interested in the child’s growing ability to recognize both the self and the mother as independent and separate beings. It is the child’s developing capacity to represent (or conceptualize) the mother that allows independence from the mother. When children can think about their mother when she is not there, they can comfort themselves with the memory of her presence. In Mahler’s terms, the child has internalized the mother.
Prior to people like Margaret Mahler and John Bowlby, psychoanalysis had largely relied on the process of reconstruction to understand child development. In other words, ideas of child development were based on observations of adult patients. In order to understand the problems of their adult patients, Freud and his followers reconstructed the childhoods of their patients. The most severe psychopathology was assumed to reflect regression to the earliest stage of childhood. Less severe psychopathology was assumed to reflect regression to later stages in childhood (like the Oedipal complex). There was very little direct observation of actual children. Although Mahler grounded her ideas in accepted psychoanalytic theory, she added the actual observation of real children. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that the parts of her theory that are based on real observation have had the most staying power, while the parts derived from purely theoretical assumptions have been much less influential.
Mahler wanted to observe the real-time interaction of mothers and babies during the first three years of life. She set up a laboratory, which eventually expanded to several adjacent rooms. There were areas with chairs for the mothers to sit comfortably. There were also rooms full of toys. This gave the babies the choice either to be close to their mothers or to separate from them in order to explore the rooms full of toys. The systematic observation of mothers and babies began when the babies were about four or five months old. Mahler assumed that the separation-individuation process did not start until this age.
Mahler proposed five overall phases of separation-individuation. The first two stages, which extend from birth to four to five months, are considered forerunners of the actual process of separation-individuation. The next three stages are termed sub-phases of the separation-individuation phase proper. Differentiation starts at four to five months and continues until about ten months. Practicing ranges from about ten months until sixteen to eighteen months. Rapprochement ranges from about eighteen months to about two years. After the child comes out of rapprochement, the child is in the beginnings of emotional object constancy, the final subphase of the separation-individuation phase, which extends from two years to about three years.
As Mahler observed relatively few babies before the age of four to five months, her theory of the first two stages was based less on actual observation than on prior psychoanalytic theory. Her ideas about these two stages are heavily indebted to assumptions about infancy drawn from work with emotionally disturbed children and adults. The first phase is called the normal autistic phase and takes place from birth to two months. At this period the child is thought to be uninterested in the outer world; the child is withdrawn, only attending to inner bodily experiences. In the symbiotic phase, the baby’s attention has moved out beyond the sensations of his or her own body to 6 include a newfound interest in the mother. This is a time of tactile exploration of the mother, of molding to her body when held, and of direct eye contact. However, Mahler believed that symbiotic children do not recognize the distinction between their mother and themselves. They do not differentiate their mother from themselves and so live with an illusion of blissful fusion.
Mahler liked to use the image of the egg to describe the child’s development during these first two stages. In the normal autistic phase, children live as if inside their own egg. The eggshell is a barrier between the baby and the outside world. In the symbiotic phase, the egg extends to include the mother as well as the baby. The child’s entire world includes only the mother and the self.
Drawing from the egg metaphor, Mahler used the term “hatching”, to describe the baby’s emergence out of what Mahler believed to be the self-absorption of earliest infancy. Around five months, the child starts to show increased awareness and interest in the surrounding world. It is as if the child is hatching out of the shell, finally entering the world psychologically as well as physically.
This is the first sub-phase of the separation-individuation process proper. It starts around four to five months and extends to about ten months. This is also the first of Mahler’s stages that was fully based on direct observation of infants. The term hatching was applied to this stage. The child is showing increased interest in the outer world and is beginning the critical process of recognizing the separateness of the mother. This is also the beginning of physically moving away from the mother; the baby slides out of the mother’s lap or crawls away from her. The psychological separation parallels the physical one. A number of behaviors demonstrate the child’s growing awareness of the mother’s identity as a separate person. One particularly charming behavior, which Mahler termed “custom’s inspection”, involves the child’s purposeful investigation of the mother’s face or even that of a stranger. The baby grabs at various parts of the adult’s face, figuring out what does and does not belong to that person’s body. The glasses, for example, come off while the lips do not. The child can also compare the features of the mother’s face to that of the stranger. Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety also occur during this phase, both of which signal a new awareness of the separateness of the mother.
This is the second observed phase and extends from about age ten months until sixteen to eighteen months. This is the period where children’s locomotor abilities, or their capacity to move about on their own, take a giant developmental leap. Around eight months, a baby begins to crawl. By about ten months, children are frequently pulling themselves up by grabbing onto furniture and, at least temporarily, they are able to stand on their own. By about twelve months, the child is starting to walk. This dramatic motor development hastens the physical aspect of the separation-individuation phase. More and more, babies can now get about on their own.
In the early practicing sub-phase, Mahler describes the child’s “love affair with the world.” The child appears to be simply delighted with the newfound power and freedom. Separation anxiety decreases as does sensitivity to minor knocks and falls. Frequently, we can see children of this age running gleefully away from their parents, as if on top of the world. Often they are running toward the street, with a horrified parent close behind. To children of this age, the world is their oyster. Danger does not exist. In fact, the greatest frustration comes from confinement. We have all witnessed this with joyful toddlers running around the supermarket, only to explode in screams when forced into their stroller.
A toddler often experiences sheer joy over mastering the ability to walk (iStock).
This period ranges from about eighteen months until about two years. Although Mahler locates this period prior to age two, parents might recognize this period as the Terrible Twos. In Mahler’s view, the child has recovered from the elation of the practicing period to recognize the terrible dilemma of independence. Just as they can separate from their mothers, their mothers can separate from them. Mother is not an extension of the child’s will, but a separate person who is not under the omnipotent control of the child. It is as if children realize that they are only three feet high—very small people in a very large world.
The child is caught in a conflict between the fierce desire for greater independence and the inevitable distress of recognizing the limits of one’s control over the world. This same conflict is encountered again in adolescence and the resulting behaviors are fairly similar. Mahler describes great ambivalence in children in the rapprochement stage. A child will be very clingy toward the mother and then suddenly push her away. This is also the time of temper tantrums and of insistent self-assertion. The child discovers the word “No!” Certainly we have all heard toddlers of this age, shouting “No! No! No!” to any request or demand.
After the child resolves the conflicts of the rapprochement stage, the child enters the sub-phase of the beginnings of emotional object constancy. In this sub-phase, the child consolidates a representation of the mother, in which the mother can have both good and bad features at the same time. Children can feel both anger and love toward their mother without fearing the loss of their relationship. Even when they are angry at their mother, children can remember that they still love and need her. This integration of positive and negative features supports the child’s internalization of the mother, an achievement that gives children much greater control over their emotions and their behavior. As the positive memory of the mother can now withstand the storm of the child’s negative feelings, the child is less afraid of the loss of the relationship. The child is at the beginnings of emotional object constancy as the capacity to keep both positive and negative feelings toward someone in mind is a skill that is far from mature at two years of age. In fact, this hallmark of psychological maturity remains a challenge throughout the lifespan.
Temper tantrums are a hallmark of the toddler years. Although infants can certainly get very upset, they do not throw temper tantrums per se. While frustrating for the parent, the onset of temper tantrums is actually a sign of cognitive development. The child has become aware that he or she has a will and that this will is being thwarted (iStock).
Jean Piaget (1896–1980) was a Swiss psychologist who produced an extremely influential body of work on the intellectual development of children. Unlike Freud and Erikson, who developed comprehensive theories about personality development in children, Piaget had a more narrow focus. He was exclusively interested in the child’s intellectual development. He wanted to understand the ways that children learn to understand their environment. It was Piaget’s brilliant insight to recognize that children do not only differ from adults in the content of their knowledge; they also differ in the structure of their knowledge. They not only know less, they know differently.
Piaget proposed four stages of intellectual (or cognitive) development: sensory-motor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Although Piaget failed to consider the important roles of culture, language, or environment on cognitive development, his basic ideas maintain their tremendous importance and influence, particularly in the field of educational psychology.
The sensory-motor stage covers the first two years of life. It is roughly parallel with Freud’s oral stage and Erikson’s trust vs. mistrust stage. In this stage, the child only knows the world through direct physical contact. In other words, the child only knows the world through sensory experience (e.g., touch or sight) or motor action (e.g., kicking or grasping).
An important feature of the sensory-motor stage is the baby’s inability to symbolize. In other words, the child cannot hold an image of an object in his or her mind when it is no longer physically present. When the object is “out of sight,” it is “out of mind.” Piaget’s concept of object permanence illustrates this phenomenon. If you dangle an object in front of a young baby and then remove the object, the child will not search for the object when it is hidden from view. The child’s attention will simply drift to the next interesting event. However, after the age of eight months (give or take), the baby will search for an interesting object hidden from view. If you hide the rattle behind a pillow, the child will move the pillow to look for the rattle.
Piaget thought that the development of language was a milestone in cognitive development. Language, or what he called the semiotic function, frees the child from the prison of the here and now. Not only can children think about things that are not immediately present, but they can also communicate about them to other people. The semiotic function shepherds the child out of the sensory-motor stage and into the pre-operational stage.
The pre-operational stage takes place between the ages of two and seven. In this phase, the child has learned to symbolize. That is, the child can think about an event when it is not immediately happening. The child can represent the event mentally and is no longer dependent on immediate physical contact for knowledge of the world. This is an enormous step forward and frees the child’s intelligence from the constraints of time and space. Nonetheless, the child’s comprehension of space and time is still very immature. As we can imagine, the way a three-year-old understands the rules of nature is very different from that of an adult.
Piaget uses the term operation to refer to the ability to act upon an object in one’s mind. Piaget believed that knowledge came from action. The child acts upon the world and therefore learns via direct experience how the world functions. When Piaget spoke about operations, he meant that the child was able to perform mental actions on the world, or on objects within the world.
In the pre-operational stage, children can manipulate objects in their mind, but they cannot yet perform a complete operation. There are several aspects to this. For one, children cannot perform reversible operations. They cannot understand that an object can change shape and then change back again. Examples of this ability include the conservation of volume and conservation of substance. Secondly, children of this age cannot decenter. This means they cannot pay attention to more than one feature of the object at a time. They can pay attention to height or to width but not to height and width at the same time. Because of this, they cannot understand how a tall and thin object can have the same volume as a short and fat object. The taller object must be bigger. We see this when small children insist that a taller person must be older than a shorter one.
Piaget performed several experiments to study how children develop the concepts of conservation of volume and substance. In one experiment, he poured a specific amount of liquid into a tall beaker. Then he poured the same amount of liquid into a short and fat beaker. He asked the child which beaker had more liquid. Children in the pre-operational stage would insist that the tall and thin beaker had more liquid, although an older child could understand that both beakers have the same amount of liquid. In another experiment, the child is presented with two round balls of clay of the same size. In front of the child’s eyes, one ball of clay is rolled into a long, thin shape. When asked which is bigger, pre-operational children pointed to the long, thin one, even after witnessing it being formed out of the original round ball. These children could not conserve the volume or mass of the object as it was transformed. Piaget performed similar experiments to study conservation of number, quantity, and weight.
The concrete operational stage takes place from about age seven to about age eleven. It is concurrent with Freud’s latency age and Erikson’s industry vs. inferiority stage. By this stage, children have mastered the basic rules of the physical world. They understand the laws of space and time. This stage is marked by the conservation of volume, substance, number, and other physical features. Likewise, this stage is marked by the capacity for decentration. In other words, the child no longer gets hooked on only one feature of a situation. The child can coordinate several features of an object, such as height and width, into a more comprehensive understanding of how objects change and how they stay the same.
As Piaget pointed out, by the time a child has reached the age of seven, he or she has mastered the fundamental rules of the physical world. This does not mean that children are now ready to leave their parents and live independently, but that they are ready to learn the basic skills necessary to function in their society. In the contemporary Western world, this means learning academic skills in school. In some tribal societies, boys of this age move out of their mother’s huts into the long house where the men and older boys stay. In medieval Europe, boys began their apprenticeships at age seven. Thus, it is no coincidence that Erikson referred to this period as the stage of Industry vs. Inferiority. Now that the child has grasped the basic rules of physical reality, he or she must learn the rudimentary rules of work.
At age seven, Max is old enough to recognize that the tall, thin glass holds the same amount of milk as the short, wide bowl— in this case, one liquid cup. This understanding of conservation of volume is a hallmark of Piaget’s concrete operational stage (photo courtesy Roger Jänecke).
The formal operational stage begins around the age of 12. This is the beginning of adolescence, a time of tremendous change in all areas of development. As Piaget points out, among the many changes associated with adolescence, there are significant cognitive changes as well. Primarily, the adolescent can effectively reason about the possible. While children in the concrete operational stage can reason about actual physical events, they are less effective when reasoning about potential or hypothetical events. In this way, concrete operational children are more restricted to the present or to the concrete.
When asked to solve a problem, the adolescent can imagine many possible solutions to the problem. These imagined solutions are called hypotheses. Adolescents can then plan ways to test each of those hypotheses. This kind of reasoning from the hypothetical is known as hypothetico-deductive reasoning and is the same kind of reasoning used in scientific experiments. This newfound ability allows adolescents to use systematic planning when solving problems. In contrast, children in the concrete operational stage are more likely to problem solve through trial and error. They reason from the actual, not the hypothetical.
Although Piaget’s writings preceded our current discoveries about the brain, his observations about cognitive development are strongly supported by contemporary neuroscience. The intellectual skills that Piaget studied are mediated by the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain involved with complex cognitive processes. The frontal lobe is the last area of the brain to develop in childhood and much of its development takes place within the first decade of life. In fact, there is a peak period of synaptogenesis (creation of synapses, the connections between brain cells) in the first two years of life—during Piaget’s sensory-motor stage. Synaptogenesis continues at a rapid pace throughout the first decade of life, bringing us up to the doorstep of the formal operational stage. Myellination of the frontal lobe, or the insulation of brain cells by a fatty sheath that speeds up nerve impulses, is not completed until the mid-twenties, however, suggesting that cognitive development is far from complete in the teenage years.
Because of the adolescents’ increased ability for abstract thought—that is, their ability to reason about the possible and the hypothetical instead of just the actual—they become capable of much greater independence than they were at younger ages. Adolescents can plan, consider possible outcomes of their actions, consider alternative solutions to problems, and otherwise negotiate their way in the world far more effectively than younger children can. They can also understand abstract concepts like religious or political belief systems in ways that younger children simply cannot appreciate. It is no coincidence that people first become aware of and interested in political movements in adolescence. While children may parrot their parents’ political beliefs, they cannot truly reason out their own beliefs until they attain some degree of formal operational thought.
Although Piaget downplayed the role of environment in cognitive development, much research has shown that adults vary considerably in their demonstration of the cognitive skills associated with formal operational thought. Piaget based his studies on adolescents in prestigious schools that specifically taught the skills of the scientific method. Thus, it is not surprising that adolescents and adults without the same educational advantages would not perform as well in the tests of basic physics that Piaget used to measure formal operational thought. However, there is evidence that adolescents and adults can show hypothetico-deductive reasoning in areas that are relevant to their day-to-day lives. For example, Kalahari bushmen show hypothetico-deductive reasoning when analyzing animal tracks. Thus the concept of formal operations appears to be valid, but the tests that measure it need to have ecological validity, that is they need to be appropriate to the situation at hand.
Kohlberg (1927–1987) was a pioneer in the field of moral development. Influenced by Piaget, he developed a large body of research investigating moral reasoning. Like Piaget, he was interested in the way that children reason, and how this changes across development. In fact, Piaget himself had studied the moral development of children, but in a fairly limited way. It was left to Kohlberg to create the more elaborate theory for which he is now known.
Kohlberg relied on a method of vignettes. He wrote up scenarios that involved a moral dilemma and presented them to his research subjects. He asked people what they would do in each situation and then asked them to explain the reasoning behind their decision. He was much more interested in the way that people reasoned about their moral choices than in their actual conclusions. Like Piaget, he was more interested in the thought process than the content. Kohlberg’s best known vignette involves a man named Heinz who broke into a pharmacy to steal a drug in order to save his wife’s life. (See Sidebar).
Lawrence Kohlberg used this vignette in his research on moral development. He was less interested in the content of the answers—whether Heinz should or should not have stolen the drug—than in the nature of the reasoning people used to come to a moral decision.
In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: “No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and broke in to the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. Should the husband have done that?
Kohlberg divided moral development into three levels: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. Each level contains two stages for a total of six stages altogether. Kohlberg believed that all children go through the same sequence of stages in the same order. A fair amount of research supports this view for the first two levels of moral development. The scientific evidence for the third level, however, is less robust. Kohlberg was also interested in moral reasoning in adults. Indeed, research has shown that different adults are characterized by different stages of moral development.
The first level, preconventional morality, is most commonly found in children under ten. There are two stages to level 1, obedience and punishment orientation and individualism and exchange. In both cases, morality is determined by the consequences of the action to the person performing the behavior—whether the individual is punished or rewarded. In stage 1, the child equates what is right with what authority says is right. Often that is discernible by the punishment that follows. If you get punished, the behavior must be wrong. In stage 2, the child has learned that different people can have different perspectives—that is, there can be more than one view of right and wrong. However, morality is still determined by the consequences of the event, whether the actor benefits or not. Additionally, there is a sense of exchange between people. Behavior may be wrong because the other person may retaliate or may fail to cooperate in the future.
The second level is called conventional morality. This level covers stages 3 and 4, Good Interpersonal Relationships and Maintaining the Social Order. In both stages, morality of a behavior is determined by its effect on social relationships. At this point the person reasons in terms of how a behavior will affect relationships between people, not just the person performing the behavior. In stage 3, the person is concerned with the emotional impact on an interpersonal relationship. The focus is on issues of empathy, care, and relief of suffering. In stage 4, the person recognizes the need for rules that all members of society must follow. For example, people should not steal because society would become unmanageable if everybody stole.
The third and final level is called postconventional morality. This level contains stages 5 and 6, which are termed social contract and individual rights and universal principles, respectively. In these stages, the person is interested in abstract concepts of justice and a just society. At stage 5, the person recognizes the necessity for social rules and laws, but also recognizes that laws themselves can be unjust. Therefore, there are times that a moral act may not be a legal act. At stage 6, the person considers the importance of abstract, universal principles of justice and believes that laws should be subordinate to general moral principles. For example the value of a human life should outweigh the law protecting private property. In his later research, Kohlberg abandoned stage 6, saying that too few people actually reached this stage.
Kohlberg’s great contribution was to say that moral development is dependent on cognitive development. A certain level of abstract thinking is necessary for mature moral reasoning. However, Kohlberg has been criticized for his overemphasis on intellectual development, as if intellect alone could account for moral maturity. Specifically, he failed to recognize the importance of context. Moral reasoning reflects what is relevant to people in their own circumstances. For example, people in urban environments tend to score at stage 4, with an appreciation of the importance of impersonal rules that all people need to follow. In contrast, people from rural areas tend to score at stage 3, where moral judgments are based on consideration of interpersonal relationships. In urban areas, where personal ties are eroded, behavior is regulated by impersonal and formal laws. In small villages where everyone knows one another, behavior is regulated by the web of personal relationships.
In 1982, Carol Gilligan published “In a Different Voice,” which became a famous critique of Kohlberg’s theory. Gilligan believed that Kohlberg’s theory was biased by an exclusively masculine viewpoint. She noted that the bulk of his subjects were male and that his emphasis on abstract thought and impersonal laws reflected his masculine bias. Gilligan claimed that women are more likely to emphasize empathy, interpersonal relationships, and concern for the feelings of others and are, therefore, more likely to score at level 3. This does not mean that women are less moral than men, only that they reasoned from a different set of values. While Gillligan’s critique raises important points about Kohlberg’s prioritizing intellect over emotion, she also has been criticized for over-simplifying the process of moral reasoning in women. Subsequent research has shown that women are no more likely to score at level 3 than men. In general, both women and men take issues of justice and empathy into account when making moral decisions.
Grounded in our fundamental biology, much of childhood is the same across cultures. All children grow from infants to toddlers to children to adolescents. All learn to walk and talk and play and eventually to take part in the work of their society. All children develop profound emotional attachments to their family and their primary caregivers. Moreover, all children have to develop an identity within their social group and to balance self-expression with self-inhibition. Within these broad outlines, however, there are many areas for cultural differences.
While all children must learn to balance emotional expression with emotional inhibition, cultures vary widely with regard to the freedom of emotional expression. Some cultures value open expression of deeply felt emotion and others value emotional restraint, believing public displays of emotion to be vulgar. Cultures also vary widely with regard to the emphasis on dependence vs. independence, individuality vs. group orientation, and respect for authority vs. individual freedoms. Additionally different cultures have disparate views on stability versus change and religious tradition versus scientific thought. Cultures also differ with regard to the perceived value of intellectual development, of physical prowess or athleticism, and of sexual modesty. Moreover, cultures vary tremendously with regard to gender roles. Not only do different cultures vary from each other, but there is considerable variation within cultures. People within the same culture can vary because of socioeconomic class, level of education, and where they grew up. All of these factors influence the environment in which a child develops.
In earliest development, cultural influences take a backseat to the role of biology. With time, however, the impact of culture becomes more powerful. Cultural influences are subtle in the infancy, toddler, and preschool years. By middle childhood, cultural differences become more central as the child is educated in the specific ways of his or her culture. By adolescence, cultural differences are even more acute, as adolescents prepare to take on an adult role within their own culture.
Psychology is the study of the human mind and aims to find universal rules of human behavior. As the science of psychology developed in Western Europe and America, many psychological theories have been limited by a kind of cultural myopia, a short sightedness. Aspects of psychological development that were assumed to be universal turn out to be culturally specific. This does not mean that all of our classic psychological theories are without merit, but we have to be cautious when assuming that what is true in one culture is necessarily true in another.
A child’s psychological development can be influenced considerably by the culture in which he or she is raised. Some cultures, for instance, frown on allowing too much free emotional expression, especially in public. Gender roles also vary widely from culture to culutre (iStock).
Attachment theory looks at the ways that children understand their emotional bonds with key caregivers. However, cultures vary as to the expression of emotion, the value of independence, and the emphasis on intimacy. Consequently, the patterns of attachment may vary across cultures. Security of infant-mother attachment has been assessed in several different cultures, including Japanese, German, and American populations.
Interestingly, the proportion of securely attached infants, that is, infants who appear to believe that their mother will be emotionally available, did not differ across cultures. Cultural differences were only found in the quality of insecure attachments. In other words, no one country was any more likely to have unhealthy mother-infant pairs, but the nature of insecurely attached mother-infant dyads differed across the three countries. For example, Japanese children were more likely to be classified anxious-resistant than were American children, showing much greater difficulty tolerating separations from their mother. In contrast, German children were more likely to be classified as anxious-avoidant than American children, reflecting their tendency to minimize their distress at separation from their mother. This brings to mind the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy’s famous saying that all happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Piaget found that high school students in elite schools in Geneva, Switzerland, were more likely to demonstrate formal operational thought (his highest level of intellectual development) than were adolescents and adults with less rigorous scientific training. This has been linked to the specific tests he used, which involved the solving of basic physics problems. As mentioned above, our intelligence develops through solving problems that are directly relevant to us. Tests that do not take ecological validity into account, therefore, are likely to be culturally biased. Ecological validity refers to the extent to which a given test is appropriate to the context in which it is being used.
More development happens in the first year of life than at any other time after birth. During the first year, the body almost triples in weight and becomes about one-third longer. Moreover, a newborn is unable to talk, crawl, move independently, or even hold his or her head up. By the end of the first year, the typical child can crawl, manipulate objects, and is beginning to walk and talk. In fact, much of human development in the first year of life happens before birth in other species. For example, horses and deer are ready to walk immediately after birth.
The major milestones in the first year of life include the social smile (two months), laughter (four months), the ability to sufficiently coordinate vision and grasp to play with an object (four months), the ability to sit up (six months), the ability to eat solid food (eight months), the ability to crawl (seven months), the ability to pull oneself up to a standing position (ten months), the ability to walk independently (twelve months), and the formation of words (twelve months).
The table below reflects the approximate age when most children show certain developmental milestones. It is important to recognize, however, that children vary in terms of the timing of their development.
Milestones of the First Year of Life
| Typical Age | Milestone |
| 2 months | Hold head up |
| 2 months | Social smile |
| 4 months | Reach toward object |
| 6 months | Sit up independently |
| 7 months | Crawl |
| 8 months | Separation anxiety |
| 8 months | Stranger anxiety |
| 10 months | Pull self up to standing position |
| 12 months | Begin to walk |
| 12 months | First words |
There is no question that neonates, or newborns, are born without much of the vast psychological tools that adults have at their disposal. In contrast to an older view of infants as helpless, passive blobs, however, a wealth of infancy research has highlighted the skills that newborn infants bring into the world. For the most part, these skills have to do with their sensory abilities. As this research shows, infants are born with a sensory toolkit that allows them to actively make sense of their world as soon as they are born—and to some extent even before birth.
Infants have specific visual abilities that help them recognize and relate to their parents. They prefer curved lines and human faces over random features (iStock).
Infants are born with the capacity to perceive and even remember a good deal of visual information. But how do we know what infants are seeing? As they do not speak we cannot ask them. In the early 1960s a psychologist named Robert Franz started a revolution in infancy research by building a device that could monitor infants’ viewing patterns by noting the reflections on their pupils. By determining which object was looked at the longest when two objects were presented simultaneously, Franz was able to infer which object the infant preferred.
Using Franz’s method and modifications on it, infancy researchers have shown that infants prefer curving lines to straight lines, patterns to plain surfaces, contrast to sameness, the edges of a shape to the center of a shape, and relatively complex designs to relatively simple designs. Infants also prefer to look at images of faces rather than scrambled facial features. Finally, infants can only focus about eight to ten inches from their face. All these visual tendencies prepare infants to interact with their mother, specifically to recognize and make sense of her face.
Infants are born with the capacity to recognize their mothers’ voice, which they have been able to hear throughout the last few months of pregnancy. Infants show preference to female voices over male voices and high-pitched voices over lower-pitched ones. Baby talk—or the use of high-pitched, simplified, repetitive, and highly melodic speech patterns—is found across different cultures and different languages. By using baby talk, adults and older children reflexively adapt their speech patterns to infants’ capabilities. Babies are also born with a developed sense of smell and the ability to discriminate sweet tastes from salty, bitter, or sour ones.
There is a good deal of evidence supporting newborns’ ability to learn. Babies recognize their mother’s voice immediately after birth and within several days can recognize the smell of their mother’s breast milk. Within the first day of life infants can be trained to suck longer on a nipple to hear a woman’s voice rather than a man’s voice. Babies also look longer at novel images and turn away sooner from images that they have already seen multiple times. Eight-day-old babies also respond differently to their mother if she wears a mask, looking at her more frequently during feeding as if recognizing something is not right. Thus, infants are born with the capacity to store sensory information in memory and to make distinctions that are critical for their survival.
Below is a list of primitive reflexes that infants are born with. Most of these disappear within the first year of life. It is likely that these reflect vestiges from our evolutionary past.
| Reflex | Description |
| Babkin | The mouth opens in response to pressure on the palms. |
| Rooting | The baby turns toward the stimulus if the cheek is stroked. This prepares the child for nursing. |
| Grasping | The fingers curl around and grasp onto any object that touches the palm. |
| Moro | When the infant is put down suddenly or startled, the arms and legs extend outward. |
| Stepping | The feet make stepping movements when the infant is held upright with the feet touching a flat surface below. |
| Swimming | Babies wave their arms and legs and hold their breath when underwater. |
| Babinski | When the bottom of the foot is stroked, the foot jerks upward and opens up. |
Daniel Stern is an infancy researcher who has written several influential books on infant psychology. In 1985 he published a book titled The Interpersonal World of the Infant, in which he asked the fascinating question: What is it like to be a baby? He was not only interested in what an infant can and cannot do, but what it feels like to experience the world from the infant’s perspective. Stern concluded that, to the infant, the world was less like a smooth movie than a series of largely unrelated snapshots. The infant is first aware of the patterning of stimulation, the musical arrangement of sight, sounds, smells, and touch. With time, these patterns of stimulation consolidate into objects, and the objects settle into predictable routines. From this process, children develop an understanding of themselves in the world and of their relationship with other people.
Babies are born with the propensity to seek out interpersonal contact and to slowly learn to make sense of the ebb and flow of social life. Babies learn to recognize faces and facial expressions, to take turns in a kind of proto-conversation, and to read intention and meaning in the behavior of others. By four to six months, babies recognize discrete facial expressions in their caregivers. By about one year, they engage in social referencing. In other words, before they explore a new toy or approach a stranger, they look back at their mother to check her read on the situation. If the mother shows anxiety or fear, the baby will back off. If the mother looks calm and confident, the baby will approach the new situation with interest.
This tiny baby is discovering a brand new world. Note her rapt attention and how well adapted she is for face to face interaction (iStock).
Emotions are a critical psychological tool for the infant’s survival. By expressing emotion, infants communicate essential information about their comfort and well-being as well as their immediate needs. Although infants are born with an emotional system in place, it is fairly crude at birth. Newborns only demonstrate two kinds of emotion, distress and calm. These are global emotional states with none of the nuance of the emotional repertoire of an adult. Within the first six months, however, the infant begins to show signs of discrete emotions. Through their facial expression, vocalization, and body movements, infants express joy, sadness, anger, surprise, and fear.
Throughout this chapter we have discussed the formative role of the environment in the development of an infant. However, there is also a body of research that looks at infant characteristics that may be inborn and not learned, a product of nature rather than nurture. Such characteristics are known as temperament. In 1956, Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess initiated a decades-long study of temperament. This study followed infants throughout childhood and adolescence into early adulthood. They identified nine dimensions of temperament related to activity level and response to stimulation and stress.
These nine traits include: activity level, rhythmicity, approach/withdrawal, adaptability, attention span and persistence, intensity of reaction, threshold of responsiveness, and quality of mood. More recently, Mary Rothbart simplified Thomas and Chess’s definition of temperament into two general categories, reactivity and self-regulation. Her specific temperament dimensions included activity level, smiling and laughter, fear, distress to limitations, soothability, and duration of orienting.
Several studies have shown only low to moderate stability of temperament over time. This means that children may change in terms of how they respond to stimulation and how well they can self-soothe or exhibit some form of self-control. Temperament is least stable in the first two years of life. After the age of two, however, temperament is more stable.
The pioneering research on temperament was conducted decades before the current revolution in genetic research. At the time there was no real way to separate the effects of environment from the effects of genes. Now, however, there is more and more evidence of genetic contributions to various personality traits. Individual differences in sociability and shyness, impulsivity, anger control, and anxiety have all been shown to have a genetic basis. Therefore the concept of a genetically based temperament that is first evident in early childhood and persists into adulthood is supported by current research.
Although temperament is presumed to be largely inborn, there is clear evidence that it is affected by the environment. Some of the temperament dimensions listed by both Thomas and Chess and Rothbart are highly influenced by parental behavior, particularly the dimensions related to positive and negative emotion. Moreover, even genetically based traits can be strongly influenced by the environment. Therefore, how parents, family, and the general community respond to a certain temperament in a child can modify the expression of that temperament.
For example, highly anxious and fussy children are more vulnerable to developing anxiety disorders and depression. If such children are gently encouraged to expand their tolerance for social stimulation, they can avoid disabling social anxiety. While they will probably never become gregarious extroverts, they can still develop social competence. Likewise, extroverted and sensation seeking children are vulnerable to disorders of impulsivity, such as substance abuse and aggressive and/or illegal behavior. With appropriate guidance and limit setting, however, such children can learn to effectively control their impulses.
One of the cardinal features that distinguishes toddlers from infants is the use of language. Why is language so important? Language is a vehicle for symbolic thought. Unlike furniture or food, words are not useful objects in and of themselves. Words are useful only in their ability to symbolize something else. Why is that important? The capacity for symbolic thought removes the child from the prison of the here and now. Words take the child into the future and the past and to any place that can be imagined. Of course, words are also critical tools for communication. Prior to language the parent has to guess the child’s wants and needs. After children can talk, they can tell their parents what they want.
The precursors to language start in the first few months of life. First the child must develop the capacity for complex vocal sounds. At two months, babies start cooing, or producing vowel sounds. At four months, they start babbling, which involves combinations of consonant and vowel sounds. Over the rest of the first year, the babbling becomes increasingly complex and tailored to the native language of the child. Around ten months, their babbling becomes strikingly melodic, mimicking the intonation and rhythm of their native language.
There is also unmistakable emotional content. In fact, it can be quite amusing to listen to a ten-month-old baby clearly communicate emotion and intent in the complete absence of intelligible words. For example, an 11-month-old baby crawled into his mother’s chair, which she had recently vacated. He picked up her coffee cup, and looked at her adult friend who had just been conversing with his mother. Putting his elbow on the table, he immediately started babbling. “Ah bah doo be dah. Doo doo bah me mah!” he said with evident purpose. “He thinks he’s talking,” his mother explained. “He wants to join the conversation.”
By the end of the first year, the child has developed a vocabulary of single words. At this point, words may have overgeneralized meanings. “Kitty” may refer to any four-legged animal. “Bus” may include any vehicle of transportation that has wheels. By the end of the second year, word usage is more accurate and the child is combining words into two-word sequences. This is known as telegraphic speech, where only the most meaningful information is expressed, (e.g., “More juice,” “Want candy”). At this point, the child has a vocabulary of about 200 words. Over the next year, the child combines more and more words together, eventually forming full sentences. Words are learned at a rate of about one to three words per week.
The table below outlines the typical times that language skills develop:
| Age | Skill |
| 2 months | Cooing—producing vowel sounds (“Oooh”) |
| 4 months | Babbling—consonant-vowel combinations (“Ba ma”) |
| 7 months | Babbling—with sounds of native language |
| 10 months | Sound and intonation of native language (“Ba MA ba ba”) |
| 1 year | First words (“Mama,” “Papa,” “No,” “Shoe”) |
| 2 years | Vocabulary of 200 words, two-word utterances, telegraphic speech |
| (“Want juice,” “Mommy up!”) | |
| 3 years | Sentences |
| 4 years | Grammatical sentences, often with mistakes (“I holded the bunny”) |
| 6 years | Vocabulary of 10,000 words |
Another critical development during the toddler years is the development of a representation of the self. This is not to say that babies have no awareness of themselves prior to this period. From birth, infants have some sense of their physical selves based in part on the correspondence between their movements and physical sensations. When they kick the blanket, they feel the cloth on their feet. However, infants lack a 6 concept of the self, a mental image of “Me.”
In the toddler years, the child develops a mental concept of the self as a unique individual who has goals and desires, who acts upon the environment, who interacts with other people, and to whom other people have emotional responses. This gigantic psychological leap is evident in the first use of personal pronouns (I, me, mine), the emergence of self-conscious emotions (shame, embarrassment) and the recognition of the mirror image.
Around age two, the toddler starts to use personal pronouns. They refer to themselves as “I” or “me” and they refer to anything they possess (or wish to possess) as “mine.” Prior to using personal pronouns, toddlers might refer to themselves as “baby” or by their own name. Alternatively, they would use only verbs and nouns to express their desires (“want juice”), rather than identifying themselves as the source of the desire, as the one who desires.
The concepts of self and of personal property are young and fragile to a toddler and they often defend their newly recognized territory with great emotion. Consequently, they can become very possessive. At this point, caregivers must introduce the concept of sharing. Toddlers must begin to learn about self-control and social expectations. It is very difficult, however, for a toddler to accept the idea of deliberate self-sacrifice and parents must not have unrealistic expectations of generous behavior in their newly assertive toddler.
The emergence of self-conscious emotions is another consequence of the concept of the self. One cannot feel shame if there is no self to feel bad about. The emotions of shame, embarrassment, pride, and jealousy are recognizable from about eighteen months on. Shame or embarrassment is evident when children lower their eyes, hide their face, or hang their head. While such emotions may be painful for the child, they are critical tools for socializing behavior. Humans are profoundly social animals, and a child needs to learn to inhibit various impulses and emotions in order to successfully function in a social world. Self-conscious emotions create an inborn motivational system to avoid social disapproval and to seek out social approval.
The mirror test is a famous test that is used to investigate the child’s concept of self. A mark is put on a child’s nose. When the child is put in front of a mirror, he or she will either touch the reflected marking in the mirror image, or will touch the actual marking on his or her own nose. Children who touch their own nose recognize the image in the mirror as their own reflection. Most children can pass this test by eighteen months. Interestingly, the mirror test has also been conducted on several species of great apes. Only a fraction of chimpanzees, orangutans, or gorillas pass the mirror test, even as adults. In general, chimpanzees appear to do better than the other ape species on this test.
The mirror test tells us about the development of the child’s concept of the self. In the first year, babies do not recognize themselves in the mirror image. A baby is interested in the mirror but does not relate the reflection to the self. In contrast an older child is well aware that the image in the mirror is her own reflection (iStock).
Along with a newly developed concept of the self comes a stronger sense of one’s own will. The toddler has discovered that he or she is an individual person with individual goals. In contrast, infants respond to the world with generalized distress or contentment. If bad things happen, they are unhappy. They become content again after the circumstances change. In this regard, their emotional reactions are largely passive. With development, however, children become less passive and more proactive. They learn to pursue what will bring pleasure, and to avoid what will cause displeasure. This desire to impact the environment in line with the child’s emotional responses is the basis of the will. The child learns intentions. Unfortunately, once children discover their own will, they encounter the limits of their control. Willing something to be true does not make it true. Moreover, one’s will is not necessarily aligned with the will of others.
Once toddlers develop awareness of their own will, they inevitably encounter the frustration of their will. This is very upsetting to the child and frustration can escalate into a full-fledged temper tantrum. A temper tantrum should be distinguished from the distress expressed by a younger baby. A temper tantrum is more than a simple reaction to negative circumstances; it is an angry, defiant protest. The temper tantrum occurs not only because the child is frustrated over a particular event, but because the child is outraged at the very existence of frustration. In these moments, children are enraged that they should have to be frustrated at all, that their will can actually be thwarted.
It takes some time for toddlers to adapt to this cold, hard truth. During this time parents should be sensitive and patient with their child. While they should refrain from needless power battles, they should set appropriate limits, even if its causes the child to throw a temper tantrum. In this stage, the child is learning to adapt to the world as it is and not just how he or she might want it to be. Giving in to the temper tantrums of a child can undermine the child’s development of frustration tolerance.
In the examples below, toddler language reveals key developmental processes. Vanessa speaks in full sentences at two and a half and has clearly discovered the first person possessive. Her emphasis on the word “my” reflects a critical step in the development of the sense of self. Her insistence on her privileged relationship with (if not ownership of) her mother also reflects the importance of mother-child attachment. Cognitively, she is in Piaget’s pre-operational stage. She does not realize that she cannot be both granddaughter and grandfather to her own grandfather.
David’s speech is still largely telegraphic. His emphasis on the sound that a bus makes (“Brrr”) reflects the importance of sensory-motor experience in the development of language. His interest in the gender of the bus driver reflects his newfound fascination with grown men. At this age little boys first recognize their male gender. This is a fundamental step in their individuation from their mother; unlike their mother, they are boys not girls.
These interchanges took place when Vanessa and her mother, Julie, were visiting family after several months away.
| Grandpa Baba: | Vanessa, don’t you look cute today! |
| Vanessa: | (Pause.) Baba is MYYYY granddaughter and MYYYY grandfather! |
| Uncle Daniel: | Do you want to talk on the phone to Susan? |
| Vanessa: | Susan! Daniel is MYYYY uncle! |
| Uncle Daniel: | Vanessa, Julie is my sister. I am Julie’s brother. |
| Vanessa: | (Pause. Clear consternation.) JU-LEE … is … MYYYY mother!!! JU-LEE … is … MYYYY mother!!! (Repeat five times) |
As is not uncommon with boys, when David was two years old, he was not as verbally advanced as his older sister Vanessa had been at the same age. This interchange took place as he watched his sister go off to kindergarten in a school bus.
David: Daya bye-bye brrrr man! Daya bye-bye brrrr ma-an!
Mom: (Translating) That means “Vanessa is going off to school in a school bus driven by a man.”
By the third year of life, the toddler can understand that they fit into various categories. In particular, they learn that they belong to a specific gender; they are either a boy or a girl. For little boys, this is a fairly momentous discovery as their newly discovered masculinity marks a dramatic break with their mother. While little girls are “girls” like Mommy; little boys are “boys” unlike Mommy. Many little boys of this age become fascinated with adult men, following them around like adoring puppies. This is not an early sign of sexual orientation, only the hero worship of a small boy toward a new role model.
Although the pace of development is not as dramatic in the preschool years as it is during infancy and the toddler period, development still proceeds at a rapid rate. There are notable changes in body structure. There is a loss of body fat, a lengthening of the legs and arms, and a flattening of the tummy. With a longer body, the child is no longer all head and belly. At this point the child looks like a “kid” and no longer like a baby. Additionally, there is continued rapid brain growth, particularly in the left hemisphere, the cerebellum, and the frontal lobe. This corresponds with rapid increases in language, motor coordination, and cognition and self-control, in that order.
In general, cognitive development continues at a rapid pace during the preschool years. Improved language skills and the ability to count, play games, and even begin to read and write all reflect advances in the preschool child’s cognition. The development of symbolic thought is of particular importance.
While the toddler learns to symbolize objects and events that are not present, the preschool child learns to manipulate objects and events in his or her own mind. In other words, the preschool child is capable of imagination. Not only can preschool children refer to something that is not present, they can change it in their mind. This significant shift opens the door to pretend play, to fantasy, and even to lying.
The capacity for imagination develops ahead of logical abilities. Thus, preschool children are prone to a kind of reasoning known as magical thinking. This involves faulty reasoning about causation. The child develops hypotheses about causation that are unchecked by mature logic. For example, the superstitious saying “if you step on a crack, you’ll break your mother’s back” reflects magical thinking. Likewise, a child might attribute the rain to God’s tears or thunder to giants moving furniture.
Another aspect of magical thinking involves animistic thinking, in which children attribute lifelike qualities, such as wishes, fears, thoughts, and intention, to inanimate objects. For example after the wind blows the door shut, a child might say, “Mr. Nobody shut the door.” In keeping with their tendency toward magical thinking, children of this age are particularly drawn to fantasy stories. The clear enjoyment with which children this age engage in fantasy is particularly appealing to adults, thus encouraging the persistence of stories of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and other related fantasy figures.
The ability of preschool children to create fantasy precedes their ability to distinguish fantasy from external reality. The lack of clear distinction between fantasy and reality can be a drawback. A scary story can seem very real to a preschool child, even when reminded that it is only pretend. Many preschool children become afraid of monsters in their closet at night. Although they see that the closet contains only clothing when the lights are on, they fear that their shirts and pants can change into monsters as soon as the lights go out. This phenomenon relates to Piaget’s concept of pre-operational thought. The child does not yet have a solid grasp on how objects change and how they stay the same. Such a changeable world can be very scary at times.
In keeping with the new capacity for fantasy, children this age are very drawn to pretend play. They love to play dress-up, to pretend to be parents, to play house, or to imitate adult roles that they see in their life, such as a teacher, fireman, or doctor. While some pretend play is evident in the toddler years, it is much more elaborated in the preschool years. A toddler may pretend to talk on the phone or dress up in Mommy’s shoes, but a preschool child enacts whole stories, with different children assigned different roles in the drama.
Theory of mind refers to the ability to understand the nature of the mind, to recognize that people experience the world through their beliefs. The understanding that all people have unique mental perspectives develops gradually across childhood. In the preschool years, children master the concept of false beliefs. In other words, children grasp: that our beliefs are not equal to external reality; that one person’s beliefs can be different from another person’s beliefs and that our beliefs shape our actions. Development of this skill is a critical step in socialization, in the ability to manage interpersonal relationships. People with autism, a psychiatric disorder characterized by interpersonal skills deficits, are believed to lack adequate theory of mind.
These children are engaged in pretend play. The capacity for fantasy is one of the hallmarks of the preschool years (iStock).
There are a number of false belief tasks that have been used to study the theory of mind as understood by a child of preschool age. In one such test, a child is shown two boxes. One is marked “band-aids” and the other is not. The child is asked which box contains band-aids. Most children point to the marked box. After this they are shown that the band-aids are actually kept in the unmarked box. When the question is repeated, they now point to the unmarked box. Next, the children are introduced to a puppet named Pam. They are then asked to point to the box where Pam believes the band-aids to be. While typical three-year-olds will point to the unmarked box, the typical four-year-old will point to the marked box, thus demonstrating an understanding of Pam’s false belief.
One of the critical developmental challenges of the preschool years involves the mastery of emotions and impulses. Although seeds of this process are evident in the toddler years, we do not expect much in the way of self-control in a child under the age of three. In the preschool years, however, self-control dramatically improves. Children this age master various strategies for controlling their impulses and emotions. In the face of negative emotions, they learn to distract themselves or to change their goals (for example, abandoning a contested toy in favor of a new, available toy). They also use speech to regulate their actions, reminding themselves out loud how they are supposed to behave. Likewise, their understanding of their own emotions and the emotions of others increases. They use more feeling words and better understand how emotion motivates behavior. These developments have significant social implications.
In keeping with the profound developments in self-control, social understanding, and emotional awareness, there is a new emphasis on peer relationships. Preschool children now have a basic capacity for peer-to-peer relationships. Although toddlers show interest in other children, they do not have the capacity to relate to other children without constant adult intervention. In contrast, preschool children are capable of enduring, emotionally important relationships with other children. Preschool children can make friends. This is not to say that preschool friendships are completely mature. Quite the opposite. At this age, friendships are highly unstable and prone to constant disruptions. Minor conflict often leads to a declaration of the end of the friendship: “Johnny isn’t my friend anymore!” Luckily the bad times are generally short lived and once the storm passes, the friendship resumes: “OK, Johnny, you can be my friend again.”
When the interchanges listed below took place, Josh was between four and five years old and his sister Alex was two years older. These quotes were recorded by their mother. Note how Josh, who is in the preschool stage, is drawn to fantasy and imaginative thinking. Despite his verbal skills, he does not yet fully understand the rules of logic or the difference between reality and fantasy. In contrast, his older sister, Alex, is in Piaget’s stage of concrete operations. At this age, she understands the basic rules of transformation, how objects and people change, and how they stay the same.
| Josh: | Dolphins can dance on their tails and flop onto their tummies. |
| Mom: | How do they dance on their tails? |
| Josh: | They have purple shoes on. |
| Josh: | When I grow up, I’m going to be a train. |
| Alex: | You can’t be an animal or a machine. You have to be a man cause that’s the way God made you. You can be whatever you want to be like a doctor or teacher, but you have to be a man cause that’s the way it is. |
| (Josh and Alex are fighting over toys.) | |
| Alex: | Josh, let’s trade. |
| Josh: | OK, I want both. |
| Josh: | No, you can’t eat that for breakfast. Breakfast comes from on top of the fridge. 18 |
By the age of six, both boys and girls tend to spend more time with same-sex playmates than with the opposite sex. (iStock).
With the gains in self-control and social competence, the preschool child also develops the beginnings of a moral sense. Concern with a dawning morality is frequently evident in pretend play, which is often populated with cops and robbers and bad people getting sent to jail. A child this age has a rudimentary concept of right and wrong and of good and bad. These concepts are largely based on adult behavior. If an adult tells them a behavior is wrong, particularly if they are punished for it, they learn that the behavior is considered “bad.” A preschool child’s concept of morality is very crude, however. It is simplistic, rigid, and sometimes self-serving. “OK, we can share, but I want both,” a five-year-old boy told his sister when she suggested dividing a piece of cake in half.
With time the child begins to internalize parental standards, basing moral understanding not only on what parents say, but on the child’s own personal standards of right and wrong. Moreover, as their cognitive development progresses, their moral understanding gains sophistication. How well the parents teach morality and instill discipline profoundly influences the child’s ability to develop mature and effective moral standards. If parental discipline is overly rigid and harsh, overly permissive, or arbitrary and inconsistent, children will be hampered in their understanding of right and wrong. Children whose parents explain moral standards and point out the effect of aggressive actions on other people develop better social skills.
By the age of four, boys and girls have developed notable differences in their play and in their choice of playmates. By the age of six, children spend eleven times as much time with same-sex as opposite-sex peers. Although there is always considerable individual variation, on average boys are more likely than girls to engage in rough-and-tumble play, verbal and physical aggression, and large group activities. Girls, on the other hand, prefer activities that involve verbal interaction and fine motor skills and are more sensitive to emotional reactions both in themselves and in other children.
Girls also express aggression differently. They are less likely to use physical violence, but more likely to attempt to undermine other’s friendships, disrupting the network of personal relationships that are so important for girls. Gender-typed behavior is strongly influenced by environment and there is tremendous variation across cultures in the ways that the different genders are socialized. Nonetheless, there is also strong evidence of a biological basis to gender differences. Sex hormones, such as androgens and estrogen, seem to play an important role.
The school-age years extend roughly from ages six through 11. Otherwise known as middle childhood, these are years of relative stability. The child has mastered the cognitive, linguistic, emotional, and social challenges of early childhood and is now capable of participating in the social world. School-age children are ready to join society, not as independent participants—children this age still need considerable adult supervision—but as junior members of the social world. They are capable of learning the fundamentals of adult work, of building and managing peer relations, and of understanding and respecting social rules. Many parents find these the easiest years of parenting, with the enormous demands of infancy and early childhood behind them and the upheaval of adolescence yet to come.
Freud referred to this period as the latency period, in which the passions of the earlier psychosexual stages calm down, go underground so to speak, only to re-emerge in adolescence. Latency-aged children devote their energy to the mastery of skills, particularly those taught in school. Erikson’s stage of Industry vs. Inferiority also speaks to this observation, suggesting that the latency years are focused on mastery, with powerful implications for a child’s basic sense of competence.
Children’s physical growth during this period is regular and continuous. It is not a time of dramatic physical changes. Nonetheless, important changes do take place. The child continues to grow in height and weight, with most of their growth in the lower part of their body. Children become longer and leaner, continuing to stretch out from the rounded mass of head and belly characteristic of the infancy and toddler years. Motor coordination also develops. Children make considerable advances in both gross motor and fine motor skills. Improvements in coordination, balance, flexibility and power allow them to develop skills such as writing and drawing, as well as to engage in complex and physically demanding sports.
School-age children are in Piaget’s concrete operational stage. In other words, they can make sense of the physical world and understand how objects behave in space and time. While six-years-olds may still have some trouble with conservation tasks, by age seven most children have a basic understanding of these concepts.
Other cognitive skills are also important. School-age children have a more sophisticated sense of classification. They understand that objects can belong to different categories and that categories can be hierarchically arranged. For example, a child can collect baseball cards of left-handed pitchers or of third basemen in the American League. They can also rearrange these categories, to collect left-handed pitchers in the American League. Their understanding of number, of sequencing, and of spatial relationships also grows. Language also continues to develop and by the end of this stage children have an average vocabulary of 40,000 words.
Because of this ongoing cognitive development, children are ready to learn skills needed for adult life. In industrialized societies, this involves academic skills. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are three academic skills that school-age children have to master in industrialized and economically developed countries.
Cognitive and emotional development move forward together. With their increased cognitive capacities, children have a growing understanding of emotions in both themselves and others. School-age children understand that people are motivated by their internal states rather than by situations alone. Children this age also master the concept of mixed feelings, that people can have more than one emotion at a time. Children advance in their ability to regulate their own emotions, to tolerate frustration, to delay gratification, and to distract themselves from distress. Their capacity for empathy is heightened. They understand that people suffer not only from momentary frustrations, but also from longstanding life circumstances. Thus, they can appreciate the concept of charity, which is beyond the grasp of a preschool child. Their self-conscious emotions also advance, heightening their social capacities, but also opening up new areas of psychological vulnerability.
This is the age when children truly become social beings. Prior to the school-age years, children have primary formative relationships with their adult caregivers. In the preschool years, they develop friendships with other children, but are not unduly influenced by the inevitable crises of these relationships. In the school-age years, however, peer relationships become much more central. Entering this period, children have already mastered a rudimentary understanding of the minds of others, the difference between right and wrong, and some degree of frustration tolerance and impulse control. These critical skills continue to solidify in the school-age years, supporting the development of peer relationships. Children have internalized moral standards to some extent, and there is a basic concept of fairness and justice which persists even in the absence of an adult. Children have developed a repertoire of tools to manage conflict in peer relationships, such as sharing, compromising, helping, and seeing things from another’s perspective.
Peer relationships take on much greater importance in the school-age years than at any earlier point in childhood. Children develop enduring and close friendships that can last into adulthood. Children understand the concept of behavioral patterns and choose friends according to their personality traits, how they behave over time.
This is where children with poor social skills can run into trouble. While disruptive children may be off-putting in early childhood, the social impact is transient and can be easily rectified. Every day is a new day. In middle childhood, however, such behavior can have a detrimental impact on the child’s ability to form and maintain friendships, which can have long lasting effects on the child’s self-esteem.
Additionally, children are now relating to other children as part of a social group and not simply on a one-to-one basis. School-age children must therefore begin to negotiate the complexities of group dynamics. Such issues include in-groups and out-groups, group hierarchy and social status, leaders and followers, and conformity and resistance to group norms. Although such issues will be sharply accentuated in adolescence, they are first encountered during the school-age years.
While some rules might seem unreasonably strict, research shows that children need limits and rules as part of their normal, healthy development (iStock).
Cognitively, academically, and socially, school-age children are trying to master the way that things are supposed to be. Children can now understand the concept of impersonal rules that all people have to follow regardless of their preferences. In effect, school-age children have an understanding of the social contract. They are also learning the rules of their new skills, how to read, write, and add and subtract numbers. Thus, the desire for stable and predictable rules is a central characteristic of school-age children. This emphasis on rules shows up in their play, in their attraction to board games, video games, and clapping games. It shows up in their rule-based morality (“Ooh! You said ‘stupid’! You’re not supposed to say ‘stupid’!”) and their great sensitivity to perceived unfairness (“That’s not fair! He went first last time!”).
The little girls’ clapping game rhyme below dates back as far as the U.S. Civil War. More or less unchanged, this game is found in multiple countries and across the United States. The remarkable stability of these games reflects the importance of rules for school age children and contrasts dramatically with the ever-changing nature of adolescent slang.
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack,
All dressed in black, black, black,
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons,
All down her back, back, back
She asked her mother, mother, mother,
For fifty cents, cents, cents,
To see the elephant, elephant, elephant.
Jump over the fence, fence, fence.
He jumped so high, high, high,
He reached the sky, sky, sky,
And he never came back, back, back,
Till the end of July, July, July.
Psychology has traditionally had a rather idealistic view of social life, assuming that aggression in children was a manifestation of some sort of psychopathology. Unfortunately, psychology has proven itself rather naïve in this regard. Current research has now caught up with Hollywood and television, showing that childhood aggression is often socially rewarded. While some aggressive children are maladjusted, emotionally troubled, and disliked by their peers, other children use aggression quite effectively to gain social status. Boys are more likely than girls to bully other children, using verbal and physical aggression. However, girls are still capable of using relational aggression, or social ostracism, to enhance their own status within a group.
With time, however, children who bully fall out of favor, alienating other children with their cruelty. As bullying is a common behavior among children—by some estimates 10 to 20 percent of children are bullies—the most effective means to reduce bullying is to promote a culture in which bullying is neither condoned nor tolerated.
Between 15 to 30 percent of children are repeatedly victimized by bullies, according to some estimates. Children who are shy, unassertive, and passive, with low self-esteem and an anxious temperament are particularly vulnerable to bullies. Overprotective parents actually increase their children’s risk of being targeted by bullies by hampering their independence and self-confidence and enhancing their sense of passivity and dependency. While such children should never be blamed for the being victims, they can benefit from interventions that increase their social skills, assertiveness, and initiative.
A child’s performance in school is critically important on a number of levels. For one, the academic skills learned in the school-age years form the foundation of all later learning. If a child never masters reading, he or she will be at a serious disadvantage. In our information-based society, a high level of literacy is vital for occupational or economic success. Perhaps even more importantly, though, a child’s experience in school powerfully influences his or her self-concept. Children at this age are capable of comparing themselves to others in a meaningful way. They have some idea of social standing and of social categories.
Nonetheless, they still tend to think in global terms and have some difficulty distinguishing whether their behavior reflects particular circumstances or a general personality trait. In other words, did they fail the test because they need new glasses and couldn’t read the blackboard or because they’re bad at math? Thus, children’s school experience leads to a global, generalized sense of their own competence. If they feel “bad at school,” their lowered self-confidence will diminish their initiative and their persistence in the face of challenge. If they feel “good at school,” their positive self-concept will enhance initiative, frustration tolerance, and self-discipline, and also encourage higher academic and occupational goals.
Learning disabilities refer to a biologically based deficit in specific cognitive skills in the face of normal intelligence. For example, some children have particular difficulty in maintaining focused attention (e.g., ADHD), in reading letters in the correct sequence (e.g., dyslexia), or in organizing information in space (e.g., non-verbal learning disability). When these difficulties are undiagnosed, children can have repeated experiences of failure in the classroom. This can lead to low self-esteem and some associated negative behaviors, such as a defensive rejection of criticism.
Some children with undiagnosed learning disabilities feel so bombarded by criticism and feelings of failure that they simply shut out negative feedback, with predictable consequences. Children with learning disabilities may develop disruptive behaviors and have an increased risk of becoming involved in antisocial behaviors in adolescence. To some extent, this is related to biological deficits in impulse control, but it is also related to problematic reactions after repeated experiences of failure.
What physical changes take place in adolescence?
Unlike middle childhood, which is a period of predictable and gradual change, adolescence is a time of abrupt and dramatic transformation. To start with, there are tremendous physical changes. The child becomes an adult and the body dramatically changes form, frequently leaving young adolescents surprised and disoriented by their new and alien body. “I didn’t know where my feet were,” one young man described his feelings, referring to the year he grew ten inches in about as many months. “And everyone wanted me to play basketball,” he added.
What physical changes take place in adolescence? Both boys and girls undergo tremendous growth spurts. While the typical American ten-year-old is about 4’7”, the median height for seventeen-year-olds is about 5’8” for boys and 5’4” for girls. The shape of the body changes as well, with lengthening of the trunk, arms and legs and enlargement of the hands and feet. The face also changes, with growth of the nose, jaw, and cheekbones. Often the ears and nose grow before the rest of the face. In North American girls, the growth spurt starts around ten and is completed by about age sixteen. In North American boys, the growth spurt begins around twelve or thirteen and is completed by about seventeen or eighteen. Most adolescents add about ten inches in height and gain about fifty to seventy-five pounds. Additionally, there are tremendous hormonal and physiological changes associated with puberty.
During puberty, the body transforms into a sexually mature state, with the adolescent now capable of sexual reproduction. This takes place about two years earlier in girls than in boys. Girls start puberty around age twelve and complete it in about four years. In both sexes, a flood of hormones is released by various glands in the body. Growth hormone and thyroxine stimulate the increase in body size.
For boys, most of the hormones are released by the testes. The androgen (or male hormone) testosterone leads to muscle growth, body and facial hair, and the development of male sexual characteristics. Boys also release a small amount of estrogen, which stimulates release of growth hormone. This in turn stimulates growth in body size and bone density. By the end of puberty, boys have developed greater muscle mass than girls and their shoulders have widened relative to their waist and hips.
In girls, hormones are released from the ovaries. Estrogen release results in maturation of the breasts, uterus, and vagina, an accumulation of body fat, and an increase in the hip to waist ratio. In girls but not boys, androgen release from the adrenal glands (right above the kidneys) results in increased height as well as the growth of pubic and underarm hair. Menarche, the beginning of menstruation, begins around age 12.5, although this can vary widely depending on many factors, including diet.
Adolescence is a time of dramatic changes in brain organization as well. Early in adolescence there is marked growth in brain gray matter, particularly in the frontal lobe. This is caused by a burst of synaptogenesis, the creation of synaptic connections between neurons. Following this growth spurt, however, there is increased pruning, which refers to the dying off of unused synapses and dendrites. This enhances efficiency in the brain by ridding the brain of unused circuitry, like throwing out clothes that are never worn.
Myelination also continues, which enhances the speed and efficiency of electrical impulses traveling through the brain. This increase in brain connectivity and efficiency results in profound changes in cognitive abilities, bringing about a seismic shift in the adolescent’s understanding of the world.
Additionally, there are changes in the density of neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers that help neurons communicate with each other. Changes in the level of excitatory neurotransmitters (such as glutamate and dopamine) relative to the level of inhibitory neurotransmitters (such as GABA) may make adolescents more reactive to emotional stimuli, possibly contributing both to the emotional turbulence and thrill-seeking tendencies commonly found in adolescents.
Everyone knows the body goes through tremendous physical changes during puberty, including hair growth and increased production of hormones that ready the body for sexual reproduction. Such drastic changes can be a lot to adjust to, making puberty a trying time in life (iStock).
According to Piaget, adolescents are capable of formal operational thought. Primarily, this means that adolescents can reason from the possible instead of just the concrete and the tangible. School-age children can explain the behavior of objects that are directly in front of them. However, they are not yet skilled at imagining the different possible actions of objects and then reasoning from these imagined possibilities. In contrast, adolescents can reason from the possible, or hypothetical, instead of just from the concrete or tangible. Consequently, adolescents are capable of abstract thought. They can reason in terms of verbal concepts, such as social justice, political conservatism, or religious doctrine.
Additionally, adolescents are capable of metacognition, which refers to the ability to think about thought, their own thought as well as that of others. Likewise, adolescents are capable of grasping the rules of logic as concepts in and of themselves. They can critique the logic of another person’s argument, a skill that was not available to them during the school-age period. This new logical ability is not always welcomed by parents faced with a child who is now capable of criticizing their reasoning. A two-year-old rebels by shouting, “No! No! No!” An eight-year-old pouts and cries, “That’s not fair!” But a sixteen-year-old can point out contradictions in their parents’ arguments.
The capacity for abstract thought, for logical analysis, and for metacognition prepares the way for an explosion of academic pursuits. Of course, these cognitive capacities are still in their earliest stages of development in early adolescence, and do not reach full flower until late adolescence. In fact, the capacity for abstract thought continues to grow well into adulthood. Likewise, full development of these cognitive abilities is heavily dependent on environment, on the adolescent’s exposure to relevant education and experience. What differentiates adolescents from school-age children is the capacity for abstract thought, not always the performance of it.
Nonetheless, adolescents are capable of learning about theory in ways younger children simply cannot grasp. They can learn about religion, philosophy, mathematics, politics, and sociology. For the first time, adolescents can develop their own ideas about these topics, and not simply parrot the opinions of their parents. Although adolescents are capable of understanding these abstract concepts, their viewpoints still differ from those of adults. They tend toward grand generalizations, particularly in social and political ideas, with little appreciation for complexity and nuance. In fact, there is a saying about adolescents’ understanding of politics that has been attributed to various people, including Winston Churchill and Victor Hugo. “Whoever is not a socialist in their youth has no heart. Whoever remains one in old age has no head.” This is not to promote one political theory over another, but to illustrate how adolescents’ understanding of abstract concepts is more simplistic than that of older adults.
The shift in adolescents’ cognitive abilities has far-reaching implications for their social lives as well as their view of themselves. Their ability to put themselves in other’s shoes, to take another’s perspective, continues to develop. Moreover, they recognize that there are levels of human behavior and motivation. What is shown to the public is not necessarily the whole picture. There can be feelings that are covered by a public mask. Hidden motivations can drive behavior. When they appreciate that they can see behind other peoples’ surfaces, they realize their own interior lives might be equally visible. There is a tremendous feeling of exposure. It’s almost as if everyone around them has developed X-ray vision and they are suddenly naked.
The intense self-consciousness of the typical adolescent is well known. Young adolescents, in particular, become extremely self-conscious about their appearance and are prone to mortifying feelings of embarrassment. The wrong shoelaces, pant length, hair style—all of these can trigger a crisis of self-consciousness as well as peer ridicule. These difficulties are at their height in early adolescence, in the first half of the teens. By the late teens, adolescents’ self-consciousness diminishes. Older adolescents recognize that regardless of the visibility of their personal quirks and foibles, such matters are of little or no interest to the rest of the world. Most people are far too wrapped up in their own concerns to waste precious energy and attention on another person’s minor imperfections. Older adolescents also realize that their inner struggles and failures are far from unique. Thus, there is little reason to feel shame, since these experiences are widely shared.
Erikson considered adolescence to be a critical time for identity development. For the first time in their lives, adolescents are challenged to develop a view of themselves that is separate from their relationship with their parents. They can no longer simply see themselves as somebody’s child. They will have to find a role within adult society, which is no simple task in our complex, modern society. Moreover, adolescents’ cognitive development allows them to understand abstract notions of values and of religious and political beliefs. The beliefs they endorse become an important part of their identity.
This process of identity formation also relates to an excessive concern with peer acceptance. When one’s identity is in flux, the reactions of other people become that much more important. In other words, people who are unsure of their own identity tend to give their peers more power to define who they are, while those with a stable self-identity are less easily influenced by the opinions of others.
In all cultures, it is a developmental task of adolescence to move toward an adult role in society. What happens when such roles are not available? Perhaps the society is in disarray, due to war or political or economic chaos. Alternatively, certain subgroups of the population may be barred from productive participation in society, due to poverty, lack of education, and/or racial or ethnic prejudice. When constructive social roles are not readily available, destructive or antisocial group identities become viable alternatives. For example, disenfranchised youths (particularly young males) may be inducted into street gangs or criminal organizations. As such, psychological development in adolescence is heavily dependent on the surrounding culture, more so than at any earlier period.
For many reasons, adolescence is a time of intensified emotions. The upsurge in hormones, the changes in brain function, and the adolescent’s own psychological reactions to massive physical, cognitive, and social changes all contribute to this emotional upheaval. In fact, brain imaging research has shown that the amygdala, an emotional center of the brain, is more responsive to emotional stimuli during adolescence than at any other time in life.
Adolescents are known to be moody, dramatic, and to react intensely to seemingly minor problems. Likewise, this is a time of increased vulnerability to mental illness. In fact, many psychological and psychiatric disorders have their start in adolescence, including depression, eating disorders, drug abuse, and even schizophrenia. This is not to suggest that all adolescents develop emotional problems; quite the opposite, in fact. Nonetheless, adolescence is typically a time of some emotional upheaval, which can set the stage for the development of psychopathology in vulnerable individuals.
Adolescence is a time of radical transformation of the parent-child relationship. Both parent and child must find a way to renegotiate the relationship so that the child’s growing independence is not stifled, but the child is not allowed too much freedom. Although the stereotype of battling parents and teens is exaggerated and most adolescents have reasonably harmonious relationships with their parents, there is clearly an increase in conflict between children and parents when children reach their teens. Parents and adolescents conflict over the teen’s desire for greater privacy, for reduced discipline, for greater freedom to choose friends and to spend time with them away from home. Adolescents fare best when their parents can loosen the reins but not let go entirely. Moreover, the adolescent’s increased logical abilities allow for reasoned discussions between parents and children about what should and should not be allowed.
In contrast to school aged children’s preference for the routine and predictable, adolescents prize the new and contemptuously dismiss the old and familiar. We can contrast the rapid changes in adolescent slang with the conservative nature of school aged children’s games. Listed below are slang terms used by adolescents at four different periods during the last century:
In modern Western society, peer relationships have enormous influence during adolescence. Relationships with peers, acceptance by peers, and the adolescent’s role and status in peer groups become of utmost importance. Peer relationships can be a source of great fun and excitement, but can also bring pain and humiliation when they do not go well.
What lies behind this greatly enhanced emphasis on peers? For one, in the movement away from dependence on parents, the adolescent turns toward peers as replacements for the family. Secondly, the adolescent’s increased perspective-taking capacities and greater understanding of emotional life allow for a level of intimacy with peers that was not possible earlier. As adolescents gain better understanding of their own motivations and emotional experience, they have greater capacity for empathy.
The ability and desire to share intimate experience creates intense bonds between friends. Initially, these intimate relationships are largely with friends of the same gender. The tendency toward chumship, or intense same-sex friendships, in early adolescence is slowly supplanted by romantic relationships in later adolescence, although same-sex friendships retain great importance throughout adolescence.
Adolescents are in the process of establishing their own identity while also establishing independence from their parents. Adolescent fashion trends often reflect these dual goals. Many styles that become popular with adolescents reflect rejection of basic adult norms and assumptions about self-presentation. For example from earliest childhood, parents teach their children that clothes should be neat, clean, orderly, and attractive, and should promote a socially acceptable image. In contrast, consider the adolescent fashions of the 1960s in which clothes were ripped and tattered and hair was long and shaggy. In the hip-hop style, which has lasted with some changes since the 1980s, clothes are baggy and fit poorly, modeled after the belt-less pants of incarcerated prisoners. The goth style promotes a morbid image of violence and religious transgression. These rebellious styles often exude a good deal of vitality, and frequently become absorbed (and diluted) into mainstream fashion.
Parents often are puzzled, and even worried, when their teenage children begin to dress unconventionally or change their appearance in other ways, but this is actually a very common expression of the search for self-identity (iStock).
More than ever before, adolescents are highly attuned to the dynamics of the social group. We are all familiar with the phenomena of cliques, popularity, peer pressure, and terms such as “coolness” and “geekiness.” These all represent aspects of adolescent social organization. Just as wolf packs organize into hierarchies of social status, so do human societies. In adolescence, when children move away from their parents toward membership in a new social group, these markers of social organization become acutely important. Boundaries between the in group and the out group and between the elite and low status individuals are communicated fluently through a system of ever-changing symbols. Group etiquette and rituals are reflected in language, clothing, cars, electronic gadgets, and taste in music.
Adults are constantly astonished at the importance placed on a seemingly trivial distinction in shoe style, haircut, or method of folding a baseball cap, but woe to the adolescent who misses out on such distinctions. Why are adolescents so painfully obsessed with these signs of group acceptance and social status? If these are universal aspects of human social organization, why don’t adults place the same importance on popularity and peer acceptance? Adults are not immune to consideration of social status. Consider the market for luxury cars and designer clothes, as well as the importance of occupational and financial success to many adults’ self-esteem. However, adults can put such issues in greater perspective.
Unlike adolescents whose acute self-consciousness makes them magnify any social gaffe into world-shattering proportions, adults are more forgiving of their own and others’ social imperfections. They are also better able to distinguish between social relationships that truly matter to them and those that have less relevance to their daily lives.
One of the greatest changes adolescents undergo involves sexuality. In puberty they transition from pre-sexual children into sexually mature individuals who are capable of conceiving and/or bearing children. In general, sexual maturity precedes emotional maturity, and young teens are often faced with feelings and social demands that they are not emotionally ready for. The age of puberty has come earlier and earlier over the past century. Initially, this development reflected improvements in nutrition and adolescent health. In more recent years, however, the earlier timing of puberty may have more to do with changes in the environment, specifically with hormones in the food. Moreover, in our highly complex, industrialized society, the full adult role is reached far later than in simpler societies. Thus, the period during which an adolescent is sexually mature but not yet inhabiting a fully adult role has greatly lengthened over time.
Adolescents receive many conflicting messages about sexuality. Boys may be under pressure to prove their manhood, and possibly to be sexually active before they feel ready for it. Likewise, the intense sex drive of the adolescent male along with their concern with promoting a masculine identity may lead to irresponsible and dangerous sexual behavior, or behavior that is inadequately sensitive to the needs of the partner. Girls, in particular, face conflicting sexual messages. There is pressure to engage in sexual activity in order to “be cool,” to maintain male attention, or to prove that one is not a child. There is also pressure to avoid being labeled as promiscuous.
Despite many changes in sex roles over the past few decades, the sexually promiscuous female is often still stigmatized. Alternatively, adolescents may feel ready to engage in sexual behavior but face restrictions on their behavior from parents, peers, or culture. Sexual mores for adolescents have undergone many changes in recent decades. Because of this cultural flux, sexual development in adolescents can present many challenges. Adolescents benefit most from careful, thoughtful, and open discussion with adults about the risks and rewards of sexual activity.
Adolescents are known for a level of recklessness and disregard of danger not found at any other age. They drive cars at fast speeds, drive while intoxicated, imbibe massive amounts of alcohol or illicit drugs, break laws, get into fights, have unsafe sex, and engage in many other high-risk behaviors. As the saying goes, adolescents seem to believe they are immortal. While this phenomenon is well recognized, it is not fully understood. Probably several factors contribute. For one, the myelination of the frontal lobe is not complete until the mid-twenties. Thus, the parts of the brain responsible for impulse control and the consideration of consequences are not fully developed. Further, the surge of testosterone, particularly in males, probably increases thrill-seeking behavior.
There is evidence that the emotional parts of the brain are more reactive as well. The combination of increased thrill seeking with inadequate impulse control can be a combustible mix. Social factors also come into play. The heightened emphasis on peer approval in adolescence, along with the desire to establish independence from parental authority, encourages adolescents to forcefully and publicly assert their independence. Caution and self-control can thus become a sign of childish dependency, a potential source of great embarrassment, and a target for peer ridicule. Common sense can become “uncool.”
Although there are many biological influences on adolescent psychology, adolescence does not take place in a cultural vacuum. The very concept of adolescence is a relatively recent one. Earlier in our history, there was less recognition of a transitional period between childhood and adulthood. Marriage, childbearing, and occupational maturity took place during the teen years. Although there was recognition of the special characteristics of “youth” (a period extending roughly from adolescence into early adulthood), most people took on an adult role within their society in their teens. As our society has become more complex, more and more time is needed to prepare for adult participation in society. Consequently, adolescence has come to be seen as unique period to be distinguished from both childhood and adulthood.
Adolescents are known for their emphasis on peer relationships and identity formation. With recent advances in telecommunications and Internet technology, adolescents can now remain in almost constant contact through text messaging or Internet social networking sites.
Two of the most popular websites, Facebook and MySpace, allow participants to craft and promote a social identity by posting pictures, videos, and text on their own Web pages. Additionally, they can add comments to their friends’ Web pages.
The following quotes were culled from various high school students’ pages on Facebook. (Any identifying information has been removed or changed to protect confidentiality.) Note the playful and dramatic tone as well as the abbreviations, careless spelling, and emphasis on music, clothing, and technical gadgets.
Cultures vary significantly with regard to the emphasis on peers. In cultures that place high value on interdependence and family ties and less value on self-sufficiency and independence, peer relationships are less central to adolescent development. Additionally, there is greater respect for authority and less tolerance for nonconformity. As a significant emphasis is placed on individuality and independence in the United States, peer relationships have assumed tremendous importance in the lives of many adolescents. Relatedly, there is more tolerance of challenges to authority, rebellion, and nonconformity in American culture than in more traditional cultures.
Early adulthood is a less tumultuous period than adolescence. Nonetheless, it has its own share of challenges and gratifications. At this point, the individual is clearly an adult. He or she is biologically, cognitively, and socially prepared to take on an adult role within society. This movement toward greater independence and responsibility entails several steps. Young adults must achieve some degree of emotional and financial individuation from parents. This does not mean that they need to cut ties with their parents, only that the nature of their relationship should change from that of dependency to greater equality.
Young adults need to achieve some degree of financial independence. Many young adults are still in school, even in their mid to late twenties, and thus are hampered from earning a full living. Nonetheless, they are working toward financial independence and often have an independent source of income, even if they cannot work full time. Additionally, they should be learning to budget, pay bills, pay taxes, and otherwise handle their money independently.
This is also a time of embarking on new intimate attachments. Long-term romantic relationships are established, and most people get married during this period. Many people also become parents in early adulthood, and thus undertake enormous responsibility for the lives and development of their dependent children.
Finally, this is a time of establishing a career path. Although social roles in Western society have become much more flexible in recent decades and young adults typically make multiple changes in their work and romantic life, choices still need to be made that have far-reaching consequences. For example, the choice to marry and have children with a particular partner will have lifelong implications, even if the marriage ends in divorce. Likewise, the choice to pursue higher education or a particular career path has extensive influence on later life.
The separation from parents is a focal aspect of early adulthood. This may take different forms in different cultures and subcultures. In cultures that emphasize independence and self sufficiency, there may be less contact with parents and less dependence on them for advice, guidance and determination of values and beliefs. In cultures that emphasize family ties and traditional relationships, there is less expectation of physical separation and greater respect for parental opinions.
However, in any culture, a young adult is expected to engage with parents on a more egalitarian basis. Young adults must take on more responsibility for the support of themselves and others, and they are more capable of independent decisions. In Western society, young adults are expected to differentiate their own desires, beliefs, values, and goals from those of their parents. Often this is a complicated process, as many parental attitudes are not explicit and have been unconsciously absorbed over time.
Young adults adjust best when they can maintain close relationships with parents but also retain the ability to evaluate parental opinions critically but fairly, accepting what is helpful and disregarding what is not. Ultimately, an important psychological task of this period is to achieve an understanding of parents as three-dimensional humans, limited and flawed but precious for their unconditional love.
One of the cardinal features of young adulthood is the assumption of adult responsibilities within society. In modern Western society, this generally involves taking on a role in the work force, deciding on and embarking upon an occupational path. At earlier points in history, there was little choice in one’s occupation. Men often did what their fathers did and women got married and raised children.
In modern industrialized societies, however, this is no longer true. For most members of society, there is a smorgasbord of occupational choices, and young adults can often feel bewildered by the sheer number of options. One’s choice of occupation has far-reaching implications for one’s personal identity, social role, financial well-being, and general quality of life. Unfortunately, there is little definitive information upon which to make such important decisions. Consequently, young adults make choices based on stereotyped views of success and career gratification, with little life experience of their own to guide them. The perceived number of options is also a function of education and social class.
Not all adolescents will feel that high-status and high-income professions are available for them. Nonetheless, the choice to complete high school and even to enter some form of post-secondary education is possible for many members of Western society. Thus, across socioeconomic groups, young adults must grapple with the task of choosing an occupational path.
Although the average age of marriage has increased in the West over the last few decades, this is still a time where the majority of people commit to romantic partnerships. Commitment to marriage or other forms of long-term romantic relationships brings a host of challenges. The very act of commitment is often an ambivalent one, especially for young adults who have grown used to freedom and independence. The same social changes that have demanded longer and longer periods of preparation for adulthood have stretched out the period when a young person has no one to account to besides himself or herself. Thus, the necessary compromises and sacrifices of commitment can present considerable problems. Moreover, even in those people eager to find a committed relationship, it often takes time and experience to identify those traits in a potential partner that are most important to sustain a long-term relationship.
Many young people complain of being single but continue to pursue lovers who offer little potential for a successful relationship. Once a committed relationship is attained, there are numerous relationship skills that need to be developed. Couples need to learn how to balance alone and together time, communicate needs effectively, and manage conflict constructively. In our constantly changing society, however, there are few fixed rules for relationships, making it more difficult for the young adult to master the skills necessary for a successful relationship. The difficulty of these tasks is reflected in the divorce rate. According to 2005 statistics from the U.S. Center for Disease Control, about 7.5 out of every 1000 people get married each year and about 3.6 out of every 1,000 people get divorced. While this is the lowest divorce rate since 1970, it is still remarkably high. Likewise, people who marry very young, specifically before the age of twenty-three, have the highest likelihood of divorce.
The transition to parenthood demands one of the largest psychological transformations in adulthood. Although young adults may be living entirely independently, with an established career and a mature set of social relationships, they may still think of themselves as “a kid” and not “a real adult.” When a person becomes a parent, this illusion is shattered. A small, helpless baby is utterly dependent on the new parent and there is no more hiding from the reality of adult responsibilities. Most people find that, for the first time in their lives, their responsibility to another person is as great, or greater, than their responsibility to themselves. While this level of self-sacrifice can be very stressful for new parents, especially very young ones, many experience it as an opportunity for tremendous growth and maturity. It can be life enhancing to be less self-centered. However, as with most aspects of early adult development, our changing culture has taken away clear guidelines.
Although many parents happily take advantage of the flood of available books and articles on parenting, new parents face inevitable uncertainty when making decisions about how to raise their children. At the same time, many new parents renegotiate their relationship with their own parents, gaining new appreciation for their knowledge and experience. Families tend to get closer when a new baby arrives as grandparents become involved with the new family, often helping out with childcare.
The transition out of adolescence into young adulthood presents challenges on a number of levels. Young people must establish a multi-faceted adult identity, commit to deeper and more mature relationships, and take on financial, emotional, and social responsibilities. In so doing, the young adult opens up opportunities for great satisfaction and fulfillment, for greater control and empowerment, and for improved social status and respect. However, each of these developments entails sacrifices. In effect, growing up means giving up: the security of depending on parents, the freedom of a life without commitment and responsibility, and the illusion that it is possible to avoid failure. These present real psychological challenges and few young adults progress smoothly along each line of development.
It is normal to have some spottiness across different developmental lines. However, it is far more problematic if there is little movement across any area of development. In this case, young adults may become progressively more depressed as the distance between themselves and their peers becomes more and more apparent with time. In fact, popular culture has addressed this issue through movies such as Reality Bites and Clerks, both of which came out in 1994. In both these movies, young adults idle aimlessly, frustrated with their lack of forward momentum, but unable to accept the inevitable compromises necessitated by an adult role in society.
The social clock is a term introduced by a psychologist named Bernice Neugarten. This refers to age-based expectations about when certain life goals should be achieved. These might include the age of marriage, bearing children, attaining a first job, buying a house, and/or completing education. Although the settings for a social clock will vary across cultures, Neugarten suggests that all cultures have some form of age-based expectations of task performance. Adults who perceive themselves to be falling behind the social clock can suffer painful blows to their self-esteem. In our current culture, in which social mores are in a constant state of flux, the realities of daily life may not match the social clock. For example, many women expect to marry and have children on a timescale similar to that of their mothers. However, as the proportion of never-married adults aged thirty to thirty-four is six times greater than it was in 1970, it is likely these social clocks may need to be reset. In fact, according to the 2007 U.S. census report, the proportion of never-married people aged thirty to thirty-four was over 28 percent.
Daniel Levinson (1920-1994) was one of the first psychologists after Erikson to develop a theory of adult development. In 1978, he published a book called Seasons of a Man’s Life, which was based on extensive interviews with men in several different occupations. In 1987 he published a book entitled Seasons in a Woman’s Life, using similar methodology with a sample of women. Even though his samples were small and largely limited to upper-income people, his thoughts about adult development are worth considering.
College graduation marks an abrupt transition between adolescence and young adulthood. Particularly for those students who attend residential, four-year colleges, the end of the relatively sheltered and structured college experience can be quite disorienting. In general, the transition between adolescence and adulthood can be anxiety-provoking. People at this stage of life often feel considerable anxiety about taking on the risks and responsibilities of creating an adult life structure. Fear of failure or of being trapped in a dead-end or soul-crushing career can feed a desire to prolong the carefree, aimless days of adolescence.
Two popular American movies that came out in the 1990s address the emotional difficulties some young adults have in making the transition from adolescence to early adulthood. Clerks, starring Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson, and Reality Bites, starring Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofolo, and Ben Stiller, both play with the humor and pathos of this stage of life.
Levinson proposed that adult development goes through a series of predictable stages, known as seasons or eras. These include: early adulthood (age twenty-two to forty), middle adulthood (age forty to sixty) and late adulthood (age sixty and up). He also proposed the notion of cross-era transitions, in which the adult negotiates the psychological challenges of transitioning from one stage to another. Cross-era transitions last about five to seven years. Levinson suggests that the first stage, early adulthood, is characterized by the creation of the initial life structure. This is a period of great excitement and satisfaction, but also of notable uncertainty and anxiety. To Levinson, adult development involves a series of fluctuations between the creation and rearrangement of life structures. A life structure refers to the entire design of a person’s life, including psychological traits, social relationships, and work life. A life structure is most satisfying when personal needs can be harmonized with external societal demands.
In the novice phase of early adulthood (roughly age seventeen to thirty-three), the young adult is creating the initial life structure. This is a very difficult task for people with so little life experience, and choices are based more on a dream of what life should be than on personal experience. At the age thirty transition, people have the opportunity to evaluate their life as lived so far. For the first time in their life, they have a past as an adult as well as a future. They can compare their actual experiences with their original life dream, and consider what part of their life structure needs to be revised. In the culminating phase (33 to 45), the initial life structure is brought to fruition. The adult experiences both the gratifications and the disappointments in life as it has turned out to be. This era ends when the adult transitions into the next major life era, middle adulthood.
Erik Erikson suggested that young adulthood was a time when people struggled with intimacy vs. isolation. He believed that this stage depended upon a successful resolution of the previous stage, identity vs. isolation. Erikson believed that it is necessary to have a stable personal identity, a secure sense of self, in order to establish a committed, intimate relationship. In an intimate partnership, one has to open up one’s identity to another person. To some extent, intimacy involves the merger of one’s sense of self with that of the other person. If a secure sense of self has not been achieved, it remains too threatening to loosen the reins and let another person in. When people are afraid of losing themselves in a relationship, intimacy and commitment will be avoided. Such people may engage in many short-term relationships or avoid monogamous relationships. Interestingly, later research has supported Erikson’s ideas. People who are more secure in their values and goals are more likely to remain faithful in intimate relationships and to be more ready for a serious commitment.
Roger Gould (1935–) is a psychoanalytic writer who has written a good deal about adult development. In fact, the popular book Passages by Gail Sheehy was based heavily on his research. Like Levinson, Gould conceptualized adult development as unfolding in a series of predictable stages. Gould was particularly interested in the way adults understand their life choices and how that changes across the lifespan. Gould proposed that the early adult years (age eighteen to thirty-five) were characterized by several psychological illusions that are slowly relinquished over time. He was particularly interested in the illusion of absolute safety.
One of the cardinal experiences of all human beings involves the fear of death. Our drive is toward life and we are terrified at the prospect of the annihilation of life, of death. In childhood, the illusion of absolute safety is maintained through dependence on idealized parents who are seen as omnipotent protectors, all-powerful guardians against death. In early adulthood, the illusion of absolute safety is transferred to the fantasy of the one right path. This path will lead to “the prize,” to absolute safety. Young adults anxiously and desperately seek this one true path, ever fearful of making a mistake, of going down the wrong path. It is only in midlife, when mortality becomes an emotional as well as an intellectual reality, that the illusion of the one right way can be abandoned.
In all of the previous life stages, the individual is moving toward maturity. In middle adulthood, the adult has reached maturity. The adult is fully a grown up. At this stage in life however, middle-aged adults must confront the beginnings of physical decline. There is still considerable vigor and vitality in middle adulthood as well as considerable potential for psychological growth. Nonetheless, the signs of a declining body are unavoidable. Middle-aged adults confront a loss of physical strength and energy, minor aches and pains that occur more easily and take longer to go away than ever before, and various losses in sensory and cognitive abilities. There are significant consolations to middle adulthood, however. Decades of life experience promote general wisdom, the capacity to understand the world as a whole, integrated system. There is greater emotional maturity as well, an understanding of one’s self and others in more tempered and thoughtful ways. In middle adulthood, we are older but wiser.
While middle-aged adults retain the physical abilities necessary to conduct their daily lives, there are unmistakable signs of aging. There is a loss of lean body mass, including both muscle and bone, and a concomitant gain in body fat. On average, women’s abdomens increase by about thirty percent and men’s by about ten percent from early to middle adulthood. There are also changes in the layers of the skin, such that elasticity is lost, the skin loosens and wrinkles form. Gray hair is caused by a reduction of melanin in the hair follicles.
There are also important changes in the reproductive system, especially for women. Menopause occurs on average at age fifty-one but most women experience considerable hormonal changes for several years before. These changes affect sleep, temperature regulation, bone density, and sexual function. It is important to note that physical health in middle adulthood is strongly influenced by health-related behaviors. A healthy diet (i.e., one rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins), regular exercise, and avoidance of smoking and excessive alcohol can greatly moderate the effects of aging.
Presbyopia, which means “old eyes” in Greek, refers to a common condition encountered in middle adulthood. The lens of the eye becomes less flexible, reducing the ability of the eye to focus on close objects. People in their forties frequently have difficulty reading due to presbyopia. They must hold reading material at arm’s length to focus on the letters. Consequently, many people this age buy reading glasses for the first time. There are also changes in hearing, although these are not as noticeable as the changes in vision. Loss of sensitivity to high-pitched sounds can begin in middle adulthood although hearing loss is generally more pronounced in later adulthood.
When discussing cognition in midlife, it is important to distinguish between fluid vs. crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence refers to raw processing power, specifically aspects of attention, memory, and processing speed. Crystallized intelligence refers to learned skills, including funds of information, verbal knowledge, and knowledge of social conventions. Fluid intelligence declines in midlife. The raw ability to process new information slows down. Consider the ease in which a teenager or young adult learns new technology compared to the difficulties middle-aged adults often face mastering the same task. On the other hand, crystallized intelligence increases steadily throughout middle adulthood. In fact, aspects of complex reasoning, verbal ability, and spatial processing peak in middle adulthood and only slowly decline thereafter.
While the speed of information processing slows down considerably, this loss is made up for by a much greater understanding of the world in general. Adolescents and younger adults can process isolated bits of information more efficiently than older adults, but they have little context with which to understand it. Older adults have a richer, broader, and more integrated understanding of the world at large. Moreover, the ability to recognize how events can fit into familiar patterns can help compensate for the loss of fluid processing skills. For example, if a chess master can recognize familiar configurations of chess pieces, there is less need to memorize the positions of each chess piece on the board.
There is a universally recognized trend in middle adulthood to be calmer, less impulsive, and less emotionally reactive than at younger ages. Middle-aged adults often feel stress, due to the numerous responsibilities they face, but they are relatively free of the existential angst that characterizes earlier periods. Their greater understanding of the world as a whole allows them to put events into perspective. When you can take the long view of a situation, it tends to take the sting out of any particular incident. This reduces emotional volatility. Moreover, middle-aged adults have a larger world view, which allows them to better understand the implications of any given event, to apprecate the possible consequences. This consideration of consequences tempers impulsivity.
One of the dramatic experiences of middle adulthood involves the change in the subjective sense of time. To a small child, an hour seems like an eternity. The future does not exist. By early adulthood, time has sped up considerably from early childhood but the young adult still experiences time as relatively static. While the future exists in theory, only the present feels real.
In contrast, by mid-life every year is a much smaller fraction of the adult’s entire life span. Time seems to flow faster and faster, almost as if the person is walking on a moving sidewalk and the surrounding landscape is speeding up with every step. Because of this, middle aged adults have a less static sense of time. They experience themselves and their world in a sense of flux. The present is a moving target and the future is just around the bend. Likewise, middle aged adults are often surprised by the speed that the present retreats into the past. “That was twenty years ago? Already?” “These clothes are out of style? But I just bought them!”
A critical aspect of psychological development in midlife involves a change in the relationship with death. As several theorists have noted, in adolescence and early adulthood, mortality is often theoretical at best. Adolescents are known for their illusions of immortality, resulting at times in a reckless disregard for danger. In early adulthood, death is recognized in the abstract. While young adults do not believe they are immortal, neither does death feel entirely real.
In middle adulthood, death becomes much more real. Many people of the prior generation die: parents, aunts and uncles, older friends and colleagues, and the parents of friends. Some people of the adult’s own generation die as well. In the context of these direct encounters with mortality, death can no longer remain an abstraction.
In some people, the confrontation with mortality in midlife can lead to panic and a frantic denial of aging and death. More optimally, it can lead to greater perspective of what really matters in life and a realignment of priorities. Of note, this discussion applies to people in modern Western societies, who remain largely shielded from death prior to midlife. In societies where early death is more prevalent, however, it is likely that mortality is experienced quite differently.
In early adulthood, we have a sense of open horizons. Regardless of what is happening in the present, goals and ideals can still be reached in the future. There will always be time to get married, have children, or start a career. In midlife, the adult confronts the narrowing of options. Time is limited. Life’s possibilities are finite. Even though it may be possible to change tracks, it may not be worth the cost in time, money, or sheer energy. And some opportunities are simply closed. A woman cannot give birth after menopause. For some people, there might be feelings of being trapped. For others, there may be anger and disappointment at lost opportunities. Optimally, the confrontation with limitations in one’s life promotes greater psychological maturity. Difficult decisions must be made, disappointments must be accepted, and priorities must be realigned to make the best of life as it is, not as we think it should be.
In midlife, the sense of self is much more defined than it was in earlier periods. A good deal of life has already been lived, and the unfolding of that life has cemented the adult’s sense of who they are, where they have been, and where they are likely to go. Because of this, middle-aged adults are likely to have a greater sense of self assurance than are adolescents and younger adults. To the extent the adult has had experiences of success, of mastering challenges, and accomplishing goals, there are gains in self-confidence.
In midlife, one also has to confront one’s own limitations. The dreams of youth must be reconciled with the reality of life as lived. To the extent that the discrepancies between ideals and reality can be accepted, there is greater self-acceptance and more stable self-esteem. There can be a sense of liberty from the tyranny of youthful expectations. However, for those who cannot accept that life does not always turn out the way we want, there can be considerable depression along with a great sense of anger, frustration, and shame.
Midlife is frequently a time of peak responsibilities, both at home and in the workplace. Adults at this stage of life often have ongoing parenting responsibilities with children still living at home. At the same time, their parents are aging and frequently need care. Due to their greater experience and psychological maturity, middle-aged adults are ideally positioned to assume greater responsibility in the workplace. Many move into positions of management at work. Assumption of such supervisory roles brings to mind Erikson’s stage of Generativity vs. Stagnation, the psychosocial stage of middle adulthood. In Erikson’s view, generativity involves providing care and guidance for the next generation and for society as a whole.
In early adulthood the challenges of parenting typically involve taking on the enormous responsibility of day-to-day care of a children. In middle adulthood, however, the parent will need to learn how to let go. If the children are adolescents, the parent will need to offer some supervision to the child, but also allow them a good degree of freedom from parental control. Finding the right balance is a difficult challenge as many adolescents are prone to recklessness and their judgment is far from mature. Allowing their children greater independence can also be a loss for parents, who have devoted more than a decade to the task of child rearing. Parents in midlife need to find areas of fulfillment in their life that are independent of their parenting role. This is to ensure that the parent’s dependence on the parental role does not interfere with the child’s developmental need for greater independence.
One of the cardinal challenges of middle adulthood involves the confrontation with mortality and the loss of the youthful body. Changes in modern technology, such as plastic surgery, collagen injections, and Botox injections, can prolong physical beauty. Over-dependence on such techniques, however, can promote a denial of aging. This in turn undermines the psychological maturity derived from acknowledgment and acceptance of the inevitable limits in life (iStock).
The vast majority of adults in middle adulthood will experience the aging and even death of their parents. As their parents’ physical and cognitive abilities deteriorate, adult children must take on a caretaking role. The extent to which the children take on such responsibilities will vary from family to family but some degree of role reversal between parent and adult child is largely unavoidable. The financial, medical, and supervisory aspects of elder care can be extremely complex, particularly in modern, industrialized societies in which both women and men work outside the home.
Psychologically, the role reversal between elderly parent and middle-aged child can be difficult. Besides the obvious stress of the new responsibilities, there is a sense of sadness at the loss of the parental figure. Even though the middle-aged adult is fully mature and handles significant responsibilities, it is still upsetting to realize there are no more “grown-ups” to fall back upon. It is the children who are the grown-ups now, not the parents.
In Gould’s view, the confrontation with aging and mortality in midlife punctures the Illusion of Absolute Safety. This demands a renegotiation of the adult’s relationship with work, marriage, family, and many other aspects of life. With regard to work, people who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of success realize that even when such goals are accomplished, they fail to bring the “prize” dreamt of at an earlier period. Fame, power, and wealth cannot confer immortality. A restlessness and dissatisfaction can occur, to be resolved only when the motivation for work comes from pleasure in the task rather than the expectation of magical transformation and ultimate salvation.
When Gould was writing in the 1970s, this dynamic mainly applied to men (and affluent men at that). In women, the illusion of absolute safety was more likely to manifest in a sense of self as helplessly dependent on a man. Although many women felt trapped by their lack of autonomy, the acceptance of greater self-determination was anxiety-provoking. It stripped away the comforting illusion of the male as the omnipotent protector. No matter how people cling to the illusion of absolute safety, the desire to protect oneself from awareness of death inevitably brings great psychological costs. Remaining ignorant of a disturbing reality forces people to constrict their own self-experience, impoverishing their personality. Fortunately, midlife provides an opportunity for people to enhance their psychological potential by shedding their denial of mortality.
The physiological changes that began in middle adulthood intensify in late adulthood. Primarily a nuisance in middle adulthood, they begin to truly interfere with everyday functioning in late life. But it is important to distinguish between different stages of this last phase of life. Gerontologists, people who study aging, speak of the young-old and the old-old, meaning those in their sixties and early seventies and those over the age of seventy-five. Some also speak of the oldest old, those over eighty-five. The young-old, by and large, are still very vigorous. In the older age group, however, the decline in body functions can significantly constrict life activities.
What kind of bodily changes occur in late life? There is some belief that aging starts in the cells. There is decreased cell regeneration and deterioration in cell DNA and RNA. Brain cells also deteriorate, with decreased neurogenesis (new neuron growth) and general shrinkage of brain tissue. There is musculoskeletal deterioration, with continued loss of muscle mass and bone density. Thickening of the lens of the eye continues to reduce vision. Hearing, in particular, takes a hit, with 65 percent of people age eighty or above showing an inability to hear high-pitched sounds. Difficulties making sense of conversation can leave the elderly feeling socially isolated.
Additional changes take place in the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, respiratory, and endocrine systems. Chronic diseases become much more common at this stage in life, particularly diabetes, hypertension, and arthritis. The news is not all bad, however. There are many lifestyle factors over which people have considerable control that can maximize health and well-being. Perhaps even to a greater extent than at younger ages, exercise, diet, positive mood, stimulating mental activities, and positive social relationships can promote optimal functioning.
Late adulthood, which can last up to thirty years (and beyond in some cases), is the last stage of life. Although this stage can cover many years, it still marks the closing of the life story. Adults at this stage must review their life as lived and come to some sort of emotional closure about how their life has unfolded. Adults in late life must also confront the unavoidable reality of mortality and hopefully come to accept the inevitability of death. People in this stage cope with numerous losses: physical vigor and sometimes health, roles and responsibilities of an earlier age, and loved ones who have died.
Luckily, older adults are often well-equipped emotionally to handle these daunting psychological challenges. Many studies show that psychological maturity continues to grow across the lifespan. In general, adults in late life have a more positive outlook, are less prone to negative emotional reactions, and are less egocentric than younger people. The storied wisdom of the old is both a function of life experience and a buffer against life experience.
Depression is actually less common in later life than at younger ages but is arguably more debilitating when it does occur. Adults in late life incur a significant amount of losses, including their job, health, and status and role in society. They also suffer the death of loved ones. Such losses can certainly precipitate depression. Additionally, medical conditions that are more frequent in late life, such as stroke and dementia, can cause depressive symptoms. The nature of geriatric depression is somewhat different from that found in younger people.
Elderly people often express their depression through somatic complaints (complaints about physical problems) and frequently have sleep problems and markedly reduced energy, initiative, and appetite. Sometimes there is considerable weight loss. The resulting self-neglect can put the elderly depressed person in real danger. Likewise, suicide is a serious problem. In fact, the risk of suicide is five times higher in white men over the age of sixty-five than in the general population. Nonetheless, despite their exposure to multiple losses, in general, the elderly have a lower rate of depression than do younger groups. This has been attributed to the greater emotion regulation and coping skills of older adults.
Provided there is adequate financial, medical, and social support, adults in late life can benefit from both a reduction in stressful responsibilities and ongoing gains in psychological maturity. Many researchers talk of wisdom, which is loosely defined as better emotional regulation, judgment, understanding of the ways of the world, and empathy for others. With increasing age, there is generally a reduction in impulsive, impetuous behavior and emotional volatility along with an improved ability to see things from others’ perspectives. In many cultures, the elderly are valued for their wise advice. If the older adult is in relatively good health, particularly in the earlier stages of late adulthood, there is enhanced opportunity for enjoyable leisure activities.
Erikson described the psychological challenge of the last stage of life as Ego Integrity vs. Despair. By this he meant that adults at this stage are facing the end of their life. Many decisions have been made, life has been largely lived, and it has brought both disappointments and rewards. When people can see their life as a whole and accept both its disappointments and gratifications as part of a complete narrative, then they can achieve ego integrity. When older adults cannot accept their disappointments and thwarted dreams, they fall into despair. Life will soon be over and there are no more chances.
Erikson’s wife, Joan, later wrote about an additional stage for the very old, which she termed gerotranscendance. In this stage, in the ninth or tenth decade of life, people begin to look beyond their own individual lifespan. Very close to their own death, they start to transcend their identity as a single, isolated person and begin to see themselves as part of a larger whole that will live on after their own death. Accordingly, research has shown that older adults are more involved in religious activities than are younger people. Several other theorists, such as Heinz Kohut, Daniel Levinson, and Bernice Neugarten, also write about the need in late life to come to terms with both the positive and negative aspects of one’s life as lived as well as the losses of aging, the diminished role of the self, and the impending end of life.
Sixty-five is the traditional age of retirement. For those who have spent the majority of their waking hours at work over the previous four decades, this is an enormous transition. For some people—particularly those who have not cultivated interests or social relationships outside of work—retirement represents a significant loss, and there can be difficulties with emotional adjustment. For others, retirement offers the opportunity to explore new interests and old passions, spend more time with friends and family, and give back to the community through volunteer work or socially meaningful part-time work. The extent to which people plan out a new life structure in advance influences their adjustment to retirement. Of course, much also depends on the financial resources and physical health of the retired adult, which in turn depends on social policies regarding retirement financing and healthcare.
Across developed countries the average lifespan has lengthened considerably. Projections show that the proportion of the population that is above sixty-five and eighty-five will grow tremendously in the decades to come. For example, according to U.S. census data, in 1900 people aged sixty-five and older comprised four percent of the population while those aged eighty-five and over comprised only 0.1 percent of the population. By 2050, these rates are projected to be 20 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively. This raises concerns about the ability of governments or corporations to fund retirement pensions. Lessening that concern are the same factors that account for the increased lifespan in the first place.
The advances in medical technology, nutrition, and lifestyle that have increased longevity also increase the vigor and productivity of seniors, particularly the “young-old” in their sixties and early seventies. In fact, many people reenter the work force soon after retirement, in volunteer or part-time positions, if not full-time jobs.
While mortality becomes real in middle adulthood, it becomes immediate in late adulthood. Middle-aged adults deal with the death of their parents and other people in their parents’ generation. Elderly adults deal with the death of people in their own generation, their spouses, siblings, and longtime friends. While middle-aged adults confront the reality of future death, adults in late life recognize their own death may be coming soon. Of course, the period of late life plays into this. Healthy adults in their mid-sixties can expect to live into their eighties (eighty-one for males and eighty-six for females according to the U.S. Census Bureau), while people in their ninth and tenth decade of life are looking at a much shorter time horizon.
A number of factors contribute to a positive adjustment to late adulthood, many of which serve a similar function at earlier stages of adulthood. For one, social support retains its critical importance. Although the size of people’s social circles tends to decrease with age, and many older adults spend less time with acquaintances in favor of family and close friends, the quality of social relationships has a powerful impact on the sense of well-being. Secondly, engagement in meaningful and satisfying activities, such as hobbies, creative work, volunteer work, or even part-time jobs, are crucial sources of satisfaction for adults in late life.
One way that today’s elderly have adapted to the profound social changes of the past several decades has been to increasingly engage in activities previously associated with younger age groups. Advances in medical technology have increased the health and physical strength of older people, making such endeavors possible. Exercise classes for senior citizens, continuing education for retired people, volunteer jobs for older people, and even elder hostels for adults in late life who want to travel, have all grown to meet this change in the social role of adults in late life.
Involvement in productive work of some kind enhances self-esteem and a sense of belonging. Particularly after retirement, it is important to have some form of structured and meaningful activity with which to replace the purpose, structure, and identity formerly derived from the work role. Finally, physical exercise is tremendously beneficial. Even thirty minutes a day of walking can have clear, measurable benefits. Physical exercise promotes cardiovascular health, muscle strength, and bone density. This gives older adults mobility and functional independence, which has a strong impact on life satisfaction.
Further, improved cardio-vascular health protects brain function and cognition. There is considerable evidence that physical exercise is protective against dementia. In fact, exercise has been shown to increase the amount of a chemical called brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), which in turn promotes the growth of new brain cells.
In many traditional cultures, the elderly are highly esteemed members of the community. Their advice is sought in many matters and valued for its wisdom. People live in large, extended families and grandparents often contribute to the care of grandchildren. When people grow too old to take care of themselves, younger family members (mostly women) provide care. In most modern, industrialized societies, however, there has been a dramatic change in the structure of the family. To a large extent, the nuclear family has replaced the extended family. People are more mobile, move residences more often, and adult children can live hundreds if not thousands of miles away from their parents. Further, working women do not have the time to provide full-time care for aging parents.
Thus, the place of the elderly in society has undergone great disruption. Two movements have emerged in response to these changes. For one, there has been growth of government-sponsored elder care services, including nursing homes, adult homes, home health aides, and adult day care centers. Secondly, there has been an extension of activities previously associated with earlier periods of life, such as travel, sports, continuing education, and paid or unpaid work, far into late life. Seniors today are likely to be more active—physically, economically, and socially—than their parents were.
As with middle adulthood, fluid intelligence (processing speed, working memory, complex attention) continues to decline. Crystallized intelligence (fund of information, verbal skills, vocabulary) remains intact for much longer. This relates to the growth of wisdom discussed above. Eventually, perhaps in the ninth or tenth decade of life, crystallized intelligence also starts to decline. Although we do expect some intellectual decline with normal aging, severe intellectual decline is not a part of normal aging, but rather a symptom of dementia.
Dementia involves the loss of intellectual abilities, generally including memory, spatial skills, and executive functions (planning, abstract thought, self-monitoring, etc.). The two most common forms of dementia are Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. The biology of Alzheimer’s is characterized by the buildup of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in and around the neuron (brain cell). Alzheimer’s starts with memory impairment and then generalizes to a broad range of cognitive impairments, sufficiently severe to leave people unable to care for themselves. Vascular dementia is caused by cerebrovascular events, such as strokes, which involve major disruptions of the blood supply to the brain.
Dementia is fairly rare in the mid-sixties (about ten percent) but becomes quite common by the eighties and nineties. By some estimates, 50 percent of all people over 85 have Alzheimer’s disease. Consequently, virtually all families will be touched by dementia at some point. The social implications of this are enormous. People with severe dementia demand round-the-clock care, which puts tremendous strain on families, both emotionally and financially. Given the growing population of elderly people across the industrialized world, significant resources will be needed for elder care in the coming years.
The nun study is a fascinating examination of aging and Alzheimer’s disease conducted in a convent for retired nuns in Mankato, Minnesota. Religious orders make marvelous settings for epidemiological research studies (studies of health and disease patterns in whole populations) because of the relatively uniform lifestyle found in these environments. With many potentially complicating variables held constant, such as smoking, alcohol use, quality of health care, and income, it is much easier to have confidence in the research results.
David Snowdon, the study’s lead researcher, began the study in 1991 with a population of 678 nuns. He administered tests of cognitive function and health status. Remarkably, the convent had preserved the essays the nuns wrote upon entering the convent in their teens or early twenties. Finally, the nuns gave their permission for their brains to be autopsied after death. This is critical, as the only way to definitively diagnose Alzheimer’s disease is through brain autopsy.
Although the study is ongoing, several noteworthy findings have already been published. For one, essays written in the nuns’ adolescence and early adulthood gave clues as to who was more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease later on. The nuns who used more complex grammar and ideas and more positive emotion words were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease 60 years later. More educated nuns also had a lower chance of developing Alzheimer’s. From this data alone, however, we cannot distinguish between cause and effect. Do the essays reflect the earliest manifestations of Alzheimer’s or good habits that ultimately protect against the disease?
The autopsy data give clues to this $64,000 question. Although the degree of brain damage due to neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques did correlate with the degree of cognitive decline, it was not a 100 percent correlation. In other words, there were nuns with considerable amounts of brain damage who showed little to no dementia. In fact, 58 percent of the nuns with mild and 32 percent of those with moderate brain pathology did not show memory impairment.
The researchers concluded that there was something known as cognitive reserve that protected against functional deterioration in the face of brain disease. They believed that various factors contributed to cognitive reserve by promoting richer neuronal networks (or enhanced communication between brain cells) and greater cerebrovascular health. Such factors seem to include education, positive mood, mental stimulation, and healthy diet (specifically the vitamin folate). Cerebrovascular health is very important because the presence of strokes dramatically reduced the cognitive performance of nuns with Alzheimer’s disease.
Thanatology refers to the study of death. Because of a number of societal changes, there is now more interest in the nature and quality of death and dying, at least in the developed world. Such changes include the growth of the elderly population, cultural shifts toward greater openness about distressing topics, and longer intervals from the onset of terminal illnesses to death. Thanatologists work closely with the health care system to improve the process of dying both for the dying patient and the surviving family.
A number of studies have examined the factors that influence the quality of the dying process-the factors that contribute to a “good death.” All studies suggest there are multiple components involved. Probably first and foremost is the issue of physical pain and discomfort. For both dying patients and their families, it is critically important that the last days are physically comfortable. In response, the medical discipline of palliative care has arisen to address the comfort of the terminally ill.
Other domains include the social, psychological, and spiritual realms of experience, as well as the degree of preparation for death. Social factors pertain to the involvement, support, and cohesion of (or, conversely, conflict between) family members. Psychological factors include a sense of closure regarding life as lived and the awareness and acceptance of death. Ideally, the person will feel relatively at peace at the time of death. Spiritual needs are particularly acute at this time and religious beliefs about life after death or the connection of the individual to the larger whole can be profoundly comforting. Preparation for death also includes planning in advance for the medical, legal, and financial issues that are likely to follow.
Many thanatologists speak of the importance of hope in the dying process. In the beginning of a life threatening illness, people hope for recovery, to survive the illness, or at least to prolong life. As the reality of death grows closer, it is important to transform the nature of hope. The hope of avoiding death can be translated into the hope of finding and achieving a sense of meaning, of reaching the conviction that one’s life has had value, and that death will be faced with dignity and integrity.
Elizabeth Kübler-Ross (1926-2004) was one of the first thanatologists to publish a stage theory about the grieving process. Her work was based on studies of the terminally ill. While her model has been criticized, her descriptions of the five stages of grief are still highly influential and provide a good overview of the variety of emotional experiences people undergo while grieving. The five stages of grief are as follows: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
The first stage is denial. When people first learn of their terminal illness, they go into shock and try to deny that it is real. The next stage involves anger. People learning of their own impending death are frequently angry. This anger may be expressed at doctors, at family, or even at themselves. It is as though they are looking for a place to put their anger at their illness. The next stage involves bargaining. They try to bargain with doctors, friends, family, and even God. By holding onto the belief that they can change the outcome of their illness through “good” behavior, they try to maintain a sense of control. When the reality of death finally sinks in, the result is depression. Ultimately, the person absorbs the intense and devastating shock of their terminal illness. At this point, they reach the stage of acceptance, in which they can face death with a degree of resolution and psychological peace. Later research has shown that not all dying patients go through each stage, nor do they go through them in the same sequence. Nonetheless, many people do experience the states of mind that Kübler-Ross describes.
Several theorists have followed Kübler-Ross’s work with their own work on the process of grieving. In a series of publications from the 1960s to the 1980s, John Bowlby (the father of attachment theory) collaborated with Colin Murray Parkes to condense Kübler-Ross’s five stages into four phases of grief. Their work differed from Kübler-Ross’s original work, however, in that their focus was on the bereaved rather than the dying.
Their four phases are as follows: Shock and disbelief, searching and yearning, disorganization and despair, and rebuilding and healing. Thus, the bereaved must undergo a process of recognizing the loss, experiencing the acute pain of the loss, and then slowly rebuilding life and relationships so as to continue on without the loved one. J. William Worden developed a similar approach, speaking less of the phases than the tasks of grief. In his view, the bereaved must go through four stages: accept the reality of the loss, work through the pain of grief, adjust to an environment in which the deceased is missing, and emotionally relocate the deceased and move on with life. Other theorists, such as Robert Neimeyer and Alan Wolfelt, write of related issues, such as the need to rebuild an identity independent of the lost relationship and to transfer the relationship with the deceased out of daily life and into memory.
Although there are a fair number of theories about the process of grief, there has been less in the way of actual scientific data about the normal course of grief. In 2007, Paul Maciejewski and colleagues published a study of 233 bereaved adults conducted over a twenty-four-month period. They administered measures of yearning, disbelief, anger, depression, and acceptance at three time points in the first two years after the loss. Their results showed that disbelief peaked soon after the death and then consistently declined afterward. Yearning, which was the most pronounced and long lasting of the negative emotional responses to loss, peaked at about four months. Anger peaked at about five months, and depression at about six months. Acceptance continuously grew throughout the mourning period.
Surprisingly, even from the start, acceptance was rated higher than all other grief reactions. The high levels of acceptance may be explained by the large percentage of people who were over 65 at the time of the loss and whose loved ones died after a long illness. Furthermore, the study only included people whose losses were due to natural causes. Presumably, younger people and those whose loved ones died due to unnatural causes may have more difficulty with accepting the loss. Although this study may not pertain to all types of losses, it does give a good sense of the typical grief reaction to the most common kinds of losses.