Video Transcript: Growing and Development

As believers, we talk about growing and learning. In this segment on  psychology, we talk about growing and learning. What does it mean to grow?  How do we learn? Where does that come from? We talk about it. We go to  school since, you know, preschool, and then to kindergarten, primary school,  first, second, third grade and so on, and then high school, college, university,  learning. But more importantly, how do we learn as human beings, in general,  the minute we come out of our mother's womb? How does learning process  begin and mature and develop, and why is it how we keep on learning until the  day we die? Learning growing and the different methods, different ways of  learning as well, these are fascinating. Today, we're going to take you through  the theories of Eric Erickson as well as Jean Piaget and Harry Harlow, as they  all have complementary theories, helping us to understand what makes a  human tick, what makes how do they learn? How do they adapt? How do they  then begin to become and from there, in the next video, we're gonna look at  Kohlberg and also Fowler, looking at also the other stages of growth, as well as  our faith stages, looking forward to it. But first Erickson and his theory of  learning. How do we learn? How do we grow? Well, when it comes to learning.  We then look at how this all comes together as far as human development and  the mind and behavior, as you can see in this funny cartoon that you have the  baby there in this pacifier, then he becomes a young kid, and then an  adolescent, and then young adult and middle aged adult, and then an older  adult. And well, of course, you can tell by the waistline, the waistline is a little  larger there later on, and then you have old age, old age. And so the Human  Development and the mind of behavior, we now look at what Erickson observed, what he studied, what he concluded, with development. It begins with the  physiological, behavioral, cognitive and social changes, and these occur  throughout human life, which are guided by both genetic predispositions nature  and as we call as believers in Jesus, how God puts that hot wiring in us, as far  as genetics, and how, with God's hand, there is that nature, but also by  Environmental influences as well nature and nurture. I'm sure you've heard that  debate many times, nature versus nurture, but here we look at both as they  work together, as Erickson so well, observed and defined. And here's Eric  Erickson. Dr Erickson developed this great theory to help us understand and put labels on what happens from day one through year number eight and then also  into our teens and then into our adulthood. Well, here's how he defined it. With  this graphic, we can see that it because, of course, infancy, infancy, and how he  then observed infancy is this. He saw infancy as the place where we begin to  understand trust versus mistrust. For example, when a child is born, all he has is mom and dad, those who are there as well to care for him or her and to make  sure that he or she is safe. There's an instant trust that is there with those who  then care for him or her. I remember when my son was born, and as he came  out of my wife, and he looked right at me, and I looked right at him, and and we 

were both thinking the same, what just happened? And I look at this little life,  and after about 30 seconds of looking at me, he cries. Of course, he's cold like  ah, I what happened here? I, I was, I was all warm and comfy inside mom, but  oh my goodness, I need a blanket. And what's interesting is that there's that  trust and mistrust Erickson talks about there's that that need to trust dad and  then mom as he's brought to the breast, and he's also in that place, right? And  he doesn't perceive it. He doesn't understand it yet. But it's just it's very  concrete. Hence, during our childhood, everything is concrete. Into adulthood,  things can become more abstract, or rather, we can think more abstractly about  the world, like the sky is blue, but what if it's green? To the child, the sky is blue,  until the child begins to ask, and I'm sure you've had this where he says, Well,  why this? And why that, Daddy, why Mom, why you might change your name  after after a while? Why? Why? That's a wonderful stage as well, which we'll get  to here in a minute. So trust, it is a given. It is not something that the child is just  seeking, because, well, Whom shall I trust? He or she is not thinking about that  at the moment. It's just an automatic and there is the progression from there into trusting, from mom and dad, then to other people. Well, we come back to then  from infancy and trust versus mistrust, then to early childhood, autonomy versus shame and doubt. What does he mean? Well, what he means is that kids are  very dependent on their parents to tell them what is right and what is wrong  moral development. In the next video, we're gonna look at Dr Faulkner and his  theory about faith development, which coincides and complements moral  development and human development altogether. It's very interesting how Erik  Erickson helps us to understand that altogether, really, and doesn't really say  this, of course, but what he's really saying here is that we are all spiritual. We  are all spiritual beings. Out of the spiritual comes the moral, and comes the  ethical, and comes also the faith practice, the spiritual practices, as well as the  concrete practices that the physical things we do and and the day to day, it all  comes out of the spiritual now with given that truth. We then look at the child  then, who is in his early childhood stage, and and when he is told by a mom, no, you are wrong. How you know, go to your room, there's that that, that sense of  shame, because it's important that mom says, No, this is wrong. No, you are  wrong when you say that or when you do that. For example, Johnny, don't hit  your sister. That's wrong. Oh, but I like it because he's trying. He's testing the  waters here, but ultimately, what mom then tells him that he's wrong, she's  saying you are wrong and you need to be corrected as well as rehabilitated.  There's correction, but there's also rehabilitation. There's there's the tears, and  then there's the hug. But see with mom, she's been showing him, alerting him to what is wrong as opposed to what is right, and also telling him what it what his  he what is right, how Johnny is right when he does the right things as opposed  to the wrong things. And even when he's corrected, when she points out, mom  that is, points out that's wrong. Then he begins to understand, oh, okay, I don't 

do that. That means I have to go in my room and I can't play with my toys, and  that's wrong. And granted, there's a healthy sense of shame, given the family  structure and family of origin and so forth, which we always go back to family of  origin issues that little boy little girl will say, okay, that's wrong. Oh, I feel real  bad. And they're able to then understand that is wrong, this is right, okay,  shame and also morality, autonomy versus shame and doubt. Because as we  look at autonomy, the child realizes that he or she can't live on their own. They  are dependent also on mom and dad as well as they need mom and dad for  their moral as their moral compass and they are they look to dad and mom as  they look as representation of God Himself. Well then look into the preschool  stage, the initiative versus guilt. A lot of the same themes here. It's going from  again, the earlier stage of this, of again, the autonomy shame and doubt, getting into the initiative versus guilt, where, of course, the child then is shown what is  wrong and right, and also what is proper. They're given structure, and Mom and  Dad help the child then to go get on a track of proper and appropriate behavior,  and granted that, if it's a healthy relationship between mom and dad and child,  and also give given the fact, let's assume the fact that mom and dad also have a moral compass themselves, assuming that they are believers, and they follow  Christ, and if they, of course, abide by the 10 Commandments, they obey God,  they obey the 10 Commandments, then they also impart that upon the child. The child then is then feeling guilt when he or she then violates that. Why? Because  there are boundaries. There are limits placed around where the child can go and child cannot go, guilt and initiative because the child wants to initiate this and go and do that, much like the autonomy stage going to the initiate, because the  child getting older, the brain's beginning to develop more and and the child's  more curious. There's also the guilt part of it as well, when they're called out,  either that not necessarily, that there may be wrong, but just they need to get  back in line. Or remember, remember in first grade and also kindergarten, that  you're taught how to stand in a line, for example, that is a way of placing  structure on life and how we respect one another. I'll never forget I was in Abu  Dhabi. I was waiting for a plane to catch from Abu Dhabi to Chicago, there in the United Arab Emirates, as I was sitting there in that waiting waiting area for to get on my plane a number of other men who had been in the United Arab Emirates  to to work and for for some months, and then then to fly back home, actually.  Now, remember, it was a flight to Bangladesh. So there are a lot of Bangladeshi  people there, men there. And what, what, what I what I observed was, that they  had, culturally speaking, they had this idea that they all would then they all came as a group. It's very interesting. And I saw this, I thought, huh, they're all  wondering that they don't seem to have the idea of standing in a line to show  their ticket or to wait, or whatever. And they all rushed to the front, and the and  the flight attendant, or the gentleman at the desk, was, get in line. Get in line.  Get in line. Now this is not to judge anybody or to to criticize anything. I just 

noticed observed how as a group of men who I could tell they were there in the  UAE to to work for a time, then to go back home. But apparently they weren't  taught how to stand in line, and culturally, it was just that they'd all rush to the  front. I don't know, however, what I do know when it comes to the west and  what, in my context, we were taught as kids that stand in the line. Hence, here's  the structure part, and what Piaget, or rather, Erickson, get to Piaget in a minute. Erickson was trying to show us how this progresses. Autonomy versus shame,  initiative versus guilt. And then then within the school age, industry versus  inferiority, where then the child then begins to learn about task oriented  practices, how to accomplish a task. What work is when it comes to doing your  work sheet in school and also being industrious, therefore, where then you work  in groups and work doing exercise or or, of course, sitting and listening to the  teacher, and of course, knowing that this builds self esteem, and also this builds  confidence. So instead of being feeling inferior, there is a feeling of being  competent, and also therefore being industrious in school and from there, from  primary school into secondary school, high school, adolescence kicks in identity  versus role confusion, when the adolescent comes into this stage, once you  enter age 12, the earliest really, and then, of course, age 13 on up, you have the adolescent who is trying to figure out who she is or who he is. Of course,  develop developmentally, physically, they are being beginning to pop, pop out as far as becoming the man becoming the woman. But still, they're in the in  between stage of being a child and an adult. What happens is that that they are  in a place where where they are, they're acting out, or they're asking questions,  or they're challenging mom and dad or challenging the teacher, because they're  going through a process we call differentiation. Erickson supports this, because  we're trying to differentiate, trying to identify who I am versus my mother and my father or my teacher? Who am I? And from there, they enter their 20s, young  adulthood, and by age 24 adolescence is is done because, as researchers have have found out years ago that the frontal lobe in the brain that finally is fully  formed, and the brain finally enters into the adulthood stage, and though also  then the person in question, the male female, then is into that, that place where,  as a young adult, they begin to see things More abstractly, as well as concretely, and begin to also process life as someone who is then driven, someone who  then finally understands himself herself, trying to figure that out in terms of  college and majors and also purpose and direction. But they have the basic  foundation given childhood and adolescence now of who they are as a man or a woman, but still then developing learning and developing who they are, then as  a person, what is my purpose and ready to explore that, get into that, and also  define that, of course, as we say, with God's help, and that's where this all falls  into place. Now for some at 20, 25 Yeah, I'm going to be the baker. Yes, I'm  going to be the carpenter. Yes, I'm going to go into a trade, or, Yes, I'm going to  be a teacher. And they do this becomes a lifelong pursuit, because they come to

know early life at that stage. Erickson identifies where then purpose is, then  identified and also well defined in their experience. For others, it takes longer  until they're 30 years old. Hence, there's a process. So Erickson is very helpful  here in helping us understand the stages of psychosocial development. So as  we go through young adulthood, middle adulthood, we're looking at generativity  versus stagnation to stay active, to sit, to stay focused and to stay industrious as well, also looking at at maturity, where we go through this whole stage of well,  what, what was life in it? Like Solomon, that book of class, Ecclesiastes, he  says, Meaningless, meaningless. It's all meaningless, chasing after the wind. I'm now old, and what does it become of me? Well, Peter Erickson identifies this. He says, there is this sense of despair, but also to keep myself, my person, far as  the ego, borrowing from Freud here who I am in place. Keep it. Keep the  integrity of who I am in focus and not lose that. So whether I am 50 years old,  60. Years old, 80 years old. I am who I am. I keep learning and growing,  developing. I can still change for the better, but I also understand where I am in  terms of my age and stage. And Erickson gives us good foundations here,  which, of course, come from Scripture. What Erickson does? He gives us the  labels and also the definitions to apply now that to apply this in our modern mind as we exegete it out of Scripture. The scripture, God's word, gives us that  foundation Erickson simply then gives us, gives us new, new packages, and  also terms to understand it well. We go from Erickson then to Jean Piaget. Jean  Piaget, Jean Piaget, was a Swiss researcher psychologist, and he his specialty  and focus was on childhood and the whole thing of children developing. What he developed was he developed this idea and term of schema. Schema is a pattern of knowledge in long term memory that helps children remember, and also  people remember, organize and respond to information. So he takes the point of reference to the child and with the type of schemas, he looks at these, as you  can see in the visual there is the person schema, the self schema, the social  schema and the event schema. Now the person schema, we look at behavior,  appearance and personality. It's similar to the idea with Gestalt, as far as the the form and also experience coming together, because then you look at personality and also other proficiencies. And then the self schema, there's this look at how  we then become, again, who I am to be in the future doctor or again, what is my  purpose? The Social schema, how to be respectful, how to connect with another person, the event schema about as far as being professional and also to shake  a hand when it comes to relating with someone in a professional manner or To  make a deal or an agreement. So Piaget helps us to understand social  interaction and also inner interaction, if you will, based on this idea of schema.  So from schema as far as a pattern of knowledge in their long term memory that helps us remember, organize and respond information, we then look at two  other terms that Piaget then helps us to understand as well. The one term is  assimilation. Assimilation is where we what we use already developed schemas.

Again that schema, we looked at what's already there for person schema, self  schema, so for schema, event schema. And then we assimilate our things that  based on things we already understand, things that are new to us, but we see  

this familiarity there. But then we look at accommodation. What about new  things, things we don't know? Then we learn new information, such as taking  this class, and thus change the schema. So now, for example, that I'm I'm  learning things here in psychology and learning about Piaget. Erickson, and also about meditation and what that's about, and course Freud and the others, I'm  now able to adapt and bring into my understanding new knowledge. And that's  what Piaget was observing and therefore concluding. So he also developed  what we call different stages of childhood, childhood development into, of  course, adulthood. So from Erickson then to Piaget, we then see this. There's a  sensory motor stage. The child begins to interact with the environment, as you  see in this visual age, from infancy then to age two, and age two to six or seven  years old, the child begins to represent the role symbolically, or pre operational  stage, they role play. And then from age seven to 12, the child learns rules such  as conservation. At the concrete operational stage, as I said earlier, they learn in concrete terms. They're Not ready to think abstractly. And then there's the formal operational stage. The adolescent goes from concrete to abstract to think about  the future. What is my destiny? What is my purpose? What does God want from  me, in other words, and what is where is he leading me? That tends to be more  abstract, in contrast to the concrete thinking that we have as a child, and of  course, is all created by God. This is important to understand how children  develop compared to how adults as they become adults, how they develop and  learn. Piaget helps us with these things. In addition, we then look at a more.  Here's a more. Actually, there's Here's a more detailed description. Again, birth  to two. We see then the new developments here is object permanence and also  stranger anxiety during those early years. From age two to seven, there's  pretend play and egocentrism there. It's all about me, if you will, at that age, and that's expected, that's healthy, they role play pretend. Let's pretend to be the  doctor or pretend to be the nurse or pretend to be the teacher. Then at age  seven to 11, of course, there's the conservation of mathematical  transformations. The brain begins to mature. And then age 12 into adulthood,  abstract logic and potential for mature moral reasoning and a reason abstractly.  Well, there's Erickson Piaget and now Harry Harlow also featured in your  textbook, and of course, here right now today, he talked about attachment  theory. So these theories do complement each other very, very well. Attachment  theory has to do with childhood attachment versus adult attachment. Child  attachment has to do with this. As a child, I look at being secure because I'm  distressed when mom leaves, telling being dropped off at the babysitter, or I  greet mom when she returns. Hey, Mom, look at the picture I just drew. There's  that that, that looking forward, that and that excitement of reconnecting with 

mom, that there's this security in the adult stage there. There is, there are  relationships, friendships, marital relationships, able to seek support from his or  her partner in marriage. Going back to the child stage, there's the avoidance  stage, avoidant versus dismissing. In the adult stage, avoidance is where we  seek mom when she returns, of course, and then focusing on environment with  in the adult stage, there's the dismissing part, and where there's a great sense  of autonomy. We don't need mom anymore, that is. And however, there's some  adults who do, and then that, that's more of a attachment disorder, but we talk  about that later. There's also a tend a tendency to cut themselves off emotionally from other people. And so there's again, some again, when we deal with with  depression or we deal with other mental illness, we tend to go inside and not  connect with other people. So that could be an issue. As far as attachment  issues, although we will attach ourselves to people who we do trust, and of  course, grow and deepen those attachments. Finally, Harlow looks at the  ambivalent resistance stage of the child. The child becomes very upset at  departure, of course, and explores very little when that happens, resists and  says, I need Mom, I need dad here, because then I feel secure and I feel safe.  I'm attached to them, and then when they are present, then I can explore the  environment, explore the new room, or go to the new playground, and then  relate to other kids, because I know mom is right around the corner. Mom's  sitting right there watching me, and I feel secure compared to us as adults,  those you're watching, the fears of rejection are there? Oh, big time, of course,  that then comes from family of origin. Issues also comes from adolescent  issues, things at school from before, because you then you have history, and  there's that fear, and then also a strong desire to maintain closeness. Because  when we are afraid and we fear rejection, we then look for people that we can  trust. It hence Harlow's theory coming into play was, first of all, we look to God,  who then gives us our security. He is our heavenly Father, our True Father, who  we as we're attached to him. And this is why, spiritually, which is, again, like I  said earlier, everything is spiritual. Spiritually, it affects the psychological and the sociological, the mental, the cognitive and the social. If we're connected in tune  with God, then we and God, then, of course, brings us to people that we can  trust, and also to put a boundaries with those who, of whom we cannot but then  to build boundaries with those who we can have trust in. Of course, things  break, people leave. We get hurt. We need God's help in dealing with that fear  and dealing with attachment issues. Thanks to Dr Harlow, he helps us to  understand what the psalmist talks about when it comes to all of his words of  feeling rejected. Oh Lord, my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? And  Jesus said those very words, Harlow, if you were to bring him into this room and  he were to look at Psalm 22 and of course, Jesus quoting it in the book of Luke  and the Gospels of the cross, he would say, Yep, there's attachment things  going on there. And when we fall, when we when we screw up, when we when 

we need God, and we turn to Him, God then attaches himself. Of course, he's  always there, you know, but then we've become reattached to him, to the Holy  Spirit, thanks to Dr Erickson, Dr Piaget and Dr Harlow, we now know more  clearly what the scripture is saying when it comes to who we are as people, how we grow, how we then think, how We interact and how we attach with God's  help moving through life and the purpose he's given to you and me to glorify  God in all things.