In the biological sense, the word "development" refers to certain changes in the human body. They occur over time and due to the internal capabilities of the organism, and due to interaction with the environment. However, different age groups are distinguished not only by biological characteristics. External events that happen to a person also contribute a certain percentage to personal development.
Are there clear age groups?
Periodization of different age groups is not unambiguously defined in psychological science. But even if it did exist, one can never say how environmental factors will affect a person. For example, adolescence, according to some scientists, ends at 18-20 years. However, in countries that are in difficult economic or social conditions, it can last a maximum of three to four years from its inception. After that, almost a child will be forced to enter adulthood.
The same may be the case with the age of late adulthood. It is traditionally believed that this stage occurs no earlier than 60-65 years. However, if a person is forced to do heavy physical work for a long time, malnourished, orbe exposed to other adverse factors, the onset of late adulthood and 45 years is quite possible.
Childhood period
Early age is a time of rapid development of speech function. It occurs in parallel with cognitive and social development. Physical abilities also increase. A plump two-year-old child by the age of six turns into a slender little person who has coordination and agility. The following age groups of children are distinguished: infancy (up to a year), early childhood (1-3 years), childhood (up to seven years), primary school students (up to 10 years).
Early age is the time of intelligence development. Until the age of five, children's thinking is characterized by the qualities of animism (endowing objects with the properties of living beings), materialization (they consider the objects of their fantasies to be real), egocentrism (they understand the world only from their own point of view).
Adolescence
It has been classified by many scholars as a period of dependence on parents, which lies between childhood and adulthood. The interests of adolescents relate to the planning of their professional life, the sphere of love and friendship, and social interaction. For them, economic and political issues become important. As it was pointed out, the prolongation of adolescence for a long time is characteristic to a greater extent of industrialized countries. In the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as in the 20th century, due to unfavorable economic conditions or wars, adolescents, becoming a labor force, quicklyturned into adults.
Old age is late adulthood
A distinctive feature (the so-called new formation of the psyche) of this age is such a quality as wisdom. This is personal experience, practical knowledge gained by a person for a long time, the information that he has obtained throughout his life.
But, despite the presence of wisdom, the brain of many older people is prone to cognitive disorders. The extinction of cognitive activity can occur for various reasons: Alzheimer's disease, senile dementia, lack of cerebral blood supply. However, it must be understood that the aging of the body is a process that begins long before old age itself. For example, a woman after 30 may already notice signs of age: small wrinkles, a decrease in vitality, graying of hair.
In old age there are significant changes both at the physiological level and in the social life of the individual. First of all, retirement has a big impact. This is a change in status, and changes in the life order. With the help of work, a person's time is always structured. The pensioner, on the other hand, often feels as if he is on the sidelines.
Erickson's classification: early childhood
The well-known psychologist E. Erickson singled out the following age groups and their corresponding stages of development. The first stage is infancy. At this time, the main issue that is being resolvedsmall person, refers to trust or distrust of the world around. The infant determines for himself whether the world is a safe place, or whether it is still a threat. The result of the successful passage of this stage is a high level of vital energy, joy.
The second stage covers the age from one to three years. At this time, the child acquires more and more independence. Children under 3 years of age increasingly feel their independence as they learn to walk. At the same time, it is necessary for them to maintain basic trust. Parents play a major role in this. On the one hand, they help to do this with their requirements. When a child is overcome by destructive impulses, parental restrictions come into force. On the other hand, he has a sense of shame. After all, even if judgmental adults are not watching him, he perfectly feels at what point he is doing wrong. The world around him, as it were, begins to observe him from the inside.
At the stage from 4 to 6 years, the child must choose between two alternatives - initiative and guilt. He develops a fantasy, he actively invents games for himself, his speech becomes richer and richer.
Erickson school and adolescence
From 6 to 11 years old, a child should develop a sense of competence. If this does not happen, then this feeling is replaced by inferiority. Such a process is connected with the fact that during this period of time the child masters cultural values. Children are increasingly identifying with adults whorepresent one profession or another.
Stage from 11 to 20 years, according to Erickson, is the main for the successful development of personality. At this stage, the child or adolescent collects as much information about himself as possible. He sees himself as a student, a friend, a child of his parents, an athlete, and so on. If this stage is successful, in the future a person has a stable life position, the ability to cope with difficulties is formed.
Erickson adulthood
From the age of 21 to 25, young people begin to solve more and more adult tasks. They get married, plan to have a baby, make important choices.
The listed age groups refer to those segments of the life path in which personality development occurs. Then comes the longest stage, lasting, according to Erickson, from 25 to 60 years. At this time, the main problem of a person is life stagnation, the impossibility of development in everyday life. But if he still succeeds, then he receives a high reward - a strong sense of self-identity.
At this age, there are also changes that are associated with self-determination and personal life. For both men and women, this stage is characterized by a midlife crisis. A woman after 30 reaches the peak of her sexuality.
The age of 60 largely depends on how the previous years were lived. Old age will be peaceful if a person has achieved what he wanted in his life, lived it with dignity. Otherwise, he will suffer torment.
