Question

1. Mrs. Kaufman spends a lot of time stroking, cuddling, and rocking her infant son and seems to be highly aware of the baby's actions and needs. Mr. Kaufman worries that his wife's interactions with the baby may eventually lead the child to (a) cry easily when frustrated, (b) fearfully cling to his mother, (c) become unfriendly toward other people, and (d) become withdrawn and uninterested in his surroundings. Describe research on social development that supports or refutes each of the father's concerns.

2. Thirteen-year-old Ryan has begun to challenge many of his parents' values and to express his own set of highly idealistic standards. Compare and contrast the explanations for Ryan's behavior that would be given by Kohlberg and by Erikson.

Answer 1

1.

(a) Cry easily when frustrated – Attachment theory explains this concept by saying that when the child feels uncomfortable because the child knows that someone will pay attention. This is possible only when one of the primary caregiver pay very good attention to the needs of the child. This is normal with the infants and they will change as they grow.

(b) Fearfully cling to his mother – This is also part of the Attachment Theory and the experiment with the monkeys suggests that the babies will cling to their mothers or the primary caregiver in the case of humans in times of danger. They will do so until they feel safe. This element will be present until they become aware of their complete environment and people around them.

(c) Become unfriendly toward other people – This is part of Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory which suggests that infants will have the fear of strangers. This is called Stranger Anxiety and kids don’t play or socialize with new people but as they get old, they will change.

(d) Become withdrawn and uninterested in his surroundings – Both the Attachment Theory and Erikson’s Psychosocial stages suggest that this will happen only when the child don’t have a favorable or supportive environment in their childhood. So in this case, the child gets enough support from the primary care giver, so it won’t happen.

2. Ryan falls in the post conventional stage which is the third one in Kohlberg’s moral development and in Identity vs role confusion stage of Erikson’s Psychosocial development. Both the theories suggest that when an individual gradually develop through the lower stages, they successfully attain the later stages and Ryan is just achieving that, individuality and independent thinking according to Kohlberg and role identity by Erikson. Ryan feels unique and makes his own judgment rather than just going by other’s opinions.

Ryan is in the third stage (postconventional) according to Kohlberg. In the postconventional stage we begin to make moral judgements on individual principals. Erikson believes the primary task of adolescence is the formation of identity and that Ryan is in the stage of identity vs. role confusion. Both would believe that Ryan is moving into new stages of behavior.