Essay Example: My Social Development in Middle School

Human development is a field of study that seeks to understand why people from all ages tend to change or remain the same with time. Human development enables us to understand human behavior. In a bid to understand human development, psychologists came up with various theories that try to explain human development process. Arguments such as Kohlberg's theory of moral development and Bandura's theory of social learning use different approaches to describe human development. In this instance, I will be reflecting on my personal growth using Erickson's theory of psychological development, Piaget's theory of cognitive development, Vygotsky's social development theory, Bandura's social learning, and self-efficacy theory, and the theory of moral development by Kohlberg.

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Childhood traits are significant indicators of human behavior. As a child, I had relatively low social competence. I lacked most of the social, emotional and cognitive skills that are necessary for social adaptation. I had only one friend and refused to associate with any other person other than her. When I joined the elementary school, I had difficulty adapting to the new environment. I was shy and a little bit reserved than most children. I eventually managed to make one friend after about a year. However, after my first year, my character and social behavior changed as I began to feel industrious and more confident in my abilities. Using Erickson's theory of psychosocial development, I was at stage four which consists of children between 5 years and 12 years. As I remember, that is the point of my life is that I realized I could draw. I got much encouragement from my class teacher. I also developed motor skills such as riding a bike which made me fit in with my peers. Diessner (2008) says that the development of motor skills is typical during this stage of development. Later they become more pronounced in middle childhood.

As I reached middle school, there were more changes in my psychological and physical development. I was taller than my peers. According to Diessner (2008), most girls are taller than boys by half an inch at middle-school. However, I belonged to the higher end of the class since there were only two people who were taller than me. I also gained more confidence and pride in my abilities. I was doing well at school and continuously ranked among the best-performing students in the class. Furthermore, I had horned my artistry skills, and most students would sit at my desk and marvel at my drawings. As Watson(2002) says, the self-efficacy of an individual develops from the victories of past experiences to the point where it determines the beliefs and expectations of an individual in the activities that they participate in. As for me, I had experienced several successes that had enabled me to have a high degree of self-efficacy. I had also experienced failures, but I had managed to bounce back and hence contributed to my confidence.

Despite my apparent success and somewhat social life, I was a low-status child. My parents were earning below average wage, and most of the times I could not afford most of the luxuries of the high-status children. My low status proved to be a significant point of weakness as I struggled to keep up with the high-status children. However, what I lacked in financial capability I made up for it with social learning. I was a good observer and imitator and could emulate the social norms of the rest of the group and replicate their behavior. This aspect could be explained using Bandura's social learning theory which encompasses attention, memory, and motivation. Based on the social learning theory, I could pay attention to what was going on around me, retain the information in my brain, reproduce the image and even had the motivation to imitate. Therefore, my personality developed from my interactions with environmental factors( Watson 2002b).

My psychological and cognitive abilities made me popular among my peers, but I was not the most popular child in school. There were a few other figures who were more popular. As I reached the fourth grade, I started shying away from the concept of popularity. I had a first-hand experience of what the idea of fame could do to a person. I was approaching the concrete operational stage proposed by Piaget and viewed some actions such as undermining my classmates as immoral. According to Piaget theory of cognitive development, the concrete operational phase consists of children between the age of seven to eleven years. Children in the concrete operational stage start to become less egocentric and consider other people's feelings (Watson, 2002c).

The most famous child in my class was Desmond. Desmond was the envy of most children in school. He came from a wealthy background. His parents were in the school board and well-known donors to the school. His ability to draw was above most people. He was also among the best academically performing children in school. Furthermore, his athletic skills were above the rest since he was the fastest person in the class. He was also taller than the rest of us. The traits possessed by Desmond were similar to the popular child characteristics discussed by Diessner (2008). Desmond's athletic and drawing ability meant that he had well developed cognitive skills. He also had the physical advantage over the rest of the students because of his size and good intellectual ability.

On the other side, there was Dickson. Dickson was in our class because he failed to advance to 5th grade for two consecutive years which allowed us to catch up with him. He was also from a poor background and lacked most reading materials. His above average athletic ability was due to his age. Dickson's family lived in a secluded section near the forest away from other children, and he grew up without social interaction. As a result, he also failed to develop some cognition and consciousness that would allow him to fit in with the rest of the group. He was short-tempered and very aggressive when playing with the rest of us. Dickson's situation could be explained using Vygotsky's Social Development Theory which argues that social interaction came before and impacted the development of a child. He did not have any talent or standout trait that would encourage the other children in school to associate with him. The only person who seemed to associate with him was Desmond who appeared to be using him. For instance, he would have Dickson carry his bag for him and hold a seat for him whenever we go to the cafeteria. Dickson came to school early so that he could wipe Desmond's chair before he arrived. Desmond's actions did not appear wrong at the time because most of us were still at Kohlberg's first level of morality where we judged the morality of an action based on the satisfaction it granted the doer. Dickson did not seem to mind doing these actions.

References

Diessner, R. (2008). Classic Edition Sources: Human Development. (3, Ed.) New York City, New York, United States of America: McGraw-Hill Education.

Watson, M. W. (2002a). Watson Theories of Human Development Lecture 17: Bandura's Self-Efficacy Theory [audio file]. Retrieved from http://www.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/1838561/uiconf_id/30345531/entry_id/1_nlmg38ms/embed/auto?&flashvars[streamerType]=auto.

Watson, M. W. (2002b). Watson Theories of Human Development Lecture 16: Bandura's Social Learning Theory [audio file]. Retrieved from http://www.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/1838561/uiconf_id/30345531/entry_id/1_l7kb5k2w/embed/auto?&flashvars[streamerType]=auto

Watson, M. W. (2002c). Watson Theories of Human Development Lecture 20: Concrete Operations [audio file]. Retrieved from http://www.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/1838561/uiconf_id/30345531/entry_id/1_onsgisba/embed/auto?&flashvars[streamerType]=auto