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Infancy
Infancy begins the second the child is born. Newborns are born with three instinctive reflexes that are triggered by a certain stimulus including the rooting reflex, grasping reflex, and the babinski reflex. The rooting reflex works when the cheek is brushed, which makes the child turn the head, open the mouth and begin sucking. This fades after four months. The babinski reflex is the opposite of people ages two and up when the foot is touched, the infants toes flare and the foot pushes. -
Birth
Newborns have the capability to see, hear, smell and respond to the environment around them when they are born. Birth is where they first adapt to the outside world. They go from being curled up in a ball in a proteced area for nine months to being completely exposed to temperature, lights, sounds, touches, etc. Typically births take place in a hospital setting. -
Infancy (cont.)
The grasping reflex works when the childs palms are touched, they immediatly grasp to whatever is touching the palm. This reflex fades after three months, but disappears after a year. Typically infancy lasts from the time the infant is born until about the age of two. The different stages of infancy occur all over, but normally in a household of the family. -
Milestone #1
The first time a child walks is an important milestone in their development because it is something that they will be using for the rest of their lives. They do not have to physical control to walk until their nerves connected to the muscles have grown, and then they are prepared. Typically this happens about a year after birth, give or take a few months. Obviously it is a different time for each child, but usually it occus in a household as well. -
Childhood
Childhood begins around the age of two and will end when adolescence begins, which typically is around the age of twelve or thirteen. Four psychologists catagorized different types of development into multiple stages. Piaget loked at cognitive development and placed children into the preoperational and concrete operation stage. Children become egocentric and start using symbols in preoperational. In concrete operational, they start thinking logically and can understand conversations. -
Childhood (cont.)
Erikson put children into two stages of psychosocial development: initiative v. guilt and industry/competence v. inferiority. These stages are a persons goal to satisfy a social need in their life at that period of time. Kohlberg looked at the moral development of a person and put children into the stages of obtaining rewards and pleasing others/avoiding disapproval. He studied how important seeing other peoples point of views are to a persons development. -
Childhood (cont. 2)
Finally, Freud created the stages of psychosexual development and put children into anal and latency stage. In the anal stage, around the ages of two and three, children seek pleasure on functions of elimination. In the latency stage, they have sexual thoughts focused on social skills. Children start to grow up more in this stage and people see signs of maturation. Typically, this stage of childhood is located between the home and school. -
Milestone #2
Puberty does not have an exact age of when it occurs because it is different for every person, however, there are certain aspects of puberty that mark when it begins. For a woman, menarche is when they receive their first menstrual period and soon after begin to develop breasts and hips and their pubic hair begins to grow. For a man, spermarche is their first ejaculation and soon after they'll get broad shoulders, facial hair, mucles and a deeper voice. Typically a growth spert occurs as well. -
Adolescence
Adolescence officially begins when the person hits puberty, but typically occurs around the age of twelve or thirteen. Adolescence is officially the transition period between childhood and adulthood where the teen prepares for adult responsiblities. Robert Havighurst realizes that adolescents face physical, mental and emotional struggles during that time period. Many of times people mature at different ages and asynchrony comes into play then. Typically, school and home are locations of this. -
Early Adulthood
Although adulthood legally starts when a person turns eighteen, they are not usually considered an adult yet because they need to be able to handle to responsibilites of the adultworld in society. There is not a certain age that is given to officially start adulthood, but it is normally between 20-28 when it will start, depending on the person. In early adulthood, the immune system, senses, mental skills are all at the maximum level. This normally takes place out of the childhood home. -
Middle Adulthood
During middle adulthood peoples reactions times slow and their ability to comprehend material decreases. They start to gain weight and their eyesight decrease. Hair starts thinning and graying as well. Men typically go through an "age-30 crisis" where they want to become their own man and they start to question past decisions. Clearly this occurs around age thrity. At times they also go through a mid-life crisis where they splurge on gifts for themselves, but it is not as critical as the other. -
Milestone #3
Marriage becomes a milestone in a persons life (if they decide to get married) because it changes their lives. They are not longer responsible for only themselves, but for another person as well. They will learn to love and care for someone and be responsible in life. -
Milestone #4
Having a child, or children, is a huge milestone in a persons life. They now have to not only just care for another person, but protect them for almost the rest of their life. They are now in charge of a living being. Their life will change no matter if they want it to or not. -
Milestone #5
Although it is not a pleasant time for women, menopause is the event in their life where they stop ovulating because the sex hormones drop over a period of time. After this point, they are no longer able to have children. This milestone haults their life for a short time and they feel at that point that they are then becoming "old". -
Late Adulthood
Late Adulthood calls for many physical, cognitive and social changes. A person usually enters late adulthood around the age of fifty and goes until around the age of sixty-five when they enter old age officially. They start experiencing weaker bones, shrinking, brain mass loss, and response changes. Woman often experience empty nest syndrome at the age when all of her children are out of the house and she is left alone. -
Old Age
Old age officially begins when independence declines and can be anywhere from 65-90 years old, typically around 75-80. Once retired, many people feel lost because their routine has finally broken and they become bored. They will slowly start losing their control and that is when they no longer have independence. Many times dimentia or alzheimers takes over a persons life and eats away at their brain where they will not remember events or people anymore. They will have to be given aide then. -
Elizabeth Kubler Ross's Stages of Death and Dying
Elizabeth Kubler Ross discovered the different stages of death and dying. First is the denial stage where the person claims it isn't happening. Next is anger where they will blame someone else. Then comes bargaining where they try to make a deal with a god. Depression follows where the person is sad all the time. Finally is the acceptance where they finally accept their fate. This can occur any time in old age. -
Milestone #6
Death is the final stage of life. Obviously it is not always a happy milestone to those around the person, but they are finally at peace. Death not only affects the person physically, but emotionally for the people around them. It is the end to a life, but at the same time, a new beginning.
