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The First Two Years: Motor Skills
Fine Motor Skills: Deliberate physical abilities involving small body movements, especially of the hands and fingers, such as drawing and picking up a coin. This is a picture of me picking up cheerios in my highchair -
The First Two Years: Psychoanalytic Theory
Trust verses mistrust: Erikson's first crisis of psychosocial development where infants learn whether or not the world can be trusted to satisfy basic needs. Growing up I had a nanny named Adriana, and I never cried when my mom left me with her because she provided for me throughout the day and I trusted her. -
Early Childhood: Preoperational Thought
Animism: The belief that natural objects and phenomena are alive, moving around, and having sensations and abilities that are humanlike. When I was little I used to think that the statues in my house moved on their own, so I used to take pictures of them to check if they moved or not. -
Early Childhood: Social Play
Rough-and-tumble: One form of Social Play, often unappreciated as a source of emotional growth. A play that seems to be rough, as in play wrestling or chasing, but in which there is no intent to harm. My brother and I used to play wrestle. This big bouncing thing was our favorite to push each other on during every fall. -
Middle Childhood: Concrete Thought
Classification: A logical principle that things can be organized into groups (or categories or classes) according to some characteristic that they have in common. When I was a kid I used to organize all my candy by color before I ate it. I specifically remember bringing home this big container of SweetTarts and arranging them by color. -
Middle Childhood: Industry and Inferiority
Industry verses inferiority: The fourth of Erikson's eight psychosocial crises, during which children attempt to master many skills, developing a sense of themselves as either industrious or inferior, competent or incompetent. Growing up my older siblings would help make dinner, and I always wanted to help with the cooking part, but my mom didn't like the idea of me using heat or knives that were serrated. I eventually convinced her I could use the knives and be helpful making salad for dinner. -
Adolescence: Duel Processing
Analytic thought: Thought that results from analysis such as a systematic ranking of pros and cons, risks and consequences, possibilities and facts. Analytic thought depends on logic and rationality. As I was deciding on where to go to college I was extremely conflicted and so I began making pros and cons lists. I decided that I am going to commit to UM because the pros outweighed the cons, and had more pros than any other college I was looking into. -
Adolescence: Identity
Identity versus role confusion: Erikson's fifth stage of development, when people wonder "Who am I?" but are confused about which of many possible roles to adopt. Identity achievement: Erikson's term for the attainment of identity, when people know who they are as unique individuals, combining past experiences and future plans. Although I have a lot left to figure out about myself, I do know that I am a Christian and a soccer player.