Elements Of Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology is a new field of study for me to learn about. I found that throughout this class, much of what I learned could be applied to my life. As I grew up, almost everything that I went through could be explained by a developmental theory or principle. The three areas of developmental psychology that I will focus on for this paper are emotional development, social development, and moral development.
My temperament was I was younger was quite the opposite of what I am now and has undergone many changes. My mother told me a story of how from around eight-months-old to four-years-old I was terrified of my uncle. I would scream, cry, and do anything to make sure I did not want him near me. I identified my uncle as a stranger. …show more content…
I often broke my parent’s rules and did whatever I could to get out of punishment. This meant that I overused the puppy-dog face and the crocodile tears to try to sway my parents away from punishing me. My earliest recollection of willful disobedience was when I was five-years-old and my younger sister was three. My mother had just gotten me a new pair of scissors, so I was cutting everything in sight. I got the notion in my head that cutting my little sister’s hair was going to be more fun that cutting the paper I had. When my mother wasn’t looking, I snipped off a section of my sister’s hair and ran away with it. I hid it under the dining room table and entered the family room once more and proceeded with my paper cutting. Later on, my mother and father noticed that my sister’s hair was not as symmetrical as it used to be and then the questioning began. I lied over and over again that I did not cut my sister’s hair, but my five-year-old lying capabilities were not sufficient. I would classify this story as an example of someone in Kohlberg’s Pre-conventional Level. In this level, a child is focused on getting rewards and avoiding punishment, which I was obviously doing. I would also classify myself in the first stage of the pre-conventional …show more content…
In my story, I didn’t care or feel bad about what I had done to my sister’s hair. I was only concerned with myself and what was going to happen because of the decision I had made. This selfishness is a sign of one being in stage one. A year later when I was six, I decided that my older sister needed to share some of her nail polish and lotion. When she wasn’t home one day I snuck into her room and stole it without her knowing. I had the “steal from the rich and give to the poor” mentality because I did not own either of the things I had stolen. I rationalized the stealing by saying that stealing these items would be for the best of everyone involved, even when it was not. While I was in the situation, I would have probably said that I should not have been punished. My mentality was very backwards to say the least. I was in Kohlberg’s Pre conventional Level Stage Two. I was doing what was in my own best