Character Analysis: Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology Why everyone thinks and behaves differently at different ages? Developmental psychology can answer this question. Developmental psychology is a study of why and how human behave and their thought at different stages, it explained how children and adult change over time. People start to act and think differently when they are in the different age that is because of their experience. Any challenge, problem and opportunity can change a person. This paper focuses on teenagers, such as Holden Caulfield and the challenges he is facing, how he got over his problems. The psychological concepts that apply to Holden are punishment, formal operational stage, and identity vs. role confusion.
Holden Caulfield is the main character …show more content…
The conversation didn’t go well, but he still pays her the money they had the deal with. After that prostitute come back with a man and they ask for more money, but Holden refuses to pay and he got beaten up by the man and they took the money from Holden’s wallet and left. What Holden had experienced in psychology concept is called punishment. Holden got punished for visiting a prostitute, and he also thinks that he got punished because he trusted an adult. The psychological term punishment is used to reduce or prevent a behavior. This punishes prevent Holden from visit prostitute again, but also reduce his trust in adult and be scared of the adult world. From this experience Holden learned if he visits a prostitute, something bad might happen to him again, then he will not visit a prostitute or easily trust an adult …show more content…
Five years ago Holden was 11 years old instated of being in the formal operational stage, he will be in the concrete operational stage and he would not understand why teachers are acting differently when school’s principal is here. And he will still be thinking to visit a prostitute when he is older since he has not been punished before. Also, Holden would not be in the stage adolescence have the developmental issue of identity vs. role confusion anymore, he will be in elementary school and have development issue of competence vs. inferiority. He would not have to think about being independent and make a decision about his future, but he will need to learn the pleasure of applying himself to different cases otherwise he will feel inferiority. If Holden is 5 years younger, he won’t be thinking this much and worry about growing