Human behaviour and Lifespan Development in Social Care

Human behaviour and Lifespan Development in Social Care Suzanna Pickering Social Workers are increasingly referring to theories of the life cycle, life span development and human behaviours these theories indicate the relationship of particular biological ages of life to psychological, social and development changes. From a theoretical perspective key theories of human growth and development will be discussed focusing on infants, highlighting the importance of professionals observing a child and making a judgment on their development and needs. Therefore, the theories will be applied to social work, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of taking a life span perspective, taking into account gender, culture and individuality. Attachment and the different theories associated with attachment will enable us to understand people in a more thorough manner and in particular the circumstances that service users may be faced with considering diversity, their individual cultural needs and beliefs. Whilst staying within the boundaries, values and Ethics set down by the GSCC. It is widely accepted that parent and child relationship plays a central role in the psychological development. (Pg1 Attachment and Development) Goldburg, S. (2000) Attachment and Development, London: Arnold. The term development refers to the process by which a child, or more generally an organism (human or animal) grows and changes through its lifespan. In humans the most dramatic developmental changes occur in infancy and childhood, as the newborn develops into a young adult capable of becoming a parent himself or herself. From its origins much of developmental psychology has thus been concerned with child psychology, and with the changes from infancy through to adolescence. Smith, P.K. and Cowie, H. (1996) Understanding Childrens Development (2nd ed.), Oxford: Blackwell. The term attachment is described in Collins Dictionary of Social Work (Thomas, M. and Pierson, J. (1995), London: Harper Collins) as a long lasting emotional bond between two individuals, involving their seeking proximity to each other and having pleasure in each others company. Typically attachment is developed by infants towards their principal care-givers, but it may also characterize feelings between other people, or between a person and some object. Attachment is a strong emotional bond that develops between infant and caregiver, providing the infant with emotional security. By the second half of the first year, infants are said to become attached to familiar people who have responded to their need for physical care and stimulation. (Bowlby, J 1998) How these attachments develop and whether attachment theory provides a sound basis for advice on how to raise children have been intense topics of theoretical debate. Attachment refers to the interactive reciprocal relationship that infants and young children experience and develop with their primary caregiver(Bowlby, 1982). Many times this caregiver is the infants biological mother. In recent times the population of working mothers has increased dramatically. Due to this demographic change, the primary caregiver for a child is sometimes the biological father and other relatives such as aunts, uncles, grandparents, older siblings, nannies or day care providers.There are also Children in our country who for various reasons find themselves in the care of foster or adoptive parents. Following birth is a rapid area of learning for the child. A new born baby can see approximately 20 cm and follow a moving object, smell, hear and recognise voices. Checks are preformed on the newborn to ensure nothing obvious is wrong, these checks include Reflexes, Moro response (toes curling), Babinski (grasps fingers and hangs), ensuring that infant is rooting for the breast, sucking swallowing, step and stepping. The new born is totally reliant on the caregiver as it is not equipped to survive without it. The caregiver provides food, warmth and protection, for example when a baby cries it is for a reason this is a form of communication. Babies know that when they cry somebody will come and will ensure to satisfy the babies needs. Chronologically, this is the period of infancy through the first one or two years of life. The child, well-handled, nurtured and loved, develops trust and security and a basic optimism. Badly handled, he becomes insecure and mistrustful.(Erikson E Trus t Vs Mistrust 8 Stages of Development) cited Child Development Information (2009) Children develop and grow from the moment they are conceived until early adulthood, showing many changes within their abilities. Whilst no two children will develop at exactly the same time, as Social Workers we use benchmarks to observe behaviours and development. Understanding the stage and process of development can help a Social Worker identify the achievement of developmental milestones such as a Childs first step or first words and to acknowledge the child is developing normally within the benchmarks we work. Attachment theory is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory that forms relationships. One important principle of attachment theory is that a young child needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. The theory was formulated by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby. The area of the infant is considered by Bowlby as sensitivity period. Within attachment theory, infant behaviour associated with attachment is primarily the seeking of familiarity of an attachment figure in stressful situations. Infants become attached to adults who are sensitive and responsive to their needs and who remain as consistent caregivers for some months during the period from about six months to two years of age. During the latter part of this period, children begin to use attachment figures as a secure base to explore from and return to with the knowledge that a parent will be where they left them in the case of a secure attachment. Separation anxiety or grief following the loss of an attachment figure is considered to be a normal and adaptive response for an attached infant. The child will show a clear preference for the primary caregiver on their return; this will help guide the individuals feelings, thoughts and expectations in later relationships. Attachment theorists point to data that favour the caregiver responsiveness hypothesis. For example, it has been found that an infants crying changes over the first year much more than the mothers responsiveness to the crying does. Moreover, the mothers responsiveness over a 3-month period predicts the infants over the 3 months significantly better than the infants crying predicts the mothers subsequent responsiveness to crying. In short, the mother appears to influence the infants crying more than the infant influences the mothers responsiveness to crying (Bell Ainsworth, 1972). As a social worker we need to gain an understanding of the whole child, their development and their life course. It is important to take a range of theories and perspectives into account that support us in understanding childrens growth and development and individual experience, the role and the impact of their families and the influence of processes and systems in their lives. Through this you should be able to see beyond the description of the child, to give meaning to their lives and experiences. Thus we are recognising the child as an individual. We need to acknowledge there are children with unique and specific needs that may impact on their individual development and behaviour, certainly on their experiences and how others view and respond to them, a good example would be the experience and views of a child with a disability. Pg 31 SW humanÂÂ   deve. We need to recognise that communities raise children in diverse ways with each culture encouraging the kinds of habits and traits that help them to integrate and function within that culture, (pg 33 Social work and human development) however we need to be mindful of the laws and human rights that we have within the United Kingdom whilst being aware of cultural diversities and preferences. Recognising the importance of culture within the childs development is important for a number of reasons. Firstly we need to identify those aspects of development that impact on all children ,not just through theories and studies based on white, middle class children living with a western culture. Secondly we need to have an understanding of the childs family culture and how that impacts on the child; we need to understand the impact of cultural beliefs as part of that environment. We need to consider how different cultural beliefs impact on how people experience their lives. Attachment process for the parents seems to begin with the development of an initial emotional bond and then extends to more and more skilful attachment behaviours. For the infant, the process is said to begin with attachment behaviours and then progresses to the full characteristics of attachment somewhat later (Atkinson et al 2000). Sigmund Freud however, also offered a view on the area of attachment and his view was later known as the The Cupboard Theory. This theory stated that the absence of the mother would frighten the baby into believing that it would not be nourished. This theory offered by Freud has received a great deal of criticism on the basis that there is no evidence to suggest that the infant associates the mother entirely with nourishment. Bowlbys view supplemented these criticisms as he believed that babies have inborn tendencies towards the mother and are not attached by food or warmth. Another key development which was argued disproved Freuds theory and offered support towards the view of Bowlby was an experiment which was conducted by Harlow and Harlow in 1977. This experiment consisted of Rhesus monkeys been raised without their mothers. The Monkeys were housed is isolated cages with a model mother either made from wire or terry-towel cloth. The terry-towel cloth had no provision in which to feed the monkeys whereas the wire mother figure did in the form of milk yielding nipples. The study concluded that every time the monkeys were frightened they would seek support and comfort from the warm non-food providing terry-towel cloth model as opposed to the cold food providing wire model. These findings clearly disputed the view of Freuds Cupboard theory. And it indicated, as Bowlby would argue, that a mothers love is not for nourishing but for comforting and children, like the rhesus monkeys, use teddy bears for comfort if they feel in anyway threatened (Gleightman, H . et al 1999).ÂÂ   Later criticisms of attachment theory relate to temperament, the complexity of social relationships, and the limitations of discrete patterns for classifications. Attachment theory has been significantly modified as a result of empirical research, but the concepts have become generally accepted, although we are no longer working with just a Euro centric base, we use these theories as a benchmark within Social Work taking into account individual cultures and beliefs. Another disadvantage for a child is having a good attachment with a poor parent; this could cause lack of trust, mistrust and the child then as having to care for themselves and possibly siblings. Although criticisms have been made of the Theory of Attachment and certain aspects of the work of Bowlby, Ainsworth etc I feel that the theory of attachment has developed immensely through their work. It can certainly be argued that their work will and will continue to contributed to our understanding of how parent and child attachments develop and I feel that their work provides us with reasoning as to why children may develop in different ways. Although there are criticisms which exist of the theories, I feel that it can be clearly argued that they give us a solid information base as to why attachment is important in the development of infants and children. The overall consensus surrounding attachment and the associated debates have in past suffered criticism from feminist groups too. For example, criticisms surrounding Bowlbys work have been made highlighting that he maintains that the mother should be the main carer of the infant and that her continuous care should be present while the child is growing and developing (Gross, R. 1999). This has been argued to be sexist as the implication is that the mother will not work and will automatically undertake child rearing roles. It can be argued once again that this presumption is not only sexist but as highlighted previously, culturally unethical too. One major argument which has been offered by Gross R. in 1999 to support the feminist view is that a stable network of adults offers adequate care and in some cases can have advantages over a system where the mother has the meet all the infants needs (Gross, R. 1999).

From your understanding of Frankenstein Essay

This gives us the impression that Walton is far less judgemental of the creature and therefore offers a certain glimmer of hope for rejuvenation. It is clear to me also from the text that Mary Shelley has provided her readers with an implicit example of social inequality and therefore through events, offered a condemnation for such injustices. Arguably, Mary Shelley is in fact offering a criticism of humanity’s eagerness to judge and condemn on appearances, therefore the theme of good and evil is sub-categorised into that of appearance and reality. Mary Shelley suggests that society is blinded by a sense of prejudice and desire to judge first and foremost on appearances above all else. The monster is undoubtedly hideous in appearance. His own creator upon first looking upon his being feels that ‘No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. ‘ However, upon first encountering the Monster in chapter 10, the conflict between appearance and reality comes into play. We to,o judging upon his monstrous form, expect little more than attempts of communication, perhaps a series of inarticulate grunts. Instead, we are shocked with the creature’s ability to express himself and of his calm, dignified and biblically alluded eloquence. ‘Remember, that I am thy creature. I ought to be thy Adam, but rather I am rather the fallen angel. ‘ This eloquence is heightened by the contrasting way in which Viktor is seen to expresses himself. He, surprisingly, is unable to do more than splutter broken insults, in comparison to the harmonious, flowing and balanced way in which the creature has the ability to articulate. While the creature has the ability to articulate his desires and maintain self control, Victor merely insults the creature, which stands out as cowardice. Even more of a surprise is that we soon come to the realisation that the creature is, despite his hideous appearance, the most eloquent character within the novel. Therefore we are asked to question or own pre-judgements when presented with such eloquence. The Delacey family are portrayed to be compassionate and good human beings, they themselves being victims of prejudice. The creature admires them and grows to love them, describing them as ‘compassionate and good human beings’ It is ironic, that even the Delacey’s prove capable instigating the same type of prejudice towards the monster that they have faced themselves. Both have suffered at the hands of prejudice yet they cannot find a common ground because of the all too human failing to deal with what is alien in a society which is so focused on appearance. They reject the monster utterly, not by his actions, but judging upon his physical appearance. He is spurned upon his appearance in spite of his politeness, eloquence and good intentions. Indeed the monster recognises ‘a fatal prejudice clouds their eyes, and where they ought to see a feeling and kind friend, they behold only a detestable monster’ It is ironic that the only member of the family who has the ability to see clearly is the old man Delacey, who is physically blind. He reassures the monster’I and my family have been condemned, although innocent; judge therefore, if I do not feel your misfortunes. ‘ Shelley therefore offers us the consideration that whilst eyes allow us sight they also alarmingly blind us to reality. Therefore the idea of sight and blindness becomes blurred and it is questionable what use sight is to us when we are so utterly blinded by our prejudices that we cannot see clearly. We, as readers cannot help but feel a sense of pathos towards the monster at this point. We know his intentions were pure yet he was denied a sense of acceptance based solely upon his physical appearance. This is obviously a critique of prejudice within society and we are forced to recognise alarmingly that it is a crime that we ourselves are guilty of. Therefore, through the monsters spurn and rejection there is definitely a sense of morality to be obtained. This point is supported extensively by the further degradation of the monster through the progression of events. The novel relates the entire progression of how a pure creature can become corrupted by society. We gradually witness the monster falling further and further into a sense of resentment and bitterness as a direct result of the prejudices he has faced and the frustrations of his inability to fit in. He claims that ‘Evil thenceforth became my good. ‘ Whilst we detest and deplore his actions we witness we can recognise the reasoning behind the monsters evil. Through the monsters plight we are witnesses to the utter degeneration of what was once a ‘benevolent and compassionate being’ into what is essentially the ‘abhorred monster’ which Victor so often describes. We find ourselves identifying with his own universal and very human desire for acceptance which does not in fact render him ‘monstrous’ at all. There is a striking contradiction here between the verbal and the visual, a conflict between expectations and experiences. We are forced therefore to question our pre-set prejudices, our expectations and qualities assigned to the creature against the stereotypical monster figure we imagine. We come to realise that what we have defined as ‘Monstrous’ is our stereotypical analysis of anything which is essentially different from ourselves. We are shocked that we ourselves judge first and foremost on appearances. Mary Shelley has effectively provided us and therefore offered to us a critique of how society is blinded by prejudice. The story of Safie is yet another critique and portrayal of prejudices which exist within society, to women in particular. Safie, in contrast to Elizabeth has been set up as a paragon of female virtue. She breaks away from the patriarchal society to what she belongs and rebels against the ‘tyrannical mandate’ of her father. Against all odds she succeeds upon her sheer determination and will not to fall under the imposing darkness that men can be seen to impose upon women of all societies through their oppression. Safie is a definite portrayal of what a woman could be, and a demonstration of what a woman singularly can achieve if she uses her initiative and independence. Safie, like Elizabeth is subject to prejudice from her culture, this prejudice being emblemised by her father. Yet she is set up in opposition to Elizabeth, who ironically lives in a westernised society, where perhaps more equality is available to women. Elizabeth however is passive in contrast to Safie who has a ‘fiery spirit’ Safie, unlike Elizabeth is not set up as a possession, she is independent, and not reliant upon men, and therefore it is arguable that Safie.

Dragonfly Life Cycle - Introduction

The Addiction Of Video Games - 951 Words

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