Everyone has been in 'that-stage', the stage that G. Stanley Hall (1904) said a period of 'storm and stress'.
The topic is very broad, hmmm let me think what to review this week.
Ok.. There are 2 common themes in adolescent psychology:
1. Effect of Nature vs Nurture
2. Effect of Early Experiences vs Later Experiences
It's so common to say, "Ahh she's so (put any adjective here). It's in the blood. The parents are also (adj)." I used to think that this kind of statement implies that somehow an individual inherits this gene from the parents. However, this can also mean that let's say because the parents are good in music, they train the children since young age and the environment is very conducive to make her like music and be expert in music. There's no way in psychology we can identify how many percents of an attribute are caused by genes and how many percents are influenced by 'environment'. In fact, when you talk about the effect of 'environment', it's not only social 'environment' such as peers, family, schools, community, but also biological 'environment', for example, when you were baby, whether your mom smokes or not affects your brain development.
The second theme is early experiences vs later experiences. It has been shown that kids' attachment style with parents affects their attachment style with their spouse in the future. (Oh no...it seems that I must write another post about attachment style). Anyway, just imagine like this. When you were young, after a few months old, once your parents leave, you will cry and you can't stop crying till your parents come back. After your parents come back, there are some possibilities. Those with 'secure attachment styles' will stop crying and be 'normal' again with parents: hugging, looking for comfort, etc. Those with 'avoidant' style actually do not show any distress when the parents leave them alone. Those with 'ambivalent' style feel distressed when the parents leave them, but when the parents come back, they seek comfort, but also show anger to the parents. These early attachments affect the child's future relationship. However, how important is this early experience compared with later experience is always an area of discussion/ debate.
The topic is very broad, hmmm let me think what to review this week.
Ok.. There are 2 common themes in adolescent psychology:
1. Effect of Nature vs Nurture
2. Effect of Early Experiences vs Later Experiences
It's so common to say, "Ahh she's so (put any adjective here). It's in the blood. The parents are also (adj)." I used to think that this kind of statement implies that somehow an individual inherits this gene from the parents. However, this can also mean that let's say because the parents are good in music, they train the children since young age and the environment is very conducive to make her like music and be expert in music. There's no way in psychology we can identify how many percents of an attribute are caused by genes and how many percents are influenced by 'environment'. In fact, when you talk about the effect of 'environment', it's not only social 'environment' such as peers, family, schools, community, but also biological 'environment', for example, when you were baby, whether your mom smokes or not affects your brain development.
The second theme is early experiences vs later experiences. It has been shown that kids' attachment style with parents affects their attachment style with their spouse in the future. (Oh no...it seems that I must write another post about attachment style). Anyway, just imagine like this. When you were young, after a few months old, once your parents leave, you will cry and you can't stop crying till your parents come back. After your parents come back, there are some possibilities. Those with 'secure attachment styles' will stop crying and be 'normal' again with parents: hugging, looking for comfort, etc. Those with 'avoidant' style actually do not show any distress when the parents leave them alone. Those with 'ambivalent' style feel distressed when the parents leave them, but when the parents come back, they seek comfort, but also show anger to the parents. These early attachments affect the child's future relationship. However, how important is this early experience compared with later experience is always an area of discussion/ debate.
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