To work with people it is important to understand the development of their sense of self and their unconscious motivations. Discuss. Sense of self is the profound emotion of our individual value. All workers, particularly youth orientated, should be familiar with the important part self esteem plays in the recognition of who we are and how we deal with the events of our lives. According to Heinz Kohut, sense of self isn’t something you’d love to have but don’t have.
All of us need self esteem and adolescence is the time to balance and retain the level of sense of self gained during our childhood. “Good sense of self is important because it helps you to hold your head high and feel proud of yourself and what you can do. It gives you the courage to try new things and the power to believe in yourself. It lets you respect yourself, even when you make mistakes. And when you respect yourself, adults and other kids usually respect you, too.” (McCombes, B. I. 1997) This paper presents some concepts with regard to the study of human development. Primarily, it discusses the importance of understanding the development of self in working with young people by describing the psychodynamic theory of self and its development.
The first part of this essay deals with models of development and theories on consciousness, intelligence, learning, memory, motivation and personality. These theories on human development are based on biological, psychological, sociological and cultural forces. The second part tackles some assumptions in the psychodynamics of an individual. This section relates the theory in a youth work context. The last chapter discusses the implication of the knowledge of this theory on working with youth.
Early adolescence is considered the most difficult time due to intense physical, cognitive, and contextual changes. These changes take place at the same time, affecting a variety of avenues in the young adolescent’s life in a manner that can be overwhelming. Middle adolescence takes place at some stage in the high school years, and late adolescence is an outcome of educational constitution that for many delays the theory of adult tasks. Biological components: intelligence, physical attractiveness, athletic ability, onset of puberty, temperament, and resistance to disease and injury.
Psychological components: the many ways in which people perceive themselves, including level of ego development, level of moral development, and cognitive stage. Social components: family, ethnic culture, socio-economic status, friendships, schooling, and gender. Adolescence recognizes the development of a rational set of principles and life strategies as the chief individuality attainment. As mentioned above the three categories of changes in self-concept and sense of self prepare the young person for establishing an identity. Psychological theories give us more understanding of this.
Human Development Atkinson and Hilgard (2003) summarize five contemporary psychological perspectives: 1. Biological – All behaviour and mental processes originate from neurological development. 2. Behavioural – Learning involves the association of stimulus and response, or secondary reinforces. Classical conditioning theory best exemplifies the behaviourist model. 3. Cognitive – studying behaviour to discover the underlying mental processes, “such as perceiving, remembering, reasoning, deciding and problem solving.” Atkinson and Hilgard, 2003)
4. Subjective – Behaviour as from the perspective of self-perception. Through observations of the persons judgements and behaviours, which are affected by issues such as their personal history and current motivational state, it is possible to comprehend the individuals social conduct. 5. Psychoanalytic – Man is viewed as an animal caught in a state of conflict between primal urges and civilized forms of behaviour. Unconscious motivation is a manifestation of sexual and aggressive urges.
According to Westen (1990), psychoanalytic approaches “take as axiomatic the importance of conflicting mental processes; unconscious processes; compromises among competing psychological tendencies that may be negotiated unconsciously; defence and self-deception; the influence of the past on current functioning; the enduring effects of interpersonal patterns laid down in childhood; and the role of sexual and aggressive wishes in consciously and unconsciously influencing thought, feeling, and behaviour” (p. 21). With such an inclusive definition, it is not surprising that discussions of psychodynamic approaches integrate findings from more experimental areas of psychology about self, unconscious awareness, and even biological distinctions in memory systems.