Introduction
Psychology is the study of human behavior with regard to various factors that affect it. Some of the factors that are considered when evaluating a person’s psychologically include environmental factors as well as age factors among others.
Psychology is used to determine the state of people’s minds with regard to the kind of environment they are exposed to. In addition to that, psychology is used to establish the normal state of mind that a patient entails with regard to the kind of environmental conditions that they are exposed to (Newman, 2011).
On the other hand, psychology is the study of the mind and how it works with regard to exposure to different factors. Psychologists all across the world have used the psychological state of people’s minds to determine the kind of behaviors they will have when exposed to the different factors as mentioned above (Newman, 2011).
Thesis Statement
With reference to the given question, this paper will analyze the case study of a hypothetical person in two stages of life development with regard to applied behavioral analysis (ABA) or Addictions or as a participant in a longitudinal research study.
Discussion
According to the given case study, this paper will discuss about Patrick who is 13 years old and has developed a fear for insects. Patrick started developing this fear when he got to the age of 9 years old and since then his life has been moving very slowly in terms of growth due to the fact that he fears all types of insects. In addition to that, Patrick has also developed a fear of heights which has been as a result of the previous phobia of insects.
Cognitive Development Stage
According to the cognitive stages of development, the phobia that has been developed by Patrick was detected at the concrete operational stage where Patrick had an experience with regard to the insects in question and thereby this resulted in the development of the phobia that is being witnessed. In this case, Patrick had a bad experience with a spider where he was badly bitten which resulted in the swelling of his arm for several days (Rider, 2011).
Patrick started off with a bad experience with insects when he was 9 years old and as a result his body developed a phobia for the insects. This phobia has hindered his growth in many ways due to the fact that he had had a bad experience in the past with the a spider that bit him. As a result, he developed a phobia for all types of insects and this has remained persistent even at the age of 12. Three years later and he cannot stand any type of insect shows how deeply embedded his phobia is according to Rachlin (2004).
This experience that occurred in the previous stage also had an adverse effect on the formal operational stage which is the stage between the age of 12 and 13 years where the child is able to think on his own on various matters. In this case, Patrick had a bad experience with insects which affected his ability to think otherwise with regard to insects and this has affected him drastically (Rider, 2011).
The fact that the bad experience happened when he was 9 years old has remained very clear in his mind and this has been a contributing factor to the development of the phobia that he has for spiders and insects as a whole. The constant reminder of the bad experience with the spider at the age of 9 has also been a great factor in the contribution to the full development of the phobia for spiders and insects as a whole and as a result the phobia has grown to a massive scale which has affected him in many ways in terms of growth (Travers, 2002).
By understanding this stage with regard to the bad experience with the insects, Patrick will then be able to combat the fear that his body has developed. Patrick must also understand the fact that the bad experience that took place when he was 9 years old has no link to the kind of life that he is expected to live and this has no connection to all the insects that his body has created a phobia for.
Patrick must also be able to understand the logic that is involved in the process of getting rid of a bad experience from the body system and how to get rid of phobias that the body develops in that regard.
In this case, Patrick must also be able to understand that the bad experience with the spider that occurred when he was 9 years old can in no way be able to repeat itself in the future and its by understanding this that his body will be able to get rid of the phobia that his body had developed with regard to spider and other insects (Sugarman, 2001).
In addition to that, Patrick must also be open minded with regard to that fact that the bad experience may have been encountered as a result of negligence or other factors and by this his body will be able to get rid of the phobia that it has developed with regard to the bad experience that he had encountered when he was 9 years old which has had a drastic effect on his growth development to the age of 13 years old.
On the other hand, Patrick must also have to understand the fact that the bad experience that he had with a spider at the age of 9 years did not have anything to do with all the insects that his body has created a phobia for and thus he must also start developing a positive attitude towards the insects and this will lead to the expulsion of the phobia that his body has developed as a result of the bad experience with the spider at the age of 9 years (Sugarman, 2001).
Social Development Stage
This stage mainly deals with the self recognition of oneself. In this case Patrick started to recognize the fear in him of the insects which led to the development of the phobia for insects and as a result has had the problem of insect phobia from the age of 9 years old to date. When Patrick recognized the fear in him for insects this in turn led to the development of the phobia for insects which has affected him to date (Sugarman, 2001).
The fact that his body recognized the fact that he had had a bad experience with a spider in the past has been on the front line in the development of the phobia and this is the main cause of the continued development of the phobia which has had a drastic effect on his growth to the age of 13 years which he is right now. This experience has also affected his development socially with friends and other people which is very serious when it comes to the normal growth of a child (Travers, 2002).
In addition to that, Patrick’s body has also recognized a phobia for a specific set of species and this is mainly due to the fact that he had a bad experience with a spider which can be categorized as an insect. His body has recognized the phobia that was caused by this specific species and thus had developed a phobia which has had a drastic effect on his normal growth of the age of 13 years which he is right now (Travers, 2002).
The other stage that is involved here is the acceptance of oneself. In this case, Patrick started accepting the fact that he has a phobia for insects and as a result the phobia has developed to full growth by the this time he has grown to 12 years old. At this stage, Patrick developed the phobia after his body system recognized the fact that he had had a bad experience with insects in the past as he was 9 years old (Sugarman, 2001).
In addition to that, Patrick’s body had to accept the fact that he had a bad experience with a spider at the age of 9 years which has been a major factor in the development of the phobia for spiders and other insects. In this case, when Patrick had the worst experience, his body starts accepting the fact that he had had the worst experience and as a result started developing a phobia for the insects which has had a serious effect on his growth over the past years to the time he got to 13 years.
On the other hand, Patrick’s body has developed a phobia for insects regardless of the type due to the fact that he had had a bad experience with a spider when he was the age of 9 years. This has hindered his normal growth as a child with is very important to any child. Patrick had the bad experience when he was 9 years but his body still accepts it and this is a major factor in the development of the phobia in his body (Travers, 2002).
Conclusion
Patrick is a child who is 13 years old and has had a bad experience when he was 9 years old in an incident whereby he was bitten by a spider. This has had a drastic effect on his normal growth in terms of social development which is very important to every child who is undergoing the normal process of growing.
This bad experience that he encountered at the age of 9 years has been the greatest factor in the fact that his body has developed a phobia for insects of all kinds which is also not healthy for the normal growth of a child bearing in mind that children his age are experimental and love to discover and learn new things, with insects involved.
References
Newman, P. (2011). Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach. London, UK: John Wiley and Sons.
Rachlin, H. (2004). The Science of Self-Control. London, UK: Oxford University Press.
Rider, E. (2011). Lifespan Human Development. New York, NY: Sage.
Sugarman, L. (2001). Lifespan Development: Frameworks, Accounts, and Strategies. Oklahoma, OK: Cengage Learning.
Travers, J. (2002). Human development across the lifespan. Chicago, CH: Chicago University Press.