ADULT DEVELOPMENT

Adult Development

Adult Development

Introduction

Every adult, whether young or old, goes through many events that shape and model their lives, some good and some bad. These events teach us valuable life lessons, gain us better understandings to life's mysteries and generally evolve our mind. It's true; our life experiences are our natural teachers about mind, body, and soul. But what are the major categories in which these events are sorted? In this research paper, the key concepts of adult development: Social/emotional, cognitive, and physical will be discussed in detail to ensure a better understanding of what the average adult experiences throughout their life.

Discussion

The social and emotional concept that adults experience is probably the main component in shaping an adult's life. The emotional issues an adult go through builds the attitudes one has, the way we live our life, and the way we act around society. However it also the most complex, Whether a young, middle aged, or old adult each one has its many considerable emotional problems. But overcoming them can lead to what Erik Erikson would call wisdom

The middle-aged adult generally has two objectives in mind, to have a proper balance of generativity and stagnation. Generativity is the love one has for the future generations. It can be seen as less selfish than the intimacy described in a young adult, the love between lovers and/or friends. Of course we think that the love we give is usually unselfish but it is not true love unless we receive love in return. However, with generativity, the expectation of returned love does not exist; our love is given freely without any consideration for something in return. Stagnation, on the other hand is the act for caring for no one, and becoming an unproductive part of society. It is hard to imagine that we should have any stagnant people in our lives, but Erikson believed that this was caused by overextension. Some people become so generative that they lose time for themselves, or for rest and relaxation. Overall, too little generativity and too much stagnation result in rejectivity where one no longer contributes or participates in society. Furthermore, the “meaning of life” is how we participate and what we contribute because this directly affects our attitude and our emotional well-being. This area of adult development is commonly referred to as the “mid-life” crisis, where adults panic about their age and regret not experiencing or have accomplished things that they thought they would in their youth. A well know side effect to this issue is adults trying to recapture their youth by buying new clothes, or hanging our at singles bars, or generally trying to act younger. Although there are some cons to becoming a middle aged adult, such as the no longer youthful looks, or the increasing age, the amount of pros outnumber the cons. In middle aged life the importance of establishing a solid career, and maintaining a family is where the joy comes ...