Running head: THEORY PAPER 1. Theory Paper. Michele Barron. The University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Transcription

1 Running head: THEORY PAPER 1 Theory Paper Michele Barron The University of North Carolina at Pembroke

2 THEORY PAPER 2 Theories are steps that help people develop and interact with others in their environment around them; steps that measure human development from infancy to death. Theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, and Holism make models that are the foundations of human life. However, the concepts, limitations, and social perspective's are different for every theory and are not the exact measures for every individual. Overcoming the limitations of the theories are ways to improve the development of humans. Psychodynamic Theory Sigmund Freud developed the first personality theory in the nineteenth century called the psychodynamic theory. According to Ashford and Lecroy (2013), Freud believe that child experiences were the most important factor in adulthood personality and psychopathology. The concepts of psychodynamic theory is that human nature are incorporated with popular culture, literature, most areas of social science and humanities (Ashford &Lecroy, 2013). Freud believed that different personalities are driven by a special kind of energy, such as pleasure and aggression from the libido and rational decisions come from ego. According to Deal (2007), social workers have a long history with psychodynamic theory because it explains the key concept of self-psychology. The long history with psychodynamic theory, simply means that we as social workers, are going to continue to work with it in the future. This theory, as many theories, will come with certain strengths and limitations. A strength of the psychodynamic theory is that an individual can put their personalities into different categories and then know where they originated from. According to (Ridenour, 2014), there are not many psychodynamic models that help understand individuals that have disorders. Therefore, he created a model that helped individuals with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) that is supported with psychotherapy. Also, if the limitations of a theory are turned into

3 THEORY PAPER 3 strengths, then that will make the theory stronger and more reliable to other people. When working with a patient with personalities that they cannot explain, looking into their past and finding the moment something happened to them that would have caused that actions is what this theory can help the social worker figure that out. Social privileges and social oppressions do come with certain theories or they could come with neither of them. The psychodynamic theory does have social privileges because the knowing of where the personality comes from they have the advantage to control it. However, if an individual does not know where their anger is coming from then they do not know who or what to blame it on and recover from it. When interacting with others, personalities help create bonds that will help a person grow and develop. Also, when working with large groups, macro social systems, the social privilege is knowing how to help others know where their personalities come from and how they developed. Psychosocial Theory The theorist that developed psychosocial theory was interested, not in the sexual or biological forces, in life from birth to death. Erik Erikson, learned a lot from Sigmund Freud, but did not agree with everything that he did. (Ashford & Lecroy, 2013). The major assumption with this theory is that Erikson thought that people would follow the stages through their entire life, however everyone did not follow the developmental stages at the age that he stated they would. The concept behind the psychosocial theory is that the eight steps in the developmental stages are set as a blue print for humans and are supposed to reach the milestones as they come with each stage. The stages should be seen as a conflict or crisis that needs to be overcome and these are to be considered to last for a lifetime.

4 THEORY PAPER 4 Erikson had strengths and limitations in his theory as well as Sigmund Freud. A major strength in the psychosocial theory is that throughout the lifetime of an individual, achievements are marked down of them before they are born. However, with that strength comes a limitation and that would be every human may not follow the developmental stages at the expected age that Erikson has stated. Another limitation would be that during the young adulthood and maturity, it does not explain the concept of divorce and how to overcome this difficult obstacle. According to Garcia and Gomez (2014), this theory does not help individuals understand about mating with others and how to make it work. Also, according to (Becker & et al., 2014), students that were tested to be gifted in the school systems are paying the price by having anxiety and isolation. Making the transition from one stage to the next is an essential step for development in the psychosocial theory. Erikson's theory had both social privileges and social oppressions depending on the developmental stage that the individual was in. Social privileges for psychosocial theory is that if the child is reaching milestones that are not yet in their age limit, therefore that child is going to exceed the social boundaries that may come with their crisis. The social oppressions are often if the individual is stuck in a stage or has not over came it in the amount of time allotted. For example, most children are talking when they reach the age of one or two and if a child is not talking then that experience could make them feel oppressed because they are not on the same stage as their peers. Also, a social oppression that is holding a child back of psychosocial theory is if this child has disabilities (Ayinde, 2013). Ecological Systems Theory As a human it is important to understand relationships other people and the environment around them. There are four basic ideas of the ecological systems theory that helps put it into

5 THEORY PAPER 5 perspectives. According to Ashford and Lecroy (2013), this theory understands that human can only be understood according to their environment around them and it has a holistic view of people. Understanding the environment that the person is living in can help understand the person and how they are developing because of that environment. According to Gabora, Rosch and Aerts (2008), there is a connection between the environment that a person lives in and their mind and how it develops. Having that in mind it is important to fully grasp the environment to understand the person that is living there. The ecological systems theory has its strengths and limitations, as any other theory that is developed. One strength is that substitutions are provided to represent a realistic model of situations (Mulder, 2007). Another strength would be to already understand the environment and the person that is living in it. However, a limitation is that there is not enough knowledge about individuals with autism and aspergers syndrome with the ecological systems theory because we are not familiar with the environment that they see themselves involved in. Therefore, more interventions that help school social workers help make the transition to different levels of schools will be help to these specific individuals (Dente & Coles, 2012). Overcoming these limitations are key to understanding the person that we are working with. There are social privileges and social oppressions with the ecological systems theory. The social context of the theory plays a major role in the social system. Major components of the social system are the people that make up the dialog. Therefore social privileges are apparent because understanding the environment and ultimately understanding the people that live there are privileges (Ashford & Lecroy, 2013). However, social oppression is relevant because if we do not understand the environment then we do not understand the people and cannot have a social system. Knowing the environment is the key concept in the ecological systems theory.

6 THEORY PAPER 6 References Ashford, J., Lecroy, C. (2013). Human Behavior in the Social Environment: A Multidimensional Perspective, 5(3-4), Ayinde, T. (2013). An Understanding of the Need for Psychosocial Support System among Children with Physical Disabilities: Linking Theory with Realities. Social Work Review / Revista De Asistenta Sociala, (4), Becker, M., Neumann, M., Tetzner, J., Böse, S., Knoppick, H., Maaz, K., &... Lehmann, R. (2014). Is Early Ability Grouping Good for High-Achieving Students' Psychosocial Development? Effects of the Transition Into Academically Selective Schools. Journal Of Educational Psychology, 106(2), doi: /a Cabrera García, V., & Aya Gómez, V. (2014). Limitations of Evolutionary Theory in Explaining Marital Satisfaction and Stability of Couple Relationships. International Journal Of Psychological Research, 7(1), Deal, K. (2007). Psychodynamic Theory. Advances In Social Work, 8(1), Dente, C. L., & Coles, K. (2012). Ecological approaches to transition planning for students with autism and Asperger's syndrome. Children & Schools, 34(1), doi: /cs/cdr002 Gabora, L., Rosch, E., & Aerts, D. (2008). Toward an ecological theory of concepts. Ecological Psychology, 20(1), doi: / Mulder, K. (2007). Modeling the dynamics of nutrient limited consumer populations using constant elasticity production functions. Ecological Modelling, 207(2-4), doi: /j.ecolmodel

7 THEORY PAPER 7 Ridenour, J. M. (2014). PSYCHODYNAMIC MODEL AND TREATMENT OF SCHIZOTYPAL PERSONALITY DISORDER. Psychoanalytic Psychology, doi: /a