Monday, January 30, 2012

Big Question Intro

Something that always amazes me is the change that occurs amongst people from when they are young and careless to when they begin to form as an adult and the little things become much more important.  As you may know kids could have a care in the world about what their hair looks like, or who is watching them or even things such as school or church, for them it’s just another place to have fun.  But as always the limitations and guidelines for one person may be completely different for the person next store.  The friends, family, and over all environment of a child can effect who they come to be as an adult. 
Adolescence is the time in which a child comes to be an adult.  The time frame for theses years is different among cultures but is probably close to the ages between ten and twenty years of age.  During this time is when we come to know our selves more than we ever have.  Things such as sexual awareness, cognitive development, the ability to think abstractly, and most of all, our own self image come to be things that ate most important to us.  They are the things that influence who we are.
Many people have already looked into this field and it seems that for the most part everything that I have looked at is consistent with the ideas I have just stated.  Margaret Mead, an American cultural anthropologist attributed the behavior of adolescents to their culture and upbringing.  This is very true because all cultures differ from others.  Other cultures probably do not hold the same values in sexuality and self appearance as we do in our western culture and you can see how we differ from someone who was raised in the Middle East, or any place foreign to us.  It’s possible that some other cultures may be similar as well but there still some differences amongst those who appear that way. 
G. Stanely Hall was a great American psychologist stated that the stages in which an adolescent goes through is a time of storm and stress.  I think that anyone who has already experienced this time in their life of is experiencing it can agree that this statement is spot on.  As an adolescent you experience so much stress form school, boyfriends/girlfriends, sports, clubs, family, friends, and more.  To many a lot of this stress is contributed what we call drama.  What is interesting is that Hall also said that, “Conflict at this developmental stage normal and not unusual.”  It happens that all this drama is important to our own learning experiences and has a huge part in shaping who we come to be.
Everyone has or will experience drama in their life at one point or another.  It is expected to happen and because our culture says so there is a place for it.  I think a great example of the effects drama could have on someone comes from the often yet unfortunate event that someone is cheated on during a relationship.  If a girl in high school finds out that her boyfriend has been   cheating on her it has a huge effect on the way she is going to approach relationships later on in life.  She might become a little jealous when it comes to hanging out with other girls, or it might take longer for a guy to gain her trust or she may never have the confidence to trust another guy.  To  an adult this situation may seem silly and maybe even pathetic do to the fact that it is some stupid high school kids going through a little drama that will not affect them at all later in life and they just need to get over it.  But it’s not that simple; because everything seems to have so much importance during this time the situation could seriously damage the mental standpoint of the girl.  In her mind her whole life is ruined do to her loss of the one she was going to love for the rest of her life as well as the humility of being cheated on.  There is nothing in the world that would change her feelings about it because it is what is most important to her at the time.
This is a very important question when people are dealing with psychology.  Doctors who study in this field often ask about the history of that person.  What they are looking for is any event that may have caused trauma to them.  What is amazing is that a lot of the time doctors retrace the beginning of these problems back to childhood and adolescent years.  There is so much stuff surrounding you as come to be an adult and if something of importance collapses or changes it could have a huge effect. 


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