How we view, relate, and understand others is a basic component of life. Developmental psychology is a way of learning about people and how we progress throughout the lifetime (p. 5). In all courses here at Mount Mercy the material from this course is beneficial because everything has to do with people. Both developmental psychologists Freud and Erikson tried to understand how the mind processed material at different stages of life. Freud is most popularly know for his psychodynamic perspective in which he believed that our internal desires and unconscious thoughts rule our current behavior. Erikson, …show more content…
In my home there was a high value placed on spending time with those of an older generation—as well as there always being children around (p. 182). My youngest niece is currently 21 months of age. It was interesting for me to learn more about those exciting milestones, from watching her development, in the beginnings of life. Before I had always taken for granted the early reflexes of an infant as being just normal without realizing the importance. As with the sucking and swallowing reflexes which is necessary for a child in order to eat and survive. The rooting reflex of a child turning toward a stimulus which is related to the child being able to find food is exciting because the child is able to react and acknowledge you, even as an infant (p. …show more content…
Both my grandfathers are retired with one using his to spend more time with family and help his son with his business. My other grandfather goes back to work as a tax expert a few months of the year, is very involved in community organizations such as the American Legion and Honor Flight, and enjoys snowbirding with my grandmother. People choose to retire for different reasons such as health, burnout, or incentives and it is interesting to see the spectrum of their views of retirement compared to the textbook description (p. 434). Individuals who retire typically go through certain stages including the honeymoon period, disenchantment, reorientation, and termination phases (p.434). Both my grandfathers could be said to fit into the category of reorientation as they are enjoying their daily activities. Whereas my father fits into the category of planning for a good retirement. According to the text, this can be accomplished by tasks such as: assessing financial situation, what his interests are outside of work, and thinking about gradually stopping work as he comes to that stage of life (p. 434). Vision is a gift that is not taken for granted in my family. My grandmother was born with a visual impairment with only having partial sightedness. Eventually, she lost all vision and is now completely blind. As the text talks about she required special education services and went to a