PSY2071 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Communication Problems, Attachment In Adults, Longitudinal Study
5 Jun 2018
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PSY2071 – Lecture – Week 7 – Early Adulthood
• emerging adulthood
•
o phase of life devoted to constructing an adult life
o
▪ defined by testing out different possibilities and developing
self
o begins after high school and tapers off by late 20s
o not a universal life stage
o
▪ exists for a minority of young people
o the most challenging and change inducing stage of life
o
▪ need to re-center life roles
▪ focus on responsibility, supporting self and making
independent decisions about life
▪ change to an unstructured, unpredictable path
o prolong decisions on life and therefore postponing adult roles
o
▪ this is due to
▪
▪ life expectancy gains
▪ changes in education and workforce
▪ cultural norms focusing on self expression
• end and start points
•
o entry point - nest leaving
o
▪ produces better parent child relationships
o end point - social clock
o
▪ shared age norms for what behaviours are appropriate at
particular ages, usually set by society
▪ on time - matches normal timetable
▪ off time - is too earl or too late of normal timetable
• construction an adult life
•
o constructing an identity
o
▪ identify formation - marcia
▪
▪ to achieve a mature identity - experience a crisis and
become committed to that ideology
▪ moratorium in depth
▪
▪ marica originally thought - diffusion - moratorium -
achievement
find more resources at oneclass.com
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▪ but real life identity construction is more erratic,
moving back and forth in statuses throughout
adulthood
▪
▪ shifts help to consistently rethink our lives,
review goals and directions
▪ but some do not move successfully toward an
identity search, find themselves stuck
▪ search for identity is not a universal developmental
task but is affected by life circumstances
o finding a career
o
▪ most adolescents expect to go to college and have a
professional career
▪
▪ regardless of sex and social class
▪ ambition and high expectations
▪
▪ helps to avoid delinquent behaviours, depression,
dropping out of school
▪ many do not reach ambitions due to barriers e.g.
poverty, economic factors
▪ to be successful in college and career we need flow -
▪
▪ a feeling of total absorption in a challenging, goal
directed activity
▪ happens when working towards a goal and
intrinsically motivated
o self-esteem and emotional growth
o
▪ key predictors of successful transition to career
▪
▪ entering emerging adulthood upbeat and competent
are set up to flourish
▪ teen’s interest in work - productive vs interest in
playing - avoiding work
▪ personality
▪
▪ changes most during 20s
▪ focus on weighing options and healthy
decision making
▪ failures viewed as life lessons
▪ conscientiousness develops, underpinned by
pre-frontal cortex lobe development that is
associated with development of self control
o finding love
o
▪ erikson’s first task of adult life - intimacy vs isolation
▪
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
