HS1000-71 Human Growth & Social Environment

1. HS1000-71Human Growth & Social Environment Lecture 7: Early Adulthood (Age 20 – 40)

2. 1.Nature of Early Adulthood The Transition from Adolescence to Early Adulthood: • Occurs in adolescence. • It is usually marked by full-time employment. • It is marked by economic independence. • Involves accepting responsibility and consequences for one’s behaviors and choices. • Marriage: Adult status in developing countries is often marked by marriage occurring much earlier than in the United States. 2 2

3. 1.Nature of Early Adulthood The Transition from Adolescence to Early Adulthood: • Transition from high school to college then part-time study: • Has positive and negative aspects. • Can be very stressful. • Sources of stress can be: • Academic (exams, grades, competition). • Personal (relationships, parental conflicts, family conflicts). • Economic (balancing work, school, family). • Psychological (emotional situations). 3 3

4. 2.Physical Development • Physical development • Physical development and maturation are complete • At the peak of their physical capabilities • Early 20s, tend to be healthy, vigorous (精力充沛), and energetic Senescence(衰老): • the natural physical decline brought about by aging, begins

5. 2.Physical development Health and fitness • Physical and sensory abilities are typically excellent in emerging and young adulthood • The mapping of thehuman genome(基因組 /染色體)is enabling the discovery of genetic bases for certain disorders • Lifestyle factors such as diet, obesity (肥胖症), exercise, sleep smoking and substance use or abuse can affect health and survival

6. 2.Physical development • Good health is related to higher income and education. • Social relationships, especially marriage, tend to be associated with physical and mental health • Mental health is generally good in early adulthood, but certain conditions, such as depression, becomes more prevalent(普遍的). Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are the most common substance disorders

7. 2.Physical development • Peak of psychomotor abilities • Reaction time is quicker, muscle strength is greater, eye-hand coordination is better • To reach their physical potential, must exercise (30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least 5 days a week) and maintain a proper diet

8. 3.Cognitive development Moral reasoning • According to Kohlberg, moral development in adulthood depends on experience, though it cannot exceed the limits set by cognitive development. Experience may be interpreteddifferently in various cultural contexts

9. 3.Cognitive development Perspectives on adult cognition • Some investigators propose distinctively adult forms of cognition beyond formal operations. Reflective thinking emphasizes complex logic; postformal though involves intuition and emotion as well

10. 3.Cognitive development Postformal Thought: Giesela Labouvie-Vief • Thinking that acknowledges that adult predicaments must sometimes be solved in relativistic (相對的)terms

11. 3.Cognitive development: Dialectical(辯證) thinking: • an interest in and appreciation for argument, counterargument, and debate • accepts that issues are not always clear-cut • answers to questions are not always absolutely right or wrong • but must sometimes be negotiated

12. 3.Cognitive development:Intelligence • Intelligence Robert Sternberg - Triarchic theory of intelligence • Practical intelligence is as important as traditional academic intelligence in determining future success, is learned primarily by observing others and modeling their behaviour • They are able to understand and handle even new situations effectively, reading people and circumstances insightfully, based on their previous experiences

13. 3.Cognitive development • According to Sterberg’s trarchic theory of intelligence, the experiential and contextual elements become particularly important during adulthood. Tests that measure tacit knowledge can be useful complements to traditional intelligence tests. • Emotional intelligence may play an important part in life success

14. 3.Cognitive development:Stress • Life style decisions to use or abuse of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or engaging in unprotected sex can hasten (加速)secondaryaging • physical declines brought about by environmental factors or an individual’s behavioral choices Stress: • the physical and emotional response to events that threaten or challenge us

15. 3.Cognitive development:Stress Stressors: • events and circumstances that produce threats to our well-being • Need not be unpleasant events, even happiest events, e.g. starting a long-sought job or planning a wedding can produce stress Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI): (心理神經免疫學) • the study of the relationship among the brain, the immune system, and psychological factors • It found that stress produces several outcomes

16. 3.Cognitive development:Stress Biological reaction: • certain hormones secreted by the adrenal(腎上腺素) glands (腦垂體腺 )cause a rise in heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, and sweating (汗水) • May be beneficial because they produce an “emergency reaction” in the sympathetic nervous system • people are better able to defend themselves from a sudden threatening situation

17. 3.Cognitive development:Stress • Continuous exposureto stressors may result in a reduction of the body’s ability to deal with stress • Stress-related hormones are constantly secreted(分泌)The heart, blood vessels, and other body tissues may deteriorate • To become more susceptible (血管)to diseases as their ability to fight off germs declines

18. 3.Cognitive development:Origins of Stress • Series of stages (Arnold Lazarus & Susan Folkman) 1. Primary appraisal: • the individual’s assessment of an event to determine whether its implications are positive, negative, or neutral • If negative, how threatening, can it be resisted successfully?

19. 3.Cognitive development:Origins of Stress 2. Secondary appraisal: • the person’s answer to the question, “Can I handle it?” • whether his or her coping abilities and resources are adequate to overcome the challenge • If resources lacking, potential threat greater, experience stress

20. 3.Cognitive development: Consequences of stress • Constant wear and tear caused by the physiological arousal that occurs as the body tries to fight off stress produces negative effects • Headaches, back-aches, skin rashes(皮疹)indigestion(消化不良), chronic fatigue(疲倦), even the common cold are stress-related illnesses • Immune system may be damaged • Begins to attack the body itself • Damaging healthy tissue(組織) • Permit germs to reproduce more easily • Allow cancer cells to spread more rapidly

21. 3.Cognitive development:Psychosomatic disorders • Medical problems caused by the interaction of psychological, emotional, and physical difficulties • e.g. ulcers(胃潰瘍), asthma(哮喘), arthritis(關節炎), and high blood pressure Coping with stress • coping: the effort to control, reduce, or learn to tolerate the threats that lead to stress

22. 3.Cognitive development: Psychosomatic disorders Problem-focused coping: • to manage a stressful problem or situation by directly changing the situation to make it less stressful Emotion-focused coping: • involves the consciousregulation of emotion Social support: • assistance and comfort supplied by others • Emotional support (a shoulder to cry on), and practical, tangible support (temporary financial loan)

23. 3.Cognitive development: Psychosomatic disorders Defensive coping: • unconscious strategies that distort or deny the true nature of a situation Emotional insulation(隔離): • people unconsciously try to prevent themselves from experiencing emotions • if becomes a habitual response to stress, can prevent the person from dealing with the reality of the situation • by offering a way to avoid orignore the problem • e.g. use drugs or alcohol to escape

24. 3.Cognitive development: Psychosomatic disorders Hardiness(堅強): • a personality characteristic associated with a lower rate of stress-related illness • They are take-charge people who revel in life’s challenges, • more resistant to stress-related illness • react to stressors with optimism • turning threatening situations into challenging ones

25. 3.Cognitive development: Psychosomatic disorders Resilience: • Ability to withstand(抵擋), overcome, and actually succeed following deep adversity • Easy-going, good-natured and independent • Good social and communication skills

26. 3.Cognitive development:Emotional intelligence • the set of skills that underlies the accurate assessment, evaluation, expression, and regulation of emotions • To get along well with others • to understand what others are feeling and experiencing • to respond appropriately to the needs of others Intelligence is made up of three major components: 1. componential (成份) 2. experiential 3. contextual

27. 3.Cognitive development:Emotional intelligence • Componential aspect: • analysis of data to solve problems • using previously-learned information • Experiential aspect: • insightful aspect of intelligence • the relationship between intelligence, people’s prior experience, and their ability to cope with new situations

28. 3.Cognitive development:Emotional intelligence • Contextual aspect: • the degree of success people demonstrate in facing the demands of their everyday, real world environments • major life events such as marriage, the death of a parent, starting a first job, the birth of a child, buying a house may lead to cognitive growth • Young adults think about the world in innovative way • Often more complex, sophisticated and less rigid

29. 4. Psychosocial development • Emerging adulthood is often a time of experimentation before assuming adult roles and responsibilities. Such traditional developmental tasks as finding stable work and developing long-term romantic relationships may be postponed until the 30 or even later

30. 4. Social and Personality Development • People perceive themselves as adults when they are: • No longer other people’s children • Full members of society with responsibilities • Psychologically maturing • Self-supporting • Legal definitions

31. 4. Social and Personality Development:Erikson – seeking intimacy • Intimacy-versus-Isolation stage: developing close, intimate relationship with others. Aspects: • Degree of unselfishness(無私/ 忘我): • sacrifice of one’s own needs to those of another • Sexuality: • experience of joint pleasure from focusing not just on one’s own gratification but also on that of one’s partner

32. 4. Social and Personality Development:Erikson – seeking intimacy iii. Deep devotion(忠心): • efforts to fuse one’s identity with the identity of a partner • virtue/strength: love • difficulties: lonely, isolated, and fearful of relationships with others • Critics: limited on heterosexuality (to produce children), focused more on men’s development, and did not consider racial and ethnic identity

33. 4. Social and Personality Development:Freud • Freud – genital stage • Return of sexual interests and establishment of mature sexual relationships • Sexual urges repressed during latency now come up to flow in socially approved channels • Defined as heterosexual relations with persons outside the family of origin

34. 4. Social and Personality Development:Identity development in emerging adulthood • Recentering refers to a 3-stage process that underlies the shift to an adult identity. • Stage 1, the beginning of emerging adulthood, the individual is still fixed in the family of origin, but expectations for self-reliance and self-directedness begin to increase.

35. 4. Social and Personality Development:Identity development in emerging adulthood • Stage 2, temporary, exploratory involvements in a variety of college courses, jobs, and intimate partners mark this stage. • Stage 3, usually by the age 30, the individual moves into young adulthood. This stage is marked by independence from the family of origin and commitment to a career, a partner, and possibly children

36. Realistic: doing things (manual activities) Conventional: working with details (clerical tasks) Investigative: thinking (intellectual professions) Enterprising: persuading others (sales & management) Artistic: creating with materials (jobs rare) Social: helping people (teaching & counseling) 5. Holland’s Model of Personality Types and Career Choices 36 36

37. 5. Holland’s Model of Personality Types and Career Choices • John Holland’s Personality Type Theory • Six personality types are important in career choice • Realistic: • Down-to-earth, practical problems-solvers, physically strong, but their social skills are mediocre. • Good farmers, laborers, and truck drivers.

38. 5. Holland’s Model of Personality Types and Career Choices • 2. Intellectual: • Oriented toward the theoretical and abstract • Not particularly good with people, well suited to careers in math and science • 3. Social: • Related to verbal skills and interpersonal relations • good at working with people, make good salespersons, teachers, and counselors

39. 5. Holland’s Model of Personality Types and Career Choices • 4. Conventional: • Prefer highly structured tasks, make good clerks, secretaries, and bank tellers • 5. Enterprising: • Risk-takers and take-charge types, good leaders and may be particularly effective as managers or politicians

40. 5. Holland’s Model of Personality Types and Career Choices • 6. Artistic: • Use art to express themselves, often prefer the world of art to interact with people, best suited to occupations involving art

41. 6. Vocational Education, Work and Career • Midlife is a time of evaluation, assessment, and reflection about work roles and future goals. • Overall, job satisfaction steadily increases throughout one’s working life—usually from age 20 to 60. • This pattern applies to both men and women. • This pattern applies to both college- and non-college-educated adults. • Currently, middle-aged workers face many challenges: • Globalization and exporting of jobs. • Rapid development in technologies. • Downsizing and restructuring of companies. • Early retirement—forced or due to buyouts. • Leisure is an important aspect of middle adulthood due to changes in relationships and career. 41 41

42. 6. Vocational Education, Work and Career • Work defines people in many fundamental ways, and most spend about 1/3 of their lives working full-time. • Work settings are linked to stress and health problems; and yet, inability to work for an extended period causes emotional stress and low self-esteem. • Unemployment creates stress and increases feelings of helplessness in both men and women, but intensity varies among individuals based on additional factors. • Single-earner married families are the minority of workers in American society. • Dual-career couples make up the majority of workers in American society and become dominant in Hong Kong society: • Division of responsibility for family had changed. • Social attitudes and values are changing. 42 42

43. 7. Foundations of intimate relationships:Attraction, Love, and Close Relationships • People actively seek out others to associate with: • Familiarity is necessary for a close relationship. • People seek others who are similar to themselves, but opposites do attract in certain instances. • Physical attractiveness may not be the primary factor in establishing and maintaining a relationship. • Standards of what is attractive are always changing over time and across cultures. 43 43

44. 7. Foundations of intimate relationships:Attraction, Love, and Close Relationships • Young adults seek intimacy in relationships with peers and romantic partners. Self-disclosure is an important aspect of intimacy • Most young adults have friends but have increasingly limited time to spend with them. Women;s friendships tend to be more intimate than men’s

45. 7. Foundations of intimate relationships:Attraction, Love, and Close Relationships • Need for belongingness: to establish and maintain at least a minimum number of relationships with others. Proximity: • who live nearby and with whom they come in contact most frequently. Similarity: • attracted to others who hold attitudes and values similar to their own.

46. 7. Foundations of intimate relationships:Attraction, Love, and Close Relationships • Personal qualities (results of survey): keep confidence loyal warm affectionate supportive honest /frank(垣誠) have a good sense of humor

47. 7. Foundations of intimate relationships:Attraction, Love, and Close Relationships • Gender Differences in Friendships: • Women have more friends than men. • Communication is central to female relationships. • Females do more self-disclosure than men. • Females exchange more mutual support. • Activities are central to male relationships. • Men share useful information but keep a distance. • Men seek practical solutions to their problems. • Menare less likely to disclose personal weaknesses. • Male relationships are more competitive. 47 47

48. 7. Foundations of intimate relationships:Attraction, Love, and Close Relationships • Friendship is important throughout the life span. • Friendship is a form of close relationship providing people with: • Enjoyment and spontaneity (自發性). • Acceptance. • Trust, respect, and mutual assistance. • Confidences shared and a sense of understanding. • There are many functions of friendship. • Friends and lovers are similar in many ways. 48 48

49. 7. Foundations of intimate relationships:Attraction, Love, and Close Relationships • Love is a very complex area of human emotion and comes in different types of expressions. • Intimacy should occur after one is well into establishing a stable and successful identity: • Failure to achieve intimacy results in social isolation. • Intimacy’s most important aspect is commitment. • Attempts to establish intimacy occur at the same time that one is seeking personal autonomy. 49 49

50. 7. Foundations of intimate relationships:Attraction, Love, and Close Relationships • Falling out of love includes: • The tragic collapse of a close relationship. • Being with someone who does not return your feelings. • Emotions like depression or obsessive thoughts occur. 50 50