This semester is loaded with Psychology. I have taken on nine credits worth of Psychology courses. Human Development, Psychological Factors in Aging, and Personality Theory. Now, two classes have one presentation and all three have two- three exams and that's it. HEAVY STUDY CLASSES. Great, what was I thinking?? And to boot, it all has very little to do with everything I've worked before- on early childhood education. So, I'm feeling a little out of my element.
Today, between church letting out and my birthday dinner with my dad and company, I watch my boyfriend hashing it out with the tree roots growing under his garden while reading up on my Human Development Text. I love how common sense it is, and how our society still needs it to be spelled out to them!
For example, as I've been saying since "Mosaic" (my old young adult group) was first incorrectly referred to as "a single's ministry," God cannot give you the man/woman you need until you've figured out who you- and that determines what's left that you need/want. Until you are who you are and confident in it, you can't know what you're in need of or what can be added to the life you're choosing.
In my text (Lifespan Development by Denise Boyd and Helen Bee), they reference the neo-Freudian Erik Erikson's work. "In the first of the three adult stages, the young adult buildso n the identity established in adolescence to confront the crisis of intimacy versus isolation. Erikson defined intimacy as 'the ability to fuse your identity with someone else's without fear that you're going to lose something yourself' (Erikson, in Evans, 1969). Many young people, Erikson thought, make the mistake of thinking they will find their identity in a relationship, but in his view it is only those who have already formed (or are well on the way to forming) a clear identity who can successfully enter this fusion of identities that he called intimacy. Young adults whose identities are weak or unformed will remain in shallow relationships and will experience a sense of isolation or loneliness."
Huh. Fascinating stuff, right?
I love that definition of intimacy. I may have to frame it...
So, in all this that I believed and preached before, I wish Erikson jumped off the page years ago and slapped me in the face with this paragraph!
Needless to say, this chapter is making me look hard at my generation and my own particular developments. The three adult stages being 1) identity versus role confusion. 2) intimacy versus isolation. 3) generatively versus stagnation- "primarily the concern in establishing and guiding the next generation" (Erikson).
I may be getting more out of this semester than I had so passively thought.
Awesome! :)
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