Every human being goes through psychological development in the course of his or her life. Mental and spiritual abilities form more extensively and possibilities for action and motives change.
What is psychological development?
The psychological maturity level enables an individual to find his way in his environment and to behave appropriately in order to satisfy his needs. A person’s psyche continues to develop throughout life in similarly fixed and universal steps as the physique. The developmental process begins as early as one to two months of age. The infant already then begins to make contact with its environment. Until the age of about six, the child will continuously change the way it makes contact with its environment, develop its personality and learn adult activities through imitation. An infant still perceives its environment in a very object-oriented way. This means that almost every object in sight is grasped and put into the mouth. As early as the 9th month of life, an important step in psychological development takes place: the infant registers that there are objects outside its immediate environment and perceives itself as part of an environment. From about the age of 2, the development of personality begins. Dislikes are formed (e.g. against certain foods) and a free will develops more and more. A child’s play behavior develops continuously until about age 6. An infant plays largely alone and does not involve its environment. Until about the age of three, play behavior does not change significantly. At 3.5 years of age, the child begins to include other people or dolls in his play. In doing so, the child also imitates experienced actions. For example, it imitates the interactions between mother and father. In the interaction with other people, the child also tries out which action triggers which reaction in its counterpart. In this way, the child’s psyche learns which behaviors bring about the desired outcome (e.g., the desire for attention) and which do not. It is therefore important that the behaviors of the adult caregivers are reliable during this phase. Until school maturity is reached, a person is not able to take another’s point of view. The ability to empathize does not develop until about the age of 7. The formation process then continues until about the age of 14. From about the age of 16, a person is able to relate his or her concrete actions to the consequences for the future: another important milestone in psychological development. During puberty, a far-reaching psychological development takes place. The individual learns to take responsibility for himself and for others. At the same time, the phase of puberty is the most disruptive time in human psychological development, as psychological and physical maturity are usually far apart. In high adulthood, the psyche undergoes a radical change. Gerontopsychology deals with the expression of certain psychological phenomena related to a person’s old age.
Function and task
Psychological development is as important a development for a person as that of the physique. Contrary to popular belief, it does not take place automatically, but requires continuous accompaniment by external stimuli such as role models and teaching content. Important for psychological development is a stable and secure environment in which basic needs are satisfied. The psychological maturity level enables the individual to find his way in his environment and to behave appropriately in order to satisfy his needs.
Diseases and ailments
Delays in psychological development and associated problems in behavior, are usually not physically explainable (for example, by brain damage), but they are acquired in the vast majority of cases. For a healthy psychological development it is therefore indispensable that children find an environment that promotes their development and accompanies them in an attentive manner. Leading psychologists assume that even relatively minor disturbances can have a lasting negative impact on a child’s psychological development. For example, it seems to be detrimental to the maturation of the psyche if parents prevent their children from making their own experiences by intervening too strongly.Children of so-called “helicopter parents” tend to adapt poorly to external conditions in later adult life. Actual physical illnesses can only rarely be traced back to an underdeveloped psyche. Nevertheless, there seems to be a connection between an underdeveloped psyche and the development of depression. The reason for this, according to doctors and psychologists, is that people who have experienced permanent rejection because of their behaviors have a greater tendency to withdraw in adulthood, which is why depressive episodes can develop.
