1. Apply the concepts of Piaget to Nic’s development.
The fourth stage in Piagets Theory is Formal Operational Period. In this stage, which begins around eleven years of age and continues through adulthood, children become capable of applying mental operations to abstract concepts. They can imagine and reason about hypothetical situations. From this point on, people start to think in abstract, systematic, and logical ways. I believe that this is the stage that got the best of Nic. He started to drink alcohol at 11, marijuana at 12, and it just kept going. He kept experimenting with more drugs and finally Crystal Meth. To be honest I think that he may have never developed the full capacity for formal reasoning. He also had a lot of different environmental and cultural influences that had a huge impact on him. Certain things would lead him towards the path of drugs, and he couldn’t reason to himself differently. “Now I am in my own program to recover from my addiction to [Nic’s addiction]” (p. 305). I feel like that is a good example of how “logical” his reasoning really is.
2. Apply the concepts of Erikson Theory to Nic’s Development.
At age 4 Nic’s parents got divorced. That was during the Preschool stage, where the conflict is Initiative vs. Guilt. In this stage children need to begin asserting control and power over their environment. Nic was doing well in this stage and the school age stage as well. His grades well good, he had friends and was active and involved in sports. His father thought that Nic was coping well because he was doing so well in school and playing sports. “Nic was excelling in school and I could have been happier.” (30) However related to Preschool stage – Nic was able to control his grades, and his activities therefore he was about to successfully show his power.
However, at age 12 Nic’s father found pot in Nic’s back pack. This is the adolescence stage where the conflict is Identity vs. Role