Erikson Challenges

13. Discuss the greatest challenges faced by your age group which is based on Erikson's stages.

At 45 years old, I would say that I am in Erickson's stage of generativity versus stagnation. Feelings of success, achievement, and generativity can all come from employment, so it is obviously a very important part of most adults. lives. And since every job presents some level of dissatisfaction it makes sense that of the many challenges that people in this age group face, some of the greatest involve the workplace. For example, as the book mentions, as we grow older, the possibility of losing a job can be very stressful because it can require loss of salary and benefits, require relocation, and possibly make it difficult to find another job.
Overall, it gives one a greater understanding of all individuals, and this information can be used to interact with them more effectively and be more empathetic. As a teacher, I can definitely see the value of studying the biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial development of middle childhood and adolescents. More insight into the stages of industry vs. inferiority and intuition vs. analysis can make me more prepared to meet students' needs. One of my favorite selections from the textbook was the "What Were You Thinking?" case study on page 417. Since I work with teens and pre-teens in my classes, I thought that it made an interesting and useful point: brain immaturity can lead to questionable decisions in adolescents. Keeping that in mind may change the way I deal with some classroom management issues in the future. Sometimes kids are going to do questionable things simply because they are kids, not because of some nefarious underlying reasons. A couple teacher friends and I were travelling to Wisconsin for a race during the Chapters 14-16 portion of the course, so we actually talked a lot about some of the ideas I was learning about. Most of our conversation revolved around the developing pre-frontal cortex, but we also spent a lot of time talking about bullying and modes of thinking. One of them even spent a great deal of the trip reading
(Neuroscience for Kids). If the BBB is breached, neurons can be destroyed and brain function can be impaired. Research has shown that stress can disrupt the BBB and "lower immunity, increase blood pressure, speed up the heart, reduce sleep, and produce many other reaction that can lead to cognitive loss as allostatic load increases (Berger 615-6). However, stress cannot just weaken immediate thinking abilities; accumulated stress can result in reduce mental ability in the future as well. As mentioned on page 616, "chronic stress increases depression and other psychological illnesses that impair thinking, and it attacks the brain itself." While most people are aware of the tangible physical effects that stress has upon them, I would venture to say to say that few understand how it affects them cognitively. Now that I have a better grasp on that connection, I realize how important it is for my body and mind to utilize effective coping