December 3, 2012
Psy. 120- Book Review
Professor Dr. Priebe
Summary: Tuesdays with Morrie, was based on a true story about friendship and lessons learned. It’s about a sports writer, Mitch and former sociology professor, Morrie, who is in his last days of life after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and their rekindled relationship after many years. They first met on the campus grounds at Brandeis University. This never forgotten relationship was simply picked back up at a crucial time in both Mitch’s and Morrie’s life. After seeing his professor in an interview on the show “Nightline”, Mitch is reminded of a promise he made sixteen years earlier to keep in touch. Since the airing of that show, Mitch met with Morrie every Tuesday to learn and understand all the wisdom and lessons of life. These discussion topics included: death, fear, aging, marriage, family, forgiveness, a meaningful life, and so on. This story took place in Morrie’s study in West Newton, Massachusetts. Overall, this book was about Morrie’s and Mitch’s final class: The Meaning of Life.
Development:
Development is a lifelong process. It incorporates the biological, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual growth of people. Our genetic make-up, culture, society, and experiences are the factors that influence our developmental growth. The developmental stages that this book touched basis on were middle adulthood and old age. According to Erik Erikson, there are eight stages of psychosocial development. This book portrays the last two: Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood) and Integrity vs. Despair (old age). A theory of this development is that the tasks accomplished in one stage lay a foundation for tasks in the next stage of development (McLeod, 2008). The developmental issues for old age are determined by biological and personal factors. This involves adapting to the physical declines and finding meaning in life as the end of life
Cited: Albom, M. (1997). Tuesdays with Morrie: an old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson. New York, NY: Doubleday. Cherry, K (2012). Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages. Retrieved from http://www.psychology.about.com/library/bl_psychosocial_summary.htm McLeod, S. A. (2008). Erik Erikson | Psychosocial Stages. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html Steinberg, L. (2011). Life-Span Development: Infancy Through Adulthood. Mason, OH: Wadsworth.