The crisis of age-related development has different designations. It is called a development crisis, an age crisis, a crisis period. But all this is a conventional name for transitional stages of age-related development, characterized by sharp psychological changes. Regardless of a person's desires and circumstances, such a crisis comes suddenly. But for some it is less painful, and for some it is open and violent.
It should be noted that a crisis of age-related development should be distinguished from a crisis of a person’s personality. The first arises in connection with the age-related dynamics of the psyche, and the second - as a result of the created socio-psychological circumstances into which a person finds himself unexpectedly and experiences negative experiences in them, which entail an internal restructuring of the psyche and behavior.
In developmental psychology, there is no consensus on crises, their place and role in the mental development of a child. Some psychologists believe that child development should be harmonious and crisis-free. Crises are an abnormal, “painful” phenomenon, the result of improper upbringing.
Another part of psychologists argues that the presence of crises in development is natural. Moreover, according to some ideas, a child who has not truly experienced a crisis will not fully develop further.
Currently, in psychology they are increasingly talking about turning points in the development of a child, and the actual crisis, negative manifestations are attributed to the characteristics of his upbringing and living conditions. Close adults can soften these external manifestations or, conversely, strengthen them. Crises, unlike stable periods, do not last long, a few months, and under unfavorable circumstances they can last up to a year or even several years.
The age crisis is considered, on the one hand, as a stage of development (see p. 7), and on the other, as a mechanism of development (see p. 16). Both of these characteristics of the development crisis were substantiated by L.S. Vygotsky. They are interconnected, since crisis acts as a development mechanism at a certain stage of mental development. It operates through the contradictions between existing needs and new social demands that appear in a person’s life during the transition from one age to another. The essence of the crisis lies in the restructuring of internal experiences, in changes in needs and motivations when interacting with the environment. Thus, the crisis of age-related development has the following characteristics:
This is a natural stage of mental development;
Completes (separates) each age period and appears at the junction of two ages;
The basis is the contradiction between the environment and the attitude towards it;
The result of a developmental crisis is a transformation of the psyche and behavior.
The development crisis has two sides. The first is the negative, destructive side. She says that during a crisis there is a delay in mental development, the withering away and curtailment of early acquired mental formations, skills and abilities. The time of crisis itself proceeds restlessly with the appearance of negative emotions and experiences in a person’s behavior. In addition, during an unfavorable course of the crisis, negative characteristics of personality and interpersonal interaction can be formed, and failure to satisfy new needs introduces a person into a repeated (or prolonged) crisis state of development. In the pathological course of the crisis, a distortion of the normal age dynamics may occur.
The other side of the crisis of age-related development is positive, constructive, which signals the emergence of positive changes (new formations and a new social situation of development) that make up the meaning of each turning point. A positive transformation of a person’s psyche and behavior occurs when the crisis progresses favorably.
Thus, it can be noted that the developmental crisis is a sensitive stage for the transformation of the psyche, where the line between its normal and impaired development is very thin. In which direction the crisis will be resolved most often depends on the productivity of the person’s (child’s) interaction with the environment, which determines the individuality of the course of the age-related crisis.
Developmental crises were also studied by L. S. Vygotsky’s student, D. B. Elkonin. He discovered the law of alternation in the course of a child's mental development. The scientist identified types of activities that are different in orientation, which periodically replace each other: activities oriented in the system of relations between people (“person - person”) are followed by activities where the orientation is on ways of using objects (“person – object”). Each time, contradictions arise between these two types of orientations, which become the cause of a developmental crisis, since action cannot develop further if it is not built into a new system of relations and without raising the intellect to a certain level, new motives and methods of action will not develop. Taking into account the above orientations of the leading activities of D.B. Elkonin explained the contents of the isolated L.S. Vygotsky's crises of development. Thus, during the newborn period, at 3 years and 13 years, relationship crises occur, and at 1 year, 7 and 17 years, worldview crises occur, which also alternate.
In Russian psychology, the prevailing point of view is that developmental crises inevitably appear at the junction of any two age periods. The timing of crises in childhood, established by L.S. Vygotsky are disputed, but the sequence of their occurrence remains relevant, since it reflects the normative patterns of mental development.
L. S. Vygotsky identifies the following stages of the development crisis.
I. Pre-crisis. A contradiction arises between the environment and a person’s attitude towards it. The pre-crisis state is characterized by a transitional internal state, where indicators of the affective and cognitive spheres become oppositely directed. Intellectual control decreases and at the same time sensitivity to the outside world, emotionality, aggressiveness, psychomotor disinhibition or lethargy, isolation, etc. increase.
II. Actually a crisis. At this stage, there is a temporary maximum aggravation of psychological problems of a personal and interpersonal nature, where a certain degree of deviation from the age norm in psychophysical development can be observed. Low cognitive activity, psychological lability (instability), decreased communication, loss of mental stability, mood swings and motivation often occur. In general, at this time it is difficult to influence a child or an adult, come to an agreement, reorient, etc.
III. Post-crisis. This is the time of resolving contradictions through the formation of a new social situation of development, harmony between its components. As a result of this harmony, a return to a normal state occurs, where the affective and cognitive components of the psyche become unidirectional. “Old formations” go into the subconscious, and new mental formations move to a new level of consciousness.
In conclusion, we note that the crisis of age-related development appears suddenly and also disappears. Its boundaries are blurred. It is short-term compared to stable periods. The resolution of the crisis is associated with the establishment of new social relations with the environment, which can be productive or destructive in nature.
Crises occur not only in childhood, but also during adulthood.
The mental changes that appear at this time in a child or adult are profound and irreversible.
Plan:
Introduction
1. The essence of the age crisis
2. Age crises
2.1. Newborn crisis
2.2 Adolescence crisis
2.3 Midlife crisis
2.4 “Knot period” crisis of old age
Literature
Introduction
In psychological theories, the category “age crisis” is used in numerous contexts, differs in its content and is associated with various characteristics of human mental development. The essence of age-related crises lies in a change in the system of a person’s connections with the surrounding reality and his attitude towards it, in a change in leading activity. Unlike crises of a neurotic or traumatic type, they relate to normative changes necessary for the normal progressive course of mental development.
During age-related crises, the emotional background changes sharply, elements of depressive symptoms, severe anxiety, tension, decreased performance, etc. appear. All this is a consequence of a mismatch in the self-prognosis system, the level of individual aspirations: a person cannot ensure the productive implementation of individual programs. The implementation of these programs begins to require enormous energy efforts.
If we consider age-related crises from the point of view of changes that occur in the child’s behavior, then they are all characterized by some common features. During critical periods, children become disobedient, capricious, irritable: they often come into conflict with the adults around them, especially parents and educators; they develop a negative attitude towards previously fulfilled requirements, reaching the point of stubbornness and negativism.
The problem of age-related crises in ontogenesis is relevant, extremely interesting and at the same time insufficiently developed in theoretical and experimental terms. The very concept of “age crisis” is one of the least clearly defined and often does not have a complete form. Nevertheless, the term is widely used among psychologists and teachers. From a substantive point of view, periods of age-related crises are of interest because they differ in the specific features of the process of mental development (the presence of sharp changes in the psyche, the aggravation of contradictions, the negative nature of development, etc.).
The crisis period turns out to be difficult for the child, as well as for the adults around him - teachers and parents, who need to develop strategies for upbringing and learning based on the fundamental changes in the child’s psyche. The behavior of children during these periods is characterized by difficulty in educating and is particularly difficult for adults. In order to select adequate educational measures, it is necessary to analyze the prerequisites for the emergence of a crisis, the characteristics of the social situation of development, the essence of the changes occurring in the child, and the new formations of the crisis period. Age-related crises are characteristic not only of childhood; normative crises of adulthood are also highlighted. These crises are distinguished by their particular uniqueness in the course of the period, in the nature of a person’s personal new formations, etc.
The purpose of the work is to analyze the psychological essence, structure and content of age-related crises. Based on the set goal, the following tasks were solved:
Theoretical analysis of aspects of studying the problem of age-related crises;
Disclosure of the essence and content of age-related crises;
Study of general principles of age-related mental development;
Psychological analysis of crises of age-related development.
1. The essence of the age crisis
Crisis (from the Greek krineo) means "parting of the roads." The concept of “crisis” means an acute situation for making some kind of decision, a turning point, the most important moment in a person’s life or activity.
A crisis in life is a situation in which a person is faced with the impossibility of realizing the internal necessity of his life (motives, aspirations, values) due to the emergence of obstacles (most often external), which, based on his past experience, he cannot overcome. A person gets used to a certain form of his life and activity: the image and state of the body, food, clothing, more or less comfortable living conditions, a bank account, a car, a wife, children, social status, meanings and spiritual values. The crisis deprives him of support. However, along with negative, negative manifestations, a crisis, like nothing else, highlights what is human remains of a person, what remains inside him, what is rooted and firmly seated in him, and what is immediately destroyed as soon as external attributes disappear. Everything external comes out during the crisis, and a person begins to become aware of his appearance. If he also abandons this external husk, then there is a purification of consciousness, a deep understanding of true value, and spiritual awareness of oneself. Therefore, a psychological crisis is physical and mental suffering, on the one hand, and transformation, development and personal growth, on the other. Thus, the source of the crisis of mental development does not lie in the conflict of a person with the external system of relations, but is caused by the internal conflict of the relationship between the real and the ideal form. It is this attitude that first provokes a conflict, then attempts to resolve it, and then a transition to a new system of cooperation, that is, a transition to a new leading activity.
A crisis is not a dead end, but certain contradictions that accumulate in a person. A crisis in life is always unpleasant. Be it health or family, or work, or friendships. A person breaks out of his usual rhythm. Nevertheless, there are a number of so-called “normative” crises that a person goes through throughout his life: the crisis of the newborn, one year, three, seven, adolescence, the midlife crisis at 35-45 years, the “nodular period.”
All life crises are like a nesting doll. It’s hard when a person does not get out of a crisis, but accumulates them. All crises, in essence, are associated with the search for the meaning of life and attempts to answer questions like “Why am I living? For whom?”, as well as the problem of personal freedom, and the struggle for it at all stages of life.
Although a person has internal reserves (adaptive properties) to solve emerging difficulties, often these protective mechanisms fail to cope.
Considering crises as a pattern of human mental development, knowing their frequency and causes of occurrence, they can at least be predicted, and therefore mitigate the inevitable ones built into human nature and avoid those that are the result of the wrong choice of the person himself.
Perhaps the most important function of the crisis is its impact on human development - L.S. Vygovsky wrote that “if crises had not been discovered experimentally, they, nevertheless, should have been defined theoretically.” The basis for such a statement is that the process of human development occurs in “jerks”, from one stage to another, i.e., in a revolutionary rather than an evolutionary way. During these periods, dramatic changes occur in a relatively short period of time, which are very noticeable to others.
2. Age crises
Age-related crises are special, relatively short-term age periods (up to a year), characterized by sharp mental changes in a person’s personality, arising during the transition from one age stage to another, associated with systemic qualitative changes in the sphere of a person’s social relations, his activity and consciousness . The age crisis is caused by the emergence of major new formations of the previous stable period, which lead to the destruction of one social development situation and the emergence of another adequate to the new psychological appearance of a person. The shape and duration of these periods, as well as the severity of their occurrence, depend on individual characteristics, social and microsocial conditions. The essence of the age crisis is the transformation of the social situation of development, in which the old social situation of development is destroyed, and in its place, instead of it, a new one is built; The psychological content of the age crisis is that the subjectification of the neoplasm of the previous stable period occurs, i.e. transformation of a neoplasm of a stable period into a subjective ability of the individual.
Chronologically, the following age-related crises are distinguished: neonatal crisis; crisis of one year; crisis of three years; crisis of seven years; seventeen year crisis; crisis of thirty years; pension crisis. The concept of individual critical ages was introduced into science empirically and in a random manner. Analysis of crisis periods will reveal the psychological essence of the process of ontogenetic development of personality. The main differences between critical periods of development and stable periods are the duration of the course, the characteristics of the dynamics of mental changes, and the nature of the emerging neoplasms. The age crisis can be accompanied by a special syndrome - difficulty in educating.
2.1 Newborn crisis
The process of birth is a difficult, turning point in the life of a child. Birth is always a sharp transition to something new. Psychoanalysts call birth a trauma and believe that a person’s entire subsequent life bears the stamp of the trauma he experienced at birth.
When born, the child is physically separated from the mother and finds himself in completely different conditions: cold, bright light, an air environment that requires a different type of breathing, the need to change the type of food. During the transition to extrauterine existence, not only the living conditions, but the very physiological existence of the baby changes radically. Before birth, the child and mother are fused into one. Its temperature is equal to the mother's body temperature. He lives in a world where there are no contrasts of darkness and light, heat and cold. When a baby is born, he finds himself in a world of contrasts and contradictions, and the very first of them is the first breath.
With the cutting of the umbilical cord, the child gains freedom, but physiologically “loses” the mother. To prevent this loss from being traumatic, the presence and attention of the mother from the first minutes of the baby’s life is absolutely necessary. The feeling of her warmth, smell, the sound of her voice, the beating of her heart - all this connects him with his previous life and makes his arrival in this one not so sharp, painful and traumatic. It is very important for the mother to feel and see her baby from the first minute of his birth: at this time maternal feelings are most acute.
A child comes into this world weak and completely helpless. Although, upon being born, he was physically separated from his mother, he was still biologically connected to her. He cannot satisfy any of his needs on his own. Such helplessness and complete dependence on an adult constitute the specificity of the social situation of the development of a newborn. The child is helped to adapt to new, strange conditions by the hereditary strengthening of a mechanism - unconditioned reflexes: this is, first of all, a system of food reflexes, as well as protective and orientation reflexes. Some reflexes are atavistic - they are inherited from animal ancestors, but are useless for the child and soon disappear. For example, the reflex, sometimes called the “monkey” reflex, disappears already in the second month of life (Appendix a).
The human child is the most helpless of all children at the moment of its birth. This is a lack of maturity not only in higher regulatory, but also in many unwilling physiological mechanisms, which leads to the emergence of a new social situation. During this period, it is generally impossible to consider a child separately from an adult. What has been said is extremely important, because the child does not yet have any means of interacting with adults.
Important events in the mental life of a child are the emergence of auditory and visual concentration. Auditory concentration appears at 2-3 weeks, visual concentration at 3-5 weeks.
The newborn spends time sleeping or dozing. Gradually, individual moments, short periods of wakefulness begin to emerge from this drowsy state. Auditory and visual concentration give wakefulness an active character.
The face of an adult evokes a state of “bliss” in the child - he smiles. A smile on a child's face is the end of the newborn crisis. From this moment on, his individual mental life begins.
The child does not just smile, he reacts to the adult with movements of his entire body. The baby is constantly on the move. He responds emotionally. The revitalization complex includes four main components:
Freezing and visual concentration - long, gaze at an adult;
A smile expressing the child’s joyful emotions;
Motor revivals, head movements, throwing up of arms and legs, arching of the back, etc.;
Vocalizations – screams (loud abrupt sounds), hooting (quiet short sounds “kh”, “gk”), humming (long-drawn sounds reminiscent of birdsong - “guulllii”, etc.).
Children who are lagging behind in development are primarily lagging behind precisely in the appearance of the revitalization complex. The revitalization complex, as the first specific behavioral act of a child, becomes decisive for all subsequent mental development. It is the first act of communication between a child and an adult and indicates the transition to a new stable period - the period of infancy.
2.2 Adolescence crisis
The image of the physical self and self-awareness in general is influenced by the pace of puberty. Children with late maturation appear to be in the least advantageous position; acceleration creates more favorable opportunities for personal development. After the relatively calm primary school age, adolescence seems turbulent and complex. Development at this stage really proceeds at a rapid pace, especially many changes are observed in terms of personality formation. The main feature of a teenager is personal instability. Opposite traits, aspirations, tendencies coexist and fight with each other, determining the inconsistency of the character and behavior of a growing child.
Many teenagers, falling under the influence of a physical condition, begin to get very nervous and blame themselves for their failure. These sensations are often not realized, but latently form tension that is difficult for a teenager to cope with. Against such a background, any external difficulties are perceived as especially tragic.
Adolescence is a period of desperate attempts to “get through everything.” At the same time, a teenager for the most part begins his journey with taboo or previously impossible aspects of adult life. Many teenagers try alcohol and drugs out of curiosity. If this is done not for testing, but for courage, physical dependence arises. But overindulgence and testing can lead to psychological dependence, which manifests itself in tension, anxiety, and irritability.
Teenagers are quite frivolous about human vices and weaknesses and, as a result, quickly turn to alcohol and drugs, turning them from a source of oriented behavior (curiosity) into an object of their needs. Against this background, reflecting on his “fall,” the teenager often turns it into a form of self-affirmation, drowning out the inner feeling of loss of himself, his personal crisis.
Where internal inhibitions are weak, where the sense of responsibility for oneself and others is poorly developed, readiness for sexual contacts with representatives of the opposite and sometimes the same sex breaks through. A high degree of tension before and after sexual intercourse places a severe test on the psyche. First sexual impressions can have an impact on the sexual life of an adult. Therefore, it is important that these impressions reflect decent forms of interaction between young sexual partners. Many teenagers, due to unfavorable experiences, develop neuroses, and some even develop sexually transmitted diseases. All these forms of new life for adolescents place a heavy burden on the psyche. Tension from the uncertainty of life in a new capacity (smoker, sexual partner, etc.) as a result of loss of self-identity pushes many adolescents into a state of acute crisis.
Separately, we should point out the adolescent crisis associated with spiritual growth and changes in mental status. Although during this period there is an objective change in the social status of the adolescent (new relationships emerge with loved ones, peers, teachers; the field of activity expands, etc.), the most important factor influencing the emergence of a crisis is reflection on the inner world and deep dissatisfaction with oneself. Loss of identity with oneself, the discrepancy between previous ideas about oneself and today’s image - this is the main content of adolescent experiences. Dissatisfaction can be so strong that obsessive states appear: irresistible depressing thoughts about oneself, doubts, fears. At the same time, a critical attitude towards these conditions remains, which aggravates the teenager’s difficult feelings.
Many teenagers experience a crisis in external manifestations of negativism - meaningless opposition from others, unmotivated opposition to parents and teachers. The task of close adults and psychologists here is clear - it is necessary to get involved in the problems of the adolescent and try to make his life easier during this period.
2.3 Midlife crisis
The midlife crisis is the strangest and most terrible time in a person’s mental development. Many people (especially creative ones), not finding strength in themselves and not finding a new meaning in life, simply leave it. This period (after adolescence) accounts for the largest number of suicides.
As mentioned above, an adult begins to form questions that he is not able to answer, but which sit inside and destroy him. “What is the meaning of my existence!?”, “Is this what I wanted!? If yes, then what next!?” etc. the ideas about life that developed between twenty and thirty years old do not satisfy him. Analyzing the path traveled, his achievements and failures, a person discovers that despite an already established and apparently prosperous life, his personality is imperfect, that a lot of time and effort was wasted, that he did little compared to what he could have done, etc. In other words, there is a reassessment of values, a critical revision of one’s self. A person discovers that he can no longer change many things in his life, in himself: family, profession, usual way of life. Having realized himself during his youth, a person suddenly realizes that, in essence, he is faced with the same task - search, self-determination in new circumstances of life, taking into account real opportunities (including limitations that he had not noticed before). This crisis manifests itself in a feeling of the need to “do something” and indicates that a person is moving to a new age level - the age of adulthood. “crisis of thirty” is the conventional name for this crisis. This state can occur earlier or later; the feeling of a crisis state can occur repeatedly throughout life (as in childhood, adolescence, adolescence), since the development process proceeds in a spiral without stopping.
Men at this time are characterized by divorce, a change of job or a change in lifestyle, the acquisition of expensive things (cars, motorcycles), frequent changes of sexual partners, and a clear orientation can be traced to the young age of the latter, as if he begins to get what he could not get in a more mature age. at an early age, fulfills their childhood and youth needs.
Women during the crisis of their 30th birthday usually change the priorities established at the beginning of early adulthood. Women focused on marriage and raising children are now increasingly attracted to professional goals. At the same time, those who devoted their energies to work now, as a rule, direct them into the bosom of family and marriage.
Experiencing this crisis moment in his life, a person is looking for an opportunity to strengthen his niche in adult life, to confirm his status as an adult: he wants to have a good job, he strives for security and stability. The person is still confident that the full realization of the hopes and aspirations that make up the “dream” is possible, and he works hard for this.
2.4 “Knot period” crisis of old age
In old age (old age), a person has to overcome three sub-crises. The first of them is to re-evaluate one’s own “I” in addition to its professional role, which for many people remains the main one until retirement. The second sub-crisis is associated with the awareness of the fact of deteriorating health and aging of the body, which gives a person the opportunity to develop the necessary indifference in this regard. As a result of the third sub-crisis, a person’s self-concern disappears, and now he can accept the thought of death without horror.
Undoubtedly, the problem of death is of all ages. However, it is for the elderly and elderly that it does not seem far-fetched, premature, transforming into the problem of natural death. For them, the question of attitude towards death is transferred from subtext to the context of life itself. The time comes when the tense dialogue between life and death begins to clearly sound in the space of individual existence, and the tragedy of temporality is realized. However, aging, terminal illnesses and dying are not perceived as part of the process of life, but as complete failure and a painful misunderstanding of the limitations of the ability to control nature. From the point of view of the philosophy of pragmatism, which emphasizes the importance of achievement and success, a dying person is a failure.
Now our social structure, as well as philosophy, religion and medicine, have almost nothing to offer to alleviate the mental anguish of the dying. Elderly and elderly people, as a rule, fear not death itself, but the possibility of a purely plant existence devoid of any meaning, as well as suffering and torment caused by disease. It can be stated that there are two leading attitudes in their attitude towards death: firstly, the reluctance to burden their loved ones, and secondly, the desire to avoid painful suffering. This period is also called the “nodular” period, because, not wanting to be burdened with old age and death, many older people begin to prepare for death, collect things associated with the ritual, and save money for the funeral. Therefore, many, being in a similar position, experience a deep and all-encompassing crisis, affecting simultaneously the biological, emotional, philosophical and spiritual aspects of life.
The culture of empathy for the death of another person is an integral component of the general culture of both the individual and society as a whole. At the same time, it is quite rightly emphasized that the attitude towards death serves as a standard, an indicator of the moral state of society, its civilization. It is important to create not only conditions for maintaining normal physiological vitality, but also the prerequisites for optimal life activity, to satisfy the needs of elderly and elderly people for knowledge, culture, art, literature, which are often beyond the reach of older generations. Many adults, during the age crisis of their child, are faced with a crisis in their own upbringing system, since changes in the child’s behavior begin to indicate the ineffectiveness of the old upbringing strategy, lead to a subjective experience of this situation, attempts to build new behavioral strategies and tactics, and a transition to new forms of interaction with the child. . This sequence generally repeats the structure of an age-related crisis with one significant difference: if a child is experiencing an active crisis, then the crisis of raising an adult is reactive. The child “himself” destroys the usual forms of cooperation with the adult, while the adult “reacts” to the destruction, first making an attempt to preserve them.
During the age crisis, the actions of all participants in interaction change: both adults and children. The condition for successful resolution of the crisis is the correction of adult behavior. An adult needs to have certain knowledge about the changes occurring with a child at this age stage. Only on the basis of this knowledge can you act in a certain way and analyze your own actions. As a rule, the age crisis in adults is aggravated by certain non-normative factors (strong emotional experiences and major failures - loss of important family ties, death, divorce, miscarriage, etc.). At the present stage, the number of people experiencing certain crisis conditions is steadily increasing. On the one hand, this may be due to sudden changes in living conditions (instability of social structures, illnesses, changes in the social environment), on the other hand, with a certain evolutionary stage in the development of the human psyche as a whole.
The duration of crisis experiences and the possibility of a constructive or destructive way out of the crisis are largely determined by the type of coping and the individual’s attitude towards an unfavorable life situation. The most typical options for a person’s attitude towards crises: ignoring; exaggerating; demonstrative; voluntaristic; productive. Of course, there are still many areas for further research in this area. The problem of crises and ways out of them is one of the most promising and pressing problems in psychology today.
Literature
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2. Erickson E. Identity. Youth and crisis / centerpolygraph, 2003. – 133 p.
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Age-related crises are special, relatively short-term (up to a year) periods of ontogenesis, characterized by sharp mental changes. Refer to the normative processes necessary for the normal progressive course of personal development (Erikson).
The shape and duration of these periods, as well as the severity of their occurrence, depend on individual characteristics, social and microsocial conditions. In developmental psychology, there is no consensus on crises, their place and role in mental development. Some psychologists believe that development should be harmonious and crisis-free. Crises are an abnormal, “painful” phenomenon, the result of improper upbringing. Another part of psychologists argues that the presence of crises in development is natural. Moreover, according to some ideas in developmental psychology, a child who has not truly experienced a crisis will not fully develop further. This topic was addressed by Bozovic, Polivanova, and Gail Sheehy.
L.S. Vygotsky examines the dynamics of transitions from one age to another. At different stages, changes in the child’s psyche can occur slowly and gradually, or they can occur quickly and abruptly. Stable and crisis stages of development are distinguished, their alternation is the law of child development. A stable period is characterized by a smooth course of the development process, without sudden shifts and changes in the personality of the region. Long in duration. Minor, minimal changes accumulate and at the end of the period give a qualitative leap in development: age-related new formations appear, stable, fixed in the structure of the Personality.
Crises do not last long, a few months, and under unfavorable circumstances they can last up to a year or even two years. These are brief but turbulent stages. Significant developmental shifts; the child changes dramatically in many of his features. Development can take on a catastrophic character at this time. The crisis begins and ends imperceptibly, its boundaries are blurred and unclear. Exacerbation occurs in the middle of the period. For the people around the child, it is associated with a change in behavior, the appearance of “difficulty in education.” The child is out of the control of adults. Affective outbursts, whims, conflicts with loved ones. Schoolchildren's performance decreases, interest in classes weakens, academic performance decreases, and sometimes painful experiences and internal conflicts arise.
In a crisis, development takes on a negative character: what was formed at the previous stage disintegrates and disappears. But something new is also being created. New formations turn out to be unstable and in the next stable period they are transformed, absorbed by other new formations, dissolved in them, and thus die off.
D.B. Elkonin developed the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky about child development. “The child approaches each point in his development with a certain discrepancy between what he has learned from the system of person-person relations and what he has learned from the system of person-object relations. It is precisely the moments when this discrepancy takes on the greatest magnitude that are called crises, after which the development of the side that lagged behind in the previous period occurs. But each side prepares the development of the other.”
Newborn crisis. Associated with a sharp change in living conditions. The child goes from comfortable, familiar living conditions to difficult ones (new nutrition, breathing). Adaptation of the child to new living conditions.
Year 1 crisis. Associated with an increase in the child’s capabilities and the emergence of new needs. A surge of independence, the emergence of affective reactions. Affective outbursts as a reaction to misunderstanding on the part of adults. The main acquisition of the transition period is a kind of children's speech called L.S. Vygotsky autonomous. It differs significantly from adult speech in its sound form. Words become polysemantic and situational.
Crisis 3 years. The border between early and preschool age is one of the most difficult moments in a child’s life. This is destruction, a revision of the old system of social relations, a crisis of identifying one’s “I”, according to D.B. Elkonin. The child, separating from adults, tries to establish new, deeper relationships with them. The emergence of the phenomenon “I myself,” according to Vygotsky, is a new formation of “external I myself.” “The child is trying to establish new forms of relationships with others - a crisis of social relations.”
L.S. Vygotsky describes 7 characteristics of a 3-year crisis. Negativism is a negative reaction not to the action itself, which he refuses to perform, but to the demand or request of an adult. The main motive for action is to do the opposite.
The motivation for the child's behavior changes. At the age of 3, he first becomes able to act contrary to his immediate desire. The child’s behavior is determined not by this desire, but by the relationship with another, adult person. The motive for behavior is already outside the situation given to the child. Stubbornness. This is the reaction of a child who insists on something not because he really wants it, but because he himself told adults about it and demands that his opinion be taken into account. Obstinacy. It is directed not against a specific adult, but against the entire system of relationships that developed in early childhood, against the norms of upbringing accepted in the family.
The tendency towards independence is clearly manifested: the child wants to do everything and decide for himself. In principle, this is a positive phenomenon, but during a crisis, an exaggerated tendency towards independence leads to self-will; it is often inadequate to the child’s capabilities and causes additional conflicts with adults.
For some children, conflicts with their parents become regular; they seem to be constantly at war with adults. In these cases they talk about protest-rebellion. In a family with an only child, despotism may appear. If there are several children in a family, jealousy usually arises instead of despotism: the same tendency towards power here acts as a source of a jealous, intolerant attitude towards other children who have almost no rights in the family, from the point of view of the young despot.
Depreciation. A 3-year-old child may begin to swear (old rules of behavior are devalued), throw away or even break a favorite toy offered at the wrong time (old attachments to things are devalued), etc. The child's attitude towards other people and towards himself changes. He is psychologically separated from close adults.
The crisis of 3 years is associated with the awareness of oneself as an active subject in the world of objects; for the first time the child can act contrary to his desires.
Crisis 7 years. It may begin at age 7, or may progress to age 6 or 8. Discovery of the meaning of a new social position - the position of a schoolchild associated with the performance of academic work highly valued by adults. The formation of an appropriate internal position radically changes his self-awareness. According to L.I. Bozovic is the period of the birth of socialism. "I" of the child. A change in self-awareness leads to a reassessment of values. Profound changes occur in terms of experiences - stable affective complexes. It appears that L.S. Vygotsky calls it generalization of experiences. A chain of failures or successes (in school, in general communication), each time experienced approximately equally by the child, leads to the formation of a stable affective complex - feelings of inferiority, humiliation, wounded pride or a sense of self-worth, competence, exclusivity. Thanks to the generalization of experiences, a logic of feelings appears. Experiences acquire a new meaning, connections are established between them, and a struggle between experiences becomes possible.
This leads to the emergence of the child's inner life. The beginning of differentiation of the child's external and internal life is associated with a change in the structure of his behavior. A semantic orienting basis for an action appears - a link between the desire to do something and the unfolding actions. This is an intellectual moment that allows you to more or less adequately evaluate a future action from the point of view of its results and more distant consequences. Meaningful orientation in one’s own actions becomes an important aspect of inner life. At the same time, it eliminates the impulsiveness and spontaneity of the child’s behavior. Thanks to this mechanism, children's spontaneity is lost; the child thinks before acting, begins to hide his experiences and hesitations, and tries not to show others that he feels bad.
A pure crisis manifestation of the differentiation between the external and internal life of children usually becomes antics, mannerisms, and artificial tension in behavior. These external characteristics, as well as the tendency to whims, affective reactions, and conflicts, begin to disappear when the child emerges from the crisis and enters a new age.
New formation - arbitrariness and awareness of mental processes and their intellectualization.
Puberty crisis (from 11 to 15 years) associated with the restructuring of the child’s body - puberty. The activation and complex interaction of growth hormones and sex hormones causes intense physical and physiological development. Secondary sexual characteristics appear. Adolescence is sometimes called a protracted crisis. Due to rapid development, difficulties arise in the functioning of the heart, lungs, and blood supply to the brain. In adolescence, the emotional background becomes uneven and unstable.
Emotional instability increases the sexual arousal that accompanies the process of puberty.
Gender identification reaches a new, higher level. An orientation towards models of masculinity and femininity is clearly manifested in behavior and the manifestation of personal qualities.
Thanks to the rapid growth and restructuring of the body in adolescence, interest in one's appearance sharply increases. A new image of the physical “I” is formed. Because of its hypertrophied importance, the child acutely experiences all the flaws in appearance, real and imaginary.
The image of the physical “I” and self-awareness in general is influenced by the pace of puberty. Children with late maturation are at the least advantageous position; acceleration creates more favorable opportunities for personal development.
A feeling of adulthood appears - a feeling of being an adult, a central neoplasm of early adolescence. A passionate desire arises, if not to be, then at least to appear and be considered an adult. Defending his new rights, the teenager protects many areas of his life from the control of his parents and often comes into conflict with them. In addition to the desire for emancipation, the teenager has a strong need to communicate with peers. Intimate and personal communication becomes the leading activity during this period. Teenage friendships and association in informal groups appear. Bright, but usually alternating hobbies also arise.
Crisis of 17 years (from 15 to 17 years old). It appears exactly at the turn of the usual school and new adult life. May shift by 15 years. At this time, the child finds himself on the threshold of real adult life.
Most 17-year-old schoolchildren are focused on continuing their education, a few are focused on finding a job. The value of education is a great benefit, but at the same time, achieving the set goal is difficult, and at the end of 11th grade, emotional stress can increase sharply.
Those who have been going through a crisis for 17 years are characterized by various fears. Responsibility to yourself and your family for your choice, real achievements at this time is already a big burden. Added to this is the fear of a new life, of the possibility of making a mistake, of failure when entering a university, and, for young men, of the army. High anxiety and, against this background, pronounced fear can lead to neurotic reactions, such as fever before final or entrance exams, headaches, etc. An exacerbation of gastritis, neurodermatitis or other chronic disease may begin.
A sharp change in lifestyle, inclusion in new types of activities, communication with new people cause significant tension. A new life situation requires adaptation to it. Mainly two factors help to adapt: family support and self-confidence and a sense of competence.
Focus on the future. Period of personality stabilization. At this time, a system of stable views on the world and one’s place in it—a worldview—is formed. The associated youthful maximalism in assessments and passion in defending one’s point of view are known. The central new formation of the period is self-determination, professional and personal.
Crisis 30 years. Around the age of 30, sometimes a little later, most people experience a crisis. It is expressed in a change in ideas about one’s life, sometimes in a complete loss of interest in what was previously the main thing in it, in some cases even in the destruction of the previous way of life.
The crisis of 30 years arises due to the unrealization of life plans. If at the same time there is a “reassessment of values” and a “revision of one’s own Personality,” then we are talking about the fact that the life plan turned out to be wrong in general. If the life path is chosen correctly, then attachment “to a certain Activity, a certain way of life, certain values and orientations” does not limit, but, on the contrary, develops his Personality.
The crisis of 30 years is often called a crisis of the meaning of life. It is with this period that the search for the meaning of existence is usually associated. This search, like the entire crisis as a whole, marks the transition from youth to maturity.
The problem of meaning in all its variants, from particular to global - the meaning of life - arises when the goal does not correspond to the motive, when its achievement does not lead to the achievement of the object of need, i.e. when the goal was set incorrectly. If we are talking about the meaning of life, then the general life goal turned out to be erroneous, i.e. life plan.
Some people in adulthood experience another, “unplanned” crisis, not confined to the border of two stable periods of life, but arising within a given period. This is the so-called crisis 40 years. It's like a repeat of the crisis of 30 years. It occurs when the crisis of 30 years has not led to a proper solution to existential problems.
A person acutely experiences dissatisfaction with his life, a discrepancy between life plans and their implementation. A.V. Tolstykh notes that added to this is a change in attitude on the part of work colleagues: the time when one could be considered “promising”, “promising” is passing, and the person feels the need to “pay bills”.
In addition to problems associated with professional activity, the crisis of 40 years is often caused by the aggravation of family relationships. The loss of some close people, the loss of a very important common aspect of the life of the spouses - direct participation in the lives of children, daily care for them - contributes to the final understanding of the nature of the marital relationship. And if, apart from the children of the spouses, nothing significant binds them both, the family may fall apart.
In the event of a crisis at the age of 40, a person has to once again rebuild his life plan and develop a largely new “I-concept”. Serious changes in life may be associated with this crisis, including changing professions and starting a new family.
Retirement crisis. First of all, the disruption of the usual regime and way of life has a negative impact, often combined with an acute sense of contradiction between the remaining ability to work, the opportunity to be useful and their lack of demand. A person finds himself, as it were, “thrown to the sidelines” of a current life without his active participation. A decrease in one’s social status and loss of the rhythm of life that has been preserved for decades sometimes lead to a sharp deterioration in the general physical and mental condition, and in some cases even to a relatively quick death.
The retirement crisis is often aggravated by the fact that around this time the second generation—the grandchildren—grows up and begins to live an independent life, which is especially painful for women who devote themselves mainly to their families.
Retirement, which often coincides with the acceleration of biological aging, is often associated with a worsening financial situation and sometimes a more secluded lifestyle. In addition, the crisis may be complicated by the death of a spouse or the loss of some close friends.
!No! Don't want! I won't! I won't! Go away! You are bad (bad)! I don't love you! I don't need you (don't need you)! Have you already heard similar phrases from your children? Congratulations!!! Your child has reached an age crisis of 1, 3, 7, 14 or 18 years.
You may ask why congratulations? But because this means the correct and normal development of your child. According to psychologists, a child who has not gone through a real crisis in due time is not able to develop fully further.
However, many parents are afraid of these periods and often resort to drastic measures to pacify the little “revolutionary”. Sometimes the intensity of emotions reaches such a degree that adults can shout at him and even spank him. But such influences, at a minimum, will not bring any benefit, or at most will worsen the situation (this depends on the mental properties of the child himself and the internal microclimate in the family). And most of the parents will later regret and suffer because of their unexpected reaction, reproaching themselves for what bad teachers they are.
It is important to remember here that the irritation and anger that parents experience is a normal reaction in this case, since in fact these crises are not only children's, but at the same time family crises, too. Both children and adults can experience negative emotions. This is fine! You just need to understand it, accept it and react correctly to the current situation.
Developmental crises accompany a person throughout his life: the crisis of the newborn, 14, 17, 30 years old, etc. A crisis is a temporary phenomenon. With a correct understanding of it, we can either completely rid ourselves of the manifestations of the crisis or reduce them to a minimum. However, if this period is not passed through by the child fully and profitably, then all unresolved problems that arose in the last critical period will manifest themselves with renewed vigor in the next age crisis and, coupled with new problems of the next age, will give an even greater emotional and psychological explosion than it did. could be.
Why does it happen that your beloved, sweet and obedient baby today suddenly turned into a capricious and nervous pest? Let's take a closer look at the main crises in children by year.
Newborn crisis
At birth, a child moves from an environment completely adapted for him to a world to which he must adapt himself. This becomes a lot of stress for the baby. At this time, his attitude and trust in the outside world are formed. To successfully pass this critical period, only a permanent person should be with the child. Mom doesn’t have to be here, but someone should be there all the time. Feed, bathe, change clothes, approach when crying, pick up. If there is no such adult nearby and the need for contact and intimacy with him is not satisfied, then this may later affect the behavior of the child, and then the adult. For example, in the future, very rapid sensory and emotional overload and fatigue are possible.
During this period, there is a so-called symbiosis, when mother and child feel and understand each other at deep non-verbal levels. Accordingly, any feelings and emotions of the mother are projected onto the child. So, for example, if the mother is calm, then the child is calm, and if the mother is worried and nervous, then the child reacts to this with very restless behavior. The child at this time is very “comfortable” and understandable. Fed - he's full, rocked - he's asleep. Of course, mothers get used to the fact that the child is completely dependent on her and, out of habit, continue to think and do everything for the child. But as the child grows and matures, such a connection ceases to satisfy him, and when he finally learns to sit and then walk, a new crisis of 1 year begins.
Year 1 crisis
At this time, the child becomes aware, understands and perceives the world in a new way. If earlier he perceived himself and his mother as a single whole, now their emotional and psychological separation from each other begins. In many situations, the child encounters a different mother’s reaction to events than his. So his happiness from the amazing marks left by a felt-tip pen on the wallpaper or the joy from the exciting process of smearing porridge on his hands and the table may not always coincide with his mother’s emotions.
At approximately the age of 1 year, the baby begins to walk. He has more freedom and an urgent need for research arises. Parents were accustomed to the fact that the child urgently needed them, was in their arms all the time. Children protest against restrictions on freedom (don’t touch, sit down, don’t walk, etc.), and therefore cognitive activity.
During this period, such personal values as self-esteem, self-respect, trust in oneself and one’s body, and practicing the accuracy of movement are laid down and practiced. The child must be given as much freedom of action as possible, while ensuring maximum safety for the baby in advance. Children of this period react sharply to prohibitions and restrictions, but are very easily distracted. Therefore, at this age, it would be better to distract the child with something bright and interesting than to limit his actions with a ban and end up with another whim and rebellion.
Read more about the 1-year-old crisis in a child.
Crisis of 3 years (occurs from 1.5 to 3 years)
Now your baby is beginning to separate himself and the world around him. This is the so-called “I myself” period, when the child searches and tries to understand his “I” and forms his internal positions. This is a period of realizing who I am to others. A child who previously felt like the center of the entire universe suddenly discovers that he is only one of many universes surrounding him.
During this period, such personal values as a sense of internal order, the ability to make decisions in one’s life, self-confidence, and self-sufficiency are being developed. It is now very important for a little person to understand any independent action as his own choice without the use of adults’ persuasion, the carrot and stick method. The best solution is to give the child the opportunity to do what he sees fit, giving him a choice without choice. Those. we offer him a choice of 2-3 options for actions that are beneficial and correct for us in advance, but at the same time he feels his independence.
At this age, we definitely set boundaries for children’s behavior. If this is not done, then they will not know where to stop, and this is already fraught with big problems in adolescence. Such teenagers will have difficulty setting boundaries when communicating with other people and will become dependent on the opinions of more authoritative friends.
Read more about the crisis of a 3-year-old child.
Crisis of 7 years (occurs from 6 to 8 years)
At this time, the child receives a new social status - a schoolboy. And with this, new responsibilities and rights appear. The question arises of what to do with the new freedom and responsibility. Also, the child has his own opinion on everything. And here the parents’ respect for him is very important! Now the child really needs support in everything. Returning home, the student must be sure that here he can always find support in all the difficulties of life, new communication with peers and adults, and learning problems.
Your baby from yesterday has already grown up. And, despite the fact that sometimes he is still childishly impulsive and impatient, his reasoning and actions become more logical and acquire a semantic basis. He begins to distinguish and separate his own feelings and emotions, and learns self-control.
During this period, not only new academic and household responsibilities should appear, which only he and no one else can do. He can be offered a choice of washing the dishes, preparing everything for cleaning, caring for a pet, etc. At the same time, the child must decide for himself when and what he will do, but know that there are consequences for failure to fulfill his duties. These responsibilities are different for each child depending on their desires and preferences. Under no circumstances should you force him to do anything without his consent and desire. It is absolutely necessary to agree with him about this. The child becomes equal to us. Now he is one of the full members of the family, and not a subordinate.
Read more about the 7-year crisis
Puberty crisis (occurs from 11 to 15 years)
Problems at this age occur due to physiological changes. During this period we observe the so-called “growing pains”. The body grows and changes quickly. A teenager must get used to his new self, accept himself and learn to live with a changed body. Our adult child feels great overload of the nervous system. This is where psychological instability arises; it is easy to get angry. On the one hand, he is very stormy, restless, active, but at the same time he is subject to great physical fatigue and lethargy. A hormonal explosion occurs. The teenager experiences new feelings that he is not yet able to cope with. As a result, we see emotional instability and rapid mood changes. A teenager is overwhelmed by a storm of feelings and emotions. It seems to him that no one understands him, everyone demands something from him and is negatively disposed towards him. The child observes and feels the world in new, rich colors and manifestations, but he does not yet understand what to do with all this and how to behave correctly in this new world.
What should we do during this period? Since this is a “growing pain”, you don’t need to do anything about it. We calmly wait for our dear little one to “get over the disease.” We treat it during this period with care, caution, precision, and great attention.
This period is also associated for the child with the transition from childhood to adulthood. He is no longer a child, but not yet an adult. He rushes between these poles and cannot accept one of these roles completely. On the one hand, he is still a child, his interest in games and entertainment has not faded, and he does not want to part with the world of childhood. On the other hand, he already considers himself an adult, he is attracted by this apparent freedom of the adult world, but at the same time he understands that there are many responsibilities here that he does not yet want to take on.
What to do about it? Same thing - nothing. We are waiting for this period of uncertainty to end and our adult man to achieve full understanding and acceptance of his adulthood. We accept him as he is, give maximum support and participation if he asks for it.
Crisis of 17 years (occurs from 15 to 18 years)
This time is associated with the period of the beginning of social maturity, the period of stabilization of the processes of previous development. Our former child is finally reaching adulthood. The crisis of 17 years coincides with the time of graduation, when a boy (girl) faces the question of his future life path, choice of profession, subsequent education, work, and for boys - military service. All psychological problems during this period are associated with adapting to new living conditions and finding one’s place in it.
The support of family and people close to him can now provide a great role and help to a person. More than ever, your child now needs a sense of self-confidence, a sense of competence.
If your child does not receive the help and support he needs, then his fear and uncertainty can give rise to neurotic reactions, which in turn will lead to somatic problems, and then to illnesses on the physical level. Be attentive to your adult!
An age crisis is a period in which the amount of previously acquired knowledge and experience transforms into the quality of future life. And, if an adult is often left alone with his own problems of adolescence, then the child who is raising him can and should be helped to overcome this difficult period by his closest and dearest person.
There is no need to be afraid of such periods. A little patience and proper attention to the child, and you will pass this critical age point without much shock.
