Developmental Psychology: Reflection on Social Initiation and Sexual Activity

Introduction
Developmental psychology deals with how the brain and its functions undergo through
various stages in which they not only mature and serve any human as they are supposed to, but at
the same time also shape according to the unique personality of the individual they belong to
(Shaffer & Kipp, 2013, p.5). Thus, developmental psychology is a central consideration to studying
the health and well-being of people and the various factors which contribute to the same at various
stages of people’s lives, both physically as well as psychologically.
In order to understand the personality development of humans, a number of psychologists
have provided theoretical models which attempt to map their psychological development. Two such
psychologists from the 20th century were Ivan Pavlov and Jean Piaget. This essay is a personal
reflection in which I ponder over two significant stages of my adult life – social initiation and
sexual activity. I will do so by considering Pavlov’s notion of associative learning, and particularly
his further demonstration of the same through classical conditioning. In Piaget’s case, the notion of
the “formal operational stage” is the important one to take into consideration here in understanding
these two stages of my adult life.
Two Developmental Events of Adult Life
Both biologically and by human convention, people experience many transformations when
they enter adulthood. They are allowed to, or exposed to, such events or actions which they were
prohibited from as children, or which they did not know the meaning of. Promotion of health and
well-being for most of childhood can be seen as related to the following factors: 1) care-giving, 2)
emotional support, 3) meeting material needs, 4) environment for learning. While in adulthood,
factors such as care-giving or environment for learning become less salient (though not completely
irrelevant), additional factors such as social connected-ness, productivity, and performativity based
on rewards and punishments begin to play an important role (Seligman & Csikzentmihalyi, 2014).
These factors will be considered in my adult life based on two important developments below.

Social Initiation
Among all cultures, “coming of age” has a sociological significance upon the individual
(Zentall & Galeff, 2013). There are ceremonies which are organized to mark this transition. To me
also, initiation into society has come with more social connected-ness.
For example, some of the major aspects of entering adulthood and social initiation for me
have been moving out into an apartment of my own, as well as a more heightened awareness of
legal and financial procedures, as well as a surge in the general interaction with strangers. Moving
out of the parents’ house came to me as a new stage in life, as I had no idea about how to look after
myself before that period. Over this period of time in which I have begun living on my own, I have
become increasingly aware of how things have shifted qualitatively from the time of my childhood,
and much of it has to do with my social dependence on parents earlier, as compared to social
autonomy now.
Sexual and Romantic Relations
Another significant change which has taken place in my adult life is that I have started
dating people. Although I had feelings for people before adulthood, it never really translated into a
relationship of any kind. I asked out the first person I ever dated on my birthday when I turned 18
years of age, and since then I have been involved in a few relationships. There are various aspects to
this situation: on one hand, I am aware of the responsibilities of being in a relationship with
somebody unlike when I was a child, and on the other, I also feel a personal freedom which tells me
that I can do what I feel like with myself.
There are two further aspects to this situation: one, I have developed a sense of privacy in
two senses. On the one hand, I wish that the time I have with my partner should not be intruded
upon by anybody else. On the other, I also value some privacy for myself in a way that I don’t want
my partner to be with me all the time, whether in person or on phone. Both these senses of privacy
were somewhat absent when I was a child, and I associate them with my adulthood. Second, I have

also realized through dating people that at some point I must get married, and I am on the lookout
for the ideal person for the same.
Two Theoretical Models: Pavlov and Piaget
Pavlov’s Model of Conditioning
Pavlov’s main aim to to explain how behavior works. That is, why do human beings do the
things which they do. Pavlov’s answer to this question is that humans (and animals as well) learn
their behavior through a process of conditioning (Crain, 2015, p.56). This specific form of learning
which governs most of behavior is, for Pavlov, associative learning, which draws connections
between different things and events in a series and then associates one with something which
follows. The major idea which is associated with Pavlov’s developmental theory is that of “classical
conditioning,” which is a very simple form of associative learning found predominantly during
childhood (Sutton, 2017, p.189). For example, in experiments conducted on dogs, Pavlov found that
when dogs were given food after the sound of the bell, they became sensitive to associate the bell
sound with the coming of food. For Pavlov, the development of childhood comes with a steady
learning of what various kinds of stimuli to behavior are, and what kind of responses to give to
these various stimuli.
Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage
Piaget did empirical studies on the growth stages of children, and developed some criteria
along which to map this growth. Piaget divides the development of individuals along certain stages
which show the extent of behavior which children display. For example, he calls the first stage of
children’s development the “sensori-motor” stage, in which the child’s only awareness of the world
is through sensing movement around it. Similarly, till adolescence, the child goes through the “pre-
operational” stage – involving the start of speech and play – and the “concrete-operational” stage –
involving the use of logic and complex activity with limbs (Brown & Desforges, 2013, p.10-14).