Psychology for Health and Social Care Assignment 2022

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
PSYCHOLOGY FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
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1PSYCHOLOGY FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
Executive Summary
Development is defined as the sequences of age-associated changes that take place
during the complete progression of the lifecycle. There are total seven stages of development
that comprise of infancy, primary childhood, mid childhood, adolescent, primary adulthood,
mid adulthood and old period (Slater and Bremner 2017). This study focused on the various
psychological theories that are associated or linked with different phases of life. The above
mentioned psychological theories are responsible for evaluating the physical, social and
cognitive development of an individual during their complete lifecycle and how these
theories enhance the knowledge and understanding of development (Lind 2017).
Furthermore, the present report highlights the various biological and social factors that will
affect or influence the human behaviour such as lack of proper education, poor quality of life,
social exclusion, discrimination and cultural seclusion. The complete emphasis is given on
the social role and the health belief model (HBM), which will assist the healthcare
professional in understanding and evaluating the behaviour of an individual (Shean 2015).
Acute behavioural disturbance is also defined as the excited delirium that is a major
emergency condition resulted due to aggressive or threatening behaviour of an individual.
Hence, theory of mind is assessed in this study that will exhibit how these psychological
theories will affect the behavioural disturbance and how can these theories be applied in an
individual life. Therefore, the present report highlights all the crucial underpinnings of
psychological theories that is essential for addressing the different stages of lifecycle
(Kagitcibasi 2017).

2PSYCHOLOGY FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
Table of Contents
Comparison of different psychological theories of lifespan development.................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Explanation of how psychological theories and concepts are related to specific life stages.....5
Social and biological factors that influence human behaviour..................................................8
The importance of social roles within the health and social care settings.................................9
The application of psychological theories to individuals experiencing high levels of stress. .11
Analysis of how psychological theories relate to behaviour disturbance................................12
Analysis of how psychological theory informs understanding of mental health disorders.....13
Evaluation of the application of psychological principles to affecting behaviour change in
health and social care settings..................................................................................................14
Analysis of how psychological theories can enhance understanding of relationships in Health
and social care..........................................................................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................17

3PSYCHOLOGY FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
Comparison of different psychological theories of lifespan development
Introduction
Psychology is defined as the evaluation or study of an individual’s mind and assessing
how the individuals thinking and perception will affect their behaviour, performance and
mental operation. Therefore, it is established that the primary purpose of psychology is to
elaborate, explain, control and assume the behavioural and psychological aspect of a human
being that is highly relevant in understanding the health and social care of a person (Davey
2018).
There are three major issues included in life-span development that is the major
debate area among the compete history of the developmental psychology. The nature vs.
nurture is the major debate area that comprise of issues “Why are you the way you are? As
you consider some of your features (height, weight, personality and being diabetic), ask
yourself whether these features are a result of heredity or environmental factors-or both”.
This debate is consistent in almost every phase of human development (Kail and Cavanaugh
2018).
The theorists and researchers of life-span development undertake that every stage of
an individual life has their own age-related challenges and achievement that requires a
theoretical approach primarily focused on the each stage of growth. Hence, the different
psychological theories provide an integrated frame-work that will comprise of all the major
knowledge and understanding of the development in terms of physical, social and
behavioural terms and identify what are the major challenges or factors that is significant
during each development cycle (Green and Piel 2015).

4PSYCHOLOGY FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
The different theories of life-span development are directly associated to the activities
and changes that takes place during each stage of development. In Stage versus open-ended
theories. Stage theories states that each individual goes through the same stages of
development and they select their life path based on the selections they do in their life,
example includes Erickson theory, whereas open-ended theories states that every individual is
different from one another and have a different way of responding to any situation that
depends on the psychological, social and biological factor. One example for this includes the
Jaan Valsiner theory which highlights use of signs to interpret human psychological process
(Mintzberg 2017).
In continuity versus discontinuity theory, continuity theories underlines that the
development of an individual happens in a progressive manner and discontinuity theories
states that the development if an individual is a diverse and erratic changes that do not happen
in a progressive way (Refaeli et al. 2016). In static versus dynamic theories, static theories
states that the development has a single direction, stage and option, which is similar to the
steps of ladder, which is explained in Vygotsky theory. Whereas, Dynamic theories states that
the development of an individual takes place dynamically and comprise of new level during
every phase and example includes Piaget’s development theory (Ryan and Deci 2017).
Explanation of how psychological theories and concepts are related to
specific life stages
Development is defined as the organized change which occurs in the lifespan of an
individual between their conceptions to death. The life of an individual is classified under
different stages that include (Arnett, Chapin and Brownlow 2018):
 Prenatal period - This stage of lifestyle comprise of the time period between the
conceptions to the birth of a child (birth to 2 years).

5PSYCHOLOGY FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
 Early childhood - This stage is considered as the initial few years of an individual life
where the child acquire new changes and grow (3-8 years old).
 Mid childhood - This is the stage prior to the puberty stage of an individual (9-11
years).
 Adolescence - This is the most crucial stage of an individual life as majority of
changes takes place during this stage (12- 20 years).
 Early adulthood - This stage includes the age between 20 to 40 years (20-45years).
 Middle adulthood - This is considered as the most experienced and intelligent phase
of an individual life that occurs between 40 to 60 years (45-65years).
 Old age - This stage is compared and considered as the childhood phase where the
individual behaves like a child. 65 years and older people are included under this
phase.
There are different development theories that are crucial for understanding the human
development and predicting the future developments in terms of behaviour, educational
attainment and personality. The theories included are:
 Psychosexual theory of development: Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939) proposed this
theory which stated that each individuals have biological urge or drive that should be
completely satisfied that will further shape their life towards a positive future. The
biological urges are the basis of the psychosomatic energy that is important for
regulating the human behaviour and guide them towards new directions in their
complete course of life. Freud theory was observed as discontinuous development and
also stated that each individual must go through every stage of their life (Newman and
Newman 2015).