Personal Development and Growth: Erikson's Stages and Health

This assignment explores personal development and growth, focusing on Erikson's stages of psychosocial development. Part A compares and contrasts the generativity versus stagnation stage with the ego-integrity versus despair stage, detailing factors influencing positive and negative outcomes within these stages. Part B describes physical and cognitive changes in late adulthood that contribute to decline and potential death. The assignment further outlines proactive strategies for improving physical and cognitive health throughout life. The student provides personal reflections on how to enhance generativity and maintain overall well-being, drawing upon the theoretical frameworks presented and offering practical applications for personal growth and development. The essay concludes with a list of cited references.

Running head: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
PART A...............................................................................................................................2
Comparison and contrast between the Erikson’s generativity versus stagnation stage
with ego-integrity vs despair stage..............................................................................................2
The occurrences that can affect positive or negative outcomes in Erickson’s
generativity versus stagnation stage............................................................................................3
PART B...............................................................................................................................4
Describe the physical and cognitive changes that occur in late adulthood that can lead
to decline and also death..............................................................................................................4
Three proactive ways you personally can improve your physical health........................5
Three ways you personally can improve your cognitive health in your lifetime............5
References............................................................................................................................5

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PART A
Comparison and contrast between the Erikson’s generativity versus stagnation
stage with ego-integrity vs despair stage
The generativity vs. stagnation stage deals with middle adulthood and starts from 40’s
and continues to mid-60. In this stage the social task includes- geerativity vs stagnation. The
main question in this stage includes “how can I contribute to the world?” Individual answer this
question in either of the two ways- through generativity or stagnation. In case of geneartivity
people find ways of helping others such that they can create a mark on the world. On the other
hand, I case of stagnation, people tend to draw themselves apart from society as a whole and try
to be isolated from others (Branje & Koper, 2018). On the other hand, integrity and despair deals
with late adulthood starting from mid-60 are to the end of life. At this stage, people will either
develop a sense of integrity or despair. The sense of integrity is developed in an individual when
there is a sense of satisfaction in individual while reflecting on their lives and on the other hand,
the sense of despair arises when there is a sense of failure in individuals.

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The occurrences that can affect positive or negative outcomes in Erickson’s generativity
versus stagnation stage
Some of the major events that leads to positive outcomes in the Erickson’s’ geerativity vs
stagnation stage includes- making commitment to others, developing better relationship with
family, contributing to the other generations and mentoring others (Cross & Cross, 2017). These
activities contribute to a sense of” making a mark” on the society or the world within
individuals. On the other hand, some of the negative events that leads to negative outcomes in
Erickson stagnation stage includes- being self-centered, not making any efforts for improving
oneself or the ability to put others concerns over ourselves and it also includes- failure in getting
involved with others (Dunkel & Harbke, 2017). And it is at this stage when people go through a
mid-life crisis. Some people have the tendency of taking this crisis as an opportunity and then
they make adjustments in their lives and o the other hand some other people regret having made
mistakes in their lives and therefore they do not wish to make any adjustments in their lives and
live with the regret.
Three proactive changes you can make personally to improve your generativity in your
lifetime
Three major proactive changes that can be made includes- improving our ability to
communicate with others and develop better relationships. When we are able to develop better
relationship with others we feel like doing something good for them such that whatever they
have done for us can be given back to them (Cherry, 2018). We can try to improve our health
conditions because it has a major impact over our attitudes. Moreover we also need to develop a
sense of control over put lives such that we have nothing to regret when we grow old. Therefore
we need to take the charge for our lives decisions and that will helps us in feeling more satisfied

4PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH
with our lives. Once we feel satisfied with our lives we try to do something good for others for
making a mark on them.
PART B
Describe the physical and cognitive changes that occur in late adulthood that can
lead to decline and also death
Some of the major physical changes that takes place with age includes- loss of skin
elasticity, slow reaction time, reduced muscle strength. Vision and hearing impairments occurs,
and other senses also start losing their sensitivity such as taste, smell, touch and others. The
immunity system starts weaning and as a result of the same the older patients become vulnerable
to major diseases and even death sometimes (Cross & Cross, 2017). Moreover there can be
different types of respiratory and cardiovascular problems with patients. Moreover there are also
a number of cognitive changes that older patients go through such as- lowering functioning of
the brain, memory loss and even decreased intellectual function. There is a decline in the patients
attention that plays a very important role in processing of information and also leads to increase
in wisdom. However based on the choice of the individual, the process of their death also varies.
This is so because those individual who feel proud of their lifetime accomplishments and
achievements develop a sense of integrity within them (Syed & McLean, 2017). Once a person
develops this sense of integrity, they have fewer regrets in life and they tend to be more satisfied.
They are the ones who will attain wisdom even when they are confronting death. On the other
hand, those individuals who are not happy with their accomplishments tend to develop a sense of
despair and when they die they have feelings of despair and bitterness.

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Three proactive ways you personally can improve your physical health
The three proactive ways in which I can personally improve my physical health includes
following a healthy diet plan. This diet will include- drinking eight to ten glasses of water on
daily basis, reducing sugary drinks. Eating food items that includes more water content since our
body is majorly made up of water content (Knight, 2017). Secondly I can exercise regularly
which can either be joining gym classes or even carrying out free hand exercises and jogging. I
can also take part in Yoga classes such as to improve my concentration power. Thirdly I can also
go for regular check up with my doctors for ensuring that I have perfect physical health and take
prevention as soon as any issues are identified (Sarang, Karnam & Shitole, 2019).
Three ways you personally can improve your cognitive health in your lifetime
Some of the major activities that will be undertaken by me in order to improve my
cognitive health includes- practising active reading, taking part in meditation and yoga classes
and also trying to learn as many new things as possible. Hence, I will try active reading by
reading newspaper, novels and other magazines that will help me in keeping my brain sharp. I
will take part in yoga classes and also practice meditation at home as it can help in improving my
concentration power and also improve my cognitive health by keeping my brain cells calm. I will
further try to become a student again such that I can learn as much as possible.

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References
Branje, S. J. T., & Koper, N. (2018). Psychosocial development.
Cherry, K. (2018). Erik erikson's stages of psychosocial development. Retrieved Juny, 5, 2018.
Cross, T. L., & Cross, J. R. (2017). Maximizing potential: A school-based conception of
psychosocial development. High Ability Studies, 28(1), 43-58.
Cross, T. L., & Cross, J. R. (2017). Social and emotional development of gifted students:
Introducing the school-based psychosocial curriculum model. Gifted Child Today, 40(3),
178-182.
Dunkel, C. S., & Harbke, C. (2017). A review of measures of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial
development: Evidence for a general factor. Journal of Adult Development, 24(1), 58-76.
Knight, Z. G. (2017). A proposed model of psychodynamic psychotherapy linked to Erik
Erikson's eight stages of psychosocial development. Clinical psychology &
psychotherapy, 24(5), 1047-1058.
Sarang, S. D., Karnam, A. G., & Shitole, R. B. (2019). To investigate the relationship between
psychological factors and stress in two different developmental stages in adults: A cross
sectional study. The Indian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 51(3), 102.
Syed, M., & McLean, K. C. (2017). Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development.