Child Development

PSY 304 Lifespan Development

Kendra Jackson

August 24, 2015

A Need To Belong

An individual’s indentity may develop through the process of belonging. In Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, belongingness is part of one of his major needs that motivates human behavior. The hierarchy is usually portrayed as a pyramid, with more basic needs at the base and more complex needs near the peak. The need for love and belonging lie at the center of the pyramid as part of the social needs. While Maslow suggested that these needs were less important than the physiological and safety needs, he believed that the need for belonging helped people to experience companionship and acceptance through family, friends, and other relationship (about psycology) I am chossing to examine and describe how we feel a need to belong .

The frist theory I am going to examine and describe is social emotional development.

Social-emotional development includes the child’s experience, expression, and management of emotions and the ability to establish positive and rewarding relationships with others (Cohen and others 2005). It encompasses both intra- and interpersonal processes.

The core features of emotional development include the ability to identify and

understand one’s own feelings, to accurately read and comprehend emotional states in

others, to manage strong emotions and their expression in a constructive manner, to

regulate one’s own behavior, to develop empathy for others, and to establish and

maintain relationships. (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child 2004, 2) (child development)

The second theory I am going to describe and examine is biological development, the progressive changes in size, shape, and function during the life of an organism by which its genetic potentials (genotype) are translated into functioning mature systems (phenotype). Most modern philosophical outlooks would consider that development of some kind or other characterizes all...