Psychology 144:

Semester Assignment

Shakoor Davids

SU: 26645610
Geraldine is a female in her teenage years who is still trying to figure out herself. Geraldine is
caught up between obeying her mother’s rule and having the need to be carefree, she often
associates more with her friends in order for her to develop her identity and personality.
Geraldine’s mother has noticed a change in Geraldine’s behaviour and believes that her
friends are a bad influence for her. Geraldine resides in a community where there are many
socio-economic issues, these socio-economic issues also has an effect on her behaviour. This
essay will include the current stage of Geraldine’s psychosocial development by referring to
the Erikson theory. The personality of Geraldine will also be explained by referring to the
Freud theory. Geraldine’s behaviour according to her mother is mostly negative, this essay
will also provide information about her behaviour and see if her behaviour could be linked to
a psychological disorder.

To find out Geraldine’s current stage of psychosocial development; we need to look at the
Erikson’s stage theory. The Erikson theory divides the lifespan of an individual up into eight
stages with each stage having a psychosocial crisis that an individual needs to overcome.
(Weiten, 2018) Each stage is different from the other and depends on what age group an
individual finds themselves in. For example, an infant would have a completely different
psychosocial crisis to overcome than a teenager. An infant has to go through the trust versus
mistrust stage where an infant has to rely and trust an adult to take care of the infant’s basic
needs. When these needs are met the infant would develop a trusting and optimistic attitude
(Weiten, 2018). Coming back to Geraldine’s stage of psychosocial development, she would
belong to the fifth stage of the Erikson’s stage theory, also know as the adolescence stage.
The psychosocial crisis in this stage is known as the identity versus confusion. In this stage
teenagers begin to explore and try to find out what their identities are, they ask questions like
“Who am I or Where am I going in life?”(Weiten, 2018). In this stage, teenagers tends to
explore and try to find their identities, they sometimes try to be like others to see if they
might find their identity. Geraldine’s actions are very similar to this as she spends her time
with her friends in the sense that she might be developing her identity better while being
around her friends. Geraldine’s mother said that she noticed changes in Geraldine’s behaviour
and personality, these changes are happening because Geraldine is trying to fit in with her
friends and wanting to be like them. Geraldine’s personality is developed by her social
relationship with he friends and the social environment she finds herself in.
Geraldine’s personality can be explained through Freud's idea of structure of personality.
Freud has divided the structure of personality into three known as the id, ego and superego
(Weiten, 2018). Freud states that personality is governed by unconscious forces(Weiten,
2018). The id refers to our thoughts and perception in contact with the real world, the id
operates according to the pleasure principle which is the need for instant satisfaction(Weiten,
2018). For example, the id will let you know that you are hungry and have that urge to go to
eat. The ego refers to our memories and stored knowledge, the ego acts as the mediation
between the urges for instant satisfaction of the id and the reality principle(Weiten, 2018).
The ego takes into consideration the social reality, the rules, regulations, etiquette and
customs, to ensure how to behave in a situation(Weiten, 2018). For example, an individual
sees food and the id has the urge to eat; the ego steps in and says that you have to be patient
and get your own food. The ego delays gratification in order to stay out of trouble (Weiten,
2018). The superego refers to our drives, fears and instincts. The superego focuses on the
social standards about what is right or wrong(Weiten, 2018), the superego is the part of the
mind that is responsible for human behaviour. For example, the id wants to eat to fulfil its
urge of hunger and will eat anything, the superego says that it is wrong to eat the food
because it is not your food, it would be stealing. All three the id, ego and superego works
together achieve some sort of satisfaction. Personality differs in many ways depending on
personal characteristics. Traits, values, drives and emotions makes up the personality of an
individual. Each individual has their own unique personality which makes them different
from others. Personality can be shaped either by genetics or the environment, by your past
experiences or the present, by the decisions you make or the decisions of others; personality
can also be consistent or it can change. Shaping your personality by looking at your
environment means that you associate yourself with the social norms, and the ideologies of
society. For example, you implement certain things in your life that others do and believe that
it is the way of doing things. Personality can be shaped by the decisions you make for
yourself or by the decisions others, this means that you have to make decisions for yourself
that will benefit you and help make things easy for you, the decisions by others refers to the
decisions others make for you. For example, your friends make decisions for you and you are
forced to accept it, this is also known as peer pressure. Personality can either be consistent or
it can differ depending on how you want it to be, many times people’s personality changes
because they feel the need to fit in with certain social groups or society. Geraldine’s
personality is very similar to the above mentioned according to her mother, because she
spends more time with her friends, she is becoming more like them.

Brenda, the mother of Geraldine says that she noticed a change in Geraldine’s behaviour.
According to Paruk (2016), adolescence is a period when teenagers and young adults go
through physical, emotional and social change and is a period where mental illness can
develop. Teenagers and young adults sometimes does not know that they might have
psychological disorders, they ignore the symptoms and live with these disorders which can be
problematic. There are many psychological disorders that adolescents might have, these
disorders can only be identified depending on the symptoms that the adolescent might have.
Anxiety Disorder, Eating Disorder, Substance Abuse Disorder and Major Depressive
Disorder are a few common disorders that adolescents might have in this stage of their lives.
Geraldine’s behaviour is very similar to these disorders but the Major Depressive Disorder is
the one that stands out the most. Major Depressive Disorder is also known as depression, it is
the most common disorder found in teenagers and young adults. The feelings of sadness and
loss of interest in activities and hobbies are associated with this disorder, people often feel
sad and fatigue and hopeless when dealing with depression. According to Kleintjies (2008),
the prevalence of Major Depressive Disorders for children and adolescents are (8.0%) in
Western Cape. According to Weiten (2018), women are likely to suffer from depression than
men due to them being sexually harassed, poverty and other socio-economic issues.
Geraldine’s behaviour is very similar to the symptoms of the Major Depressive Disorder;
Geraldine’s mother said she noticed that Geraldine sleeps to much, eats to little, she isolates
herself in her room, she is always irritable and always fatigue. These are all major symptoms
of depression which suggests that Geraldine might be suffering from the Major Depressive
Disorder.

Geraldine resides in community outside of Stellenbosch where there are many socio-
economic problems such as poverty, substance abuse, high suicidal rates, teenage pregnancy
and more issues. Growing up in an environment like that is hard and can have a negative
impact on your life and your behaviour; if you do not make the right choices you will end up
in negative effects of such an environment. According to Schalkwyk (2014), peer pressure
has negative effects on children. In these communities peer pressure is very common,
children and adolescents are pressured into doing things they maybe do not want to do. For
example, they are pressured into doing drugs or sexual intercourse and end up dealing with
the negative effects that comes with it; this has a negative impact on the behaviour of
adolescents and they then suffer from psychological disorders such as anxiety or depression.
Geraldine’s behaviour could have been caused because of these socio-economic problems.
She could be going through depression because she was raised solely by her mother, which
means her father was never around. Another reason could be poverty, poverty can lead to
stress which is one of the main symptoms of depression (Harrison, 2021). All these socio-
economic problems that occurs in the community that Geraldine lives is the main reason why
her behaviour has changed negatively.

To conclude, according to the Erikson’s stage theory we could find out what stage of
psychosocial development she is in, the Erikson’s stage theory is divided into eight stage
throughout the lifespan if an individual. Geraldine is in the adolescence stage where she is
trying to figure out her identity. Geraldine’s personality could be explained through Freud’s
theory, where the structure of personality known as the id, ego and superego can explain her
personality. Geraldine’s personality is shaped by her environment, the decisions made by
others and by living in the present. Geraldine’s behaviour can be been as symptoms for a
psychological disorder, her behaviour is very similar to the symptoms of the Major
Depressive Disorder. The socio-economic problems of the community that Geraldine lives in
is the main reason for why her behaviour has changed and is negative.
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