Holistic Development: Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors

Socrates couldn't put it any better when he said how important it is to examine our life. He told us to
know ourselves and know our strengths and weaknesses. Ask yourself how you came to be who you are
today and how you can improve yourself every single day. Are you aware of your attitude with yourself,
and with the people and environment around you?
It was mentioned in the last lesson that attitude is composed of cognition, affect, and behavior. In this
lesson, we shall discuss them in more practical terms. Cognition will be represented by thoughts; affect
will be represented by feelings; and behavior represents itself.

Thoughts
Have you ever felt inadequate as you grew up? Or have you been subject to the expectations of your
parents, your peers, or yourself? Those are examples of how thoughts affect our attitude and thus, our life
consciously and subconsciously.
Thoughts usually originate from things we have learned both in a right way and a wrong way. That is why
there are terms such as malcognition and maladaptive mechanisms. More on this will be discussed on the
latter part of the lesson. The thoughts that potentially affect our attitude negatively are commonly
associated with an irrational belief represented by a statement that echoes in our heads. Statements in our
heads like "I should be good-looking, "I need him in my life,'" "I am not enough,' or "Life sucks" affect
us. These can be referred to as malcognitions.
These root from hurtful or unpleasant experiences that lost emotional attachment through time and
became statements that we act in accordance with. Other than previous experiences that hurt, these could
also come from the person. An example would be children from broken families or abusive childhoods. In
broken families where parents fight each other and ultimately sever their ties, children blame themselves.
They would think there is no one else to blame because they perceive their parents as perfect models
especially when they are still young. The resulting cognition would sound like "It's all my fault.", or "I
couldn't keep them together." Later on, the self-blame cognition would affect the child's attitude regarding
self that results to more maladaptive attitudes and behaviors. On the opposite extreme, some kids are too
praised by their parents that when they grow up, statement such as "You are perfect!" may have the child
think that he or she is perfect. It could end up as narcissism or a situation wherein the child will always
strive to be perfect and above others not for self-attainment but to keep the "perfect image. " When they
fail, however, they would probably bash themselves because they have failed their parents’ statement.
They could possibly become perfectionists because their perfectionistic demands to themselves will also
be projected unto others. Higher expectations mean higher frustrations.
Now, as you assess yourself, do you have thoughts, positive and negative, represented by statements you
have been repeating to yourself as you are growing up? Away for a malcognition to be corrected is by
replacing it with something positive. A therapeutic approach would be to say positive statement about
yourself everyday, when you are alone in your routines. Through this method, you can consciously
condition your mindset until it becomes subconscious, thus affecting your attitude and your behavior.
Feelings
No one is exempted from the experience and the color that emotion brings into our life, be it again,
subconscious and conscious. We might consciously feel that we are angry but deep down our anger stems
from a subconscious hurt brought about by rejection from someone we value. Our happiness in the
outside might just be a facade of the emptiness we feel deep down. Our anxieties in the conscious level
maybe guilt in disguise. Our conscious love maybe subconsciously pity. There is a lot to assess to
ourselves and our emotions because the variety of how humans express and experience emotion is too
high and complex for a single-standing generality. It’s related to our thoughts as well. If thoughts start a
concept inside your mind, emotions will bloat perception of the thought or minimize it. It works like an
amplifier that, depending on what it is, determines how a cognition is experienced thus expressed.
It relates to behavior in a similar manner, except in this case, behavior is an outlet. There is such manner
to which negative emotions can be released through behavior in socially accepted ways - sublimation or
transmutation.
Think of your emotions as a fire ablaze inside of you wherein its color changes according to your mood.
When you transfer or transform that form of energy into something overt like punching a bag, yelling,
writing, or playing sports, the flame burns itself out. That is why it is recommended to not bottle things up
too much. But of course, take things moderately. Do not express too much.
It is a common therapy to allow people suffering from depression or hyperactivity to have them express
their impulses and emotions into socially accepted forms such as writing, sketching, or playing sports.
Since the strength of emotional stability varies among individuals, we cannot stigmatize sensitive people
and compare them with "stronger" individuals. Everyone has a pace. What's your emotional pace? It helps
to find out what your fire is so you could face it, manage it, and express it in a right way.

Behavior
Behavior, as discussed earlier, is the primary output of our attitude. Then again, it also affects our
thoughts and feelings, ultimately leading back to its source - attitude. Behavior can be overt or covert.
Overt behavior is expressed consciously like replying to a friend or volunteering for class recitation.
Covert behavior, however, occurs beyond our awareness, in our blindspot. Mannerisms, body language,
gestures, and personal tendencies fall here.
Feelings (affect) and behavior relate to each other interchangeably - we may act or behave out of feelings
or we may feel pleasant or unpleasant after an action. Our ability to evaluate our feelings and behavior
will allow us to get better at knowing when and when not to express a particular feeling or action.
Thoughts (cognition), like affect, are also related to behavior. We act in accordance to what we think, be
it overt or covert behavior, from either implicit or explicit attitude. Once the action has been done, our
thought analyzes the reaction of the environment to the action - absorbing social emotive reactions,
physical changes if any, and what others think. Once the cognition component has analyzed the reactions
with the behavior, it can then again change the attitude associated with the action or maintain it depending
on discretion.

Overview on the Aspects of Development

There are many aspects of human development. Holistic development entails the development of these
aspects that include physical and neurobiological, cognitive, moral and socio-emotional.

Physical and Neurobiological Development

During the first 12 or so years, rapid development occurs in the human being's physical and
neurobiological aspects. Other than the entirety of the body, the brain also goes through a heap of
processes that allow its optimal function later on in life.
On the physical aspect, an individual start growing into a full-fledged mature human being from infancy.
The processes involved are regulated by our genes. Without our unique genetic makeup as human beings,
we would not be what we are right now.
As the human grows, its head-to-body weight proportion starts balancing, allowing the child to learn to
walk. As the muscles, bones, and organs further grow into complexity and functionality, perception
evolves the same. The ability to see clearer occurs, our capacity to learn language and mimic sounds
begins, and our memory gets better.
The most significant change that a human being has to go through occurs during the stage of puberty. The
stage of puberty is when the body matures in all aspects, with its sexual characteristics-primed for the
natural process of reproduction.
During this stage, curiosity arises from the availability of a whole new variety of sensations, emotions,
and cognitions. Sex hormones start activating and metabolisms coordinate with these to make way for
what we call the sex drive.
On the other hand, in the neurobiological aspect, the brain grows rapidly but matures slower. There is a
reason why at birth, the human head is disproportionately larger compared to the rest of the body.
The brain goes through various stages of building connections with neurons to allow functionalities in the
physical biological, and physiological aspect. But it does not end with just building neurons and
connections. It also strengthens particular connections and circuits and eliminates unused or useless ones.
These processes happen when we are young, before our age even gets to two digits. This is associated
with the fact that learning particular talent at a very young age is better than learning it later on.
This is how the re-wiring process occurs. Though, based on your genetic makeup, it prescribed a script of
what connections to keep and what to terminate. It also gets affected by how the brain functions during
that time of development, therefore, it also prioritizes connections that are exercised regularly. This
manifests with the thoughts we thought of back then and the skills we learn and how, at present, these
affect us.
Other than the innate potentials that make everyone of us unique, the brain and how it was wired back to
the day, affects a lot of our behaviors and attitudes, emotional levels, and cognitions.

Cognitive and Moral Development

There are some theories developed that explain the cognitive and moral development of a person. These
theories are developed by well-renowned psychologists. Jean Piaget, a Swiss Psychologist explained
cognitive development through his Stage Theory of Intellectual Development while Lawrence Kohlberg
offered an explanation of moral development through what became known as Kohlberg's Stages of Moral
Development.
Cognitive Development The development of our cognitive abilities also has stages ranging from the time
we are born to what we are now.
According to Piaget, an individual undergoes distinct stages of intellectual development Piaget’s Stage
Theory of Intellectual Development has four distinct stages: the sensorimotor stage pre-operational stage,
the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage.
During the sensorimotor stage, back when we were born until we are 2 years of age, our cognitions were
mainly focused on learning how to interact with our environment. Our brain's capacity of function only
reaches out to moving our limbs, breathing, perceiving the world, and having the primary still-developing
senses we had. This is also the stage where we develop object permanence or objects constancy-when we
learn to understand that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen. By learning that objects
are separate and different entities that exist independently outside of our individual perception, we
develop the basic ability of being able to attach words to what object, person, or any other environmental
factor we perceive.
This stage is then succeeded by the pre-operational stage that starts from ages 2-7. This is the stage
when we learn how to pretend play or symbolic play yet still, we would still have struggled with logic and
taking other peoples’ point of view – implying that we lacked empathy for others. Even the subject of
object permanence is often still struggled on during this age. This is also the stage of our cognition that
we learn to imitate our parents or our guardians, associating them on roles based on how they act around
us. At this point, however, Just like the sensorimotor age, children are still egocentric- focusing mainly on
themselves with what they want, what they demand, and what they need.
The childish egocentricity slowly comes to & close when we reach ages 7-11 years- during the concrete
operational stage because it is during this stage when the logic functions begin to be available, though,
like a hangover, they might still bring some of their egocentricity. Old habits die hard indeed. During this
stage, children begin to process other individual's perceptions, thoughts, and feelings and realize that they
themselves have their distinct opinions, feelings, and thoughts. However, they still struggle with concepts
of the abstract and hypothetical. They could not imagine as well as adolescents or adults could now nor
hypothesize later on the future.
After the concrete Operational stage comes the stage where you are now – the formal operational stage
that involves huge progress with regards to logical thinking, deductive reasoning, and the comprehension
of abstract ideas. At this point, individuals can think abstractly and apply these in multiple situations.
How they view the world can also be more critical. This stage begins at age 11 and above and does not
cease until the end of the line.
We should understand that these stages develop cumulatively meaning, as a child reaches a higher stage,
the developments he or she accomplished earlier will also progress into more complex devices. Newer
developments basically combine with earlier existing functions.
Developmental delays can also happen during each stage because of other factors that highly influence
development like the environment, upbringing, nutrition, and genetic factors. Everyone has a particular
pace.
Moral Development Lawrence Kohlberg believed in Piaget’s theory and expanded it further to add
complex comprehension to the matter. He devised levels that have two stages each rooting from Piaget’s
theories.

Level 1- Pre-Conventional Morality

Since according to Piaget, it is during ages 7-11 years that a child will start to think more logically and
learn how to be empathetic, Kohlberg theorized that pre-conventional morality begins around the age of 9
years in average. At this level, our personal code of morality is not personal but is instead shaped
externally – implying that our morality at this level is based on the standards of adults and the
consequences of obeying or disobeying the rules they have set.
This level has two stages. First, obedience and punishment orientation. Children avoid punishment by
being in good order. Being punished meant something wrong was done. Second, individualism and
exchange, is transition to the next level because at this stage, children realize that different persons have
different beliefs or viewpoints regarding a deed.

Level 2- Conventional Morality

At the second level, according to Kohlberg, individuals begin to internalize the learned moral standards
they have with their valued adult role models. Even though authority has become internalized, it is not
questioned or doubted. Reasoning is derived from the norms of a particular group in which the individual
belongs.
This level has two stages. First, the good interpersonal relationships, the growing individual is good
based on the approval of others in his or her group. The second stage maintaining social order wherein
the individual becomes is aware of a broader set of rules in society resulting to judgement concerning rule
compliance to uphold the law system and avoid guilt.

Level 3- Post - Conventional Morality

In this level of morality, an individual's basis of his or her morality rests on self-chosen principles.
The first stage in this level is social contract and individual rights. The individual becomes aware that
while the laws and rules of a society exist for the good of the majority, there will be instances that these
may work contradictory to the preferences of particular individuals or minority groups.
Universal Principles, the second stage in this level, implies that individuals have developed their own set
of moral guidelines which may not at all times fit the law of society. These set of principles apply to
everyone like in the case of human rights, justice, and equality. During this stage, the individual would be
able to go against the majority or even the society to defend his or her morals.

Reference:
Perez, A. (2016). Personal Development. Vibal Group, Inc.