Week 2: Post 1

I actually found this chapter to be very interesting. This discussed the older theories from Freud and Watson and then from these other developmental psychologists refuted these by developing their own theories on how humans develop. As I said in my first discussion, I really disagree with Freud's theory that humans develop based on the desire for erotic sensation. Babies do not suck to gain pleasure and early childhood does not defecate to find pleasure either,  they suck and poop to fulfill the basic desire of life- to live or to find comfort. Harlow disputed these ideas by conduction an experiment with monkeys. He set up an experiment by separating mother and baby monkey and found that the baby monkey desired to be comforted than fed. When he placed the wire monkey and the cloth-monkey in the cage, of course the baby monkey was attached more to the cloth mother. Like monkeys, humans desire to be comforted and loved. Humans desire a sense of security, but this comes after the basic needs are met. This then flows into Maslow's hierarchy of needs: humans need to have food, water, warmth, and of course we need oxygen. Next, we find security and safety away from injury. Then, we love to be loved; we love our friends, our family, and we desire to be accepted. We desire to be respected and we live happier lives if we have a good sense of self-esteem. Finally, we live our lives to find out who we are, we want to be unique individuals.

All of what I described is how I feel development should go, I want to live to be happy, healthy (whatever that may mean), and to be loved. I am going to marry my fiance because that is how I was raised, my parents are still together and I have learned from them and society that this is something that is a milestone of life. I have also learned that I want people to like me, I have experienced rejection and that is not a good feeling, so I would much rather be accepted. I guess what I am concluding in this blog is that no matter what theory you look at (having an eclectic perspective) humans seek to live a certain way or develop a certain way, in general, because of how they were raised, taught, and feel is the proper way of living based on what society says. However, we cannot escape the desire to breathe, be nourished with water and food, and to find comfort in warmth and love. These can be interrupted if there is a disorder involved, but mainly humans seek the basic needs of life and then development becomes individualized.