respond to two discussion 150 words each

1. Good Day All, happy week 1! My name is Andy Stephenson, I’m married with a 3 year old daughter and another one on the way soon. My wife and I have 3 cats, a dog, and six chickens (used to be eight, but when you raise chickens you quickly realize how low on the food chain they are). I currently live in Maine. After getting off of active duty in 2013, I was hired with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as an Investigator. After I graduate I plan to continue with my current career, with a shiny new psychology degree added to my resume, I only need 8 more classes to graduate. Outside of college and work, my life consists of a never ending list of tasks around the house, and fishing as much as I can possibly manage.

I’m taking this class to get a better understanding of how we each develop into wildly different types of people. I’ve gleaned some information regarding infant and toddler development from other classes, so I’m really excited to be hyper focused on just one developmental stage as opposed to quickly breezing past what I think is the most important part of a human’s developmental life.

I think there are so many different theories of development because no matter how solid a theory might be, there will always be cases that do not fit within that particular theories framework. There are many theories that do a great job of trying to capture all the aspects of development in their umbrella, however when questions like nature vs nurture are still debated, no theory will be empirical as truth.

When I first started learning about development in previous classes, I might have chosen Erikson’s psychosocial theory as making the most sense, however, lately my opinion has shifted towards the Social Learning Theory as best explaining development. I think that the Social Learning Theory can provide answers about development that some of the other theories cannot. My trust in this theory relies on observational learning as the mechanism for which so much of our development occurs. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and I think there can often be a clear line drawn from a behavior and the source of that behavior, meaning observational learning at some point in the past. Behind every rude, cantankerous adult yelling at a restaurant waitress because their food is cold is a history of learning that attitude through observations. It wouldn’t surprise me to know that as children they witness their father chastising their mother for the same thing.

As with all the theories, that are definitely some shortcomings, especially since the social learning theory does not provide an explanation for how we develop our internal cognitive processes like thoughts and feelings (CHFD308, n.d). I think it can be speculated that as we observe our world around us, our brain reconciles those observations into feelings, but there’s certainly no way to scientifically show that, so it remains a gap in the theories ability to fully describe development.

Thanks for reading, I’m really looking forward to this class and I’m hoping to glean a lot of information from everyone else’s experiences and opinions.

2. My name is Nicholas Brison. I go by either Nicholas or Nick. I am originally from a small town southeast of Columbus, Ohio. I was born and raised there until I left for the Air Force at the age of 21. I am currently residing in Tucson, Arizona. I do plan on getting out of the Air Force in a few years and probably sticking around this area as I have became a fan of the desert and the weather down here. I am married and my wife and two pups are looking forward to introducing our first child to the family in late October. We are all avid hikers and big concert goers. Right now, I am currently working on my BA in psychology (92% complete!). Once I get that I am aiming on getting a job within Human Resources and plan on continuing my education until I become a clinical psychologist or an industrial/organizational psychologist. I know it’s going to take some time but I am going all in on it. I decided to take this course because it is a part of my curriculum to finish my BA. Since I am on the verge of having my first child, I hope to learn a lot of beneficial material that will assist me in becoming a well-rounded father.

I believe that there are so many theories of development because our personal stories are so different from one another. The human psyche can not purely be determined from just a couple of things. We all go through such unique experiences in our lives and are so different from one another physically, mentally and spiritually that a true explanation cannot be covered completely from just one theory. But there can be found some truths within each of these different theories. I have always been the most fond of Erickson’s Psychosocial Development Theory. This is an 8 stage theory that describes the growth in an individual as they grow older and how their social interactions and conflicts determine how their personality may develop to be. This theory is explained for the entire lifespan of an individual and they are to face certain situations in their life that could be a major influencer in the way they act and see the world around them. I find this to be the most true just through my own personal observations of people. You can see how their social interactions throughout their entire life play a role in their personality.

Mcleod, S. (n.d.). Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. Retrieved June 01, 2020, from