User:HiddenMind321/Developmental psychology

Cross-Cultural
A way to improve Developmental Psychology is a representation of cross-cultural studies. The psychology field in general assumes that “basic” human developments are represented in any population, specifically the Western-Educated-Industrialized-Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) subjects that are relied on for a majority of their studies. Previous research generalizes the findings done with WEIRD samples because many in the Psychological field assume certain aspects of development are exempted from or are not affected by life experiences. However, many of the assumptions have been proven incorrect or are not supported by empirical research. For example, according to Kohlberg, moral reasoning is dependent on cognitive abilities. While both analytical and holistic cognitive systems do have the potential to develop in any adult, the West is still on the extreme end of analytical thinking, and the non-West use holistic processes. Furthermore, moral reasoning in the West only considers aspects that support autonomy and the individual, whereas non-Western adults emphasize moral behaviors supporting the community and maintaining an image of holiness or divinity. Not all aspects of human development are universal and we can learn a lot from observing different regions and subjects.

Indian Model of Human Development
An example of a non-West model for development stages is the Indian model, focusing a large amount of its psychological research on morality and interpersonal progress. The developmental stages in Indian models are founded by Hinduism, which primarily teaches stages of life in the process of someone discovering their fate or Dharma. This cross-cultural model can add another perspective to psychological development in which the West behavioral sciences haven’t emphasized kinship, ethnicity, or religion.

Indian psychologists study the relevance of attentive families during the early stages of life. The early life stages conceptualize a different parenting style from the West because it doesn’t try to rush children out of dependency. The family is meant to help the child grow into the next developmental stage at a particular age. This way, when children finally integrate into society, they are interconnected with those around them and reach renunciation when they are older. Children are raised in joint families so that in early childhood (ages 6 months to 2 years) the other family members help gradually wean the child from its mother. During ages 2 to 5, the parents do not rush toilet training. Instead of training the child to perform this behavior, the child learns to do it as they mature at their own pace. This model of early human development encourages dependency, unlike Western models that value autonomy and independence. By being attentive and not forcing the child to become independent, they are confident and have a sense of belonging by late childhood and adolescence. This stage in life (5-15 years) is also when children start education and increase their knowledge of Dharma. It is within early and middle adulthood that we see moral development progress. Early, middle, and late adulthood are all concerned with caring for others and fulfilling Dharma. The main distinction between early adulthood to middle or late adulthood is how far their influence reaches. Early adulthood emphasizes the importance of fulfilling the immediate family needs, until later adulthood when they broaden their responsibilities to the general public. The old-age life stage development reaches renunciation or a complete understanding of Dharma.

The current mainstream views in the psychological field are against the Indian model for human development. The criticism against such models is that the parenting style is overly protective and encourages too much dependency. It focuses on interpersonal instead of individual goals. Also, there are some overlaps and similarities between Erikson's stages of human development and the Indian model but both of them still have major differences. The West prefers Erickson’s ideas over the Indian model because they are supported by scientific studies. The life cycles based on Hinduism aren’t as favored, because it isn’t supported with research and it focuses on the ideal human development.