2. AGE OF HUMAN BEING

Developmental psychology as a scientific discipline in Russia began to take shape in the mid-twentieth century. The idea of ​​education based on the knowledge of the laws of the spiritual and bodily development of a person that has become widespread has highlighted physiology and psychology. At the initial stage, the main task was to prove the significance of psychology and pedagogy. It was necessary on the basis of information about the spiritual and physical development of the child to try to answer a number of fundamental questions. An attempt to solve them was most vividly embodied in the writings of N. I. Pirogov, KD Ushinsky, N. H. Wessel and P. D. Yurkevich, L. S. Vygotsky .

L. S. Vygotsky chose the psychology of consciousness as his field of study. He called it " peak psychology" and opposed it to three others: deep, superficial and explanatory . L. S. Vygotsky developed a study on age as a unit of child development and showed its structure and dynamics. He laid the foundations of child (age) psychology, which implements a systematic approach to the study of child development. The study of psychological age makes it possible to avoid biological and environmental reductionism in explaining child development.

Traditionally, it is customary to divide the beginning of the life cycle into the following periods: prenatal period, childhood, adolescence, adolescence .

The prenatal period is divided into 3 stages:

1) the pre-embryonic stage is two weeks;

2) the embryonic stage - up to two months of development. At this stage, the formation and development of various organs;

3) the stage of the fetus - lasts until the baby is born.

Childhood is also divided into several periods:

1) infancy (from 0 to 12-14 months);

2) early age (from 1 to 3 years);

3) preschool age (from 3 to 6–7 years old);

4) younger school age (from 6–7 to 10–11 years).

Childhood is a period that lasts from newborn to full social and, consequently, psychological maturity; This is the period when a child becomes a full-fledged member of human society. At the same time, the duration of childhood in primitive society is not equal to the duration of childhood in the Middle Ages or in our days. The stages of human childhood are a product of history, and they are as subject to change as they were thousands of years ago. Therefore, it is impossible to study the childhood of a child and the laws of its formation outside the development of human society and the laws that determine its development. The duration of childhood is directly dependent on the level of material and spiritual culture of society.

Adolescence includes two stages: adolescent or pubertal development (lasts up to 15 years. A new outlook begins to form in a teenager, a new understanding of the world and about himself develops), and youthful , or juvenile (lasts up to 22-23 years).

Youth is a period in human development, corresponding to the transition from adolescence to independent adulthood. The chronological boundaries of youth are defined in psychology in different ways, most often researchers distinguish early adolescence , that is, older school age (from 15 to 18 years old), and late youth (from 18 to 23 years old). By the end of the youthful period, the processes of physical maturation of a person are completed. The psychological content of this stage is connected with the development of self-awareness, the solution of the tasks of professional self-determination and the entry into adulthood. In early adolescence, cognitive and professional interests are formed, the need for work, the ability to make life plans, and social activity. In adolescence, the dependence on adults characteristic of the preceding stages of ontogenesis is finally overcome and the independence of the individual is asserted. In relations with peers, along with the preservation of group-group forms of communication, the importance of individual contacts and affections increases. Youth is a tense period of the formation of moral consciousness, the development of value orientations and ideals, a stable world outlook, and the civil qualities of a person. Responsible and complex tasks facing an individual in adolescence, under unfavorable social or macrosocial conditions, can lead to acute psychological conflicts and deep feelings, to a crisis flow of youth, as well as to various deviations in the behavior of boys and girls from the prescribed social standards.

Aristotle proposed the degree of development of the soul as a criterion for the age periodization . He proposed a classification by " weeks" (7 years).

The age periodization was also proposed by Jan Amos Comenius (age periods of 6 years):

1) from 6 to 12 years old - the period of adolescence - the child attends the school of the native language;

2) from 12 to 18 years old - adolescence - adolescents study in a Latin language school;

3) from 18 to 24 years old - the period of manhood - the young man can enter the academy.

Classification J.-J. Rousseau :

1) from birth to 2 years - the period of physical development;

2) from 2 to 12 years - there is a dream of the mind;

3) from 12 to 15 years old - active mental development;

4) from 15 years and older - the period of storms and passions.

The criteria for periodization adopted in psychology:

1) internal criterion.

Blonsky suggested a sign of the appearance and change of teeth as such a criterion :

a) toothless childhood;

b) childhood milk teeth;

c) the appearance of permanent teeth;

d) wisdom teeth;

2) external criterion .

Complex criteria for age periodization:

a) in domestic psychology, the following criteria are adopted:

- social situation of development;

- leading activity;

- personal neoplasms;

- the nature of the course of the crisis;

b) periodization of Freud : at the basis of the classification he saw the development of sexuality.

He considered several age periods, believing that the developmental criteria of the child are based on the development criteria:

- oral. From birth to early childhood;

- anal childhood. There are problems: waste, hoarding;

- passive-sexual stage (5-6 years). Children fall in love for the first time;

- latent age stage. During this period, children lose interest in the sexual theme;

- active genital. Period of active sexuality (from 11–12 to 15–16 years).

c) in the periodization of E. Erickson 8 phases of development are distinguished:

- infancy , the first year of life. The first phase is characterized by the trust or distrust of the child to the world;

- early childhood , 2-3rd years of a child’s life. The second phase is characterized by autonomy or shame and doubt;

- preschool age , 4-5th years of a child’s life. The third phase is characterized by initiative or guilt;

- School age , from 6 to 11–12 years. The fourth phase is characterized by a sense of value and hard work or low value;

- youth , from 13 to 20 years. The fifth phase is characterized by personal identity, identity or diffusion of identity;

- youth , from 20 to 30 years. Characterized by intimacy, intimacy and solidarity or isolation;

- maturity , from 30 to 40 years. Characterized by creativity, integrativeness, or stagnation;

- older adult age plus old age. Characterized by the integrity of the person or forkedness, despair;

d) the periodization of D. B. Elkonin is accepted in Russian psychology. He classified the periods and stages of child development as follows:

1) the stage of early childhood consists of two stages. The first stage - infancy, opens with a newborn crisis. It is on the neonatal crisis that the motivational and need-based sphere of the personality develops. The second stage is an early age. The beginning of this stage is the crisis of the first year of life;

2) the stage of childhood . The beginning of this stage is a crisis of 3 years, which opens up the beginning of pre-school age. The second stage begins with a crisis of 6–7 years. This crisis is the initial stage of primary school age;

3) the stage of adolescence is divided into two stages. The first is the stage of adolescence. The beginning is a crisis of 11–12 years. The second is the stage of early youth, begins with a crisis of 15 years.

D. B. Elkonin believed that crises of 3 and 11 years are crises of relations , after which new orientations in human relations are formed. Crises of the 1st year, 7 and 15 years - these are worldview crises that change orientation in the world of things.

The problem of the periodization of the development of the human psyche is an extremely interesting and extensive topic, and research is underway at the present time. Among modern researchers, the periodization of V. I. Slobodchikov , which was developed in the 1980s, is of great interest. Twentieth century.

V. I. Slobodchikov studied what exactly changes in the process of development. He proposed a scheme - the “ age matrix” , in which each step is a relatively complete development cycle, built in the logic of the development process, a horizontal sequence of periods (formation and realization) and stages (critical and stable):

1) revitalization . At this stage of development, a generic crisis arises: the 7th month of embryonic development - 3 weeks after birth. The stage of adoption: the newborn - 0.5-4 months of life. Newborn crisis: 3.5-7th month. Stage of development (baby): 6-12th month;

2) animation. At this stage of development, a crisis of infancy occurs at 11–18 months. Adoption stage - early childhood: 1 year 3 months — 3 years. The crisis of early childhood: 2.5–3.5 years. Stage of development - preschool childhood: 3-6.5 years;

3) personalization . At this stage of development, a crisis of childhood arises: 5.5–7.5 years. Adoption stage - adolescence: 7-11.5 years. The crisis of adolescence: 11-14 years. The stage of development - youth: 13.5-18 years;

4) individualization . At this stage of development, a crisis of youth arises: 17-21 years. Stage of adoption - youth: 19–28 years. Youth crisis: 27 years — 33 years. Development stage - maturity: 32–42 years;

5) universalization . At this stage of development, a crisis of maturity arises: 39–45 years. Stage of adoption - maturity: 44 years — 66 years. Crisis of maturity: 55–65 years. Stage of development - old age: 62 years.

In this periodization, the sequence of steps is a change in the mode of individual life. The beginning of a new stage is a new birth in a new form of life, a crisis of birth is a crisis of self-identity (“it’s impossible to live like this”) and the search for new forms of being at the stage of acceptance.