Help on my psychology field assignment

HI,

I was just wondering if anyone could help me with .. I have a field assignment in Psychology that I'm having trouble with ... I have chosen one of the topics given which is " adjustment to retirement " and we have to discuss which theory for example : erik erikson's developmental stages, freud's psychosexual ect ect .. I chose Erik Erikson's theory and now I have to write how it relates to the topic I have chosen .. how do i go about it ?? How do I start ?

Thanks

Joy

Hello Joy!

I'm not sure what stage/level you are at in your studies.

There is a very good book that is simply written called, Introducing Psychology - Developmental Psychology published by Grange Books which leads you through the developmental stages.

It really depends on the level you are doing. Whether it is just a simple essay or requires doing your own research? Either way I suggest that you do some research on the net and read as much as you can on the subject and incorperate you own learning experiences. Are you currently working with older people? Getting it from the horses mouth always helps too.

Sorry if I have misread what you are requiring, I wish you luck!

Hi, Joy, welcome to PsychCentral!

That sounds like a fun assignment. I would look at Erickson's steps 7 and 8: http://www.learningplaceonline.com/s...ze/Erikson.htm

and then create a questionnaire and mail it to or interview as many older adults as you can round up Maybe visit an assisted living center or one of these new 55+ communities that are popping up all over. Ask them what age group they are in (give them a "range" and a checkbox to be in, 45-55, 55-65, 65+) and their primary concerns and interests at this time. See what they did as their job, if they worked, whether it was what they wanted to do when they were earlier and whether they had meaningful relationships, etc. In other words, ask questions that will show whether their lives followed Erickson's stages. I would "explore" the 55-65 age group and/or see if you can "separate" the people into the three age groups by their primary concerns and interests.

That might be an interesting "experiment". Do the questionnaire in two parts/pages where you can separate the name/age/"practical" information from the questions about their lives so you "sort" the answers to the questions without any idea how old the people are. See how you do separating the people by age group according to where they are in Erickson's scheme. The 45-55 should still be working/family, production/care oriented, the 55-65 a mix, "getting ready" for what comes next and going toward self-absorbed or stagnated and the 65+ should be working on making sense of it all (wisdom) and either more "themselves" or regretting.

But then you can discuss how well you did and why you did it the way you did and what that says about how accurate Erickson's scheme is and how good your questions were, etc.

Beginning with an outline could be a good thing.

Jot down what your thoughts are about this; what were you thinking about when you chose this topic, about how you could develop this topic? What are Erikson's points that can apply?

Does field study mean you have to talk to actual retired folks? Our city also has senior centers. They would probably attract the positive side.

I don't know if retirement "homes" have a psychologist, but if not, maybe management could shed some light on an approach for you. Also, you might be able to talk to geriatric doctors.

You might also check out AARP online and see what you could find there.