This document discusses holistic development in children and adolescents. Holistic development involves the intellectual, physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development of a person. Key aspects of holistic development discussed include physical skills, cognitive abilities, language acquisition, psychosocial development, and moral development. Holistic development aims to help people face everyday challenges through a balanced development of these different areas.

1. UNDERSTANDING THE
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN
THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, AND
BEHAVIOR

2. WHAT IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF A WHOLE
PERSON?
• Holistic development - development of
intellectual, mental, physical, emotional, and
social abilities in a child so that he or she can
face the demands and challenges of everyday
life. These abilities are vitally important for
success in professional fields of work

3. Whole
Person
Holistic
Develop-
ment

4. Holistic
Development
Imagination
Logical
Thinking
Cognitive
Skills
Creative
Skills
Emotional
Language
Skills
Physical
Skills
Spatial
Awareness
Self
Awareness
Social Skills

5. Why holistic development?
Nowadays, most companies or organizations
not only consider a student’s overall academic
performance but also consider the holistic
development of students when they recruit
for various jobs. This makes the holistic
development of students in schools and
colleges very important.

6. Key elements of holistic development
Physical
It is common knowledge that children are
little balls of unbridled energy. This
energy is essential to make the necessary
neural connections for overall holistic
growth. Thus, exercise and movement of
any form lead to increased blood flow in
the body.

7. With increasing blood flow to the brain, the
child becomes capable of acquiring new
information and concepts. It is the
development of the gross and fine motor skills
that enable a child to be healthy and fit. Not
only that, children learn to be more aware of
their sensory understandings and recognize
their implications to implement well in the
future

8. Cognitive
Adolescents graduate from the concrete
operational stage and move to the formal
operational stage of thought around the
age of 12. As the fourth and last stage of
Piaget’s cognitive development theory, this
stage brings about the ability to engage in
abstract thought (Piaget, 1972).

9. With this new form of thought, adolescents can
comprehend and methodically handle
theoretical concepts. No longer bound by
concrete reasoning, adolescents develop a
complex imagination and a hypothetical
approach to problem-solving. They are often
concerned with the reason or the “why”
behind things.

10. Instead of being limited to concrete thinking,
adolescents can imagine both the possible and
the impossible, form thoughts, and use logical
reasoning to determine the possibility of a
concept or task. Suggesting that teenagers
have reached the formal operational stage,
they now could correspond to concepts by
holding ideas in their minds instead of having
to use objects.

11. To explain this, one could ask a child to rank
items based on reasoning: If A = B and B = C,
then A = C. The child still in the concrete
operational stage will not be able to
understand this 8 task without using drawings
or objects. In contrast, teenagers in the formal
operational stage will be able to imagine the
idea in their minds and justify the logic behind
it (Miller, 2011).

12. Adolescent thought is often self-centered and
influenced by the belief that others are very aware of
their every action. They live with the knowledge of a
fictional audience and often act out in attention-
seeking behavior. Elkind (1976) called this heightened
self-consciousness adolescent egocentrism, which gives
rise to numerous weaknesses of adolescent thought.
For example, a personal story occurs when teenagers
believe that their thoughts, feelings, and experiences
are fully different, more extraordinary, or more terrible
than others’.

13. Similar to the personal story is the invincibility
fable, which happens when adolescents believe
that they cannot be affected or hurt by anything
that would negatively affect an average person
(e.g., unprotected sex, drug abuse, or speeding)
(Alberts, Elkind, & Ginsberg, 2007).

14. It is important to note that many
developmentalists do not support the belief that
individuals make a quick jump into the formal
operational stage, with many noting the gradual,
individual progression of cognitive development
(Siegler, 2007).

15. Language and speech are integral parts of a
childhood process. Speaking well and
articulating are necessary skills in today’s
world. Below the age of 5, children capture
linguistic abilities fast and bloom well. Since the
brain develops quickly, it is necessary to
stimulate sight, sounds, and speech patterns.
Language

16. Children start with small words in their mother
tongue and slowly move on to complex
sentences. Gradually, the shift is made towards
other languages, commonly English or a third
language, and is the second most crucial
element in the holistic development of the
child

17. As children grow into adolescents, they enter
a process through which they figure out who
they are, passing through various stages along
the way. In working towards identity
achievement, both parents and peers’
function as influential sources of direction
and support for the adolescent.
Psychosocial

18. Though many exciting changes occur during this
period, teens also face several risk factors, such
as depression, suicide, and drugs. Teens
experience growth in their relationships, not only
with their parents and peers but also with
romantic partners. Despite adolescents’
developing independence, parents should not
underestimate how influential they can be during
this stage

19. Psychosocial Development for Erikson is a series
of stages in which a child experiences conflict that
serves as primary element for his/her
development. If the child has successfully dealt
with these conflicts it will contribute much to
his/her well-being particularly on how he/she will
optimistically live his/her live-in latter years.
He/she will manifest positive behavior and good
disposition in life that makes him/her feel good
about him/herself.

20. However, if he/she fail to deal with the conflict
effectively he/she may not develop skills
needed for him/her to see a great sense of
individuality. The eight stages of Psychosocial
Development according to Erikson are as
follows:

21. 1. Trust vs Mistrust (birth to 8 months)
2. Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt (2 to 3 years)
3. Initiative vs Guilt (3 to 5 years)
4. Industry vs Inferiority (6 to 11 years)
5. Identify vs confusion (12 to 18 years)
6. Intimacy vs Isolation (19 to 40 years)
7. Generativity vs Stagnation (40 to 65 years)
8. Integrity vs Despair (65 to death)

23. As individuals move into adolescence, Erikson
(1968) theorized that they enter his fifth stage of
psychosocial development, identity versus role
confusion. It is during this stage that the
question “Who am I?” takes center stage. In
adolescence, identity is often shaped by their
impression of what others think of them as well
as their own view of themselves (Cole et al.,
2001).

24. Their improved cognitive functioning now
allows them to view themselves from a
psychological perspective, whereas before
they defined themselves using only concrete
and specific traits. When teenagers are
younger, they may struggle to accept that
their desired self-concept (social and
friendly) differs from their behavior (wanting
alone time).

25. However, older teenagers can reconcile that
conflict by understanding that their behaviors
may be altered by situations and
circumstances (Hitlin, Brown, & Elder, 2006).

26. In Erikson’s fifth psychosocial stage,
teenagers often test out various roles,
activities, and ideologies to reach identity
achievement. James Marcia (1966) built
upon Erikson’s theory, finding four different
ways in which teenagers work through the
identity crisis: 1) identity confusion, 2)
foreclosure, 3) moratorium, and 4) identity
achievement.

27. 1.The first stage, identity confusion, impedes a
teenager from forming close relationships
and engaging in meaningful activities, which
often leads to social withdrawal.
2.Second, foreclosure occurs when teenagers
simply adopt others’ values or norms to
avoid confusion and to find comfort in some
form of commitment (Meeus, 2011).

28. 3. The third stage of moratorium commonly
occurs around age 19, and it allows
adolescents to take a break from figuring out
their identity, such as by attending college or
joining the military (Kroger, Martinussen, &
Marcia, 2010; Meeus, 2011).
4. Once a teenager progresses through a time
of identity crisis, the final and ideal stage is
identity achievement.

29. As teenagers work through these stages and
move towards identity achievement, it is
important for parents to guide them and
emphasize God’s love and plans. Given the
influence of parents and the environment on
teenagers’ identity 10 formation, it is not
surprising that Erikson (1968) found four venues
by which formation occurs at the chronosystem
level: religious, political, sexual, and vocational.

30. During adolescence and emerging adulthood,
individuals undergo moral development —
that is, they witness changes in their
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors about what
is right and wrong. Kohlberg’s theory of moral
reasoning (1976) argues that moral
development occurs in three levels, each with
two stages. others.
Moral

31. By increased internalization and observing
positive models, adolescents move to the
second stage, which involves living according to
the specific standards of others. Then
adolescents move to the third stage, in which
morality is more internal and becomes one’s
own. Compared to children, adolescents
engage in more prosocial behavior, and girls do
so more than boys.

32. Two important aspects of prosocial behavior
are forgiveness and gratitude, which are clearly
emphasized throughout Scripture.

33. According to behaviorists, moral behavior is
influenced by reinforcement, punishment,
and imitation. In contrast, Freud believed that
children may adopt their parents’ moral
standards to avoid feeling guilty (Kohlberg,
1963). Currently, many views both negative
and positive feelings such as guilt and
empathy as important to moral development.

34. Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Reasoning
Preconventional Morality
• What is right and wrong is determined by
what is punishable. Moral action is essentially
the avoidance of punishment.
• What is right and wrong is determined by
what brings rewards and what people want.
Other people's wants and needs come into
the picture, but only in a reciprocal sense

35. Conventional Morality
• Make decisions based on what will
please others. Concerned about
maintaining interpersonal relations.
• Looks to society for guidelines about
behavior. Thinks of rules as flexible,
unchangeable.

36. Post-Conventional Morality
• Recognizes that rules are social
agreements that can be changed when
necessary.
• Adheres to a small number of abstract
principles that transcend specific, concrete
rules. Answers to an inner conscience

37. Spiritual
This involves many advances in cognitive
development, and such advances may cause
them to ask questions about their religious or
spiritual beliefs. Consistent with Piaget’s view
of cognitive development, adolescents
improve in their ability to think abstractly,
idealistically, and logically. This allows them to
think about various religious and spiritual
concepts.

38. Some adolescents may question how a God
could possibly be considered loving if so many
people across the world experience so much
pain and distress. Adolescents’ improved
idealistic thinking abilities allow them to
consider if religion is the best way to build a
better, more ideal world. Likewise, their
improved ability to reason logically allows
them to form hypotheses and consider various
answers to spiritual questions

39. Adolescents ask themselves who they really
are, what they want out of life, and what the
purpose of life is. In addition, they may
question the existence of God or other
higher spiritual being, wondering if they
have simply adopted their parents’ views or
if they are their own views as well.

40. Research suggests that the link between
identity and spirituality in adolescence may
lead the way to one developing a spiritual
identity that goes beyond, but not
necessarily excludes, one’s childhood
religious identity (MacDonald, 2011).

41. There are numerous ways in which
parents may introduce their children to
religion, such as Sunday school, parochial
education, tribal transmission, or teaching
their children at home. In general,
adolescents do adopt the religion of their
parents (King & Roeser, 2009).

42. However, if people’s religion changes or they
experience a reawakening, then it typically
takes place in adolescence or emerging
adulthood. Research has shown that the
religiosity of people’s parents is positively
associated with their religiosity during
adolescence (Kim-Spoon et al., 2012). This, too,
is correlated with individuals’ religiosity after
they transition to adulthood.

43. Parents who have positive relationships
with their children have a bigger effect on
their adolescents’ religious beliefs, just as
mothers have more of an impact than
fathers. Likewise, adolescents’ peers have
an influence on their religious interest.