Human Growth and Development
1. Both Erikson and Piaget study developmental psychology through stages and support the idea of the development of personality throughout life. Also, both of them share the idea that the failure of the personal development on one of the stages will result in the failure on the following stage. At the same time, Erikson and Piaget have a different number of stages and see the developmental process differently. Erikson follows the psychoanalytic school, has an experiential approach, and considers the development of ego and the influence of social setting, and Piaget uses observations, ignores ego, and considers the development of senses and capability of a child.
For instance, the first stage of Piaget’s theory is a sensorimotor stage; it lasts from infancy till two years and includes the development of movements and senses. The first stage of Erikson’s theory is Trust vs. Mistrust; it ends at the age of nine and includes the establishment of a relationship with parents depending on child’s safety.
At the same time, the last stage of Piaget’s theory is a formal operation stage; it lasts from eleven years till adulthood and involves the development of abstract thinking. The last stage of Erikson’s theory is Integrity vs. Despair; it happens at the old age and refers to reconsideration of the spent life.
In counseling, Piaget’s theory helps to choose the proper model for the counselor-child interaction and to state an objective for a cognitive change. Erikson’s theory, in turn, helps to understand the development of adolescents.
2. According to the developmental theory, each person passes the specific stages that influence the formation of personality; each following stage is built on the accomplishments of the previous one. When people fail on the one stage, they also fail on the second one and require help. I think that a counseling philosophy means the understanding that all circumstances could have controlled response, that the failures of the past do not determine the personality of people, and that people and their responses and behavior can be changed and improved. The counselor should understand that all people are unique, that everybody has unique values and unique experience, and that everybody has a right to share his story.
Research and Program Evaluation
1. Two types of reliability are internal and external reliability. Internal reliability evaluates the consistency of findings within a test, and external variability assesses the consistency of findings when the test is repeated.
2. Qualitative and quantitative research methods differ primarily in their flexibility. The primary goal of quantitative research is a quantitative analysis of the gathered data; thus, quantitative research methods are less flexible as have close-ended question format and are aimed at the meaningful comparison. At the same time, qualitative research methods are aimed at the more deep analysis of the gathered data, the establishment of a trustful relationship between participants and the researcher, and the study of the background. Both methods can be similar, for instance, made in the form of a questionnaire, but have different produced data and different forms of questions.
Helping Relationships
1. Reflecting meaning is the emotional response to the client’s experience. It connects the client’s words with the emotion he feels, provides the better insight of these emotions, and allows the counselor to help the client deal with them.
“My parents told me that I would never succeed in the implementation of my dream.”
Counselor:
“Did their unbelief in your abilities offend you?”
2. The first basic skill of a facilitator is timekeeping. Timekeeping contributes to the establishment of boundaries that structure the patient-counselor helping relations and give a framework for the whole process. The second basic skill is following the established agenda. The established agenda also adds to the creation of boundaries and the formation of stages. The last basic skill is record keeping. As far as helping relations include several stages that mean the progress of the patient, record keeping helps to control this progress with each next meeting.
Social and Cultural Diversity
1. Cultural competence is the understanding and appropriate response to the cultural peculiarities of other people. Counselors should be free from any cultural prejudices and should not place their cultural biases above the culture of their patients to establish the trustful relations and to lend the necessary assistance.
2. The rationale for multicultural is the combination of the world’s globalization and the stereotypes about people with a culture different from Western and skin color different from white that still take place in the modern society. The main barriers to multicultural counseling include the development of racial identity (especially among colored counselors), language barriers, the patient’s fears that reflect his past experience and prevent the establishment of the trustful relations, lack of counseling skills and lack of training in multicultural counseling, lack of cultural self-awareness of the counselor, and lack of knowledge about other cultural groups.
