Sociology Theory Analysis
Document Type:Research Paper
Subject Area:Sociology
This form of trauma also affects the ability of a person to thrive in life. There are various theories that explain how trauma affects human development when the traumatic events occur during childhood. Among the theories, the ones that offer effective explanation concerning early childhood trauma is the psychodynamic theory, which has some weaknesses that can be addressed using the social cognitive theory. The social cognitive theory and trauma This theory argues that human behaviors have social origins and there are cognitive processes that influence human behavior and functioning. Learning occurs either through observation or direct reinforcement. The theory argues that traumatic events alter how a person perceives the world, other people, and the self (Bayrón, 2016). The people that have experienced trauma usually integrate traumatic events to their systems of conceptions through the assimilation of the information concerning the experience to the existing schemas.
Others use the information to form new schemas capable of accommodating the information. Trauma alters five key dimensions in humans. These are esteem, intimacy, safety, power, and trust. This is the basis the theory uses to explain that inability to cope with pressures from the external environment is what results in the development of trauma. When the external events happen repeatedly, the person ends up feeling depressed as he or she slips into passive depression. To this end, the ability to access the strategies for coping with the trauma are perceived to be out of reach as one becomes unsure of the responses he or she will get from the surrounding environment. Trauma can become more advanced as a child continuously feels that things happening around them are out of control and they cannot effectively deal with them as others do.
Despite its strengths, the theory has various weaknesses. The internal world also affects how humans adjust to the external world (Schottenbauer, Glass, Arnkoff, & Gray, 2008). Considering the principles of the psychodynamic theory, it is clear that traumatic events can affect the brain development of children. Thus, it makes it impossible for the children to lead a normal life. Traumatic stress affects the normal functionality of the body. The children that have been exposed to repetitive trauma have varying levels of the cortisol, which is a hormone that is highly sensitive to stressful situations. Trauma causes immature defenses, which result in psychopathology and inability of individuals to adjust. It also exposes individuals to psychological problems. The negative circumstances of life result in the unhealthy evolution of defenses, which makes people that have suffered trauma in early childhood unable to cope with stress in life (Schottenbauer, Glass, Arnkoff, & Gray, 2008).
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