Introduction
P1 – Describe physical, intellectual, emotional and social development for each of the life stages of your chosen celebrity.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
This blog is written about Albert Einstein and consists of his life stages including the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development from birth and onwards until he passed way.
Born: 14 March 1879, Ulm, Wurttemberg, Germany.
Occupations: Physicist, Scientist.
Height: 1.75m
Died: 18 April 1955(18/04/1955) aged 76, Princeton, New Jersey, United States.
Einstein was a German-born man who became a physicist who developed the theory of relativity. He is advised the most influential physicist of the 20th century.
Pauline Koch(Albert’s mother) married a merchant Hermann Einstein(Albert’s father), Albert’s mother was a very well-educated and down to earth woman, when her household duties had given her spare time, she was an assiduous and a good piano player as she had a strong interest towards the arts. Albert Begun with Piano lessons at the age of five.
Life stages:
Conception (nine months before birth)–Human life starts by conception, if sexual intercourse takes place whilst the egg is in the fallopian tube, conception is likely. Sperm is ejaculated and then produces fertilisation. Albert Einstein was conceived 9 months before March 14th 1879, 11:30am. His father Hermann Einstein and mother Pauline Koch.
Pregnancy (nine months to birth)–
Physical development:
Mother Pauline Koch carried Albert for 9 months which is equivalent to about 40 weeks, which consisted of three trimesters.
In the first trimester (weeks 1-12) the hormonal changes affect almost every organ system in the human body. Apart from Pauline noticing her period stopping, there are other changes that happened to her body which may include:
- Extreme tiredness
- Swollen breasts
- Morning sickness
- Cravings
- Mood swings
- Constipation
- Urinating more often
- Headaches
- Heartburn
- Weight gain or loss
Once Pauline got pregnant, she may have had to eat smaller meals more often and sleep earlier however this does not happen in every pregnancy, she may not have felt any discomfort within herself.The second trimester (weeks 13-28) gets easier for most women however newer and more noticeable changes happen to the body. The abdomen expands as the baby keeps growing and begins to move just before the end of the trimester. As the baby was growing, it needed space, hence why she may have had:
- Body ache e.g. back, abdomen or thigh pain.
- Stretch marks
- Dark patches on the skin (sometimes called the mask of pregnancy)
- Swelling of the ankles, fingers or face (Pre-eclampsia)
In the third trimester (weeks 29-40) many discomforts from the second trimester will continue and Pauline would have had to go to the bathroom more often and could have experienced breathing difficulties.
Birth and Infancy (0-3years) –
Physical development:
After nine months, there are three stages in birth, the first stage starts when the mother begins to have contractions that cause rapid changes in your cervix, which then ends when the cervix is fully dilated. The second stage starts when the mother is fully dilated and which then ends with the birth of the baby. Babies will sleep really often and get tired very quickly, they will also cry a lot as they cannot express the way they feel by speech, at 6/7 months Einstein should learn to crawl and by 12 months should be walking.
Emotional development:
Newly born babies cannot control their temperature hence why it’s important they are kept warm and dry, the baby would have been placed directly onto his mother’s abdomen and kept in a warm blanket, skin to skin contact with the baby would have let Pauline start bonding with her son. After being born, baby Einstein must take in easily digestible food which was his mother’s milk for the first few weeks so that he grows. Einstein’s brain is not fully developed however he is able to hear sounds and understand the taste of different foods, he now knows the smell of his own mother. Babies under three months old tend to cry a lot, and gain attachment to carers.
Intellectual development:
The main physical action Einstein would have done was having the ability to lift his head up slightly and kick his legs which was the kicking reflect when he was born as the doctors do to all babies, they would have held him up to check if he could kick in order to discover whether he had paralysed legs or damage in his spine. As well as kicking, Einstein could also grab onto objects, mainly fingers which were his grasping reflex, babies tend to startle at loud noises, they usually throw their arms and legs outwards when they hear a sudden loud noise, this is called the startle reflex. As a new-born, he didn’t have a lot of intellectual skills, nonetheless he was born with the ability to sense objects just like every other baby which is how they learn to discover.When Einstein got to 5 months, he could work out familiar and un-familiar faces and respond to noises.
Body control:
By the time Einstein got to 6 months old, he could pass objects from one hand to the other, by the time he was 9-10 months old, he could roll over and also crawl, hopefully at the age of 12 months, and he could stand on his own two feet.
Language development:
At 3 months, Einstein had begun to make babbing noises, continued with imitations of their carers such as ‘ma-ma’; which helps them develop into the use of single words at 12 months, by time Einstein is 2 years old he begun to build up his vocabulary making two-word statements, for example the ‘the dog comed here’ meaning the dog came here.
With Albert Einstein being the first child of Pauline and Hermann Einstein, they weren’t very impressed with their new-born son as he supposedly had an oversized head, in fact they described him to the delivery physician as a “monstrosity” however the doctors tried to persuade the parents that all infant head shapes or sizes appear bigger than normal and that Albert’s body will grow proportionate to the size of his head.
Hermann Einstein and his brother Jakob founded an electrical engineering company “Einstein &Cie” in 1880 after moving to Munich, a year later when Albert turned 2; he was introduced to his younger sister Maria, called Maja who was born November 18, 1881.
Childhood (4-9years) –
Physical development:
At this stage, Einstein was growing rapidly and learning many things each and every day, when he reached the age of six, his head was 90% adult size although he had such a small body, Einstein learnt to do many things such as run, skip and ride a bike.
The Einstein’s were a family of non-compliant Ashkenazi Jews. Einstein attended a Catholic elementary school when he was five years old, by this time; Teachers and his family noticed his intelligence and quick-wittedness therefore he was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium (now known as the Albert Einstein Gymnasium) at the age of eight for advanced primary and secondary school education. Although it is said to be that Einstein struggled with early speech difficulties however the Albert Einstein Archives discovered that he excelled his first school he attended. Contrary to the widespread popular belief that Einstein was left-handed, he was actually right-handed and there was no evidence to record that he was left-handed.
Intellectual development:
Einstein was growing rapidly between the ages of 4-9 years, although he could communicate, he could not understand the logical implications involved in the language. Piaget explained that a child is capable to count up to the number 10 however the infant will not know what the number 10 really is.
Language development:
Einstein had learnt how to ask simple questions such as ‘I want food’, his knowledge grows exceedingly fast, by age 4 Einstein would make himself clear to complete strangers, meaning they would understand what he is trying to say.
Social development:
Einstein would have been attached to his parents and carers and will rely and depend on them, which are classed as first socialization, he also learns to cooperatively play with other children, friendships are very important for children as they form them from a sense of mutual trust.
Emotional development:
Einstein would have realised his self-worth from the way his family members made him feel, this could have influenced his self-confidence for a very long time as well as a permanent sense of confidence or a sense of frustration and failure.
Adolescence (10-18 years) –
Physical development:
There’s a high chance that Einstein started puberty at the age of 14, this is the stage in life which prepares the body for sexual reproduction, his voice also ‘broke’ meaning it gets deeper in tone as the larynx grows, Einstein’s hormones were changing, which resulted in a growth of facial and armpit hair.
Intellectual development:
Formal logical operations allow adolescents to gain an understanding of the world beyond their experiences, once Einstein became an adult, he could think scientifically and use his logic to solve problems as abstract thinking enables adults to think through complicated pictures in their heads without seeing the actual picture.
Social development:
Once a person becomes adolescence they realise their self-worth, not only to family but to friends as-well, they are easily influenced and are likely to copy fashion trends, beliefs and cultural values of their other friends. In the past it was said to be that adolescence was seen as the time of ‘storm and stress’ because they had to put up with the development of their sexuality. Recent research suggests
that adolescents go through a very smooth transformation into taking part in their adult roles without any problems with their parents.
Emotional development:
Whilst going through adolescence, Einstein must develop a sense of secure identity; this was first proposed by Erikson (1963). This could be very stressful depending on the development of identity in order to make a loving/sexual attachment with someone else.
Einstein’s father once showed him a pocket compass which fascinated Einstein, he stated that there must be something causing the needle to move, despite the space inside it, as he grew, Einstein begun to show a talent for mathematics creating models and mechanic devices as a hobby for fun.
At age 16, Einstein sat the entrance examination in Zurich for the Swiss Federal Polytechnic (later the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule ETH).Unfortunately he failed to reach the required standards however he obtained exceptional grades in both physics and maths. Albert Einstein attended the Argovian cantonal school (gymnasium) in Aarau, Switzerland in 1895-96 to finish his secondary schooling, during this, Einstein was lodging with the family of the Professor Jost Winteler and couldn’t resist but fall in love with Wintelers daughter, Marie.
In September 1896 he passed the Swiss Matura with good grades including a top grade in physics and mathematics, although he was only aged 17, Einstein enrolled to a 4 year mathematics and physics teaching scheme at Zurich, Einstein’s future wife Mileva Maric had also moved there the same year and was the only female in the same specific teaching diploma course, later they begun to fall in love.
In 1894, Einstein’s fathers company failed, therefore they decided it was best for the family to move to Italy, first to Milan for a few months, and then to Pavia, once his family had moved to Pavia, Albert Einstein stayed in Munich in order to complete his studies at Luitpold Gymnasium as his father really wanted him to become an electrical engineer. Albert Einstein then went and joined his family in Pavia in December 1894 by convincing his school to allow him to go using a doctor’s note. Whilst Einstein was in Italy, he has written a short essay called “On the Investigation of the State of the Ether in a Magnetic Field”
Adulthood (18-65years) –
Physical development:
Einstein would have been right at the peak of his physical performance from ages 18-28. He would have certainly lost strength and speed with aging but exercise helps develop physical fitness until roughly, the age of 50 depending on when adults start sports.
Hair loss was very common in men as they had aged as well as not hearing high-pitched sounds very clearly.
Social development:
A main part of early adulthood consists of sexual relationships and the need to find employment and/ establish a career. A lot of people go through major developments in their social life once they are married and become parents, those who are mature enough, split enough time for family bonding and their professional work life and take part in social activities.
Emotional development:
Erikson also argued that ‘the key task of early adulthood was learning to cope with emotional attachment to a sexual partner’ this should mean that adults shouldn’t be self-centred and not too emotional. Adults could experience problems feeling emotionally isolated; therefore they should still take part in their social life and developments.
Older adulthood (65+ years) –
Social development:
Once adults retire, this gives them a huge opportunity with their free time, a vast majourity of adults prefer to spend their time with close friends and family rather than spend their time on socialising elsewhere.
Emotional development:
Once a person reaches older adulthood it could really stress them out mentally as they are basically preparing for death. Elderly people need to secure a sense of self which will help them cope with all the changes occurring to their body.
Belin Kumcu 