Exploring Human Growth and Development Using the Film Ordinary People

This essay will explore human growth and development across the lifespan by discussing various relevant developmental theories and considering how these theories inform the Social Worker’s ways of working and understanding of the families they work alongside. Theories of human growth and development describe how humans develop over their lifespan socially, mentally, physically, and emotionally and highlight factors that can negatively affect development. The assignment will relate the theories discussed to the family featured in the film Ordinary People.

Ordinary People shows a glimpse into the life of the Jarrett family – mother and father, Beth and Calvin, and their son Conrad – who are struggling to readjust to life after Conrad’s eldest brother dies in a boating accident. Conrad blames himself for his brother’s death and has survivor’s guilt and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from surviving the same accident. He has not long been released from a stay in a psychiatric hospital when the film begins.

One significant theory when exploring human growth and development is attachment theory. Attachment theory states that an individual’s lifelong social and emotional development is affected by the quality of caregiving they receive for the first critical years of their life. When the primary caregiver of a child responds to that child’s needs efficiently and consistently, the child learns they can depend on their caregiver, building a sense of security. This encourages good outcomes for development by building self-awareness and self-confidence due to the child learning they can trust others to meet their needs from the secure attachment with their caregiver. The attachment with the caregiver acts as a blueprint for future relationships, allowing the child to form meaningful connections with others.

When a caregiver is inadequate or inconsistent in their responses to a child, the child might show signs of disinterest or avoidance towards the caregiver, or alternatively, they may become clingy or ambivalent. This results in an insecure attachment forming, which can be detrimental to social and emotional development. Those with insecure attachments can struggle to manage negative emotions or lack the trust gained by those with secure attachments to socialize with peers and seek help from adults such as teachers. 

It is clear throughout Ordinary People that Conrad and Beth have a strained relationship. During the film, Conrad reaches out seeking validation and warmth from his mother several times, at one point offering to help her lay the table, however she rejects him. Further rejection is evident when Beth becomes visibly agitated standing beside her son whilst they’re taking a photograph together, seemingly uncomfortable with the intimacy of the moment.

Their relationship could be the result of Conrad developing insecure or disorganized attachment behaviours due to earlier caregiving. The daily interactions between Conrad and Beth lack warmth and are brief and awkward, with both parties appearing ambivalent towards one another throughout the film. Many of the arguments throughout the film involve Beth and Conrad, where Calvin often acts as the mediator. Calvin is clearly concerned for his son’s welfare and because of this, tends to be more lenient with Conrad than Beth would like. This causes tension between husband and wife. Although Conrad does belong to a friendship group, he appears somewhat distant in social situations and is treated differently by people at school when they learn about his suicide attempt and hospitalization. He cycles between desiring affection from his mother and pushing her away or showing indifference towards her, both of which are insecure attachment behaviors.

When Conrad starts seeing Dr. Berger, his psychiatrist, they begin to work through Conrad’s concerns and emotions surrounding his brother’s death, his survival, his relationship with his mother, and other pivotal situations in his life. This allows Conrad to build a trusting relationship with his therapist, helping him to learn new attachment behaviors he then applies to other relationships. Conrad grows closer to his father and starts a relationship with a female classmate.

Attachment theory informs the Social Worker’s ways of working by providing them with a deeper insight into the family and the dynamics of the relationships within it. Understanding the implications of attachment on the person with lived experience’s development allows the Social Worker to provide support and work to improve the outcomes for the individual. Although it focuses on childhood, attachment theory can be applied in many areas of social work with both children and adults.

Another key theory of human growth and development is the bioecological theory of development. This theory considers the influence of the complex systems related to a person’s biology and environment on their development. The microsystem for a young person consists of individual factors such as home and school environments, their close family, friends, and peers, and any hobbies or extra-curricular activities. The mesosystem is the relationship between the individual’s microsystems and how they impact on another other, for example, the relationship between a child’s parent and their school. The exosystem includes the impact of parents’ workplaces and the individual’s community and local resources and the macrosystem includes wider societal impacting factors over which the individual has little control, like the laws and belief systems of society, for example, political ideology or state religion of the country.

According to this theory, an individual’s development is influenced by both individual factors such as their genes and physiology as well as the environmental systems they belong to and the relationship between those systems. This theory also considers the chronology of the events of a person’s life in relation to development across the life span. The patterns of interactions between the individual, their environment, and the timeframe of the interactions are known as proximal processes. The bioecological theory stresses that the proximal processes within the systems closest to the person with lived experience have the most influence on their development.

One example of the impact of proximal processes can be seen when looking at Conrad’s relationship with his mother. When Conrad quits the swim team and his mother finds out from a friend, it becomes clear Beth is more concerned about her reputation and social status than Conrad’s actions and the reasons behind them. Another sign of Beth’s preoccupation with status is when she shuts down Calvin’s idea that Conrad makes an appointment with his psychiatrist to mask the reality of her son’s mental illness from others. She considers others’ opinions of her as paramount to concern for her son and his wellbeing.

The bioecological model of development can be useful to Social Workers because it provides them with a more holistic view of the person with lived experience’s development by looking at both individual factors and the impact of their various interlinked systems. This theory allows the Social Worker to consider the complexity of the situations that those with lived experience face and provides them with various ways of working due to the extensive depth covered. The Social Worker may also use this model to help a person with lived experience improve the systems they have less personal agency over such as their exosystem and macrosystem. Another strength of bioecological theory in Social Work is that viewing and strengthening the relationships between every system promotes active partnerships between them.

Theories of grief and loss are relevant to human growth and development because death is the final stage of the life span and the process of development. There are 5 different types of loss: Necessary loss refers to a natural and expected loss that many people experience throughout their life span, such as a parent having a child move out of the family home. Actual loss describes when the lost person or object can no longer be seen, heard, felt, or experienced by the person facing the loss. An example of actual loss is when a child loses their favorite teddy or blanket. Maturational loss is a loss that occurs due to the natural progression of human growth and development, such as the loss of youth and independence that many elderly people feel in the later stages of their lives. Situational loss refers to the loss felt from unexpected occurrences such as the loss of a seemingly healthy pregnancy. Perceived loss is a loss which is specifically unique to the person experiencing it. Others may misunderstand or overlook this type of loss.

Grief is the emotional reaction that occurs as a result of a loss. A theory focusing on grief is Kubler-Ross's stages of dying. The 5 stages are: Denial, where the individual refuses to or cannot accept that the loss has taken place. Anger, where the person projects their anger surrounding the loss onto others. Bargaining then takes place, where the person experiencing grief may hope that the loss can be undone or prevented. Depression is the fourth stage, in which the individual’s realization of the loss and its impact begins to increase, causing feelings of sadness. Acceptance is the final stage and takes place when the loss is finally processed and the individual can move past it.

Theories of grief and loss are highly relevant to Ordinary People because each member of the family is facing grief after the loss of Buck. A Social Worker involved in this case might use Kubler-Ross's stages of dying to better understand how each family member is experiencing the grieving process. Doing this may also allow the social worker to see how coping with grief and loss has affected the relationships between each family member. How individual processes grief can negatively or positively impact their development. When a person is successfully working through grief, they attempt to make sense of and accept their loss which helps provide insight and clarity, improving their own personal growth. When someone is struggling to process grief, they might bargain that the loss is repairable or refuse to acknowledge how the loss has impacted them which can lead to the development of a pessimistic view of the world. This is detrimental because the unresolved trauma felt from the loss is impacting the individual’s future. The fear of future losses or negative view of the future might lead a person to withdraw socially to avoid building attachments to others that might end in further loss.

Knowledge of grief and loss theories is beneficial to Social Workers because it not only provides a deeper insight into the process and impact of loss and grieving but also provides models of working so that Social Workers can further understand and support the people they work with. Grief and loss are unavoidable aspects of life that most people will experience at least once, and Social Workers face working with people who have dealt with severe loss and grief such as unaccompanied asylum-seeking children or children with imprisoned parents. Knowledge in this area can also prevent the Social Worker from being insensitive or judging the person with lived experience who is acting out due to grief.

In conclusion, this essay has investigated human growth and development across the lifespan by exploring and providing an understanding of various relevant developmental theories – attachment theory, the bioecological theory of development, and grief and loss theory. This assignment also considered how theories of human growth and development could be applied in practice both in general and by a Social Worker working with the Jarrett family. This essay then explored how developmental theories can improve a Social Worker’s understanding of the families they work alongside, both in general and in relation to the film Ordinary People. This assignment described how theories of human growth and development provide the Social Worker within sight into how humans develop over their lifespan socially, mentally, physically, and emotionally and the factors that can positively or negatively affect development.

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