Readers ask: You are what you were when?

Who you are is what you were when?

There’s a wonderful theory from Morris Massey that help us understand who we are and who we‘ve become. The theory is, “What you are now is where you were when.” And the “when” is around the time we reach those wonderful, early teen years, age 14 or 15. Up until then, the world is all about just ourselves.

What is a significant emotional event?

— Significant emotional events are the circumstances that shake us to our souls disallowing us to ever be the same again, as defined by sociologist Dr. Morris Massey.

What is the first stage in values development?

Stage 1: Obedience-and-Punishment Orientation

Stage 1 focuses on the child’s desire to obey rules and avoid being punished.

What is the imprint period?

It is stated by child psychologists that between the ages of 3 years and 11 years is an imprint period. This means that childhood experiences between these ages are likely to have an impact on who that child becomes, how they feel, behave and represent the world to themselves in later life.

How do we develop morals?

Moral development focuses on the emergence, change, and understanding of morality from infancy through adulthood. Morality develops across a lifetime and is influenced by an individual’s experiences and their behavior when faced with moral issues through different periods’ physical and cognitive development.

How do values develop?

They become standards by which people order their lives and make their choices. A belief will develop into a value when the person’s commitment to it grows and they see it as being important. A person must be able to articulate their values in order to make clear, rational, responsible and consistent decisions.

How morals are formed?

In a nutshell, we create our own definition of morality through our interactions the people around us. Ideas about what is and what is not moral are guided by our unique human reasoning and intelligence, and not just by our feelings or gut reactions.

What are the three stages of values?

Sociologist Morris Massey has described three major periods during which values are developed.

• The Imprint Period.
• The Modeling Period.
• The Socialization Period.
• Pre-moral.
• Conventional.
• Principled.

At what age are core values set?

People change and grow and their values change over time. The values people start with, however, the basic core values, are formed around age 10 and locked in at age 21.

What are values?

Values are individual beliefs that motivate people to act one way or another. They serve as a guide for human behavior. Some values have intrinsic worth, such as love, truth, and freedom. Other values, such as ambition, responsibility, and courage, describe traits or behaviors that are instrumental as means to an end.