PEPSI Case Study:

The Five Areas of Psychological Development

Matthew Badaloni

College of Southern Nevada

December 8th, 2018

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 Abstract

Educational psychology contains a variety of tools that can help teachers understand and

help students learn at a faster and more effective rate then if they were without

educational psychology. All students are different and it is important to remember there is

not just one technique that works for all students. The key is knowing which of these

techniques will be effective and are not effective and changing your methods when

necessary.

Introduction

Jackson is a 17-year-old student at Centennial High School he is working at his

first job at the nearby Carl's Jr.. By talking one of my colleagues I discovered Jackson and

contacted him through our mutual friend if he would be interested in allowing me to

interview him for this assignment. He agreed after an agreement that I would buy him

copious amounts of coffee when we meet up. The meetups occurred once a week for four

weeks and during that time I was able to ask and track the five areas of development,

which are: Physical, Emotional, Philosophical, Social, and Intellectual. Jackson also

agreed to bring some of his friends along during the final weeks so that we could compare

the development stages between them. Because I could not follow him around all the time

to study his behavior once I told him the basics of what I was studying. I also bought him

a journal not only to mark whenever he felt he experienced a stage of development but to

also write anything that struck his mind.

Physical

For our first interview, we sat at a local coffee shop called AWARE. This location

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I felt was perfect to conduct the interview since it was not only a casual and quiet space

but it was also closely located to where Jackson’s home was so it was never a problem for

him to get there. During our first interview, I noticed some very obvious things from his

appearance. He was an African American teenager about six foot with a skinny build with

a beanie on. after we had gotten our coffee and sat at the table I noticed that he had acne

scars on his face. After I had explained the nature of the study and what I had hoped to

accomplish started to ask him about his physical appearance and development. He told

me that his entire family was actually under six feet tall and that he towered over all his

family. He proceeded to take a picture out on his phone and showed me his last years

thanksgiving photo where he towered over his entire family and extended family. I had a

similar experience and expressed it to him that I was the only person in my family as well

who was tall. I am six foot five. I asked him how he thinks the height affected his life so

far. He told me that while he was short in middle school but that he had had a sudden

growth spurt during freshman year and the summer before. He also expressed the pain

that comes with growing so fast. Along with the growth came his eventual interest in

sports. While he tried to get on the basketball team he did not succeed because he wanted

to work while doing so and the schedules were conflicting with each other. When I asked

why he wanted to work instead of doing the thing which he clearly loved he answered

that he didn't know and simply felt that he had to start working. after more discussion, I

gave him a journal to keep track of everything he would be feeling and the development

stages.

Emotional

Over the next few weeks, I had talked to Jackson in depth about his emotional

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development. Jackson’s family is very closed-minded when it comes to emotions. The

family’s philosophy is that you should not show emotion since it would make seem weak.

However, Jackson seems to be trying to break this cycle that his family has been stuck in.

After his sister who had just turned 18 left she never contacted the family again. After

years of trying to contact her, she connected back with the family. Her reasons for leaving

she told Jackson, were simply that she felt the family didn't care about her or the rest of

the children and that there was no reason to stick around a family that didn't care about

her. Because of this incident, Jackson feels it necessary to start expressing his feelings so

that his little sister does not grow up thinking its ok to suppress all emotion. This has

caused him stress as his family is stuck in their ways and do not believe that they are

wrong. I believe that this stress has caused Jackson to take anything that is associated

with his parents and to react with anger and resentment. When I asked about his

childhood Jackson revealed to me that he only remembers the fights his parents had and

the occasional beating by his father when Jackson “acted up”. This reminded me “ In a

longitudinal study, P. J. Miller and Sperry (1988) found that 1.5- to 2.5-year-old girls’

talk with their mothers about distant past events was primarily about negative events,

especially those involving physical harm.” (Grossman, Woodward). These negative

events have formed a very strong if not bleak outlook on life for Jackson.

Philosophical

When asked about Jackson's philosophy in life he stated that he wants to do his

best and help others. I asked him more about this “Why help others when you can just

help yourself and get further in life?” I asked. He then told me that he believed that the

only way for him to be happy with his success is to do it knowing that he didn't hurt

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people in his life to helping himself. When further asked about how he felt about life he

told me that all the things wrong he has tried his best to fix them and whenever he sees an

area he needs improvement in he hones in on it. Because of what Jackson told me I found

his Philosophies to be Stoicism which is the belief that you can improve upon yourself

and that you are the master of your own destiny. and I believe that he is a Social

Reconstructionist as he has mentioned that he feels that society only improves if the

change is made person to person. I asked him about how he felt he viewed the world

when he was younger and he said that he didn't remember but that it was stupid and

wasn't anything like real life. “as adolescents advance to late formal operational thought

the life experiences they have encountered changes those fantasy thoughts to realistic

thoughts. (McShane,1991)

Social

When I asked about Jackson's social life one of his friends who had tagged along

for the interview told me that he didn't have one. The social aspect of teenagers while

most of the time looked at with a certain annoyance is a very important part of

development. Being social allows people to find a place they belong and if this is

neglected then it will be harder further in life to be social. “A key feature of emerging

adulthood is that it is the period of life that offers the most opportunity for identity

explorations in the areas of love, work, and worldviews. (Arnett, 2000). When we were

alone I asked him about other aspects of his social life. He revealed to me that he was

very self-conscious about his acne as it flared up dramatically when he first started high

school. He told me that after several months of dealing with it he finally got to go to the

doctor and they prescribed him some medication for it, since then his confidence has risen

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and he now frequently talks to others and makes a wide variety of friends.

Intellectual

Jackson has developed as expected for a teenager his age. He can obviously

differentiate right from wrong and can make philosophical statements. He is also able to

debate and can use reason to argue his points rather than violence. His growth in this area

based on his history I assumed it would be hindered, However, this is simply not true.

Jackson while not a straight-A student still hold a 3.1 GPA. When I asked about his

grades he told me that he tries to spend as much time away from his home as possible and

as a result, he goes to the library or to work. I asked if he would instead prefer to hang out

with his friends to which he replied that he wants to but because of conflicting work

schedules and the fact that some go to after-school activities they rarely have time to meet

up.

Development Graph

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*For 3 weeks I asked Jackson and 3 of his friends to record moments where they recognized that
they were actively doing anything relating to the PEPSI. I also told them to be honest since, in
the end, it isn't who recorded more. As an incentive to keep track I promised to treat them to a
pizza once the assignment was over. (It's amazing how far pizza and coffee will motivate people)

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 Conclusions and Recommendations for Improvement

Jackson's intellectual, emotional, and social progress is I believe affected by the

consistent stress that he continues to have with his family in not only arguments but

having to help raise his little sister. This stress along with other emotional stress from

growing up and going to high school has caused him to view his education as a necessity

but also as and a source of ridicule from his family. While many would see this to be a

rare case, however, in my interview process with other students and my own experiences

with high school this mentality is common. My recommendation for such a case would be

that either the student and parents need to attend a group therapy or that Jackson himself

needs to distance himself from these problems and focus on education and on social

aspects of life.

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 References

Vaish, A., Grossmann, T., & Woodward, A. (2008). Not all emotions are created equal:

The

Negativity bias in social-emotional development. Psychological Bulletin, p. 390

Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens
through

the twenties. American Psychologist

McShane, John. "Cognitive Development: an information processing approach". 1991