Maturity is one of the concepts most used by professional therapist, who, have to exercise the action of giving advice or mentoring. The skill of someone being mature or immature depends on the psychological, physical and social point of view. Therefore, the concept of maturity requires a greater depth. Maturity is defined as the state or process of an individual being mature, in another words, getting to the state of adulthood or being at the state of full growth. However, the real question is if “whether the maturity of an individual can be defined”. There are some arguments that have being laid out for the full definition of maturity,(these arguments are seeing as the most common definitions):
“Maturity is realizing that things are not just black and white, they are grey and sometimes you need the darker shade and the other times the lighter one. Maturity is being selfish enough to take care of yourself so that you become able enough to take care of someone else. Is also knowing when to be childish and when to be a grown up and understanding that a part of healthy mental ageing is not letting the child within you die. Moreover, is being practical but having faith in miracles too. Maturity is learning technicalities of something but sticking to your gut instincts and passion for it too. Maturity is knowing when to hold and when to let go.” (Elbert Hubbard).
Moreover ,various theorists have come across some ideas, stages and definitions, in order to recognize the indicators of maturity. One of the most famous examples is, Erickson´s stages of psychosocial development, which describes the process of the individual going through stages in order to get into adult maturity. Which each maturational stage is characterized within a certain kind of psychosocial conflict. One of the basic ideas that Erikson defends is the concept of the “Identity”. Which is a stage characterized as being mainly concerned with issues of role exploration, role confusion, and also the exploration of other identities. This stage could be extended into adulthood for as long as it took to resolve the conflict.
Furthermore, Piaget´s theory of cognitive development, defines the operational stage as a level of a higher ground, that is reached once an individual can think logically using any type of symbols and can differentiate between the concepts of “concrete” thought, to immediacy and facts, and toward “abstract” thought. These theories have shaped the investigation of adolescent development and reflect the limitations of cognition prior to adulthood.There are a lot of theories and authors that showed and developed the idea of engaging adulthood and maturity. Erickson and Piaget are only two of the pioneers on developing this type of concepts and ideas, in order to define such a simple but at the same time very complicated notion. There are different ideas and different ways to see maturity. Now the questions are…What is your definition of maturity? The maturity of an individual can be defined?
I like your essay, although it is very general, it is good that you decided to first describe maturation and then orient it from the point of view of two authors, as important as Piaget and Erikson are, instead of focusing only in one.
However, I do have my concerns about Piaget’s theory of cognitive development after having done my essay and discussing with Adriana about it. He describes some specific stages and explains how maturation occurs along these. Nonetheless, he explains this development until one specific point, with no further explanation. Also, his theory is very rigid in terms of the ages at which children go through the different phases.
In my opinion, Erikson was right when connecting maturity to identity, as they go hand in hand and one clearly explains the other.
I also like the questions you pose at the end, because, indeed, maturation is a very difficult concept to be defined, as it varies depending on the individuals and it is never the same from one person to the other.
Models of Maturity 
Hello Paula!
I like your essay, although it is very general, it is good that you decided to first describe maturation and then orient it from the point of view of two authors, as important as Piaget and Erikson are, instead of focusing only in one.
However, I do have my concerns about Piaget’s theory of cognitive development after having done my essay and discussing with Adriana about it. He describes some specific stages and explains how maturation occurs along these. Nonetheless, he explains this development until one specific point, with no further explanation. Also, his theory is very rigid in terms of the ages at which children go through the different phases.
In my opinion, Erikson was right when connecting maturity to identity, as they go hand in hand and one clearly explains the other.
I also like the questions you pose at the end, because, indeed, maturation is a very difficult concept to be defined, as it varies depending on the individuals and it is never the same from one person to the other.
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