Life Span Perspective of Human Development
Human life-span begins at conception and ends at death. The discipline that studies the changes that occurs during this period is known as the study of human development and it is subdivided into three domains - biosocial development, cognitive development, and psychosocial development. The life span point of view encompasses intellectual functioning and the fundamental theory that development does not end at adulthood, but is transformed over the course of one’s entire lifecycle.
“The life span perspective, as first set forth by Paul and Margaret Baltes and their associates, is an approach to the study of human development that takes into account all phases of life, not just childhood or adulthood.
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Unlike other scientists of the early twentieth century, Piaget realized that babies are curious and thoughtful, creating their own shema about the world." (Berger, 2010, pg 22). He started his research by observing his three children and then expanded his experiment to include numerous children of all ages. Piaget had a revolutionary hypothesis that infants are actually thoughtful beings capable of forming their own view of the world and though. As children develop their intellectual capacity deepens and we go from only being able to understand concrete topics to having boundless imagination and being able to comprehend even the most abstract. He observed that there were four main stages correlated with age: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. From his experiments he developed "the central thesis of cognitive theory: how people think (not just what they known) changes with time and experiences, and human thinking influences human actions." (Berger, 2010, pg 22). His experiment followed scientific method, beginning with the observation of his own children to implementing a larger study of thousands of children to test his hypothesis. And in the end his hypothesis was proven and became a dominant cognitive …show more content…
Where nature refers to how heredity of genes influences development. And Nurture refers to environmental influences. “The basic question is: How much of any characteristic behavior or emotion is the result of genes and how much is the result of experience?” (Berger, 2010, pg 5). Both biological and environmental factors work together to influence human development over an entire life span. “Exclusivity stems directly from the idea that only nature and nurture make us who we are. This leads to a paradigmatic requirement. No influences exist other than genetics and environment. (McLafferty, 2006, pg 177). In the real world having only two variables effecting development is
Harris, Sara, and Laura E. Berk. Instructor's Resource Manual for Berk Exploring Lifespan Development, Second Edition. 2nd ed. Illinois: Allyn & Bacon, 2011. Print.
“The term “nature versus nurture” is used to refer to a long-running scientific debate. The source of debate is the question of which has a greater influence on development: someone's innate characteristics provided by genetics, or someone's environment. In fact, the nature versus nurture debate has been largely termed obsolete by many researchers, because both innate characteristics and environment play a huge role in development, and they often intersect”. (Smith, 2010 p. 1)
Exploring Lifespan Development (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Levy-Hinte, J. & Sons, J. London, M. (Producer), & Hardwicke, C. (Director). (2003). The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary'.
When studying human development, it is helpful to understand the main developmental domains (i.e physical, cognitive, emotional and moral) and the ways in which people develop within each domain at certain age stages. Use of psychological theories is also helpful to understand the reasons for this development and the ways in which it manifests at different age stages. The objective of this essay is to analyse the influences on development from conception to late adolescence. It will describe theories of lifespan development with information regarding my own development used to support these theories. It will be concluded that theories of lifespan development can be used to explain life experiences in the different developmental domains at different
Lifespan development is essential, as it is the changes that happen to us throughout a person’s lifespan. Our development occurs at ages stages where we develop from infancy till death. This essay will contain my life story to display the domains in 5 age stages in my lifespan development. The domains I will be exploring is in this essay is physical, emotional, cognitive, social, cultural and moral domain. The influence of biological and environmental play a significant role in my development. Development is influenced by nature or nurture and its affect will occur throughout lifespan. The changes that occur during development have stage. Each theorists has stages of development where they display the changes. This essay will explore my development that will support theorist such as Erikson, Vygotsky, Berk, Piaget and other theorist. The age stages of prenatal will display physical and emotional domain, Infancy (0-2) will portray social and emotional domain, young children (2-6) will show cognitive and social domain, middle childhood (6-12) will display socio-cultural and moral domain and adolescence will portray nature vs. nurture and cultural domain. Development is crucial for a healthy wellbeing. As a physiotherapist it is significant to understand development in age stages, as it will aid knowing how young children will react compared to an adolescence who is more development mentally, emotionally, physically, socially and culturally.
Berk, L. (2010). Development Through the Lifespan (5th ed.). (J. Mosher, Ed.) Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon.
Both Piaget and Vygotsky agreed that children's cognitive development took place in stages. (Jarvis, Chandler 2001 P.149). However they were distinguished by different styles of thinking. Piaget was the first t reveal that children reason and think differently at different periods in their lives. He believed that all children progress through four different and very distinct stages of cognitive development. This theory is known as Piaget’s Stage Theory because it deals with four stages of development, which are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. (Ginsburg, Opper 1979 P. 26).
Broderick, P.C., & Blewitt, P., (2009). The Life Span: Human Development for Helping Professionals 3rd Edition.
One branch of psychology is known as lifespan psychology, which is the study of the development of humans from birth until death. The study of a person’s lifespan is used to help other people overcome their developmental challenges through learning about how others deal with the various stages of development. According to Robert S. Feldman (2017) “lifespan development examines the way in which people develop physically, intellectually, and socially.” (p. 1) One of the best sources on how to get through a developmental period in life is to ask someone who has already gone through that phase. Therefore, Linda Peevely agreed to answer a few questions about the different stages she has gone through in her 77 years of life.
One of the most well-known debates in psychology is nature versus nurture. Nature is pre-determined traits, influenced by biological factors and genetics. Physical characteristics such as height, hair color, and eye color is all determined by the genetics we inherit. Nurture is the influence of environmental factors. Nature and nurture affects the physical, emotional, and social development of a child.
“The influence of Piaget’s ideas in developmental psychology has been enormous. He changed how people viewed the child’s world and their methods of studying children. He was an inspiration to many who came after and took up his ideas. Piaget's ideas have generated a huge amount of research which has increased our understanding of cognitive development.” (McLeod 2009). Piaget purposed that we move through stages of cognitive development. He noticed that children showed different characteristics throughout their childhood development. The four stages of development are The Sensorimotor stage, The Preoperational Stage, The Concrete operational stage and The Formal operational stage.
To be independent and on our own without help. We go to school for normally 16 years to have a career to support ourselves and a family. The average lifespan for humans is around 79 years. It is said that woman normally do outlive men. A fun fact is the longest living person ever recorded was 122 years old!! I chose to write our lifespan development because it is something that interest me. To start out at a single cell and develop into human beings is something that fascinates me.Human's truly are incredible species. All the information I found was so knowledgeable and our textbook does an excellent job describing this chapter. Over the years the life expectancy (in the US) has increased. An interesting fact I found said "The Japanese live the longest and healthiest lives, on average and those with the shortest life expectancies reside in Southern Africa." (http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/10-essential-facts-about-life-expectancy/)As we age and develop, we are constantly learning new things and maturing. Not only do we change physically, but we also change socially. The way we communicate when we areteenagers is very different from the way we will communicate in late adulthood. Our brains areconstantly developing and changing. "Love and work are two key themes that dominate adultdevelopment. Friends continue to be important in adult- hood. Forming a committed, intimate relationship is one important task traditionally associated with early adulthood."(396) As we develop our priorities change. For example, when I was 8 years old all I cared about was cheerleading and playing with my friends. Now that I am almost 20 my main focus is working to pay bills, trying to prepare for marriage and children one day. As my life progresses on I will continue to learn new things and change. The human mind is amazing and so interesting
Jean Piaget’s stages of cognitive development suggests that children have four different stages of mental development. The main concept of Jean Piaget’s theory is that he believes in children being scientists by experimenting with things and making observations with their senses. This approach emphasizes how children’s ability to make sense of their immediate everyday surroundings. Piaget also proposed that children be perceived to four stages based on maturation and experiences.
He developed his own laboratory and spent years recording children’s intellectual growth. Jean wanted to find out how children develop through various stages of thinking. This led to the development of Piaget four important stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor stage (birth to age two), preoperational stage (age two to seven), concrete-operational stage (ages seven to twelve), and formal-operational stage (ages eleven to twelve, and thereafter).
Each person’s life consists of normal stages of development; this is known as life span development. This development starts at infancy and continues through death. In each stage of development, each person experiences four types of development; physical, cognitive, social, and personality.