Describe factors that sparked the emergence of the lifespan perspective, and explain the four assumptions that make up this point of view.
The emergence of the lifespan perspective is attributed by the expansion of research done in developmental psychology. It originally only focused on the first two decades of development and researchers believed development stopped at adolescence. The common theory was that individuals remain the same character that they were in earlier stages of life. It was also seen that aging was a period of decline in development.
Due to increased life expectancy and the elderly population being larger and less stereotypical, researchers began to shift perspective and view development an ongoing process, or dynamic system. Development occurs from the prenatal period until death and involves varying biological, physiological, and social factors.
…show more content…
No single age period is deemed more significant than another. Change occurs in three interacting categories: physical, cognitive, and emotional/social. Each period has its own important developmental milestones.
In the lifespan perspective, development is multidimensional and multidirectional. It is multidimensional due to the intricate components of development: biological, physiological, and social. Lifespan is multidirectional because it is not limited solely to improvement. For every age period, there is growth and decline. At any level, individuals can develop and improve their performance on skills.
According to the lifespan perspective, development is characterized as plastic, being able to change in response to influence. Researchers have concluded that aging is not a linear decline, but flexible and with continuing potential. The level of plasticity varies across individuals, based on biological and environmental factors. An individual’s flexibility lessens with
Harris, Sara, and Laura E. Berk. Instructor's Resource Manual for Berk Exploring Lifespan Development, Second Edition. 2nd ed. Illinois: Allyn & Bacon, 2011. Print.
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'.
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.
The movie “Thunderstruck” is about a high school kid named Brian Newall who lives in Oklahoma. Brian has a passion for the sport of basketball, but is very bad at it. Brian idolizes basketball athlete Kevin Durant. One day, Brian’s dad surprised Brian with two tickets to Kevin Durant’s next game. Brian was ecstatic with the results.
Berk, L. (2010). Development Through the Lifespan (5th ed.). (J. Mosher, Ed.) Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon.
Aging occurs in every species. Over time a change occurs on a cellular level in a person’s body, which causes degenerative effects on the brain, muscles, organs, bones, hormones, and DNA. In 1991, the book Evolutionary Biology of Aging, offered the following definition of aging: a persistent decline in the age-specific fitness components of an organism due to internal physiological deterioration.1 Aging affects the body physically and mentally. Many people dread getting older due to the numerous changes the body goes through. The geriatric population experiences many pains and is inflicted with various diseases. There are a few who are lucky enough to not get diagnosed with a life altering disease, such as Alzheimer’s, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, macular degeneration, or some form of cancer. Studies have shown that genetics play a vital role in the aging process.
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.
play a large part in our health and our developmental status. The role of age
The idea that development is considered lifelong has to do with the psychological sense that individuals do not stop encountering situations that can have a potential influence on their development. While infants and toddlers come to mind when generally speaking of learning opportunities, a man or woman in their mid-fifties can still experience events that will impact their development. One’s mentality or behavior does not stop growing at a certain age because there are plenty of chances for development throughout the course of one’s life.
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
Development is the process of growing, forming or creating into something slightly more advanced than before. Development starts during conception and ends during death. Development consists of three developmental domains which are, physical development, cognitive development, and psychosocial development. Each of which involve some form of growing or changing including the changes of moods throughout the lifespan. The Nature versus Nurture concept are issues that are found in stages of development as well. Nature which relates to the behavior that is inherited by genetics, and Nurture which relates to the behavior that is inherited or learned from the environment. With every developmental change or growth in a person’s life the mood of the
Growth and development is an ongoing process that begins at conception and continues through the remainder of our lives. The rate of development and growth varies dependent on many factors such as age and genetic disposition. There is a broad spectrum of physical and psychological changes that are part of the maturation and life of the individual. Growth is a physical change that can be weighed and measured. Development is a person’s behaviors and thinking patterns. Growth and development are processes that together make up the individual.
In every human’s life, development reflects both continuity and discontinuity. One aspect of the continuity discontinuity issue concerns whether the changes we undergo over the life span are gradual or abrupt. Continuity theorists view human development as a process that occurs in small steps, without sudden changes. In contrast discontinuity theorists picture the course of development as more like a series of stair steps, each of which elevates the individual to a new and more advanced level of functioning when an adolescent rather rapidly gains six inches in height and achieves sexual maturity. These changes may seem quite discontinuous. There are several theorists that have explored the continuity and discontinuity process.
In addition, a person has different influences that shape combinations of her/his life by culture and society. On the other hand, the development is the one person that has changed in her/his buddies, her/his thoughts, and her/his ideologies. For instance, developmental psychology has some developmental periods produced during the life span that emotional, physical, and behavioral changes. These include developmental stage changes, prenatal, infancy, toddler, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and older adulthood.
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.