...Life Span Perspective Paper Historically, the philosophy of human development has stemmed from the Biblical understanding of original sin, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s intimations of innate goodness, and John Locke’s postulation that we are born with a psychological blank slate (Boyd & Bee, 2006). However, in the 19th century the study of human development was given legs to its already well-defined frame in the form of the theory of evolution, as put forth by Charles Darwin. With the idea of evolutionary stages in place, G. Stanley Hall of Clark University was able to formulate his theory of norms, which hypothesize that human development can be segregated into identifiable phases, and Arnold Gesell was able to suggest his theory of maturation, which was largely dependent on genetic predisposition. From these beginnings the lifespan development perspective of human psychology has been largely concerned with the physiological, psychological, cultural, genetic, and environmental context of individual human development from conception to old age (Baltes & Staudinger, 1999; Boyd & Bee, 2006). Moreover, the lifespan perspective (LSP) of development can be put into context through the models of both human development domains and developmental periods, the major characteristics of LSP, and the contemporary concerns about LSP. Human Development Domains LSP is concerned with three separate, but principally overlapping, domains of human development: physical domain (ontogenesis)...
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...Lifespan Perspective Paper PSY/375 July 1, 2013 Life Span Perspective Humans are in a constant state of development. It begins when our cells start to divide while in the womb and continues until the last breath a person takes. A human beings development is special because not only are humans going through constant physical changes, but also they go through psychological, cognitive, and biological throughout a life span as well. Life span development involves all of the changes that a person goes through while in the different stages of life. Each stage is very important for the next stage and is responsible for a person’s ability to learn, communicate, love and even create new life. Life Span Perspective of development The life span perspective of development is that a person is changing throughout their lives. That means that from conception to death a person is developing to different stages of life. According to Bornstein and lamb “developmental study is a science that seeks to understand the changes that occur as people age” (as cited in Berger, 2011, p.5). A life span development has three different domains cognitive, biological, and social. The Biological developmental domain deals with the physical and genetic changes such as height and weight fluctuation, also the changes that occur when an individual goes through physical changes that occur naturally, these are all changes that are known within the biological development, added to physical...
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...Life Span Perspective Denise Bonner PSY/375 - LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT February 09, 2013 Lynn Seiser Life Span Perspective Throughout life people go through different stages of development through different their life span. Development does not only occur from birth to childhood but it carries to adolescents, early adulthood, and through later years of adulthood as well. There are different characteristics and factors that take place during a person life span such as ones culture, genetics, and environment. The life span has three different domains which are physical, cognitive and social that plays a role in a person’s development. Past psychologist have different theories on the life span development. Sigmund Freud was a well known psychologist that broke down the different stages in a human’s life. Erik Erikson was also well known for his theories in which some related to Sigmund Freud as well. There are five different characteristics of the life span perspective which include: multidirectional, multicontextual, multicultural, multidisciplinary, and plastic (Berger, 2011). The life span perspective of development is not just the phase that takes place in the childhood or adulthood portions of one’s life. A multidirectional perspective enables researchers to recognize the gains and losses often occur simultaneously: Human characteristics change in multiple ways and from a life-span perspective, a multidirectional view allows us to understand when, how, and...
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...Life Span Perspective Paper PSY/375 October 15, 2013 Dr. Cynthia Jenkins We all start out as babies coming into the world knowing nothing about our lives or where our lives will take us. This paper will explain the life span perspective of development and summarize two theories of life span development. As humans we have the genetics and heredity issues that can contribute to our development in our life span. Then there is the environment we live in that can produce individual differences in development. Let’s first take a look at the life span perspective of development. To understand the life span perspective you must first know what it means. The life span perspective is an approach to the study of human development that takes into account all phase of life, not just childhood and adulthood (Berger, 2011). Human development can be viewed in five characteristics 1. Multidirectional- when life takes a turn such as divorce. The next direction in life is to adapt to the new single life that may now include children. 2. Multicontextual- would consist of your surrounding that is changing such as family and friends, school, workplace, and the world of politics, and economics. 3. Multicultural-consists of being exposed to the different cultures in life. This could be living in a neighborhood, members of an ethic group, and even students in college who are all coming from different cultures but trying to create a classroom environment. 4. Multidisciplinary-a...
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...Life Span Perspective Paper Kyla Rash University of Phoenix Life Span Human Development Psychology 375 Professor Kathleen Phelps March 05, 2012 Life Span Perspective Paper No one brought evolution to light like Charles Darwin. His book, titled On the Origin of Species, offered compelling evidence for evolution within species and drew in large amounts of controversy. This controversy led to more and more field work and observations of nature. Eventually, Darwin’s research and studies turned to people and the study of the human life span (Beddall, 1968). The study of the human life span gained momentum in the years that followed the publishing of Darwin’s famous book as psychologists around the world developed different perspectives and theories regarding life span. The following examination focuses on explaining the life span perspective of development, summarizing two different theories of life span development, and offering an explanation to how heredity and the environment produce differences in overall development. The study of human development centers on how a person changes over a lifetime. A person starts life with the birth stage, and then moves through infancy, adolescence and puberty, adulthood, and finishes with death (Berger, 2008). Berger (2008) describes these changes as being linear, gradual, predictable, and sometimes steady. During their life spans, humans learn to communicate, work together, experience emotions...
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...Individual Life Span Perspective Paper Tressa L. Thompson University of Phoenix Psy/375- Life Span Human development Professor Deborah Wilkerson 04/16/2012 Life Span Human Development Introduction All living organisms possess a life span, this is not a process exclusive to humans only; the development of this life span includes life, decline, dying and death. There are several theories of life span development; however this paper will focus on and summarize just two of those theories, as well as shed some light on how heredity and the environment interact to produce individual differences in development. The hope is that the readers of this paper gain some knowledge of the human life span perspective and the human development that is a result of said perspectives. Life-Span Perspectives Biological, sociocultural and individual influences make up the basic foundation of life-span perspectives, these concepts continues to develop throughout most of human life. However, that development at some point over time begins to decline due to aging and decay leading us all to death; regardless of our individual, hereditary and environmental differences it is this process that is a constant in human life. All of these things combined are equally important to the human experience of life expectancy, and also the fulfillment of life as we know it and live it. Two Theories of Life Span Development Although, there are several life span development theories such as Cognitive...
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...Life 1 Life Span Perspective Life 2 Life Span Perspective As lives are lived there are stages that we all come across as we enter adulthood. The science of human development tries to under why and how a person changes and or remains the same throughout the years of their life. There are five life span perspective of development: multidirectional, multicontextual, multicultural, multidisciplinary, plastic. Multidirectional means that a persons life can go in many directions and all them life changes could be happening at the same time. Multicontextual characteristic describes a person's social class in the world, as well as their family history, and culture/ethnic back ground. Multicultural explains how a persons cultural and ethnic back ground can be influenced by other cultures that are in their environment. Multidisciplinary is science and ideas that influence new ideas of a particular subject such as in philosophy, science, psychology. Plasticity is the ability to for a person to make changes in their own life(Berger, 2008). There are many theories when it comes to life span development. Freud's theory suggest that within the first six years of a person life there are three characteristics that deal with sexual pleasure in certain parts of the body(Stevenson,2006).When a child is first born the oral stage comes in to play. A child is more focused on the mouth for eating and sucking. As...
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...Life Span Perspective Paper SGJ PSY/375 May 28, 2012 Life Span Perspective Paper Lifespan perspective is obtaining the knowledge of changes that occurs during human development. Development begins at the moment conception has started in the mother’s womb to death. According to Smith “The first and obvious element is change - that development involves movement from one state to another. Lifespan is simple the different stages that humans go through as their life develop over the years. The perspective of lifespan is understanding the changes that occurs in the different stages of development. There are five characteristics of development. They are: 1. Multidirectional (changes occur in all and a straight line) 2. Multicultural (cultural differences have an affect even intercontinental) 3. Multicontextual (life is affected by many context including family, history, and environment) 4. Multidisciplinary (scientific disciplines including psychology, biology, and education) 5. Plastic (an individual traits can be altered at any point in development) As I have stated lifespan is from the time of conception to death of a person development and growth. The perspective is in relationship to humans development is a lifelong changing experience. The theories of lifespan development can be viewed in Freud, and Piaget study on the subject. With Freud and Piaget influences of a person life is nature and nurture. A person’s lifespan began as a fetus, which develops...
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...Life Spain Perspective Paper Teresa Haumschild PSY/375 August 12, 2013 Kay Rubin, MA Life Spain Perspective Paper When it comes to life span development you have to understand what it is and where it comes from or even how it got its name. As it was said by Boyd and Bee that life span development is the name that psychologists have given to the physical and cognitive changes that occur throughout a person’s life (Boyd & Bee, 2009). So I will be first explaining the life span of development, along with summarizing two different theories of life span development, and then the last one is just explaining how heredity and the environment interact to produce individual difference in the development. So what is life span development it is the study of which human development is the changes that do occur within each different period of one’s development and along with the changes they must be interpreted into terms in which the culture and the context do a occur. So it truly beings with conception and birth, because it has stages just like the transition stage that one goes through from childhood to adulthood. With this perspective it has the very same level of important to a person’s changes that lead into adulthood, in which had been just focused on changes in ones childhood instead. It can even be characterized in different things such as interdisciplinary research, multi contextual along with just emphasis on plasticity as well. The two theories that I have chosen...
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...This paper will discuss a person’s lifespan is from the moment of conception through death. Throughout my paper I will explain the lifespan perspective and development. I will summarize two theories of life span development. Lastly, I will explain how heredity and the environment interact to produce individual differences in development. Lifespan development is the different stages a person goes through as they grow. Perspective of lifespan development recognizes the changes that happen in development. Freud and Piaget have very different theories of lifespan development. Freud’s theory is a foundation of id, ego, and superego, whereas Piaget’s is a cognitive development that transpires over a person’s lifetime. Nature and Nurture are more than perspectives in lifespan development they affect how and who a person will be. Lifespan development is the time from conception to death as a person develops and grows; the perspective in relationship to human development is lifelong, and theories of lifespan development can be seen in Freud, and Piaget, while the impacts of a person life is nature and nurture. A person’s lifespan starts as a fetus and as it develops and grows during the nine months in the womb being a individual whichever male or female will remain through stages in a his or her life. The study of human development is a science on a quest to understand how humans change over their lifetime (Berger, 2008). The modifications a person goes through they grow can be...
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...Life Span Perspective Paper Life Span Perspective Most of us, at one point in time or another, have reflected back to earlier periods of time in our lives and thought about the differences between how we were then and the people we are today. We may wonder why we have changed and how we evolved to this point. We may even think about the future and the people we will be decades from now. The process of changes we experience is examined and explained through the science of human development. This ongoing study looks at why and how people of all ages change over time. Scientists examine the young, old, rich, poor, various ethnicities and cultures, as well as those of various sexual orientations. They seek to better understand the continuity and discontinuity, and the consistencies and transformations the human race goes through from the point of conception until death (Berger, 2011). From this, we attempt to gain a better understanding of the people we are. Views of the Life Span Perspective The life span perspective holds many principles within human development. In our earlier school years Newton’s Law of Motion taught us that for every action there is a reaction (Boyd & Bee, 2009). In human development we have learned that our changes are multidirectional; each change produces some type of advancement or retreat. It is also multicontextual occurring is all of our various physical and social environments. Wide-spread culture across the globe creates unique methods...
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...Having the Faith to Survive The life of an English peasant around the year 1,000 proved to be quite laborious. Thanks to Sir Robert Cotton, authors Danziger and Lacey were able to tell us how the drawings of the Julius Work Calendar portrayed these individuals. The world was a quaint and quiet place in that time, with a total population of only one million people. “The year 1,000 was an empty world, with much more room to stretch out and breath.” There were three groups of citizens that were spread over the country side. These included workers, fighters and those that prayed for everyone. It seemed somewhat harmonious. The peasants worked for their Lords who took care of them. It was a mundane, but give and take society. “Life was short”. The expected life span was no more than fifty years. A boy of twelve was old enough to give allegiance to the King and a girl often married in her early teenage years. Through excavation, they have found their bones and surprisingly they did not differ much from us. They were the same height and their brains were the same size as ours. It seems to me that they were probably much stronger and smarter because everything had to be learned and preservation of sanity and health had to come from themselves. The Julius Work Calendar shows us that they were very much like us in that they lived by a schedule and got caught up in juggling time. It was a bit more structured for them though. They did not...
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...Abstract People figured out early on that living longer would be beneficial if they had the chance to do so. They would be able to spend more time with their friends and family, have more time in life to accomplish things they set out to do, and they could simply enjoy more of what life has to offer. This is a great mindset for anyone to have since life is a beautiful thing and worth living. With all of the advanced medical technology on this specific subject and the new findings that are constantly being done to prolong the human lifespan, we start to enter into the area of what is ethically right and wrong and wonder how much is too much? There are many different forms of medical treatment that can save someone’s life. This will vary from medicine to surgery and many things in between. Not everyone will agree on some of the techniques used, but most people understand why someone would want to save their life. Since people will try to save their own lives if they are dying, many scientists believe that there is no difference in trying to extend a life through medicine, or trying to create a life from another person through a cloning system. This is where the tables turn from helping mankind, to hurting what God has created for us. There are many conflicts between prolonging life and Christianity. Some people say that the world is entering into an area we do not belong, while others say we have already crossed that line. How Religion Is Impacted By Science Extending...
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...working definition of both. According to Webster’s Online Dictionary, mortality is defined as the quality or state of being a person or thing that is alive and therefore certain to die (Webster’s 2014). For morbidity, Webster’s summarizes it as quality or state of being morbid; the relative incidence of disease (Webster’s 2014). Now that good working definitions have been established, the relating questions can be addressed. The first discussion point asks to identify changes that seem to be occurring based on the mortality and morbidity data. In his article titled MORTALITY TRENDS, Preston shares “When death rates decline, they do so at all ages. Hence, the likelihood that an individual of any age will survive to subsequent stages of life will increase, and the largest effects will tend to occur among the very young. Individuals typically undergo a series of related cycles as they age - physical, educational, occupational, recreational and familial. The chance that an individual will complete any particular cycle obviously depends on prevailing risks of death. Moreover, the choice of stage at a particular age is likely to be affected by impending mortality. The reason for this dependence is that many of the states in childhood and early adulthood fundamentally represent investments, and the expected return to investment will vary with the duration of time over which the returns are expected to accrue” (Preston 1977). The positions that Preston shares in his article, have...
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...Life Span Human Development Paper Life Span Perspective Tonya Larson August 27, 2015 University of Phoenix, PSY/280, Professor Barch Abstract The life span perspective of development provides interesting information about the development of individuals through their life, such as who they are, how they came to be who they are, and who they will become. Psychoanalytic theories offer some insight into life span development and help explain the stages of development that individuals go through in their lifespan. The life span perspective of development also provides important information in regard to how the effects of heredity and the environment may interact to produce unique characteristics in the life span development. Life Span Perspective of Development To study human development, the life span perspective is necessary because it takes into account every phase of life. The life-span perspective, was first set forth by Paul and Margaret Baltes and their associates (P. B. Baltes et al., 2006; Staudinger & Lindenberger, 2003). The life-span perspective notes that development throughout life is: (1) multidirectional, therefore change occurs in every aspect of life and in every direction and not just in a straight line, (2) multicontextual, therefore the several contexts, such as economic constraints, family patterns, and historical conditions embed the lives of humans, (3) multicultural, therefore several cultures...
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