...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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...A Life Span View: From Young Adult to Late Adulthood Subject Michelle Honeycutt Andrea McCabe Chamberlain College of Nursing Michelle Honeycutt is age 60 and currently lives in Pekin, IL. I chose her as my subject mostly because of her unique upbringing and life journey so far. She is married with three children and works at The Women’s Center for Health working in the billing department where she has worked there for over ten years. Her parents are in their eighties currently and are residing in Pekin, IL as well. Her husband, Lance Honeycutt, is sixty-three and works as a district manger for Zales Jewelers. Young Adulthood Michelle’s story is unique because she became a single mother at twenty-two. She married her first husband at nineteen and felt like she had missed part of her childhood. She felt she missed this not just because she married young, but because her mother became very ill when she was about nine years old. Her two sisters and her had to, “grow up fast” (Honeycutt, M., Personal Communication February, 2013), she said. She did most of cleaning, cooking, and shopping. When Michelle reached young adulthood she said she felt lost and out of touch with many her age. Developing friendships during this age is very helpful for boosting self- esteem, and those who have close friendships throughout college, tend to deal with stress better (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2010). She felt she also skipped going out, drinking, and parties, because she had a child. I asked...
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...What are the most important years in life for human development? Human development is a complicated and controversial subject. In the past, childhood has been attributed a majority of the concentration in regards to the development of a human being, and in some cases, adulthood has gotten all of the attention. However there is one perspective that considers all phases of life, known as the life-span perspective, which is universally accepted by most psychologists and implicated into their own respective theories. This perspective was originally introduced by Paul and Margaret Baltes, and was monumental as it considered all phases of life, rather than just childhood or adulthood (Berger 2010). There are five insights which are focused on to describe the context under which development occurs. According to the life-span perspective, development is multidirectional, multicontextual, multicultural, multidisciplinary, and plastic (Berger 2010). Let’s begin with multidirectional. Multidirectional means that human qualities change in all directions. A more traditional belief was that development took place up until the age of 20, becomes stagnant, and then declines. Life-span research has refuted this claim (Berger 2010). For example, when an elderly person’s spouse passes, the newly single elderly person can either lose motivation to live, or expand their social surroundings. Regardless of the outcome, development occurred even in these elderly years. The belief that development...
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...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 the Lifespan of a Human Introduction Currently, physicians have the know-how and advanced technology which...
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...Participation In Research I participated in several online studies that are being conducted for research. The first was called “Coping with Stressful Life Events” and is conducted by Claire Jones, University of Exeter. The purpose of this study is to identify strategies people use to cope with life’s difficulties emotionally. The participant is given scenarios and asked how they’d feel about the situation and/or themselves in each situation. Before the study, there is a page giving an overview of the study as well as guidelines, inviting anyone over eighteen years of age who used English as their first language to take part. There is a consent form at the beginning of the survey that participants are directed to before the study begins. This study looks at the link between the participant’s current feelings and thoughts about themselves in relation to difficult life experiences. This subject matter is touched on throughout the text – it is examples of nature-nurture when life events influence our behavior (nurture). This study looks more specifically at life events and their effects (p.395-396) in regard to self esteem and, more accurately, self concept. (Defined p.395) Overall, the survey was clearly explained and well executed. Before beginning this survey it assured complete privacy and anonymity. It also warned that focusing on negative life events could cause emotional discomfort. Upon completion it reiterated that focusing on negative life events could...
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...Lifespan Perspective Paper Lifespan Perspective Paper A person’s lifespan is from the moment of conception through death. Lifespan development is the different stages a person passes through as he or she develops. Perspective of lifespan development understands the changes that occur in development. Freud and Piaget have very different theories of lifespan development. Freud’s theory is a basis of id, ego, and superego, whereas Piaget’s is a cognitive development that occurs over a person’s lifetime. Nature and Nurture are more than perspectives in lifespan development they influence 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 influences of a person life is nature and nurture. What is Lifespan Development A person’s lifespan begins as a fetus and as it develops and grows for nine months in the womb becoming a person either male or female will continue through stages in a his or her life. The study of human development is a science seeking to understand how humans change over their lifetime (Berger, 2008). The changes a person goes through as he or she grows can be linear-gradual, predictable, steady, but normally they are none of these. The common stages are birth, infancy, adolescence, adulthood, old age, and the ending death. To define lifespan...
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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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...Lifespan Perspective Francine Morgan PSY 375 July 11, 2011 Professor Linda O’Connor Lifespan Perspective The most important step of human development is understands changes. Lifespan perspective is all about changes that occur in every period of development and the situation surrounding the changes. Lifespan perspective can be characterized with human development. The definition of lifespan perspective according to freedictonay is lifelong or lifetime. In other words, this is a continuous thing that is not characterized by age. Lifespan development is the process beginning with conception to the time of death. People are changing as they advance with age (Boyd et al. 2006). During the time of conception the fetus emerge from an organism that has one living cell. According to Boyd individual has four life cycles (Boyd et al. 2006). These cycle last for about 25 years of an individual life. The four stages of development include early childhood, adolescence, early adulthood and adulthood. Each stage involves a transformation of each individual character. Therefore, lifespan perspective substantial changes are evidenced. Changes in perspective are usually interrupted within occurrences context as well as culture (Sigelman et al.2008). Throughout human’s lives, human beings are wired to adapt to changes in different environmental challenges (Sigelman et al. 2008). Multidemsional is also known as lifespan perspective (Begers, 2008). Development of human has being characterized...
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...In order to fully understand human development, this essay will discuss the importance of the lifespan perspective. Many researches believe that the lifespan orientation consists of several classic beliefs that form a family of perspectives that gives a cohesive view on the nature of development. While each of these seven perspectives are essential to lifespan development and emphasize a different aspect of development, this essay will focus on the two aspects of plasticity and contextualism as a paradigm. It will also illustrate how they give evidence supporting development as a life long process. Lifespan development can be defined as “the field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability in behaviour that occur throughout the entire life span” (Sigelman & Rider, 2011). Lifespan development takes a scientific approach in its study of growth, change and stability as researchers use scientific methods to test their assumptions (Sigelman & Rider, 2011s). Previously child development was the focus of many theorists but within the last two decades lifespan development has begun to be studied empirically. Another justification for lifespan development is that it originates in other disciplines as well such as sociology and anthropology and this suggests that this field of lifespan development did not originate solely from developmental psychologists (Baltes, 1987). There are three relevant areas in lifespan development: physical development which looks at...
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...10/14/2013 Heather Harrison, Ph.D. 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. LSP is concerned with three separate, but principally overlapping, domains of human development: physical domain (ontogenesis), cognitive domain, and...
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...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), cognitive...
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...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 and grows for 9 months within...
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...animals remain fertile until death, as do human males, and although human males do become less fertile with age, they in general experience no complete shutdown of fertility. Men as old as the age of 94 have been noted to father children (Diamond, 1996). The situation for human women is strikingly different. They undergo menopause, the permanent cessation of menstruation, by the time they are in their mid fifties (Lahdenpera et al., 2004). In fact, natural conception after the age of 50 is extremely rare. Menopause has become quite the evolutionary puzzle for modern scientists because natural selection favors increased reproduction, therefore increasing one’s own fitness. The essence of natural selection is that it promotes genes for traits that increase an animal’s number of descendents bearing those genes. Thus, the great question is: How could natural selection result in every female member of a species carrying genes that destroy her ability to leave more descendents? Many theories on the evolution of menopause have arisen in the past 50 years in an attempt to answer this question but they all also have key assumptions and limitations. Proponents of the Grandmother Hypothesis believe that their theory holds the greatest promise to answer this question. The Grandmother Hypothesis is meant to explain why menopause arose in human evolution, and how late life infertility could actually confer an evolutionary advantage (Williams, 1957). The human female is unique in having menopause...
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...A person’s lifespan is from the moment of conception through death. Lifespan development is the different stages a person passes through as he or she develops. Perspective of lifespan development understands the changes that occur in development. Freud and Piaget have very different theories of lifespan development. Freud’s theory is a basis of id, ego, and superego, whereas Piaget’s is a cognitive development that occurs over a person’s lifetime. Nature and Nurture are more than perspectives in lifespan development they influence 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 influences of a person life is nature and nurture. What is Lifespan Development A person’s lifespan begins as a fetus and as it develops and grows for nine months in the womb becoming a person either male or female will continue through stages in a his or her life. The study of human development is a science seeking to understand how humans change over their lifetime (Berger, 2008). The changes a person goes through as he or she grows can be linear-gradual, predictable, steady, but normally they are none of these. The common stages are birth, infancy, adolescence, adulthood, old age, and the ending death. To define lifespan development is also to mention that humans in their lifetime...
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...Human Development Amber Jones PSY 280-Human Growth and Development October 13, 2012 Linda Baker Human Development The growth and development of humans is a very interesting topic to discuss with anyone. There are so many theories that people have on human development and it always makes for interesting conversations. In this paper, I will put focus on the psychoanalytic theory, the stages of psychosocial development theory, and the stages of faith theory. I will focus on the three theories because I feel that they are extremely interesting to the growth and development of humans. To be more specific, I want to focus on exactly what the theories are and how they are important and/or related to the human growth and development. As well, I want to focus on at least on theorist who is known specifically for the theory I focus on. I also want to identify the aspects of the life span from that theory’s perspective. Last, but definitely not least, I want to discuss in detail how the heredity and the environment have influence on human development. By the end of the paper, you as the reader, should have a better understanding of the three theories of my choosing and how human development works. Psychoanalytical Theory The first theory related to human growth and development that I want to focus on is the psychoanalytical theory. With this specific theory, the personality organization and the development of the personality dynamics is he focus. Probably the most...
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