Life Span
Life Span
Mc Kel Dean
PSY 375
May 9 2011
Linda O’Connor
Life Span One of the most important things of human development is understanding change. Darwin’s need to understand evolution gave light to the study of lifespan development. Life span can easily be defined as a period of time starting with conception and ending with death. Coming up with a definition of lifespan development and describing the characteristics of lifespan perspective all starts with understanding that changes occur in every period of development and these changes must be looked at as a product of the culture and of the specific situation surrounding the change. The lifespan perspective of development can be put into context through the models of both human development domains and developmental periods, the major characteristics of lifespan perspective, and the contemporary concerns about lifespan perspective.
Characteristics of lifespan Lifespan perspective has many characteristics when it is related to human development. To start with as in the definition lifespan is life-long. To put it in simple terms lifespan perspective is ongoing and is not dominated by any one age period. Another characteristics of lifespan is that it is multidimensional, consisting of physical, cognitive, and social domains. Lifespan development is also multi-directional According to Santrock (1999), multi-directional means, “that some aspects of development will increase, while others decrease.” The lifespan perspective also has a characteristics called plastic, Paul Bates who was a German psychologist whose broad scientific agenda was devoted to establishing and promoting the life-span orientation of human development, explains that "the capacity for positive change, or plasticity, in response to environmental demands is possible throughout the entire lifespan" (Boyd, D., and Bee, H., 2006 p.6). Because lifespan perspective is influenced by the past it can also have a characteristic called
Mc Kel Dean
PSY 375
May 9 2011
Linda O’Connor
Life Span One of the most important things of human development is understanding change. Darwin’s need to understand evolution gave light to the study of lifespan development. Life span can easily be defined as a period of time starting with conception and ending with death. Coming up with a definition of lifespan development and describing the characteristics of lifespan perspective all starts with understanding that changes occur in every period of development and these changes must be looked at as a product of the culture and of the specific situation surrounding the change. The lifespan perspective of development can be put into context through the models of both human development domains and developmental periods, the major characteristics of lifespan perspective, and the contemporary concerns about lifespan perspective.
Characteristics of lifespan Lifespan perspective has many characteristics when it is related to human development. To start with as in the definition lifespan is life-long. To put it in simple terms lifespan perspective is ongoing and is not dominated by any one age period. Another characteristics of lifespan is that it is multidimensional, consisting of physical, cognitive, and social domains. Lifespan development is also multi-directional According to Santrock (1999), multi-directional means, “that some aspects of development will increase, while others decrease.” The lifespan perspective also has a characteristics called plastic, Paul Bates who was a German psychologist whose broad scientific agenda was devoted to establishing and promoting the life-span orientation of human development, explains that "the capacity for positive change, or plasticity, in response to environmental demands is possible throughout the entire lifespan" (Boyd, D., and Bee, H., 2006 p.6). Because lifespan perspective is influenced by the past it can also have a characteristic called
References: Boyd, D., and Bee, H., (2006). Lifespan Development, Fourth Edition. Boston, MA. Pearson Education, Inc. Santrock, J., (1999). Explaining Human Behavior; Psychology 110. McGraw-Hill College Sigelman, C.K., Rider, E.A. (2008). Life-Span Human Development, 6th Edition. Cengage Learning