One of the key goals of psychology is understanding how and why people function the way that they do. Lifespan development allows us to look at the whole picture of human development and see how life experiences influence decision making. Many people consider lifespan development to be an interdisciplinary field of study, encompassing both the examination of internal factors, such as mental cognition over time and genetics, and external factors, such as one’s environment. Key areas of development that highlight the influence of both nature and nurture include health, both mental and physical, and learning. It is through research and experimentation that psychologists are able to conclude that both nature and nurture yield developmental variations in individuals in every stage of life. Similar to psychology, health is an ongoing developmental process that changes overtime. In studying health, as it pertains to psychology, we must be aware of the biological and environmental factors that are associated with health. On some level, every …show more content…
These difficulties can be the result of genetic influences. In a study that examined the IQ of identical twins, who have the same genes, and the IQ of fraternal twins, whose genes slightly differ, the results showed that because of gene variation IQ differed between the sets of twins (Santrock, 2016). Another area that highlights genetics as an influence on learning is in people with learning disabilities. Intellectual disabilities are the result of genetic brain damage. The most common form of disability is Down Syndrome. This specific type of disability can be the result of the presence of an extra X chromosome or fragile X syndrome. In conclusion, the ability to learn is heavily influenced by both environmental aspects, such as choice of school, and genetic aspects, such as gene
The lifespan interview was conducted 70 years of age married black female whom I will be calling Mrs. D. The purpose was to document the subject’s lifespan history with recollections of important or significant events in her development. Mrs. D is a native of McIntosh, Alabama. She was born to a Mr. and Mrs. Hiram P. Reed Sr. on the 13th of December in 1967 in McIntosh Alabama. She has five siblings 4 brothers and two sisters. She has 6 children three boys and three girls with one son being descent. This interview was conducted on a live face-to-face webcam so that Mrs. D would feel much more comfortable.
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
The field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability in behavior that occur throughout the entire lifespan is called lifespan development. Lifespan development takes a scientific approach in its study of growth, change, and stability. This development emphases on human development. Developmentalists study the course of development in nonhuman species, the most popular examine growth and change in people. In contrast I will focus on the ways people and myself change and grow during our lives, with the consideration of stability in our live span. Together, these findings suggest that we will go through
Picking someone for this paper was much more difficult than the first one, at immediate thought the only people I knew over the age of 65 were my family members. I started to look into some of my friends’ parents but they were not quite there. Then it hit me, the perfect person to interview would be my friend that passed away in Dickinson, her grandmother. She is one of the most loving, caring, supportive grandparents I have ever met. I have always seen her from that stand point so interviewing her would only help me to understand how she became the way she is today.
Developmental psychologists study changes in Lifespan Development that apply intermediately to health care. Lifespan Developmental psychology is the focus on human growth and changes across the lifespan, and how and why human beings change over the course of their life (Santrock). Nurses in particular are call upon for much more to administer a medicine or do a treatment. There is an important role in understanding the relationship between a patient's medical and psychological needs (Potter & Perry). The reason being that lifespan developmental psychology, is a critical component to the training of every nurse.
This has been a very fascinating journey from prenatal, birth to old age. The goal of this paper is to show how my knowledge and understanding of life span development has increased, as well as demonstrate how this knowledge and understanding will apply to and can be used within my area of specialization, Leadership Coaching.
For Life-Span Development class, on February 13, 2017, the class had the opportunity to observer the physical, cognitive and social development. In this observation the class Riley, a five month old, female toddler. As a class at the Dordt College, gave the class the opportunity to live observe in the child with the infant’s parent consent.
Life span developmental psychology takes a scientific approach to human growth and change, focusing on change during the life span. There are three main aspects to life span development: cognitive, social, and physical development. This class is not simply a discussion of nature vs. nurture, it explores the interaction between genetic and environmental factors that orient us towards specific behaviors. Initially, my views on life span development were limited to more sociological factors, and did not take into consideration physical developments of the brain. In relation to my personal and professional identity this course has made me realize that development occurs on a spectrum and that not everyone develops at the same time, in the same ways, making me more understanding and compassionate towards those who developed differently than me. The three most important lessons I have learned from this class are that development occurs throughout the entire life span, infants begin learning at a very young age, and that senescence begins as early as young adulthood.
Going back forty-five years is not an easy task to complete because I can’t remember some of the finer details of my childhood. I know I was born on a hot August afternoon in Birth Year at Place Of Birth in City ands State. My mother was just twenty-two at the time and was already the mother of two, I was her third child. My father was twenty-one and already a workaholic, I know because my mother would constantly remind me not to be like that. My mother and father were good parents and they tried to give us the best upbringing they could. My father was the kind of person that believed he should provide and protect his family, and he did a very good job of doing that.
The interview was conducted with a married female, 59 ½ years of age. The purpose was to document the subject’s lifespan history with recollections of significant events in her development. The focus was to identify any dystonic outcomes during any of the stages of Erikson’s personal developmental theory, theory of the mind, Levinson theory, attachment theory and Identity theory. It is anticipated that the questions could quarantine specific areas and incidents that may have obstructed any of the developmental theories thereby influencing the subject’s later view of adolescent, young adult and middle age. The focus for the paper is inspired by Erickson’s emphasis on the identity crisis as the “psychosocial
D1 Evaluate how nature –nurture may affect the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development for two stages of development of the individual.
According to Cliff Notes, Developmental psychology is the scientific study of age-related changes throughout the human life span. A discipline of scientific inquiry, developmental psychology recognizes humans of all societies and cultures as beings who are “in process,” or constantly growing and changing. This discipline identifies the biological, psychological, and social aspects that interact to influence the growing human life-span process. Within the last 25 years, developmentalist’s researchers who study human development expanded their focus to include the study of the physical, motor, cognitive, intellectual, emotional, personality, social, and moral changes that occur throughout all stages of the life span (cliff notes).
According to Crawford and Walker(2010), the life course is defined in literature as, “The progression and path an individual takes from conception to death.” (Crawford and walker, 2012, p.3). The study of the life course and human development is extremely complex and could be described as interdisciplinary as it encompasses many fields of study. When examining the life course of individuals it is necessary to consider all of the various factors that affect human behaviour. These may include; psychological, biological, social, behavioural, cognitive or culture factors. Age can also be considered as a factor that influences lifespan development. In the early 19th century, the term “age related change” was regarded as only applicable to the early childhood stage but in recent years, psychologists have come to accept that age related changes occur throughout the entire life span. According to Boyd and Bee (2014), other earlier theories included Charles Darwin’s suggestion that, “the wide variety of life forms that exist on earth evolved gradually as a result of the interplay between environmental factors and genetic process.” (Boyd and Bee, 2014, p.3) Therefore Darwin proposed that it was either solely, “nature” or “nurture” that influenced the human development, but instead, a combination of both. In this assignment, I am going to focus on the specific psychological factors that influence human behaviour during the life course. I will compare two different psychological
After reviewing the two articles provided and studies of my proposed topic, there was no evidence of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks in six of my studies. However, there is one theoretical framework in my quantitative study that focuses on the individual and is grounded within the context of the life-span perspective of human development theory. Contextual influences include the types of changes in resources that occur in response to the individual's needs for resources throughout a changing life-span. Life-span development involves biological considerations, cultural considerations, and individual factors working together. The life-span perspective put emphasis on the development of the course of a lifetime, and all stages of the
The life-span perspective is a modern scientific approach to the study of human development that accounts for all phases of life including childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and it breaks each phase into individual stages of development (Berger,2014). This perspective suggests that development is multidirectional, metacontextual, and all stages of development are important and play a crucial role in the individuals cognitive health (Berger,2014). The stages of development are categorized as infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, adulthood, and late adulthood. For the purpose of this paper I will be focusing on the infancy stage due to the importance of cognitive development before the age of two, middle childhood due to a child’s social structure becoming a defining factor in their lives, and emerging adulthood due to the stresses that an individual must endure while maturing into a young adult.