...Introduction The goal of the life span perspective of development is to understand how and why all different kinds of people, everywhere, and of every age, change over time (Berger, 2011). Developmental psychologists study the constant changes we experience throughout life, including physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development. Psychologists also study how we are affected by, react to, and process the world around us (Stone, 2011). The first aspect of developmental science is to understand how and why people change. Another aspect of developmental science is to identify universal similarities and differences among people, and then use that information to unify humanity as well as distinguish us as individuals (Berger, 2011). The most important aspect of developmental science is to understand that people change over time. According to Berger (2001), “Change is systematic, ongoing, and dynamic throughout the entire life span.” Explain the life span perspective of development. According to Paul and Margret Baltes, life-span perspective views human development as multidirectional, multicontextual, multicultural, multidisciplinary, and plastic. Development is considered multidirectional because change occurs in all directions, in every part of life. Human characteristics can increase, decrease, or remain the same (Berger, 2011). Development is also multicontextual. It can occur in many different physical and social environments. We develop, regardless of where we are...
Words: 1422 - Pages: 6
...Life Span Development Kelvin L. McRae Liberty University Abstract In this paper it will discuss Erik Eriksons 8 stages of personality and what we deal with during each stage of our lives. This paper will also discuss the Big Five theory which gives a pretty good ideal of most people personalities. This paper will also discuss my life span and the things that I have been through in my life time from birth to my current stage of life Young adults. It will also explain what I need to do to deal with the issues that I have that are affecting me as I go into my next stage of life and how I will deal with it. In our life time we go through several changes. Form the day we are born until the day that death has come upon use. As we reach different stages of our lives we begin to see changes not only in our physical but cognitively as well. Through the studies of Erik Erickson he came up with 8 different stages personality that may define who we are going to be. The first stage is Basic trust vs. basic mistrust; in this stage it covers the birth to 1 year of age which seems to be the most fundamental stage of life. Cassell (2013) states that Erickson said; the baby develops basic trust or basic mistrust is not merely a matter of nurture. It is multi-faceted and has strong social components. It depends on the quality of the maternal relationship. The mother carries out and reflects their inner perceptions of trustworthiness, a sense of personal meaning, etc. on the...
Words: 3652 - Pages: 15
...HDEV 3101 Life Span Development Reading Blog 2 The human body goes through major growth patterns and then reverses itself from infancy to death. The two major growth patterns in infancy are the cephalocaudal pattern and the proximodistal patterns. In the cephalocaudal pattern, the rapid growth of the head surpasses the rest of the body while in the proxoxismal pattern; the chest muscles develop before the muscles in the extremities. In childhood growth is slow yet steady. Later in adolescence or puberty the body reaches great increases in hormones (endocrine glands powerful chemical secretions) and physical maturation. Growth spurts in weight and height reach girls two years faster than boys. Sexual organs testes in male and ovaries in female are developed by the pituitary gland. Strength and muscle tone develops in teens and twenties yet may begin to decline in the thirties. In the forties and fifties muscle tone and elasticity steadily decrease leading to wrinkles and sagging skin. In later adult hood the body begins to deteriorate with markedly decreases in the cardiovascular system, lung elasticity, and circulatory system eventually leading to disease and death. The brain has two hemispheres; the forebrain and the outer layer the cerebral cortex. Important developments in the brain in the first two years are myelination and laterization. Myelination is the development of a thin sheath of fat cells called myelin that aid in faster information processing and...
Words: 595 - Pages: 3
...The individual I chose to do my life span development and personality paper on is Marilyn Monroe. She was born June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. She is an American icon but did not lead the life of glam and glory that she led people to believe. Inside she was a very troubled, sad and insecure woman. She died on August 5, 1962 at the age of 36 in Brentwood California. Her cause of death was Barbiturate overdose. In this paper I am going to explore the personality and background of Marilyn Monroe from the viewpoint of developmental psychology. In my exploration of Marilyn Monroe’s’ background and how I can point out what impacted the young stars life from the viewpoint of developmental psychology I will focus on the influences of her heredity and environment. As well as what family and social support systems influenced Marilyn Monroe’s’ developmental growth and adjustments. I will also address two different theories of personality I have tied with Marilyn Monroe and lastly I will explain which theoretical approach I believe best explains Marilyn’s’ achievements and behaviors. I believe that the early childhood development, or should I say lack of played a key role in Marilyn Monroe’s’ life and her unhappiness. Marilyn Monroe, who was actually born Norma Jeane Baker was born into a family that had a long line of mental illness. Marilyn’s’ great grandfather committed suicide, her uncle went on a run for errands one day...
Words: 1239 - Pages: 5
...their physical, spiritual and emotional needs. While development is not sequential, it is progressive as the story of life molds and shapes the beliefs and choices of the future. When humans are compared and evaluated, what is it that influences one person to make good choices and another to make bad choices? The ability to adapt and handle times of crisis is a good indicator of a healthy, well-balanced life. It is an indicator that affects almost everyone. It takes skills that mature and develop over time. Are there life experiences that contribute to the positive handling of the stressors of a crisis? Personal experience and pertinent research points to three themes offering positive influence upon crisis adapting skills. First, a religious and spiritual foundation provides the context through which the crisis can be understood, analyzed and managed. Second, a positive, stable family situation allows for the development of the positive self-esteem necessary through which the impact of the crisis upon the individual can be managed. Finally, the satisfaction found in a career or a job can determine perspective and motivation in dealing with problems outside the workplace. Significant Lifespan Factors Impacting Personal Coping Skills Lifespan developmental psychology (LP) is involved in the study of the individual’s development from conception or birth into old age. One of the assumptions of LP is that significant life events shape and transform the personality, thinking...
Words: 2835 - Pages: 12
...their physical, spiritual and emotional needs. While development is not sequential, it is progressive as the story of life molds and shapes the beliefs and choices of the future. When humans are compared and evaluated, what is it that influences one person to make good choices and another to make bad choices? The ability to adapt and handle times of crisis is a good indicator of a healthy, well-balanced life. It is an indicator that affects almost everyone. It takes skills that mature and develop over time. Are there life experiences that contribute to the positive handling of the stressors of a crisis? Personal experience and pertinent research points to three themes offering positive influence upon crisis adapting skills. First, a religious and spiritual foundation provides the context through which the crisis can be understood, analyzed and managed. Second, a positive, stable family situation allows for the development of the positive self-esteem necessary through which the impact of the crisis upon the individual can be managed. Finally, the satisfaction found in a career or a job can determine perspective and motivation in dealing with problems outside the workplace. Significant Lifespan Factors Impacting Personal Coping Skills Lifespan developmental psychology (LP) is involved in the study of the individual’s development from conception or birth into old age. One of the assumptions of LP is that significant life events shape and transform the personality, thinking...
Words: 2729 - Pages: 11
...In the scenario it would appear that Jane is faced with a dilemma on whether or not she should return the money that she saw fall out of an individual’s pocket or should she keep the money and use it to purchase a toy that she really wants. I believe that if she is contemplating on whether or not what she should do, I believe that this thought could be associated with the first step of Kohlberg’s moral development theory that is obedience and punishment orientation. In this stage the individual knows the reward or punishment that is in place for certain behaviors or actions. Therefore, whatever the behavior or action is, whether it is desired or undesired, a certain consequence will follow that allows the individual to contemplate as well as remember what to do when similar circumstance come about. For this reason, that is why I strongly believe that this stage or application would or could overlap the decision that the character needs to make in this scenario. If Jane decides to give the individual back the money that fell out of his or her pocket she will be rewarded possibly for her actions by the individual as well as her parents and might cause her parents to try and save up for that toy that Jane wants as a reward for her actions. In addition, there is a possibility that the individual who dropped the money from his or her pocket may also reward Jane with a couple of dollars that she could use to save up for that toy that she wants and still remain to receive...
Words: 662 - Pages: 3
...Running Head: LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT AND PERSONALITY Lifespan Development and Personality Paper: Donnie McClurkin Psych 300 Lifespan Development and Personality Developmental psychologists study the human growth and development that occurs throughout the entire lifespan. This includes not only physical development, but also cognitive, social, intellectual, perceptual, personality and emotional growth (Cherry, 2010). A person’s characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving across particular environmental circumstances defines how others view him or her. Humans develop throughout their entire lifespan, essentially from womb to tomb. A person’s personality is made up of behaviors that combined together make an individual unique (Renner, Morrissey, Mae, Feldman, & Majors, 2011). The success of psychological development consists of a complex interaction of heredity and environment during particular stages throughout childhood which lay the foundation for effective or ineffective development. Donnie McClurkin’s turbulent life from childhood could be explained through the perspectives of psychodynamic, trait, and humanistic theory by looking at his emotional, behavioral, and motivational development changes or lack of that may have influenced the situations that characterized his personality and life. Donnie McClurkin Donnie McClurkin was born Donald Andrew McClurkin, Jr. in Amityville, New York on November 9, 1959, to Frances and Donald McClurkin...
Words: 1338 - Pages: 6
...Life Span Development and Personality Paper Jennifer M. Volkert PSY/300 Psychology June13, 2011 Pamela Parks Life Span Development and Personality Paper Gandhi use to say, “My life, my message”. This was his passion, his calling, what he knew he was meant to do and how he was meant to serve others. How does a person develop into who they become? Who and what influences impact a life so much that it shapes a persons’ entire life? Gandhi always said that God was the guiding force behind why he did what he did. He was a servant that made many mistakes and much of what he did and said was a work in progress and an experiment with life. He spent his life spreading the message that truth and freedom through non-violence was the way. He grew up in an affluent home and was married at the age of thirteen. It seems that quite a lot of his influences that helped to shape him happened when he went to London to attend law school and become a Barrister. He promised his mother that he would observe the Hindu precepts of abstinence from meat, alcohol and promiscuity (Brown, J. M. (1989). While there he joined the Vegetarian Society, the Theosophical Society and read the Bhagavad Gita which is the Hindu scriptures. In 1893, he was hired by an Indian firm to work in South Africa, where he faced discriminations that would be the turning point in his life, shaping his role as an activist. Gandhi was born to an affluent family but did not begin his journey until he was away from...
Words: 1080 - Pages: 5
...referenced by his 1963 speech,” "I Have a Dream." In his young days Martin family grew up in a poor farming community, they grew up in a secured and loving environment where faith was an important part of their daily lives. His father tried to protect his children from racism but failed. Martin tried to follow in his father’s footsteps but often rebelled during his adolescence years, Martin questioned his faith and in his teenage years he renewed his religion by taking a Bible class, he was a smart student he excelled in all his classes and was named valedictorian class of 1951. By his adulthood he started following his peers by drinking and playing pool instead of studying. Heredity and environment together both play important roles in the development of many human traits. Children learn from their parents....
Words: 1134 - Pages: 5
...with their peers and some are not. Have you ever wonder what make their behavior are so different? Life span development studies of how people grow and change during all phase of their lives. In the book I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings written by Maya Angelou proves that development is multidimensional including biological, cognitive and socioemotional. Maya is three years old and her brother, Bailey, is four experienced broken family and were sent to Stamps, Arkansas with pieces of paper attached on their bodies “to whom may it concern”. They live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, whom soon they called Momma. Maya and Bailey who was born and grew up were abandoned without the love, care and nourishment in a good environment with their biological parents have had many struggles to face during childhood to early adolescence and affect their entire life. As the beginning of the book, Maya was unable to finish her poem “What are you looking at me for? I didn’t come to stay…” According to Erikson, Maya must be in initiative versus guilt stage because Maya feels that she is awkward and ugly with kinky hair and dark skin. She dreams to be a beautiful white child with the straight blonde hair and blue eyes, not because she didn’t like herself, but because was taught not to like her Blackness. The social norms with stenotype expectation influences Maya’s development and personality when she interacts with people, that make she wanted to “retain a sense of uniqueness”...
Words: 2711 - Pages: 11
...Life Span Development and Personality Paper Life Span Development and Personality Paper Faith L. Mayo Axia College of University of Phoenix Life Span Development and Personality Paper Adolf Hitler was a famous individual from the 20th century; his story has been well known for many years and will continue to spread through time as it was a memorable part of our history. He was the founder and leader of the Nazi party from 1933-1945 (Wistrich, 1997). His father was Alois Hitler, who was an authoritarian disciplinarian. He was strongly attached to his mother Klara Poelzl, she was a strong woman and a very hard worker. Once she passed away from cancer, Adolf Hitler began to show signs of moodiness, temperamental, and not willing to work (Wistrich, 1997). He moved to Vienna in 1907 and applied to Viennese Academy of Fine Arts, which he was rejected. This was the final turning point for Adolf Hitler. According to the Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team; in 1913, Hitler moved to Munich to join the Sixteenth Bavarian Infantry Regiment, serving as a despatch runner. He was badly wounded and placed in gas chambers for four weeks. Once he was released, he had to recuperate in a hospital for three months (C.W. and CL Heart, 2007). Hitler believed this would be his fate; to punish those that had embarrassed him in front of his nation; the Jewish and the Bolsheviks. In 1919, Hitler started out with 40 members by his side and used the...
Words: 1315 - Pages: 6
...The purpose of this assignment is to show which influences affected the life of Paul McCartney from the perspective of developmental psychology. To be sure, this assignment may have been effective examining any person, for according to Jean Piaget, an early pioneer in the study of cognitive units of knowledge, or schemas, developmental psychology is both instinctive, and learned, and is not unique to any specific person (McLeod, 2009). McLeod (2009) encapsulates this supposition by stating, "According to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based" (Jean Piaget). Nevertheless, McCartney lives an extraordinary life, one that shapes his personality; thus; McCartney's genetic predispositions and environmental experiences as he matures influence his developmental growth and adjustment. Finally, McCartney's unique life events certainly shape his personality related to the Five Factor Model, which explains McCartney's distinctive traits. Theories of Personality "Personality is the way our motives, emotions, and ways of thinking about ourselves, others, and the world interact in particular situations to produce ways of responding that are characteristically ours" (Kowalski & Westen, 2011, p. 436-437). As a youth attending school in Liverpool, England Paul McCartney was a savant. McCartney mastered an exam known as The Scholarship, which secured him a place in the prestigious...
Words: 521 - Pages: 3
...Current Issue in Life-Span Development In the field of life-span development, current issues are plentiful. The development of homosexuality and the phase’s a person goes through to reach a place where they are comfortable with themselves is a journey in itself. It was in 1892 that the term homosexuality was first used. A homosexual (2011), according to Merriam Webster Online, “of or having sexual desire for those of the same sex.” In order to understand the development of identity of homosexuals, it is first important to be mindful of the framework of sexuality in general. The term homosexuality is used to depict the comprehension of sexuality however; in today’s society; the preferred verbiage to define individuals is being gay or lesbian. Homosexuality and Life-span Development Sullivan and Schneider (1987) argue that homosexual coming out in youth has to be seen from a non-derogatory developmental perspective. In an attempt to react to the unique pressures found in adolescents showing an increasing gay or lesbian identity, psychologists and counselors must become familiar with the distinctive development of gay and lesbian adolescents, in addition to the sexual identity development literature in general. Reviewing the developmental issues of gay and lesbian adolescents creates thoughts concerning developing services to assist them. Often times, adults are hesitant to pay attention to adolescent communications concerning sexuality. These feelings begin to arise during...
Words: 1176 - Pages: 5
...Life Span Development and Personality Paper PSY/300 Life span development is a study into a person’s life. The type of person, the person’s traits and what makes him or her different is the building blocks of a person’s personality. This paper will introduce the study of the life span and personality of shock rocker Marilyn Manson. It will be discussing Manson’s environmental development. It will discuss the moral psychological development, social support, and family support of Marilyn Manson. Each area helped in molding Manson and gave Manson adjustment to his life. It will show how his morals differ from societies morals, and how he was and still is perceived in society as a “Shock Rocker.” Marilyn Manson was born Brian Hugh Warner, January 5, 1969 in the town of Canton which is in the state of Ohio, to Hugh, and Barb Warner. At a tender age of five Manson entered in the Heritage Christian School. At this time Manson became instilled with fear, and became terrorized by the Christian school. The Coughlin (n.d.) website states he believed he was cheated and abused due to the teachings of the arrival of Christ and the apocalyptic conspiracy theories preached at his school. To complicate Manson’s childhood Manson suffered molestation from a neighbor and did not inform his mother for a long time of the molestation. Manson’s environment was at first church and family. Going to a faith-oriented school Manson was educated about how he would be damn for his sins, which made...
Words: 1375 - Pages: 6
