Lifespan development has been guided by six major theoretical perspectives: the

Question

Lifespan development has been guided by six major theoretical perspectives: the psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, contextual, and evolutionary perspectives. The psychodynamic perspective is the approach that states behavior is motivated by inner forces, memories, and conflicts that are generally beyond people’s awareness and control (Feldman 13). Viennese physician, Sigmund Freud, is closely associated with this perspective and suggests that unconscious forces act to determine personality and behavior (Feldman 13). These unconscious forces that we are unaware of and cannot control are said to be responsible for much of our everyday behavior. The behavioral perspective is the approach that suggests that the keys to understanding development are observable behavior and outside stimuli in the environment (Feldman 15). This perspective reflects the view that nurture is more important to development than nature, and once we know of a stimuli, we can predict a certain behavior (Feldman 15). The cognitive perspective is the approach that focuses on the processes that allow people to know, understand, and think about the world (Feldman 17). Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget, proposed the theory that all people pass through a fixed sequence of universal stages of cognitive development (Feldman 17). With this perspective, as people move through each stage in their lives they gain information and understanding. The Humanistic perspective is the theory that contends that people have a natural capacity to make decisions about their lives and control their behavior (Feldman 19). People want to reach their full potential and will strive to do so along with making behavioral decisions through their own free will. The contextual perspective is the theory that considers the relationship between individuals and their physical, cognitive, personality, and social worlds (Feldman 20). All of these aspects of the contextual perspective need to work together for development. The evolutionary perspective is the theory that seeks to identify behavior that is a result of our genetic inheritance from our ancestors (Feldman 22). This means that traits and behaviors that promote survival are inherited through natural selection. After gaining an understanding of each perspective, they all seem to have strong evidence showing how they affect development. If I had to choose one perspective that seems to affect development the greatest I would have to say the cognitive perspective. Piaget’s theory that we pass through stages in our lives as we get older seems to make the most sense. As we age, we learn more and gain a better understanding about the world we live in. The pattern of development that is seen is common with most individuals, and Piaget’s theory gives the best description and break down of lifespan development.

IN 5-6 LINES WHAT DO YOU AGREED WITH PASSAGE OR HOW WOULD COMMENT?

Explanation / Answer

I strongly agree with this passage. The main scope of lifespan development is that it provides a broad range of ages and topical areas. Its primary aim is to examine the links between human age groups and the areas of physical, cognitive, social and personality development. Life span could be viewed from six major theoretical perspectives which are the psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, contextual, and evolutionary perspectives. Each of these theories emphasizes on different aspects of development and steers developmentalists in particular directions.The theoretical perspectives provides a different way of looking at the development. Considering them together paints a fuller portrait of the myriad ways human beings change and grow over the course of their lives.

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