Interrelated Modules of Life-Span Development - Essay Example

Life-span development is packaged with two interrelated modules, extending development studies in lifelong excluding main efforts to the construction of meta-theories emanating from the work of life span and the second module that incorporates an endeavor in exploration on the assumptions that there are specified implications resulting in life-span’s developmental theory of general nature (Austrian, 2008). Albert Bandura’s approach has been influential in fields such as children’s media violence and probable treatment problem disorders and behaviors. This approach emphasized the social source of behaviors realized in the development of mankind, behavior that also relates to the cognitive thought influence that human functions. It represented a proposal that cognitive entities are central to the functioning of human, learning occurs even in the direct reinforcement’s absence. Bandura’s concept had his observations reveal that modeling is not just a process of behavior mimicry, instead through modeling individuals learn about the values of particular behaviors. This is with regard to outcomes or goal achievements. His argument is that traditional principles used in learning, for instance laws of punishment and reinforcement are relevant to performance compared to other acquisition. According to him development can take place outside the boundaries of pain and pleasure and that people learn the most deal in their lives by observing or watching others through reading about the deeds of others and observing the world’s environment while this learning might or might not be demonstrated in behavior. His proposal was a four-stepped concept scheme of the involved process in observational learning. The first step incorporated the attention process involving the inclusion of certain modeled traits that may raise the likelihood of attending to the behavior. It also included the observer’s characteristics such as motivation, arousal levels, sensory captivities, past reinforcement and perceptual set. The second step referred to a self retaining process that includes the observer’s abilities to encode, make sense and remember their observations. In the third step, there is reference to processes of motor reproduction that includes the abilities that the observers perform the observed characters or behaviors. The specific factors are the likes of response abilities and physical capabilities. The last and fourth step relates to motivational processes that include vicarious reinforcement, self reinforcement and external reinforcement. For imitation of a behavior to occur, the observer requires motivation to perform a behavior. Development therefore can be described as gradual and continuous given that once a character is taken up, it is challenging to drop it. Bandura hints out that aggression can therefore be covered in three aspects, how aggression behavior patterns develops, what provokes an individual’s aggressive behavior and what would determine a behavior’s continuity into the future. Compared to Erikson and Baltes theories are more similarities to Vygotsky theory. Their views of learning in classrooms are similar as both believe learning oriented to every child given that learning is active. They are in agreement that a child’s past experience plays an influence in a person’s future development. A teacher for Bandura’s case could be related to the lifespan as an environment entity in Banduras as the environment affects the development. The only difference here is that Bandura indicates that those under development can be made to realize their potential or it can be recognized by others unlike both Erikson and Baltes theories who omit this field but instead just describe the development that does not include the scope. They are also in agreement that social interactions are crucial in the development. There is also an agreement that learning is continuous between the environment and itself. Vygotsky developed a socio-cultural cognitive theory indicating that social interactions and cultures can guide developments He emphasizes that development takes place in the entire social interactions involved the knowledgeable society members. Vygotsky had a belief in the thinking of children and that it was influenced by their social community’s knowledge, learnt from either psychological cultural or technical tools. Vygotsky suggested a language served as the most crucial tool to access the social knowledge. Children can learn it from the language expressed in other people. Vygotsky defines intelligence as a capacity to learn by taking up instructions that would emphasize the requirement an extra knowledgeable mentor or person. Vygotsky refered to them as MKO, More Knowledgable Other, to play a parenting role or professional and may also include entities also unexpected such as children, computers and friends. A ZPD, zone of proximal development, is a key feature to Vygotsky’s theory that includes two levels to attain it. The first level presents the development level that describes the capabilities of children without assistance or intervention from others. The second level is referred as the potential development level that explains what the child has potential of with assistance from others. The difference that exists between the two levels, present to potential development, is described by Vygotsky as the proximal development’s zone. Vygotsky implied that assistance from knowledgeable individuals can lead children to acquire knowledge that is within them but unrealized. However, this knowledge must be appropriate to the specific child’s comprehension level. Extreme complication beyond the learning ability to understand outside their ZPD cannot be understood until a shift in ZPD is introduced. Once the child attains the required potential, the shift takes place and the child might continue to learn complex entities, higher level material. Among Vygotsky’s important features in his theory was scaffolding. When children are supported by adults, they ought to adjust to the amount of assistance provided depending on the progress shown. To offer the best example would be that of a child starting to walk, they may require both hands held at all time and pulled upwards. Here they understand and get used to supporting their weight once they are held more loosely. A time comes when the parent only holds one hand and then moves to that moment where they are let go. This entirely defines scaffolding, different level progression. Conclusion There are distinct boundaries between the traditional development theories to the lifespan era. In the traditional setting, development was considered as a continuous process that used similar learning principles in the life span. Therefore, the child could be described as relatively passive who are modeled by environmental entities in their behavior modification, either operant conditioning or classical. The lifespan theory came in to expand these behavioral perspectives ad included imitations and mimicry as the other forms of development in learning. The lifespan perspective focuses on the human attention on both the negative and positive aspects such as television which has turned to be a major source of modeling children’s imitation. Children here can be described to selective from who and which behaviors they imitate. The Piagetian theory for instance highlights a child as one who is actively seeking new experience and information. They adapt and are assimilated into this environment. There are reorganizations in the mental structure that forces development through the invariant stages. Finally Vygotsk, put it that interactions that are realized between the child’s social environment and the active child leads the child to change and grow as an entity of individual efforts and to some extent guided by the more skilled other. References Austrian, S.G. 2008. Developmental theories through the life cycle, 2ndedn, Columbia University Press, West Sussex. Berk, L. E. 2013. Exploring lifespan development, 3rdedn, Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Bornstein, M.H, Vandell, D.L & Rook, K.S. 2011. Lifespan development: infancy through adulthood, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA. Elizabeth A.2010. An Introduction to Lifespan Development. Accessed June 14, 2014, [http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205805914.pdf] Erikson, E. 2008. Simply Psychology. 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