The Life Span Perspective of Human Development - Essay Example

The Life Span Perspective of Human Development Insert Insert Introduction Lifespan refers to the time that gets extended form the time of conception to death, and therefore lifespan development simply refers to a process of conception and all the inclusive activities until death. The lifespan perspective of human development analyses how an individual grow, develops, as well as give objections resulting from adopts rationality and other frameworks in the process of understanding different aspects of life. This particular perspective attempts to come up with a better understanding as well as developing explanations pertaining to how different process of human growth and development occur. In this essay paper on psychology, I am going to analyze the process of human growth and development, through its theories, identify the aspect of lifespan perspective and hereditary factors of growth. Theories of Human Growth and Development There are a number of theories that have gotten developed primarily for the purposes of giving explanations on a number of aspects pertaining to human growth and development (Cronin & Mandich, 2005). The theories of human growth and development establish a number of sets of guiding principles among other concepts that offer description and explanation the entire process of human development. They provide room as well as facilitating the process of individuals making their growth to take a positive path, since they give the understanding methodologies and reasons why individuals undergo dynamism and growth. The major three theories of human growth and development include the psychoanalytic theory, learning theories and cognitive theories. Psychoanalytic Theory This is one of the major significant and relevant theories that seek to explain the process of human growth and development (Cronin & Mandich, 2005). In the present society, there are a number of modern and post developed theories of counseling or rather psychotherapy, which have undergone extensions from the psychoanalytic theories. Some of these modern theories have developed a number of modifications while others reactions and critics against the psychoanalytic theories of human growth and development. The psychoanalytic theories conduct deep examination into some of the possible factors that are likely to motivate human behavior by concentrating their focus on the roles played by the unconscious. Among the most relevant theorist who offered their support to this particular approach of understanding human growth and development are Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. Considering Feud, his was the first person to establish psychoanalytic theory of personality as well as the psychosexual development theory, illustrating on the sexual growth and development different individuals go through. These particular theories has a lot of strength when it comes to awareness of conscious and motivation as well as the relevancy of first encounters in when human developmental and growth matters. Learning Theories Learning theories developed as a result of the weaknesses evident in the psychoanalytic theories. The weaknesses include absence of empirical evidence for the purposes of providing evidence for giving support to the psychoanalytic theories. Learning theories make a lot of focus on how different individuals learn behaviors, and focuses on the study of the aspects that can get taken foe measurements and quantification. Among the most relevant scholars who played significant roles in the development of learning theories include Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner and Albert Bandura. Ivan Pavlov conducted a number of studies on learning by making emphasis on how individuals learn through the process of association, and therefore came up with the concept of classical conditioning (Cronin & Mandich, 2005). On the other hand B.F. Skinner, in his theory of operant conditioning, made a number of examinations on the different impacts of reinforcement and punishments directed to individuals. Albert Bandura, through the social learning theory, conducted numerous studies and analysis on the outcomes of behavior modeling among individuals. The behavioral learning theories have demonstrated great strength when it comes to matters of their capability to undergo tests and practical application in real life situation. Other than the strengths, their main weakness get seen when they sideline the impact of genetic processes as well as dynamisms evident in the life of individuals. Cognitive Development Theories Cognitive development theories study and make various analyses on the development process of human thoughts; how human beings think, and the whole thinking processes. They also look at how the different human thoughts get relevant when it comes to impacting on human comprehension and understanding on the environment and surrounding. One of the most relevant and influential scholars in the emergence of cognitive development theory is Jean Piaget. Jean Piaget revolutionized the approaches of understanding infant growth and development by strongly objecting to the perspective that the thinking process of human and adults differ. He came up with a number of stages of cognitive development that considers the sequential steps that occur in infants’ intellectual development (Cronin & Mandich, 2005). Cognitive theories enjoy support by research and relevant when it comes to parenting processes and the entire education field. It has a weakness due to its limitation when it comes to matters of emotional factors. Aspects of Lifespan Perspectives With time, individuals grow older and get aged; this has a number of meanings when it comes to different aspects of life. This has an implication that people too undergo a lot of complications and multiple frameworks and aspects will have to get developed for the purposes of comprehending these individuals. The major aspects include the aspect of multi-directionality and plasticity. Multi-directionality aspect is where development entails stages of growth as well as decline. As individuals get aged, it becomes impossible to develop fresh and novel methodologies and thoughts. Plasticity is an aspect whereby the different individual capacities cannot get [predetermined. Individuals are not expected to have a very particular IQ, a particular height or cause of success or death. Heredity and Environmental Influence on Human Development Heredity, which is nature, and the surrounding, which is nurture, impact on the growth development process of human beings. When it comes to heredity, we mean the inherited traits and genes, while environment on the other hand we mean the family, friends and the community members, or nurture, which are the extrinsic impacts. They are extrinsic in the sense that they growth and development process of different individuals in their entire life process, and are factors from outside. The process of exchange between heredity and environment is dynamic and very complex and the two have dynamic and continual influence that they exert on the growth an development process of individuals. Conclusion The life span approach of understanding human growth and development gives a dynamic body of knowledge on matters pertaining to reasons and processes of human development. They also give information on the possible characters that individuals are going to portray in future. The psychoanalytic theories such as psychosexual theory and psychosocial theory gives insight into this particular approach of development. Heredity and environmental factors impact a lot in human development but have different magnitudes of their impacts. References Cronin, A., & Mandich, M. (2005). Human development and performance throughout the lifespan. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson/Delmar Learning. Read More