Human Development and Marketing Career - Essay Example

            The adult stage in lifespan development can be defined as the stage in which a person begins to develop and experience wisdom and expertise. Everything that they have learned prior to adulthood essentially comes to fruition, making them intelligent and decisive human beings (Crandell & Zanden, 2009). My understanding of what it is to be an adult will change in different contexts in the sense that each human being, while going through roughly the same mental and physical changes, still has unique experiences. One adult is not entirely the same as another adult, and my understanding of what it is to be an adult will change with the knowledge of each individual.

            Research is important to the understanding of what it is to be a human being because humans are complex, ever-changing beings. We are not the same in adulthood as we are as infants or in childhood. As such, it is vital to understand human beings at each stage of their lives to know the types of changes that they go through and the experiences that they have. Furthermore, research allows us to discover and comprehend the changes that are not always apparent to the eye. One type of human development research that is taking place involves more concentration on the lifespan as a whole instead of the individual stages, which is allowing researchers to obtain a bigger picture of human development (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2010). Another type of research currently being undergone is known as the Capabilities Approach, which involves understanding how outside sources, such as government institutions, alter the ways that humans are developing in modern times in both negative and positive ways (Nussbaum, 2011). Ongoing research will help me with my career in the sense that I will be able to understand better the needs of humans in a more modern and advanced time. I can keep up with the changes that they are experiencing so that I may make the required changes in my marketing schemes.

            Erik Erikson was a developmental psychologist who became known for his theory on the social development of human beings. In each stage of his psychosocial development chart, Erikson detailed a crisis to be rectified and a virtue to be gained, all amounting to a person becoming a well-matured human being. Eriksonian thought will influence my career by allowing me to comprehend the needs of people at certain ages of their lives. By properly understanding these needs and these changes, I will be able to adapt my knowledge to my marketing projects. 

             Urie Bronfenbrenner was a psychologist who defined the Ecological Systems Theory, which details the importance of setting and environment with the growth of a human being. The greatest difference between Bronfenbrenner’s theory and Erikson’s stages is that Bronfenbrenner’s theory takes into consideration the external influences on a human’s growth, while Erickson focused solely on the internal and mental influences on how a human grows. I believe that the work of Bronfenbrenner will make more sense in my career simply because people are more influenced by external factors, and, as a marketing major, it is important for me to understand how some of these external influences work so I may also make use of them.