Human Development Perspectives - Essay Example

Life span is the time that extends from the time of conception till the time of death. The development process is such that the level of functioning keeps changing as the stage of life changes. As a child grows he develops emotionally and socially over time. Although significant development takes place during the first two decades of an individual’s life, however, it is not something that would only take place during childhood or adolescents. The process works in such a manner that major changes in development take place from birth to adolescence and then just a few changes during adulthood and then a declining period comes old. The lifespan approach refers to the changes in the development process during childhood as well as adulthood.

According to life-span development expert Paul Baltes (1939–2006), the lifespan perspective views development as something occurring throughout an individual’s life impacts different portions of human life, varies with time, occurs in different settings, and is a procedure that includes development, preservation, and occurrences of losses (Baltes, 1993). This means that many factors work together to construct the development process and these factors include biological, sociocultural, and individual factors.

The life span development perspective states that development is a lifelong procedure; it takes place in a multidimensional as well as multidirectional method. Development is not a process that starts and ends at a particular time of life; rather it is a continuous process that occurs throughout the lifespan. Development doesn’t restrict to any particular dimension of an individual’s life and it has its impact on multiple dimensions of one’s life. These dimensions can be socioemotional or cognitive or they can also be biological which impacts one’s body, mind, thinking, and relationships. Components of life dimension change from time to time. Sometimes these components expand or sometimes shrinks. For example, the ability to learn a different language in the early years is easier and quicker as compared to a language learned in later stages of life.

Different theories provide different insights regarding the development of an individual. These theories include; psychoanalytic, cognitive as well as hereditary - environmental theories. Psychoanalytical theories describe the process of development as an unconscious process in which an individual is not aware or is carried away by emotions when the development process is taking place. These theorists believe to understand the development process it is important to understand the workings of the mind. They believe that Childhood experiences with parents shape the development process. Freud, a Psychoanalytic theorist claims that an adult personality is shaped depending on the way an individual deals with the pleasure and reality (Santrock, 2008, p.21). According to Freud, the development process depends on the first five years of life however Erikson, a Psychosocial Theorist emphasized the fact that development is a continuous lifelong process (Santrock, 2008, p.21). Thus Freud gave more importance to the early experiences of life whereas Erikson found that later experiences are important as compared to earlier ones.

Cognitive theories of human development are opposed to Psychoanalytic Theories, Cognitive theories emphasized that the development process is a result of conscious thoughts. Piaget’s Cognitive theory states that children undergo two main processes while they construct their understanding of the world (Thies, 2001, p.7). These include Organization and adaptation. Organization refers to arranging n organizing the experiences of life or prioritizing ideas and also adapting and adjusting to the demands of the environment.

Both heredity and environment are interrelated and both play an important role in the development process. Evolution theory explains hereditary impacts in a better way. It suggests that whatever was present in the past generation is reproduced in the present generation during the development process. It suggests that development is predetermined from the beginning till the end and nothing can be done to change it. This theory best suits certain characteristics such as physical development however psychological characteristics do not follow this track as these changes are not predictable and keep changing according to the environment in which we live. These characteristics involve temperament, language, thinking, and intelligence.