Model of Lifespan Psychology - Case Study Example

Coexistence within Different Perspectives in Psychology The perspective of both evolutionary psychology and cognitive psychology can serve to coexist rather to contradict one another. By understanding both of these psychological theories and practices, one can better understand their contributions to language as a form of communication as well as to lifespan psychology. The purpose of this paper is to explore how evolutionary and cognitive perspectives contribute to these aspects of psychology as well as how they can coexist rather than contradict one another. Lifespan psychology develops within the growing fetus and emerges through out the life span of that individual. Ultimately, who that individual becomes is a process that takes place over the period of a life time. Simultaneously, the process of evolution takes place in each and every individual, as the period of a lifetime progresses, as well. Human beings are constantly adapting to environments and conditions while acquiring and expanding cognitive skills such as language acquisition. In infancy, there are several factors acting on the developmental process of an individual. Environmental factors such as parent and sibling interaction with the infant, genetic factors, and evolutionary factors. Based on adaptation, human beings in most parts of the world are in some way exposed to language, within a family unit and furthermore, within a community. One method of adapting to one’s environment is by mimicking and learning that particular language as a means of communication. Children learn at a young age that in order to express basic needs and desires, one must use words and language to communicate those desires in order to achieve one’s needs or wants. As a child develops, memory develops in conjunction with language formation. Lifespan psychology specifically deals with the mechanisms at work between nature and nurture. This means that there is a balance taking place between an individual’s genetic predisposition and their exposure to environmental factors. These elements work together in constructing that particular individual’s ability to communicate through language, in the world around them. The idea that evolutionary perspective, which dictates that certain traits of mental psychological development are determined by evolutionary factors, and cognitive perspective, which dictates a concept of an individual’s ability to form and communicate rational thought or experience, can coexist as both contribute to lifespan psychology as we know it. Cognitive perspective allows psychologists to place a child’s development into stages, which seem to be appropriate to use as a template for developing humans, as a rule. Evolutionary perspective can easily coexist along with this idea as evolutionary perspective allows psychologists and scientists alike, to look at human development as a process deriving from evolutionary biology and human adaptation. One can look at a particular individual and their family dynamics and see that their mental and psychological development in part, comes form an instinct to need to not only survive but also to have one’s essential needs met. A part of this process can be explained by the process of cognitive development which takes place in stages and allows a human being to reason and then explain their wishes, needs and ideas to the outside world. Evolutionary psychology can be said to exist as a study of an almost mental immune system. Through generations, mental adaptations are made in order to equip human beings with the tolls necessary to overcome persistent family and relationship conflicts. Just as the immune system has adapted over time within the human race, to allow defenses against new and evolving microorganisms, so has evolutionary psychology advanced in a direction to facilitate recurring family dynamics conflicts. Though cognitive psychology cannot account for its inability to explain an individual’s ability to adapt to one’s environment or family circumstances through time, it can place a link between stimulus and reaction as pertaining to an individual. Stages of cognitive development are not necessarily a contradiction of evolutionary psychology but are if anything, a part of the psychological evolutionary process of human beings. Evolutionary perspective can be viewed as a concept which universally explains the traits of “human nature”, while cognitive perspective can account for an individual’s ability to transform stimulus into thought, feeling or idea. Both of these perspectives play important roles in the area of lifespan psychology as both cognitive and evolutionary perspectives can aid in researching an individual’s thoughts and perceptions over time. In a situation where psychology seeks to define cognitive perspective as it fits into lifespan psychology, it makes more sense to look at the overall evolution and adaptation of human beings, as well as individuals within cognitive stages and how both of these perspectives play into the constant of age progression and lifespan psychology. Lifespan psychology plays an important part in observing overall human psychology as it is able to place the human psyche at different stages over the period of a lifetime. In looking at both evolutionary and cognitive perspective, several comparisons can be made among the two. Evolutionary perspective represents an immanent need for human beings to exist over centuries and do so by adjusting to their surroundings. Cognitive perspective can easily be evaluated through both evolutionary perspective as well as through lifespan psychology. Cognition can be explained as dealing specifically with a portion of a lifespan, or a portion of early childhood development. Types of cognition adaptations have made across evolutionary timelines. Certainly stages of cognitive development are different now than what they would have been during the time of the cave-person. In other words, cognitive development in general changes overtime as a function of evolution and adaptation. As new environments and societies are formed, cognition is forced to also change and function in accordance with external changes. There also exist differences among the two perspectives, “L. Cosmides and J. Tooby, leaders in the field of evolutionary psychology, have claimed that an evolutionary perspective toward psychology requires both that psychologists conceive of psychological processes as domain specific and that psychologists view all adaptive behavior as the product of cognition” (Shapiro et al, 1998). Evolutionary perspective deals mainly with behavioral attributes that are acquired through adaption of time and circumstance. Evolutionary perspective is also more focused on individuality as a result of adaptations where cognitive perspective looks at human developmental processes as a universal function which takes place in stages with limited variations, “Unlike most other subfields of psychology, which typically focus on particular phenomena (cognitive psychologists study cognition, social psychologists study social processes, and so on), developmental psychology and evolutionary psychology do not have separate domains. Rather, they represent different approaches to the study of all psychological phenomena” (Remmel, 2006). One can also investigate cognitive development from an evolutionary perspective, not just a developmental perspective. Evolutionary perspective will look at permanent behaviors and why those behaviors have become a selection over other types of behavior. It can even be deduced that the specific stages of cognitive development, as well as language acquisition skills, are aspects themselves of overall evolutionary perspective within a psychological view. An example of evolutionary psychology, is the bond which forms between a mother (or caregiver) and baby. The baby learns quickly that it requires the caregiver in order to sustain life. This is a behavior which has been selected over time as an important and dominant psychological response which is in favor of the prosperity of the species. Ways, in which this behavior can coexist with the concept of cognition, is that the caregiver or mother of the baby will act as a language acquisition model for the child to acquire and learn language from. (Remmel, 2006). In conclusion, when observing an overall model of lifespan psychology which represents stages of psychology from birth to a time of dying, cognitive and evolutionary perspective play valuable roles as well as coexist to explain the overall psychological development of a human being. There is really no way to evaluate psychological development without considering the evolutionary processes that have brought human behavior from thousands of years ago to present, without including cognition and the change in acquired language skills over time. References: Bechtel, William, Graham, George, Balota, D.A., (1998) A Companion to Cognitive Science, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK Eysenck,Michael., (2004) Psychology: Am International Perspective, Psychology Press Limited, New York Kenrick, Douglas., Zierck, Kristin., Neuberg, Steven., Krones, Jacquelyn., (1994), Evolution and Social Cognition: Contrast Effects as a Function of Sex, Dominance, and Physical Attractiveness, Society for Personality and Social Psychology Inc. vol. 20 num. 2 Remmel, Ethan., (2006) Evo Devo Psych, The Magazine of Sigma XI, The Scientific Research Society Shapiro, Lawrence., Epstein, William., (1998) Evolutionary Theory Meets Cognitive Psychology: A More Selective Perspective Mind & Language 13 (2) , 171–194 doi:10.1111/1468-0017.00072 Stein, John., (1997) How institutions learn: a socio-cognitive perspective, Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 31 Stewart, John., (1997) The Evolution of Genetic Cognition, Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems (20: 53-73.)  Archer, J., & Vaughan, A. 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