Life
Span Development
The
lives of human beings are in constant change. The changing process begins at
conception, and doesn’t end until the person needs to face death. Those changes
can be related to individual’s physical appearances and health, mental
processes, personality developments, and cognitive processes. Psychologists
have defined as life span development the physical and cognitive changes that
individuals go through during the course of their lives (Meacham, 2013).
The
concept of life span development is adopted mainly by psychologists who target
their studies to human development, and most of them understand that changes
are permanently occurring in people’s lives, and are affected by the
environment and the context in which they occur. While studying Sigmund Freud’s
theory of development, it is possible to note that he focused mainly on the
changes that occur in children. For instance, he believed that by the time the
child turned five years old, he or she had already completed the personality
development, and would carry those traits for the rest of his or her life
(Cherry, 2013). The life span perspective of development, on the other hand,
seeks to analyze the continuous changes that occur in all individuals, since
those changes are not likely to stop at the teenage years. “Lifespan
perspective is characterized by an emphasis on plasticity, interdisciplinary
research and a multi-contextual view of the nature of development” (Boyd &
Bee, 2009). Plasticity means that individuals maintain their ability to change
throughout their whole lives, and not only during a certain period of time. It
is safe to say that this theory does not support the idea that “you can’t teach
new tricks to an old dog”. In fact, it believes that people at all ages can
learn, change, acquire new habits and forget about old ones.
It
is impossible to study life span development without focusing some attention at
the studies of Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson regarding the theme. Both
psychologists have developed theories concerning stages of development and
phases that children must go through in order to complete an appropriate
psychological development.
Freud’s
theory is called Theory of Psychosexual Development. He believed that the
experiences that children go through during their childhood are crucial for
their development, and continue to influence and affect them throughout their
lives. Freud explained that a psychosexual energy, also known as the libido,
was a “driving force behind behavior” (Cherry, 2013). Each stage is
characterized by a conflict, and if individuals completed each stage
successfully, that would result in a healthy personality. But if the contrary
occurred, and some trauma would occur during a certain stage, the consequences
could be permanent, as in the case of fixations. The stages of development
described by Freud are the oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital. The
corresponding conflicts, or tasks, that occur during each stage are weaning,
toilet training, sexual identity, learning and intercourse (Cherry, 2013).
Erik
Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, unlike Freud’s sole focus on the
childhood, explains eight different stages that individuals pass from the time
they are born until the late years of their lives. Each stage is characterized
by a challenge that if not conquered, may represent problems in the future.
During each stage, two conflict forces must be addressed and reconciled. Those
stages are trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative
versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, identity versus role confusion,
intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and ego integrity
versus despair. If the individual is successful at completing each stage, he or
she will hopefully advance in life with the virtue mentioned in each stage,
like trust, autonomy, identity, etc (Cherry, 2013).
One
permanent debate concerning development is the one or nature versus nurture, or
which affects the individual the most, the environment or heredity. This discussion compares the generic
inheritance a child come to the world with against hoe the environmental
factors will change and contribute to that child’s characteristics and
personality. Both sides have some really important philosophers and thinkers
backing it up. For instance, Descartes and Plato believed in the strength of
nature in the development of an individual, and they suggested that some
characteristics possessed by humans are inborn, and not affected by the
environment. On the other hand, John Locke developed his famous “tabula rasa”
theory, with which he explained is idea that children are born as blank slates,
or in other words, lacking any knowledge or characteristics, which would all be
acquired through life experiences (Cherry, 2013). Having to choose one side of
the debate as more influential than the other is a difficult task. Both aspects
play the same important role in the development of individuals. For instance,
even children who were born into a violent family can turn out calm and
friendly, despite his genetic characteristics. And at the same time, a child
that grows up in a loving and caring family can end up being a psychopath. Both
heredity and the environment influence equally the way individuals go through
different stages of development, and hopefully acquire a healthy personality.
References
Boyd,
D. and Bee, H. (2009). Lifespan Development (5th ed.). Retrieved from the
University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Cherry,
K. (2013). Erikson's theory of psychosocial development. Retrieved
from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial.htm
Cherry,
K. (2013). Freud's stages of psychosexual development. Retrieved
from http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/psychosexualdev.htm
Cherry,
K. (2013). Nurture versus nature. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/nindex/g/nature-nurture.htm
Meachan,
W. (2013). What is lifespan development psychology?. Retrieved
from
http://wesleymeacham.hubpages.com/hub/What-is-Lifespan-Development-Psychology-Exploring-Development-Through-Lifespan
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