Lifespan development explores how we change and grow from conception to death. This field of psychology is studied by developmental psychologists. They view development as a lifelong process that can be studied scientifically across three developmental domains: physical, cognitive development, and psychosocial. There are many theories regarding how babies and children grow and develop into happy, healthy adults.
Sigmund Freud suggested that we pass through a series of psychosexual stages in which our energy is focused on certain erogenous zones on the body. Erikson said that our social interactions and successful completion of social tasks shape our sense of self. Jean Piaget proposed a theory of cognitive development that explains how children think and reason as they move through various stages.
Finally, Lawrence Kohlberg turned his attention to moral development. He said that we pass through three levels of moral thinking that build on our cognitive development. My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! Wordsworth, Wordsworth might be suggesting that the person he is as an adult depends largely on the experiences he had in childhood. Consider the following questions: To what extent is the adult you are today influenced by the child you once were?
To what extent is a child fundamentally different from the adult he grows up to be? These are the types of questions developmental psychologists try to answer, by studying how humans change and grow from conception through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and death. They view development as a lifelong process that can be studied scientifically across three developmental domains—physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development.
Physical development involves growth and changes in the body and brain, the senses, motor skills, and health and wellness.
Cognitive development involves learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity.
Psychosocial development involves emotions, personality, and social relationships. We refer to these domains throughout the module.
Developmental psychologists use many of these approaches in order to better understand how individuals change mentally and physically over time. These methods include naturalistic observations, case studies, surveys, and experiments, among others.
Naturalistic observations involve observing behavior in its natural context. In a case study, developmental psychologists collect a great deal of information from one individual in order to better understand physical and psychological changes over the lifespan.
This particular approach is an excellent way to better understand individuals, who are exceptional in some way, but it is especially prone to researcher bias in interpretation, and it is difficult to generalize conclusions to the larger population.
Little Genie, the subject of a case study discussed in the module on thinking and intelligence, provides another example of how psychologists examine developmental milestones through detailed research on a single individual. The survey method asks individuals to self-report important information about their thoughts, experiences, and beliefs.
This particular method can provide large amounts of information in relatively short amounts of time; however, validity of data collected in this way relies on honest self-reporting, and the data is relatively shallow when compared to the depth of information collected in a case study. Experiments involve significant control over extraneous variables and manipulation of the independent variable.
As such, experimental research allows developmental psychologists to make causal statements about certain variables that are important for the developmental process. Later in this module, you will learn about several experiments in which toddlers and young children observe scenes or actions so that researchers can determine at what age specific cognitive abilities develop.
For example, children may observe a quantity of liquid poured from a short, fat glass into a tall, skinny glass. Across these three domains—physical, cognitive, and psychosocial—the normative approach to development is also discussed. Calment lived from February 21, , to August 4, , until she was exactly years and days old.
Remarkably, Calment remained relatively healthy and mentally intact until her nd birthday. Though there have certainly been claims of longer lives, none of the claims were acceptably documented and verified. So how do we close that gap and elongate our lives? There will always be factors that are out of our individual control like our inherited genes, but we shouldn't discount the impact of those that we can control.
It is generally understood that closing the gap between life expectancy and lifespan can be done through healthier living, less exposure to toxins, the prevention of chronic illnesses, and a little bit of luck. Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life.
Wilhelm P. Validation of Exceptional Longevity. Odense University Press. ISBN United Nations Development Programme. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for VerywellHealth. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification.
I Accept Show Purposes. Was this page helpful? Specifically, the aforementioned tenets will be used to address the following key areas within Lifespan Development:. These three areas were selected as the Lifespan Developmental Approach has introduced significant and novel theoretical and conceptual approaches for understanding human development, key methodological advances in research design and statistical procedures and an in-depth examination of the role and implications of intervention, modifiability and plasticity across the lifespan.
The following topic areas and key questions identified by our initial workgroup may be helpful when considering the Lifespan Development Approach. The following materials from the symposium series may provide an overview of the presentations about the Lifespan Developmental Approach:.
A history of lifespan psychology, origins of the Lifespan Developmental Approach. A review of methodological paradigms and interdisciplinary approaches to geropsychology. Applied lifespan developmental psychology and memory care units.
About the Lifespan Developmental Approach The Lifespan Developmental Approach has provided an overarching framework for understanding human development from conception to death. As outlined and discussed by Staudinger and Bluck , the Lifespan Development Approach encompasses the following tenets: Lifespan development is a continuous process influenced jointly by biology and environment. Development unfolds as a process that includes both gains and losses across the lifespan that results in a multidimensional, multidirectional and multifunctional perspective.
Development across the lifespan results in changes in the interaction between biological and environmental influences that impact the allocation of resources.
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