This approach is based on several key principles:
- Development occurs across one’s entire life, or is lifelong.
- Development is multidimensional, meaning it involves the dynamic interaction of factors like physical, emotional, and psychosocial development
- Development is multidirectional and results in gains and losses throughout life
- Development is plastic, meaning that characteristics are malleable or changeable.
How does the lifespan perspective view development?
The lifespan perspective views development as something that occurs over the entire life. It is also referred to as lifelong development.
What are the characteristics of the lifespan development perspective?
Development is plastic and not fixed. Development is multidimensional and contextual. Development is multidirectional in that it does not occur on...
What is the Baltes theory?
Baltes' theory is that people develop from conception to death. He did not hold the traditional view of development that it mostly occurs from conc...
What is the Baltes perspective?
Baltes’ lifespan perspective emphasizes that development is lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, contextual, and multidisciplinary. Think of ways your own development fits in with each of these concepts as you read about the terms in more detail. Lifespan development involves the exploration of biological, cognitive, ...
Why is Baltes' idea about development as a lifelong process beneficial to society?
Baltes’ ideas about development as a lifelong process is beneficial to society because it may help in the identification of qualities or problems that are distinctive in a particular age period. If these qualities or problems could be identified, specific programs could be established such as after-school interventions that enhance positive youth development (PYD).
What is life span development?
Lifespan development involves the exploration of biological, cognitive, and psychosocial changes and constancies that occur throughout the entire course of life. It has been presented as a theoretical perspective, proposing several fundamental, theoretical, and methodological principles about the nature of human development. An attempt by researchers has been made to examine whether research on the nature of development suggests a specific metatheoretical worldview. Several beliefs, taken together, form the “family of perspectives” that contribute to this particular view.
Who developed the family of perspectives?
Several beliefs, taken together, form the “family of perspectives” that contribute to this particular view. German psychologist Paul Baltes , a leading expert on lifespan development and aging, developed one of the approaches to studying development called the lifespan perspective.
Why is development a lifelong process?
Remembering that development is a lifelong process helps us gain a wider perspective on the meaning and impact of each event.
How does culture affect our lives?
Culture is the totality of our shared language, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. It includes ideas about what is right and wrong, what to strive for, what to eat, how to speak, what is valued, as well as what kinds of emotions are called for in certain situations. Culture teaches us how to live in a society and allows us to advance because each new generation can benefit from the solutions found and passed down from previous generations. Culture is learned from parents, schools, churches, media, friends and others throughout a lifetime. The kinds of traditions and values that evolve in a particular culture serve to help members function in their own society and to value their own society. We tend to believe that our own culture’s practices and expectations are the right ones. This belief that our own culture is superior is called ethnocentrism and is a normal by-product of growing up in a culture. It becomes a roadblock, however, when it inhibits understanding of cultural practices from other societies. Cultural relativity is an appreciation for cultural differences and the understanding that cultural practices are best understood from the standpoint of that particular culture.
What is culture learned from?
Culture is learned from parents, schools, churches, media, friends and others throughout a lifetime. The kinds of traditions and values that evolve in a particular culture serve to help members function in their own society and to value their own society.
How long do wolves live?
For instance, the grey wolf can live up to 20 years in captivity, the bald eagle up to 50 years, and the Galapagos tortoise over 150 years (Smithsonian National Zoo, 2016).
Why is culture important?
Culture is an extremely important context for human development and understanding development requires being able to identify which features of development are culturally based. This understanding is somewhat new and still being explored. Much of what developmental theorists have described in the past has been culturally bound and difficult to apply to various cultural contexts. The reader should keep this in mind and realize that there is still much that is unknown when comparing development across cultures.
What are the key features of Baltes' theory?
Baltes identified 7 specific key features within his theory. 1. Development continues across the entire life of an individual. 2. There are multiple directions and multiple dimensions to human development. 3. Individualized development can be measured as both growth and decline. 4.
What does Baltes suggest about aging?
Baltes suggests that development continues during aging, but in different ways. Instead of learning a first language, the elderly will adapt to the physical challenges of aging. Each is a specific knowledge base that must follow a specific learning curve.
What Does the Baltes Theory Means for the Future?
The findings suggested by the Baltes theory lead us toward a system of positive youth development. Certain age groups experience specific, distinctive circumstances that may affect their lifelong development patterns. Establishing a program, such as an after-school program, can enhance the positive aspects of development and lead a person toward more adaptability over time.
What is Paul Baltes' research?
Paul Baltes devoted his research to the field of lifespan orientation and how it applied to human development. His theories on aging and how it affects the psychology of the individual have influenced numerous studies and practices that have been implemented in the 20th century to care for those in the 65+ age demographic.
What is the Baltes theory of self regulation?
This regulates personal actions. In the Baltes theory, as children move toward adolescence, there is an ability to self-regulate, but there is also a desire to optimize.
Which theory of lifespan development is the most influential?
Although he developed numerous theories involving aging and wisdom, the Baltes theory on lifespan development is arguably is most influential contribution.
What was the consensus before Baltes' theory?
Before Baltes’ theory on lifespan development, the general consensus of human development was that it offered a slow decline. Traditional theories on the subject focused on the intense learning period that occurs for children between the ages of 0-5 and then approached aging as a steady decline of development.
What are the characteristics of Baltes?
According to Baltes positive characteristics of growing old such as learning ways to compensate and overcome as an important characteristic of old age. These characteristics form a family of beliefs that specify a coherent view of the nature of development. It is the application of these beliefs as a coordinated whole that characterises the life-span approach.
What is the life span perspective?
The life span perspective argues that significant modifications take place throughout development. It consists of the development of humans in multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual factors. The development involves growth, maintenance and regulation.
What is multidimensionality in psychology?
Multidimensionality refers to the fact that development cannot be described by a single criterion such as increases#N#or decreases in a behaviour. It occurs in the biological, cognitive and social emotional domains.
What are some examples of biological and environmental influences that are similar for individuals in a particular age group?
Biological and environmental influences that are similar for individuals in a particular age group (example: Childhood, Puberty) also influences development.
What is plasticity in psychology?
Plasticity refers to the within-person variability which is possible for a particular behaviour or development. For example,#N#infants who have a hemisphere of the brain removed shortly after birth (as a treatment for epilepsy) can recover the functions associated with that hemisphere as the brain reorganises itself and the remaining hemisphere takes over those functions. A key part of the research agendas in developmental psychology is to understand the nature and the limits of plasticity in various#N#domains of functioning. Development can be modified by life circumstances to some extent. Plasticity involves the degree to which characteristics change or remain stable.
Learning Objectives: Lifespan Perspective
Explain the lifespan perspective and its assumptions about development.
Lifespan Perspective
Paul Baltes identified several underlying principles of the lifespan perspective (Baltes, 1987; Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 2006). Lifespan theorists believe that development is life-long, and change is apparent across the lifespan. No single age period is more crucial, characterizes, or dominates human development.