Life Span Research Paper

Life Span Perspective Paper
University of Phoenix Online

Life Span Perspective Paper
Introduction
Throughout history, philosophers and scientist have been searching for answers to explain why human behavior varies greatly from early childhood to adulthood. The field of life span development was created to examine these age-related variations affecting a person’s thinking, behavior, emotion, and personality (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Early philosophers based their ideals of human development on Christian doctrines of original sin. Later, Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, brought about a theory of innate goodness. John Locke, an English philosopher, proposed a contrasting perspective, stating that all individuals start…show more content…
Of particular interest to Life span perspective research is the struggle to reconcile the nature versus nature controversy, the continuity versus discontinuity issue, and the psychological prediction of the future self by the present self. In the early days of human development research it was assumed that either nature or nurture comprised the bulk of explanation for human behavior. More recently most psychologists have adopted a more comprehensive understanding of the nature/nurture controversy. The psychological prediction of the future self by the present self is not developmentally constant over a lifetime (Fortman, Giles, Honeycutt, & Ota, 2003). It’s clear that the characteristics of life span perspective cover a wide range of topics and concerns within the area of psychology, biology, and…show more content…
These theories have been developed over time and have been debated and tweaked along the way to encompass the large set of study and experimental data compiled on the subject through the years. It remains to be seen whether or not we will one day reach a widely accepted and none refuted position on the subject of concern. The one certainty that we have on this subject is that we as people never stop learning, never stop our personal development, and never stop relying on our personal experiences to mold us into to the people that others see every day.

References
Baltes, P.B., Staudinger, U.M. (1999). Lifespan psychology: Theory and application to intellectual functioning. Annual Review of Psychology, 50(1), 471. Retrieved October 25, 2009, from EBSCOHost Database.
Boyd, D. and Bee, H. (2006). Lifespan development (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Allyn Bacon.
Fortman, J., Giles, H., Honeycutt, J., & Ota, H. (2003). Future selves and others: A lifespan and cross-cultural perspective. Communication Reports, 16(1), 1. Retrieved October 25, 2009, from EBSCOHost Database.
Associated Content. (2007). Lifespan Perspective on Human Development.