Organizing Themes in Development

538 Words3 Pages
Chapter One – Reflection Paper The first chapter of our text, Organizing Themes in Development, discussed several theories past and present about human development that are critical for a counselor to possess a solid, thorough understanding so they can draw upon this information to help solve problems and find solutions for the client. The theoretical lens that best fits with my view of human development would be the multidimensional / systems theories because there are so many different aspects that are influencing development and that are influenced by development. In particular, I felt Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory as well as Life Span Developmental Theory make the most sense. My initial thoughts on the major issues in development such as continuity and discontinuity are to side with continuity, in that development changes steadily and over a period of time versus rapid and only during the transitions between stages. In regard to nature and nurture, I feel that the book is accurate in stating on page 18 that they are interdependent upon one another versus separate and “against” one another. Regarding universality and specificity, Sternberg’s findings on page 21 shows that we must use a multi cultural approach to fit in with our multi cultural world that exists now. Finally, in regard to activity and passivity, I feel that the term the book used of bidirectionality on page 23 accurately to illustrate the “organism and the environment changing each other”. Using the bioecological lens to examine how development is impacted from childhood to adulthood is the discussion of biological supports and cultural supports and how we change and adapt across the lifespan. The book proposes that successful adaptation is benefited mostly by biological supports in the first part of life and then in changes later in life to cultural supports being more important
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