Development

Development is the act or process of growing or causing something to grow or to become larger or more advanced. The life span perspective of development involves understanding changes that occur in every period of development. This view seeks to understand people throughout the changes in life and how these changes shape an individual into whom they become. All these changes occur from birth, throughout a persons’ life, into and during old age. Life span development is multidirectional, multi contextual, multicultural, multidisciplinary and plastic. It is multi-directional because it can go in different directions instead of following just one path. Because of the different contexts, events and situations it is multi contextual and can be further broken down into the historical context and the socioeconomic context. Being multicultural it accepts information and behaviors shared within a certain group. Culture is frequently interchanged with ethnicity and race. It is multidisciplinary because it welcomes the input from different aspects or fields of psychology or science. Lastly development is plastic because it continually evolves and changes. It can be molded into different shapes and forms.

A theory is as an idea or a set of ideas that are intended to explain facts or events. The beginning of the twentieth century saw the birth of two new theories. The psychoanalytic theory and behaviorism became the two general theories of psychology. Originating from Sigmund Freud, the psychoanalytic theory contends that the root of human behavior starts with unconscious thoughts and internal debates. The first six years of life are divided into three stages of development - the oral stage, the anal stage, and the phallic stage. Freud further stated that two more developmental periods follow in early childhood. There is latency and the genital stage. Freud characterized each stage with a sexual nature. He did not believe that there were any new stages