psychology
(P1.1)
Lifespan Development Defined
As the lifespan has been evaluated by many Developmental Psychologists, many different definitions and perspective have evolved. An accumulation of theories suggests that lifespan development can be identified as “a study of the miraculous changes a person goes through from birth until death. Lifespan development covers all stages of development and progress from the birth of a person to their death (Herron, 2010).
Theories of Lifespan Development
Two important theories to life span development are Eriksson and Piaget and although their theories are similar they were also very different. For the purpose of this assignment I will look at their theories and compare their concepts.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
“Piaget was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development. His contributions include a theory of cognitive development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children and a series of tests to reveal different cognitive abilities.”(www.simplypsychology.org)
“Piaget’s ideas developed from his early work with children from the 1930’s onwards when he discovered that many of them gave the same kind of wrong answers to questions.”(Barbara Woods 1997, 18) This highlights at certain stages we can respond similarly. “Piaget said that children were actively trying to make sense of the world, to explore it and test it like little scientists.” (Barbara Woods 1997, p18)
“The theory of cognitive development focuses on mental processes such as perceiving, remembering, believing, and reasoning. Reasoning is the essence of intelligence, and reasoning is what Piaget studied in order to discover “how we come to know” (Singer & Revenson, 1997, p. 13). “Piaget believed that cognitive development is cumulative; that is, understanding a new experience grows out of a previous learning experience.” (www.psychology.about.com) This highlight that development is continuous in Piaget’s theory that
Lifespan Development Defined
As the lifespan has been evaluated by many Developmental Psychologists, many different definitions and perspective have evolved. An accumulation of theories suggests that lifespan development can be identified as “a study of the miraculous changes a person goes through from birth until death. Lifespan development covers all stages of development and progress from the birth of a person to their death (Herron, 2010).
Theories of Lifespan Development
Two important theories to life span development are Eriksson and Piaget and although their theories are similar they were also very different. For the purpose of this assignment I will look at their theories and compare their concepts.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
“Piaget was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development. His contributions include a theory of cognitive development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children and a series of tests to reveal different cognitive abilities.”(www.simplypsychology.org)
“Piaget’s ideas developed from his early work with children from the 1930’s onwards when he discovered that many of them gave the same kind of wrong answers to questions.”(Barbara Woods 1997, 18) This highlights at certain stages we can respond similarly. “Piaget said that children were actively trying to make sense of the world, to explore it and test it like little scientists.” (Barbara Woods 1997, p18)
“The theory of cognitive development focuses on mental processes such as perceiving, remembering, believing, and reasoning. Reasoning is the essence of intelligence, and reasoning is what Piaget studied in order to discover “how we come to know” (Singer & Revenson, 1997, p. 13). “Piaget believed that cognitive development is cumulative; that is, understanding a new experience grows out of a previous learning experience.” (www.psychology.about.com) This highlight that development is continuous in Piaget’s theory that