Life Span Development

Term Paper # 1206

Aging
Psychology > Child and Adolescent
Psychology > Theory

A look at a human's physical, cognitive, and psycho-social development through each of the four stages of development.

1,910 words () | 16 sources | 2001 United States

Paper Summary:

General summaries of the last four stages of human development: Adolescence, Young Adulthood, Middle Adulthood, and Late Adulthood. Examines physical, cognitive, and psycho-social aspects of development.

Adolescence
Definition
Reproduction
Risky behavior
Cognitive: Piaget (Formal operations), Elkind
Identity vs. identity confusion (Erikson)
Peer and Family relations

Young Adulthood
Cognitive: Postformal thought, Triarchic theory of
Intelligence (Sternberg), Emotional Intelligence
Personality: 5 factor model (Costa & McCrae)
Intimacy vs. Isolation (Erikson)
Levinson & the Grant Study
Culture: Marriage, childbirth, remaining single

Middle Adulthood
Physiological changes ? hearing, sight, endurance,
metabolism
Ailments ? hypertension, osteoporosis, stress
Seattle Longitudinal Study: Fluid and Crystallized
intelligence
Cognitive ? Hoyer and Schaie
Jung ? Individuation
Generativity versus stagnation (Erikson)
Psychosocial ? identity style, assimilation,
accommodation

Late Adulthood
Biological aging ? genetic programming, variable rate
theories
Physical changes
Cognitive ? Metamemory, semantic, procedural, sensory
Ego integrity versus despair (Erikson)
Disengagement, continuity, and activity theories
Retirement
Marriage, family, peer relationships
Living arrangements

From the Paper:

"Adolescence is the developmental transition from childhood to adulthood. Although its beginning or end is not clearly marked in Western societies, adolescence lasts about a decade from age 11 or 12 until the late teens or early twenties. Adolescence carries many risks to healthy development, as well as opportunities for physical, cognitive, and psychosocial growth."