Which of the following are characteristic of the life span perspective of development?

PRODUCTIVE AGING AND WORK

Within the context of work, a life-span perspective holds that patterns of change and transition occur throughout the working life. As a result, the scope of productive aging includes all age groups of workers and is not limited to “older workers,” however that group may be defined. Other assumptions of a life-span perspective include:

• The aging process is multidirectional and involves both losses and gains. As workers age, some dimensions of functioning decline, while others improve. For example, physical stamina gradually decreases with age, but accumulated knowledge or “wisdom” tends to gradually increase. These different “trajectories of change” are important to understand in designing a workplace where all workers are able to perform at an optimal level.
• The aging process is characterized by plasticity. The term plasticity refers to the potential to change in response to one’s experiences. This aspect of aging is demonstrated by a growing body of research indicating that the rate of change for some abilities (e.g., physical functioning) can be affected by specific activities (e.g., regular exercise). Animal research also provides evidence of the neuroplasticity of the brain and its remarkable ability to change with experience throughout the life-span.
• The aging process is multidimensional. Three basic dimensions of the aging process are biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional. Each dimension has many sub-components (examples from the cognitive dimension include attention, working memory, and social intelligence)that interact with the other two dimensions, and is subject to some level of environmental influence. All three dimensions are important to understand in designing a work environment that encourages productive aging.
• The aging process is contextual. The changes that occur as workers age do not take place in a vacuum. Some important contextual settings are families, friendships, community, workplace, and society. These contexts may, in turn, be influenced by historical, economic, and cultural factors. In the case of the workplace, the nature of work and how it is structured, the type of workplace relationships an individual develops, and specific work-related events (e.g., career progression, avoidance of disability, retirement) can all play an important role in productive aging.

In summary, a life-span perspective assumes that the aging process is complex, occurs across different dimensions throughout the working life, and represents the product of many interacting causes, both inside and outside of the worker. As a result, two workers of the same chronological age may differ greatly when it comes to functional capacity, health, job performance, and work motivation. Perhaps most importantly, the changes that occur with aging are often manageable, particularly if intervention efforts begin early in the working life.

References

1. Baltes, P.B., Lindenberger, U., & Staudinger, U.M. (2006). Life-span theory in developmental psychology. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology. Vol. 1: Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 569–664). New York: Wiley.
2. Sigelman, C.K., & Rider, E.A. (2015). Life-span human development, 8th edition. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Solution

The main features of life-span perspective on development are as follows: Development is a lifelong process that takes place across all age groups starting from conception to old age. It also includes the interaction between gains and losses, which is dynamic.The biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional processes of human development are interwoven in the development of a person throughout the life-span. Development is multi-directional as some dimensions or components of a given dimension of development may increase, while others show a decrease. Development is highly plastic since modifiability is found in psychological development within persons, though flexibility varies among individuals.Development is influenced by historical conditions. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); A number of disciplines like psychology, anthropology, sociology and neuro-sciences are concerned with development.The response and actions of individuals are related to contexts, which include the inherited traits, the physical environment, and social, historical, and cultural contexts. These contexts vary among individuals.

The life span perspective argues that significant modifications take place throughout development. It consists of the development of humans in multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual factors. The development involves growth, maintenance and regulation.

Changes that occur are interpreted in terms of the requirements of the culture and context of the occurrences. According to Paul Baltes, humans have the capacity, plasticity and the ability for positive change to the environmental demands that are being made on the individual constantly. Throughout life, the individual learns ways and means to compensate for and overcome difficulties.

According to Baltes positive characteristics of growing old such as learning ways to compensate and overcome as an important characteristic of old age. These characteristics form a family of beliefs that specify a coherent view of the nature of development. It is the application of these beliefs as a coordinated whole that characterises the life-span approach.

The important characteristics of beliefs of the life span approach are given below:

• 1. Development is Lifelong
• 2. Development is Multidimensional
• 3. Development is Multidirectional
• 4. Development is Plastic
• 5. Development is Contextual
• 6. Development is Multidisciplinary
• 7. Development involves Growth, Maintenance, and Regulation
• 8. Development is Embedded in History
• 9. Normative Age Graded Influences
• 10. Normative History Graded Influences
• 11. Non-normative Events

1. Development is Lifelong

This belief has two separate aspects. First, the potential for development extends across the entire life span: there is no assumption that the life course must reach a plateau or decline during adulthood and old age. Second, development may involve processes that are not present at birth but emerge throughout the life span. No age period dominates during development. Researchers increasingly study the experiences and psychological orientations of adults at different points in their development. Gains and losses in development occur throughout the life cycle.

2. Development is Multidimensional

Multidimensionality refers to the fact that development cannot be described by a single criterion such as increases or decreases in a behaviour. It occurs in the biological, cognitive and social emotional domains.

3. Development is Multidirectional

The principle of multidirectional maintains that there is no single, normal path that development must or should take. In other words, healthy developmental outcomes are achieved in a wide variety of ways. Development is often comprised of multiple abilities which take different directions, showing different types of change or constancy. Some dimensions or aspects of development may be increasing while others are declining or not changing.

4. Development is Plastic

Plasticity refers to the within-person variability which is possible for a particular behaviour or development. For example,
infants who have a hemisphere of the brain removed shortly after birth (as a treatment for epilepsy) can recover the functions associated with that hemisphere as the brain reorganises itself and the remaining hemisphere takes over those functions. A key part of the research agendas in developmental psychology is to understand the nature and the limits of plasticity in various domains of functioning. Development can be modified by life circumstances to some extent. Plasticity involves the degree to which characteristics change or remain stable.

5. Development is Contextual

Development varies across the different contexts in which we live our lives. For example, social and rural environments are associated with different sets of factors that have the potential to impact development; understanding how development differs for individuals within these two settings requires an understanding of the differing contexts. It occurs in the context of a person’s biological make-up, the physical environment and social, historical and cultural contexts.

6. Development is Multidisciplinary

The study of developmental psychology is multidisciplinary. That is, the sources of age-related changes do not lie within the province of any one discipline. For example, psychological methodologies may not be appropriate for understanding factors that are sociological in nature. Rather, an understanding of human development will be achieved only by research conducted from the perspective of disciplines such as sociology, linguistics, anthropology, computer science, neuroscience
and medicine.

7. Development involves Growth, Maintenance, and Regulation

The mastery of life involves conflict and competition among three goals of human development: growth, maintenance and regulation.

8. Development is Embedded in History

Development is also historically situated and is always influenced by historical conditions. The historical time of the period in which we grow up affects our development.

9. Normative Age Graded Influences

Biological and environmental influences that are similar for individuals in a particular age group (example: Childhood, Puberty) also influences development.

10. Normative History Graded Influences

Biological and environmental influences that are associated with a history that is common to people of a particular generation (example: Depression, The AIDS epidemic) also influences.

11. Non-normative Events

Unusual occurrences that have a major impact on an individual’s life; the occurrence, the pattern, and sequence of these events are not applicable to most individuals (e.g. Death of a parent at a young age, getting a serious illness, winning a lottery).

What are the characteristics of life span perspective?

What are the characteristics of human development from a life span?

What are the characteristics of lifespan development quizlet?

What is the life span perspective?