DOMAINS and PERIODS:
There are three specific domains and/or periods related to life span development -- the biological domain, the cognitive domain and the psychosocial domain. With the first, this involves changes in the physical body, such as growing taller, gaining weight, more muscle growth, and maturing sexually from an adolescent to an adult. The second domain involves cognition or the mental process of knowing, such as "imagining, perceiving, reasoning and problem-solving " (2009, "Introduction to Life Span Development,' Internet). As Michael C. Sparrow reminds us, the process of knowing "grows exponentially as a person matures from childhood and into adulthood and beyond into old age" (2001, p. 165) and can be viewed as involving "changes in intelligence, expertise and the ability to reason and use logic" (Smith, 1999, Internet). As to the psychosocial domain, this involves "emotions, personality and social interactions and expectations" (2009, "Introduction to Life Span Development," Internet), such as having the maturity to understand a specific event or social condition or knowing how to act in a specific social environment.
CONTEMPORARY CONCERNS:
Several important contemporary concerns related to life span development includes physical change from an adult and into an elderly person which of course is characterized by physical aging, something which a great number of people, particularly women, are very concerned with related to keeping their youthful appearance, and the decline in cognitive abilities related to diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia...
Smith asserts, there is no such thing as predictable or relatively stable stages or phases of development" in the lifetime of a human being; thus, "We need to be extremely cautious about believing some type of ideal end-point to development, such as maturity and adulthood" (1999, Internet).
REFERENCES
Baltes, P.B., H. Reese, and L. Lipsett. (1980). "Lifespan developmental psychology." Annual Review of Pyschology. 31: 65-110.
Hernandez, Christina. (2008). "Life span perspectives on human development."
Associated Content. Internet. Accessed from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/
950617/lifespan_perspective_on_human_development.html.
"Introduction to life span development." (2009). MentalHelp.net. Internet. Accessed from http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/center_index.php?id=299.
Smith, Mark K. (1999). "Life span development and lifelong learning." Infed. Internet.
Accessed from http://www.infed.org/biblio/lifecourse_development.htm.
Sparrow, Michael C. (2001). Life span development in psychological terms. New York:
Blackwell Publishers.
Thompson, Dennis J. (2003). An introduction to human psychology. New York:
C.V. Mosby, Inc.
