Explain how the life-span perspective provides a way of better understanding the research reviewed.

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Assignment 2: Final Project

The purpose of this assignment is to utilize what you learned thus far.   To do that you will be writing an essay.

One way in which psychology examines issues in life-span development is to review current research on related topics. For this assignment you will review current research and provide a critical evaluation on that research through an annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography is simply a brief summary and analysis of the journal article reviewed. For more information on the required format of the bibliography please click on annotated bibliography template.

You will need to find research articles located in scholarly journals. Scholarly journal articles are also referred as primary source peer reviewed articles. A scholarly journal article can be found in the South University Online Library. To find more information regarding utilizing the South University Library and accessing scholarly journal articles click on Library Guide. What cannot be used for this assignment are web pages, magazines, newspapers, text books, and other books. Finally, current research for our purposes is an article that was published within the last 5 to 6 years.

Remember this is a course on human development so when looking for articles make sure that it is related to the subject matter covered in the course. Include one or more of the following as topic areas in your search:

  • Major developmental theories across the lifespan
  • Nature of geographic, gender, social, cognitive, emotional, and developmental factors during each period of development
  • Developmental factors that impact one another.
  • Historical and current trends in development
  • Current trends which may differentially impact the future development of populations in the United States
  • Social, and diversity issues related to developmental psychology

For this assignment you will find 2 journal articles for each of these age groups:

  • Adulthood
  • Older Adults

The annotated bibliography should include for each article.

  • Write a 2 paragraph summary for each article.
  • Write a 1-2 paragraph analysis and evaluation for each article found.
  • Make sure to integrate what you learned in your course readings in that analysis

Summary:  For week 5 you will also write a summary (1-2 pages) of what you learned from your research on the different age groups (including week 3 age groups) as seen from the life-span perspective. To assist in the development of this summary answer the following questions:

  • After reviewing the current research in the various age groups what similarities did you find in the types of research and what was being studied? What differences did you find?
  • Based on your course readings what developmental theories did you find that were applicable?
  • Explain how the life-span perspective provides a way of better understanding the research reviewed.

Format:

  • Used correct spelling, grammar, and professional vocabulary.
  • Used APA format including:
    • Title page
    • Double space
    • Reference page
    • Cited and referencing all sources using the APA format.Adults

      Sokol, J. T. (2009) “Identity Development Throughout the Lifetime: An Examination of Eriksonian Theory,” Graduate Journal of Counseling Psychology 1(2), Article 14. Retrieved from http://epublications.marquette.edu/gjcp/vol1/iss2/14

      In this article, Sokol reviews the Eriksonian theory through a person’s lifespan. Erikson proposed a life span model of human development that was composed of eight psychosocial stages. A person has to deal with inherent crisis throughout each stage so as to continue with development. He also added the influence that culture and society in general has on people’s development. In this article, the author closely examines the various stages of life span in regard to identity formation as proposed under the Eriksonian theory.

      The author discusses identity development in adulthood in regard to the Eriksonian theory. He criticizes the Erikson on his failure to provide details on identity formation beyond adolescence and mainly provision of contradicting ideas. Erikson states that final identity is fixed at the close of adolescence while still maintaining that identity development goes beyond adolescence into adulthood. As per the author, identity development especially in terms of religion, politics, vocations and sexual choices occur during young adulthood. It continues through middle adulthood through change of circumstances where people reorganize goals and ambitions as well as careers. Women take up masculine characters and vice versa to experience perspective shifts. There is continuous examination and evaluation to revise choices and draw up new beginnings hence identity development.

      This article is important since it evaluates one of the development theories in regard to human development. Identity formulation even if it mainly occurs in childhood and adolescence, it continues further into adulthood especially since they are more likely to reorganize their lives and take up new

      Brent, W. R., & Daniel, M. (2009). Personality Trait Change in Adulthood. National Institute of Health. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2743415/

      The authors define personality traits as enduring patterns of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors among people that distinguish them from others. Recent cross sectional and also longitudinal research has shown that the development of personality traits does occur in all age groups across the life span. It specifically occurs mainly in middle aged people who also tend to score highly on conscientiousness and agreeableness and much lower in traits like neuroticism, openness and extraversion.

      The authors conclude that the development of personality traits in ongoing from childhood through to late adulthood. In adulthood, it is mainly positively although that does not mean the final trait in the person. It is influenced by certain factors such as growing responsibility and changing circumstances. Most personality changes occur in adults between 20-40 years. As people grow older, they realize that high neuroticism over time resulted in high mortality, depression, physical health and age control.

      In conclusion, this article touches on the development of humans even through adulthood. It supports the theory that other factors such as social factors affect the human development, and are essential in shaping a person’s life. The article brings out some of the developments that occur in human life especially in terms of character traits that affect his life thereafter. If one has negative traits they are bound to live for a shorter period.

      Older Adults

      Andrea, M., Weinstein,S.L., Akl, K. E., & Destiny, M. (2012). Physical activity and brain plasticity in late adulthood: a conceptual review. Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh; Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Pittsburgh, USA. Retrieved from http://www.pagepress.org/journals/index.php/ar/article/view/ar.2012.e6

      The authors in this article link physical exercise and brain plasticity. They cite evidence from neuroscience, kinesiology and epidemiology that shows that physical activity in all stages of development is effective in preventing and in treating of cognitive problems. In late childhood, physical exercise provides a good avenue of ensuring a reduction in the medical burden that comes with various health problems in this stage. The authors show that moderate physical activity even in very sedentary individuals have shown to improve brain and cognitive function. Many of the cognitive functions such as memory, domain of executive control and attention are influenced by physical exercise. Since cognitive decline is a major characteristic of late adulthood, the need for physical activity is crucial.

      People in the late adulthood stage suffer from brain plasticity where the brain becomes brittle and unconformable. They also suffer from diseases and disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s. Physical exercise that is moderate for six months shows significant effect on the brain in this stage. It also delays the onset of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and helps people in this stage to better their motor skills and memory.

      This article is important in that it tackles some of the challenges that people face during the late adulthood stage. It provides a way of dealing with cognitive decline in an inexpensive way and preventing many diseases. Physical activity is also important during other stages of development in improving cognitive functions.

      Del, B. E., Sala, E., Hancock, R., Gunnell, C., & Parisi, L. (2007). “Gender, older people and social exclusion. A gendered review and secondary analysis of the data.” ISER Working Paper 2007-13. Colchester: University of Essex. Retrieved from http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/pubs/workpaps/

      In this article, the authors present study findings of older people’s conditions in the UK. It highlights the gender differences in regard to social inclusion such as provision of care, service use and involvement in social networking. It also includes various imbalances in gender as per the age structure and marital status. The study found out that more men than women are likely to be kept in communal homes and institutions rather than in private homes. Being kept in an institution or home was higher in those who never married although age and illness also contributed. However, blacks and Asians were unlikely to be institutionalized as compared to white people. The article states that most of the people who live alone are mainly widowed but this is true especially for women. Older men tend to remarry after the wife’s death or divorce.

      The article concludes that gender differences are not large in significant to health conditions among older people. However, older women tend to spend a high percentage of their later lives in poor health as compared to men. Older women make use of health services than men although more men have access to cars for transportation. Rating of the quality of local services and amenities does not differ with gender. In addition, the article concluded that older women interact socially more than women although the men have wider social networks. However, in case of ill health, older people in general call a partner or relative.

      This article examines the gender differences in older people with regard to health and social networking. This article is relevant in that it discusses on social and gender factors that affect development in older adults. It shows the impacts of the discussed factors as well as what attributes to them and their influence in the lifestyle and lifespan of older adults.

      Summary

      Current research focuses much on cognitive development in early childhood and adolescence including the various factors that affect the overall development of infants, children and adolescents. Most research on adolescence and young adulthood is based on emerging factors such as education and careers and social technology. Research on adults is mainly on personal development in regard to personality and identity while older adults research is on disease prevention and treatment due to cognitive decline. The main similarity across all groups is physical and cognitive development either positive or negative and emerging issues especially technology. The difference is on issues that affect each age group like growth in children and decline in late adulthood.

      The most applicable theory was Erikson’s theory of psychological development that states that life progresses in a series of stages that are influenced by social factors. Most research articles made reference to the concept of this theory and even discussed on the various factors that affect development. Other applicable theories include attachment theory especially for children and also Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.

      The lifespan perspective plays a crucial role in understanding of the current research. It gives background information that helps one to understand why a research would be interested in undertaking research on a certain topic. In addition, one is able to relate the situation in a certain stage by looking back and understanding the previous stage as well as the subsequent one. By understanding the holistic perspective on lifespan one can the relate research issues into various stages.

      References

      Andrea, M., Weinstein,S.L., Akl, K. E., & Destiny, M. (2012). Physical activity and brain plasticity in late adulthood: a conceptual review. Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh; Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Pittsburgh, USA. Retrieved from http://www.pagepress.org/journals/index.php/ar/article/view/ar.2012.e6

      Brent, W. R., & Daniel, M. (2009). Personality Trait Change in Adulthood. National Institute of Health. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2743415/

      Del, B. E., Sala, E., Hancock, R., Gunnell, C., & Parisi, L. (2007). “Gender, older people and social exclusion. A gendered review and secondary analysis of the data.” ISER Working Paper 2007-13. Colchester: University of Essex. Retrieved from http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/pubs/workpaps/

      Sokol, J. T. (2009) “Identity Development Throughout the Lifetime: An Examination of Eriksonian Theory,” Graduate Journal of Counseling Psychology 1(2), Article 14. Retrieved from http://epublications.marquette.edu/gjcp/vol1/iss2/14

 
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