Matt Stanley

PSY 1100
TR 1:00 PM

Lifespan Development Perspective; The Human

Experience

Think back 10 years ago, would you say that you are the exact
same now that you are then? I think back 10 years to the 11-year-old
chubby Offensive lineman, who couldnt run too fast but could block
really well and devour a box of doughnuts in minutes, and Id definitely
not the same person I was. Ive grown, in more ways than the 11-year
old Matt could have wrapped his mind around. I think back even just 4
years ago, as I was just graduating High School, Im not even the same
person that I was at that point. Ive grown, in more ways than 17/18year-old Matt could have wrapped his mind around. (Ive also shrunk
considerably). Even reflecting on the last two years, I cant believe
how much Ive grown into the person I am now.
This is what the Lifespan Growth and Development perspective is
all about. We are not solid robots that operate the exact same way
until our circuits are burned out and our computers crash. We are a
dynamic, fluid, organism that never stops developing, learning, and
changing physically, mentally, spiritually, and even emotionally, until

the day we kick the can. A human is never finished or complete,

because we experience, we learn, we apply what we learned from that
experience, then we repeat. Experience, learn, apply, and repeat.
Being Human is an ever-changing experience. Being Human is an
experience, not a place or thing.
Understanding the concept of the Lifespan Development
Perspective is not just important to understanding the Human
Experience, but to understand ourselves, and where we are in life.
The Science of human development seeks to understand how and
why people-all kinds of people, everywhere, of every age-change over
time.
Of everything we learned this semester, I have picked two
subjects that particularly caught my interest, and had me reading extra
to learn more about. The first of these is in the, First Two Years:
Psychosocial Development, section. This is the subject of attachment,
how synchrony and attachment influence brain development.
Although Attachment is part of relationships throughout your whole
life, this focused on attachment in the 1-2 year old age group. This
subject really caught my interest, because its pretty amazing how
events at such a young age have such an elaborate impact on your
live. Once your older, you dont even have any memory of this age,
yet those times that you dont remember played a key factor in some

of your personality traits. Its even believed that attachment is part of

the reason the Homo sapiens have thrived and grown.
In the early ages, babies become either securely attached, or
insecurely attached. In the case of a securely attached baby, their
caregiver is their assurance, and their exploration base. These
children are perfectly willing to go explore, but still keep contact
maintaining behaviors, such as looking back at their caregiver or
vocalize. If their caregiver leaves them alone in a room, they notice
and will often times cry. When the caregiver returns, the baby gets
happy again, re-establishes contact, and then is willing to play again.
On the other hand, and Insecurely attached child is either
Insecure-avoidant, or insecure-resistant/ambivalent. An insecureavoidant attached child is more independent. They will continue to
often play after their caregiver leaves, and wont really seem to care
too much. When the parent returns, they wont make too much of an
effort to reestablish contact. In an Insecure-resistant child, the child
will be extremely upset when the caregiver leaves. However, when the
caregiver returns, the child will be angry, and hard to calm down. Its
been found that insecurely attached infants will often have lower
school achievement, and will often be hostile as children and fearful as
adults.
The worst-case scenario is a disorganized attached child. These
children do not fit into any other category. Their reactions are weird,

and dont totally make sense. When the parent leaves the room, the
child is confused and scared. When the parent returns they will often
do weird things like freeze. Sadly, this is often the result of abusive
parents.
I think child attachment is an important subject for anybody
wishing to have children, as it can be hugely significant to their later
success and well-being. If a caregiver is ignores the baby too much,
they can be insecure-avoidant. If a caregiver is inconsistent, the child
can become Insecure-resistant/ambivalent. Insecure and Disorganized
type children can have some very seriously negative outcomes.
Slower in cognition, difficulty in establishing relationships, depression
and drug problems, plus many more negative outcomes may result. In
extreme cases, these children can end up with some serious and
frightening disorders. Such as Reactive Attachment Disorder, or
Disinhibited Social Engagement disorder. This is why Caregivers need
to know what they need to do as caregivers to make sure that their
child has a good and bright future.
The next thing from this class that was of most interest to me
was the Emerging Adulthood section. The reason that this was
particularly interesting to me is because Im right in the middle of age
group of 18-25 that his age group applies to, and is therefore
extremely significant to my life. This age has 5 notable features.
1. Age of Identity Exploration (Especially in Love and Work)
2. Age of Instability

3. Most Self-Focused age of Life

4. Feeling In-between
5. Age of Possibilities.
The beginning of Emerging Adulthood is a lot like a punch in the
face, as you barely see it coming before connects with you and shocks
you. You leave High School and the world gets a lot bigger really fast.
This is a positive shock though. Its a shock that allows you to explore
the whole rest of the world that just unraveled in front of you eyes,
seemingly out of nowhere. Its a shock that allows an individual to
form and assert their Identity, and mold themselves into who the
person they want to be.
It is the age of Instability, but also the age where the:
experience, learn, apply, and repeat process is of most importance.
Every person at any given point has at least of idea of their plan,
referring mainly to their ideas of the direction of their future. However,
as you experience you may realize that part of your plan is no longer
what you see as part of your future. You learn what you do and do not
want to be apart of that plan, and then you reformulate your plan
accordingly. You then apply your current actions to the newly
reformulated plan and carry on with that plan and continue
experiencing until you learn something new to add to, or remove from,
the plan.
This subject matter is of utmost importance, because your life at
this age puts you on a path that will be a major part of the rest of your

life. Therefore, you must choose carefully! It also helps to understand

that the things you go through in the Emerging Adulthood stage are
necessary to better your life, even though they may be difficult and
overwhelming. The stress and weight of the stress can make you feel
like you are breaking down. Identity Exploration isnt always as fun as
it sounds. However, Something must be broken down before it can be
built stronger and better. Just like a human muscle, or a building that
needs restructuring. This is the age of necessarily difficulties that will
enhance the rest of the Human Experience.
The thing I took away from this class, is that being Human is an
ever changing experience. Life is not a maze with an end location that
means youve made it through, Life is not a puzzle with a solution, but
Life is the experience of being Human. It continues you to change, and
you continue to learn throughout it all.