Lifespan Development: Unraveling the Threads of Cognitive Growth, Intelligence, and Social Dynamics - Essay Sample

Personal Life Application

Lifespan development is generally regarded as the study of living organisms’ developmental progress from birth to death. From a relative in-depth perspective, it encompasses the scientific research of systematic individual behavioral metamorphoses beginning from birth to the individual's demise. It examines the factors influencing those changes and entails several categories such as ontogenesis, embryogenesis, pathogenesis, the development of psychopathology, among other items (Overton, 2010). There are several development phases during an organism's lifespan, and often, these phases are marked with transformational characteristics and dynamism, albeit arguably different from one individual to another. According to Feldman (2013), certain fundamentally critical items mark the development phases in every person's lifespan. Among those items are cognitive growth, language development, Intelligence, social and emotional development, moral development, and aggressiveness.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Cognitive growth; Information Processing Approaches

Cognitive growth, language development, and intelligence are central issues in the lifespan of every individual. Jean Piaget propounded that mental growth is the central factor that distinguishes human beings from other animals. At its core, it enables humans to perform abstract symbolic reasoning (Huitt, 2003). It is the thought process and is constructed on how an organism adapts to its surroundings, which Piaget referred to as intelligence. The reasoning is a topic that cannot be assumed in human society since most human actions are based on logic. Through critical reasoning, individuals can solve dilemmas and make rational decisions that suit the situation. Moral reasoning and argumentation is a well-developed reasoning process aimed at making the best conclusion/ solution. The methodology of this adaptation is known as behavior and is regulated by mental organizations or schemes. An individual employs these schemes to represent his environment and designate actions, often fueled by the drive to realize equilibrium between the surroundings and the mental processes. Hypothetically, in Piaget's opinion, human infants are conceived with schemes that are operational from birth, otherwise referred to as reflexes. In other animals, reflexes influence behaviorism during the entirety of their lives; however, in humans, these reflexes are replaced with new schemes that are self-constructed from the need to adapt to a dynamic environment. This usually is an ongoing process from infancy through to the adult life of human beings. According to McShane (1991), cognitive growth can be explained through an information-processing framework (Feldman, 2013). The information processing framework entails development of symbolic representations, development of memory, development of language, quantitative and numerical reasoning, concepts, and categorization, to mention a few.

Intelligence and language development

The information-processing framework arguably is what condenses intelligence, which, according to Gardner (1992), is problem solving. Traditionally, intelligence had been recognized in two isolate categories, verbal and computational. However, Gardner formulated seven types; logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, personal, and naturalistic intelligence (Gardner, 1992). Albeit bits of intelligence are anatomically isolated from one another, Gardner argues that they seldom operate in isolation. Instead, they are often used simultaneously, complement each other as one harness, and develop their problem-solving techniques. For instance, a dancer will excel in the art only if she or he possesses; a robust musical intelligence to comprehend the musical rhythms and variations. Interpersonal intelligence enables one to know how to emotionally move the audience with his moves and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, which avails the agility and coordination for completing the actions. It is argued that multi-intelligence is mainly constructed on biological and cultural bases (Feldman, 2013). Primarily learning items are located in specific regions of the brain where corresponding transformations have taken place; numerous forms of learning lead to synaptic connections of different brain regions. Damage to a particular part can be adversely consequential in the development of an individual cognitive element. For instance, if the Broca area of the brain is injured, one's verbal communication ability with proper syntax will be lost, albeit it will not diminish one's understanding of appropriate grammar and word usage (Feldman, 2013). In addition, however, culture and environment also influence intelligence development, and Gardner argued that all societies have different intelligence types. The cultural value emphasized on the performance of specific tasks influenced one's skills in those areas. Hence, a particular intelligence may be highly evolved in a substantial number of people from a specific culture relative to another.

Arguably, everyone possesses seven bits of intelligence. Nonetheless, each person or learner differently develops their intelligence sets. Thus, implying that each student, for instance, will have a unique set of intellectual weaknesses and strengths that determines the ease or difficulty with which one will learn information when passed in a certain way (Feldman, 2013). However, one can manipulate their more developed intelligence sets to understand a subject that uses their relatively weaker intelligence sets. For instance, I would say I had relatively weak logical-mathematical intelligence and quite a strong linguistic and personal intelligence sets. Therefore, I had a strong command of language. My strong knowledge of the language I link it to an early interaction with cartoon shows, which often, I repeatedly imitated. My childhood schooling was also instrumental in my language command's growth since it provided an interactive social space. It also enabled me to express my musical intelligence by interacting with various instruments from an early age.

Social and Emotional Development

Another item that is critical in the lifespan of humans is social and emotional development. Arguably, the entirety of every human is based on a paradigm social space. At the very least, one must interact with another person, albeit, often it is more than one person. Erik Erikson emphasizes the influence of culture and society, the possible conflicts within an ego, and factors that instrumentally shape a personality. He propounds that the ego develops with the successful resolution of crises that are naturally social and distinct. The development involves such items as the establishment of a trust in others, the growing sense of identity in society, and preparation help for future generations (McLeod, 2013). Personality development is a progressive phenomenon that occurs during the entirety of existence, from birth to demise. In Erikson's opinion, social and emotional lifespan development stages take place in two main identifiable phases. Five steps occur from birth up to 18 years of age, while three other stages transcend adulthood. However, he focused more on the adolescent stage, arguing that it is critical in developing one's identity.

In Erikson's perspective, personality develops in a premeditated order and accumulates on each earlier stage, referred to as the epigenetic principle (Feldman, 2013). The result of this accumulation or maturation table is it is occasionally referred to as a broad and integrated skill set and abilities that function in unison with an independent person. In broader perspectives, social interaction begins at the innermost or core of social space, the family, and shapes personality. According to Erikson, however, crises, which he assumes, occur at every development stage and influence personality. These crises are usually psychosocial since they entail psychological needs in conflict with social conditions (McLeod, 2013). There are eight distinct stages of psychosocial development, and successful completion of every step realizes the attainment of essential virtues and a healthy personality. The primary virtues are `1 CD attributable strengths that the ego can utilize in resolving crises that arise after that.

Moral development and aggressiveness

Morality is defined within most social realms, and moral development stems from this. According to Feldman (2013), moral development alters a person's sense of justice and that of right and wrong. It also influences behaviorism in relation to ethical issues. I believe my social environment, family, friends, school, religion, and culture have contributed significantly to my moral development. Cultural values, religion, and laws in any society balance human moral reasoning and these social structures shape individual moral reasoning. Those brought around religious belief base their morality on the holy book such as the bible and Koran. Due to the different ground, human beings draw their sense of morality; one realizes differences in the interpretation of ethics across the world. One particular attribute that I can argue my social sphere has hugely shaped is my prosocial behavior. I much take pleasure in helping others benefit. Besides, I am mostly empathetic and socially content. Growing up, my interaction with kids helped shape my temperament substantially and manage my aggression. Although I am often regarded as an aggressive individual, my aggression is mainly towards achieving personal goals and not about competitive edging.

References

Feldman, R. S. (2013). Child development: A topical approach. Pearson Higher Ed.Gardner, H. (1992). Multiple intelligences (Vol. 5, p. 56). Minnesota Center for Arts Education.

Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2003). Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Educational psychology interactive, 3(2), 1-5. https://intranet.newriver.edu/images/stories/library/stennett_psychology_articles/Piagets%20Theory%20of%20Cognitive%20Development.pdf

McLeod, S. (2013). Erik Erikson. https://docuri.com/download/erik-erikson-psychosocial-stages-simply-psychology_59c1e23ff581710b286a64c6_pdf

McShane, J. (1991). Cognitive development: An information processing approach. Basil Blackwell.

Overton, W. F. (2010). Lifespan development: Concepts and issues. The handbook of lifespan development. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470880166.hlsd001001