The Lifespan Perspective

Development has been presented as a theoretical perspective, proposing several fundamental, theoretical, and methodological principles about the nature of human development. Researchers have attempted to examine whether research on the nature of development suggests a specific metatheoretical worldview. Several beliefs, taken together, form the “family of perspectives” that contribute to this particular view.

German psychologist Paul Baltes (1987), a leading expert on development, established one of the most widely accepted approaches to studying development, known as the lifespan perspective. This approach is based on several key assumptions:

• Development occurs across one’s entire life, or is lifelong.
• Development is multidimensional, meaning it involves the dynamic interaction of factors like physical, emotional, and psychosocial development
• Development is multidirectional and results in gains and losses throughout life
• Development is plastic, meaning that characteristics are malleable or changeable.
• Development is influenced by contextual and socio-cultural influences.
• Development is multidisciplinary.

Lifelong development means that change is not completed in infancy or childhood or at any specific age; it encompasses the entire lifespan, from conception to death. The study of development traditionally focused almost exclusively on the changes occurring from conception to adolescence and the gradual decline in old age; it was believed that the five or six decades after adolescence yielded little to no further developmental change. The current view suggests that specific changes in development can occur later in life, even if they were not established at birth. Later events in one’s life can transform the early events of one’s childhood. This belief clearly emphasizes that all stages of the lifespan contribute to the regulation of the nature of human development.

Many diverse patterns of change, such as direction, timing, and order, can vary among individuals and influence their development. For example, the developmental timing of events can affect individuals in different ways because of their current level of maturity and understanding. As individuals navigate life, they encounter numerous challenges, opportunities, and situations that shape their development. Remembering that development is a lifelong process helps us gain a broader perspective on the meaning and impact of each event.

By multidimensionality, Baltes is referring to the fact that a complex interplay of factors influences development across the lifespan, including biological, cognitive, and socioemotional changes. Baltes argues that a dynamic interaction of these factors is what affects an individual’s development.

For example, during adolescence, puberty involves a range of physiological and physical changes, including fluctuations in hormone levels, the development of primary and secondary sex characteristics, alterations in height and weight, and several other bodily transformations. But these are not the only types of changes taking place; there are also cognitive changes, including the development of advanced cognitive faculties such as the ability to think abstractly. There are also emotional and social changes involving regulating emotions, interacting with peers, and possibly dating. The fact that the term puberty encompasses such a broad range of domains illustrates the multidimensionality component of development (think back to the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains of human development we discussed earlier).

Baltes states that the development of a particular domain does not occur in a strictly linear fashion but that the development of certain traits can be characterized as having the capacity for both an increase and a decrease in efficacy over the course of an individual’s life.

If we revisit the example of puberty, we can see that certain domains may improve or decline in effectiveness during this period. For example, self-regulation is one domain of puberty that undergoes profound multidirectional changes during the adolescent period. During childhood, individuals often struggle to effectively regulate their actions and exhibit impulsive behaviors. Scholars have noted that this lack of effective regulation often results in children engaging in behaviors without fully considering the consequences of their actions. Throughout puberty, neuronal changes modify this unregulated behavior by increasing the ability to regulate emotions and impulses. Inversely, the ability of adolescents to engage in spontaneous activity and creativity, both domains commonly associated with impulse behavior, decreases over the adolescent period in response to changes in cognition. Neuronal changes to the limbic system and prefrontal cortex of the brain, which begin in puberty, lead to the development of self-regulation and the ability to consider the consequences of one’s actions (though recent brain research reveals that this connection will continue to develop into early adulthood).

Extending on the premise of multidirectionality, Baltes also argued that development is influenced by the “joint expression of features of growth (gain) and decline (loss)” (Baltes, 1987). This relationship between developmental gains and losses occurs in a direction that selectively optimizes particular capacities. This requires the sacrifice of other functions, a process known as selective optimization with compensation. According to the process of selective optimization, individuals prioritize particular functions above others, thereby reducing the adaptive capacity of these functions for specialization and improving the efficacy of other modalities.

The acquisition of effective self-regulation in adolescents illustrates the concept of gain/loss. As adolescents gain the ability to regulate their actions effectively, they may be forced to sacrifice other features to selectively optimize their reactions. For example, individuals may sacrifice their capacity for spontaneity or creativity if they are constantly required to make thoughtful decisions and regulate their emotions. Adolescents may also be forced to sacrifice their fast reaction times in processing stimuli in favor of being able to fully consider the consequences of their actions.

Plasticity denotes intrapersonal variability and focuses heavily on the potentials and limits of human development. The notion of plasticity emphasizes that there are many possible developmental outcomes and that the nature of development is much more open and pluralistic than originally implied by traditional views; there is no single pathway that must be taken in an individual’s development across the lifespan. Plasticity is imperative to current research because the potential for intervention is derived from the notion of plasticity in development. Undesired development or behaviors could potentially be prevented or changed.

For example, researchers have recently been investigating how other senses compensate for the loss of vision in individuals who are blind. Without visual input, blind individuals have demonstrated that tactile and auditory functions continue to develop fully, enabling them to use tactile and auditory cues to perceive the world around them. One experiment, designed by Röder and colleagues (1999), compared the auditory localization skills of people who are blind with those of people who are sighted by having participants locate sounds presented either centrally or peripherally (laterally) to them. Both congenitally blind adults and sighted adults could locate a sound presented in front of them with precision, but people who are blind were superior in locating sounds presented laterally. Currently, brain-imaging studies have revealed that the sensory cortices in the brain are reorganized after visual deprivation. These findings suggest that when vision is absent in development, the auditory cortices in the brain recruit areas that are usually devoted to vision, thus becoming further refined.

In Baltes’ theory, the paradigm of contextualism refers to the idea that three systems of biological and environmental influences work together to influence development. Development occurs in context and varies from person to person, depending on factors such as a person’s biology, family, school, church, profession, nationality, and ethnicity. Baltes identified three types of influences that operate throughout the life course: normative age-graded influences, normative history-graded influences, and non-normative influences. Baltes wrote that these three influences operate throughout the life course, with their effects accumulating over time, and, as a dynamic package, they are responsible for shaping how lives develop.

Normative age-graded influences refer to biological and environmental factors that exhibit a strong correlation with chronological age, such as puberty or menopause, or age-based social practices, including starting school or entering retirement. Normative history-graded influences are associated with a specific time period that defines the broader environmental and cultural context in which an individual develops. For example, development and identity are influenced by the historical events experienced by the people who live through them, such as the Great Depression, World War II, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the War on Terror, or advances in technology.

This has been exemplified in numerous studies, including those by Nesselroade and Baltes, showing that the level and direction of change in adolescent personality development were influenced as strongly by the socio-cultural settings at the time (in this case, the Vietnam War) as by age-related factors. The study involved individuals of four different adolescent age groups who all showed significant personality development in the same direction (a tendency to occupy themselves with ethical, moral, and political issues rather than cognitive achievement). Similarly, Elder demonstrated that the Great Depression was a significant setting that profoundly influenced the development of adolescents and their corresponding adult personalities, as evidenced by a common pattern of personality development across age groups. Baltes’ theory also states that the historical socio-cultural setting had an effect on the development of an individual’s intelligence. The areas of influence that Baltes thought most important to the development of intelligence were health, education, and work. The first two areas, health and education, significantly affect adolescent development because healthy children who are educated effectively will tend to develop a higher level of intelligence. Neiss and Rowe have suggested that environmental factors, health, and education have as much effect on intelligence as hereditary factors.

Non-normative influences are unpredictable and not tied to a certain time in a person’s development or to a historical period. They are the unique experiences of an individual, whether biological or environmental, that shape the development process. These could include milestones like earning a master’s degree, getting a certain job offer, or other events like going through a divorce or coping with the death of a child.

The most important aspect of contextualism as a paradigm is that the three systems of influence work together to affect development. Concerning adolescent development, age-graded influences help explain the similarities within a cohort, while history-graded influences help explain the differences between cohorts, and non-normative influences help explain the idiosyncrasies of each adolescent’s individual development. When all influences are considered together, they provide a broader explanation of an adolescent’s development.

Other Contextual Influences on Development: Cohort, Socioeconomic Status, and Culture

What is meant by the word “context”? It means that we are influenced by the time and place where we live. Our actions, beliefs, and values are a response to the circumstances surrounding us. Sternberg describes contextual intelligence as the ability to understand what is required in a given situation (Sternberg, 1996). The key here is to understand that behaviors, motivations, emotions, and choices are all part of a bigger picture. Our concerns stem from our social identity, where we live, and when we live; they are part of a social climate and set of realities that surround us. Important social factors include cohort, social class, gender, race, ethnicity, and age. Let’s begin by exploring two of these: cohort and social class.

A cohort is a group of people born within a relatively short time period in a particular society. Cohorts share histories and contexts for living. Members of a cohort have experienced the same historical events and cultural climates, which have an impact on the values, priorities, and goals that may guide their lives. Consider the differences in experiences of someone from the ‘Silent’ generation that lived with constant scarcity and rationing during WWII versus the economic prosperity that followed for the ‘Baby Boomer’ generatio,n and how those historical contexts influence their development.

Another context that affects our lives is our social standing, socioeconomic status, or social class. Socioeconomic status is a method for categorizing families and households based on their shared levels of education, income, and occupation. While there is certainly individual variation, members of a social class tend to share similar lifestyles, consumption patterns, parenting styles, stressors, religious preferences, and other aspects of daily life. We also find differences between social classes in these and other areas of development. Often, those in low socioeconomic groups, people living in poverty, are disadvantaged, lack opportunities, and have different life experiences than those with more financial stability and wealth.

Poverty describes the state of not having access to material resources, wealth, or income, and also includes the lack of opportunity to improve one’s standard of living and acquire resources. Life chances is a term used to describe someone’s access to marketplace resources—essentially, how likely it is in their environment that they might be able to find employment or have a social safety net. Someone living in poverty but with high life chances may be able to improve their economic standing, whereas someone with low life chances will likely have a consistently low standard of living. The term for a person’s ability to change their economic status in a society is known as social mobility.

When families experience low social mobility, they may become trapped in poverty for generations, a phenomenon we refer to as the cycle of poverty. Typically, these families have either limited or nonexistent social and economic resources. Many disadvantages collectively work in a circular process, making it virtually impossible for individuals to break the cycle of poverty. They are less likely to have access to financial capital, education, job skills, reliable transportation, and social capital (connections to people with specialized knowledge or in positions of power). Without these resources, poverty-stricken individuals experience disadvantages that, in turn, increase their poverty.

Additionally, those living in poverty suffer disproportionately from hunger, poor nutrition, and exhibit disproportionately high rates of physical and mental health issues. These illnesses can be disabling, preventing people in poverty from working, thus reducing their opportunities to improve their social and economic status.

Finally, poverty increases the risk of homelessness. People who are homeless have low access to neighborhood resources, high-status social contacts, or basic services such as a phone line, limiting their ability to improve their economic position, again perpetuating poverty.

Culture is often referred to as a blueprint or guideline shared by a group of people that specifies how to live. It includes ideas about what is right and wrong, what to strive for, what to eat, how to speak, what is valued, as well as the kinds of emotions that are called for in certain situations. Culture teaches us how to live in a society and allows us to advance because each new generation can benefit from the solutions found and passed down from previous generations.

Culture is learned from parents, schools, churches, media, friends, and others throughout a lifetime. The kinds of traditions and values that evolve in a particular culture serve to help members function in their society and value their society. We tend to believe that our own culture’s practices and expectations are the right ones. This belief that our own culture is superior is called ethnocentrism and is a normal by-product of growing up in a culture. It becomes a roadblock, however, when it inhibits understanding of cultural practices from other societies. Cultural relativity is an appreciation for cultural differences and the understanding that cultural practices are best understood from the perspective of the particular culture in which they are embedded.

Culture is a crucial context for human development, and understanding development requires being able to identify which features of development are culturally based. This understanding is somewhat new and still being explored. Much of what developmental theorists have described in the past has been culturally bound and difficult to apply to diverse cultural contexts. For example, Erikson’s theory that teenagers struggle with identity assumes that all teenagers live in a society in which they have many options and must make individual choices about their future. In many parts of the world, one’s identity is often determined by family status or societal expectations. In other words, there is no choice to make.

Even the most biological events can be viewed in cultural contexts that are incredibly varied. Consider two very different cultural responses to menstruation in young girls. In the United States, girls in public schools often receive information on menstruation around 5th grade, get a kit containing feminine hygiene products, and receive some sort of education about sexual health. Contrast this with some developing countries where menstruation is not publicly addressed, or where girls on their period are forced to miss school due to limited access to feminine products or unjust attitudes about menstruation.

Development is Multidisciplinary

Any single discipline’s account of development across the lifespan would not be able to express all aspects of this theoretical framework. That is why lifespan researchers explicitly suggest that a combination of disciplines is necessary to understand development. Psychologists, sociologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, educators, economists, historians, medical researchers, and others may all be interested and involved in research related to the normative age-graded, normative history-graded, and nonnormative influences that help shape development. Many disciplines contribute important concepts that integrate knowledge, which may ultimately result in the formation of a new and enriched understanding of development across the lifespan.