Lifespan Development in Social Work: Week Two Class Notes

Lifespan Development in Social Work: Week Two Class Notes (9/15/25)

Theories of Human Development: Learning Objectives

• Review the periods of human development from an age-range perspective.

• Discuss the “normative” approach to considering human development.

• Define what the concept of a theory is and how it applies to human lifespan development.

• Analyze the physical development and changes across the human lifespan with emphasis on the concepts of systems theory, person-in-environment perspective, and ecological (systems) theory.

• Review the social and emotional development and changes across the human lifespan with emphasis on the concepts of behaviorism, motivation, personality development, psychodynamic, psychosocial, and social learning theories.

• Differentiate the cognitive development and changes across the human lifespan with emphasis on the concepts of cognitive developmental theory, language development and acquisition, and learning theories.

I. Periods of Human Development from an Age-Range Perspective

• Definition: Periods of human development refer to broad ranges of time that generally include biological, psychological, and social changes within the individual.

  • This approach differs from distinct step-by-step “stages” of development where later stages are dependent upon what occurs in earlier stages.

  • There can be overlap across these periods.

  • They may include developmental changes that are independent of what has occurred in previous periods.

• Example Schema of Periods of Human Development:

  • Prenatal: Conception, gestation, to birth.

  • Infancy & Toddlerhood: Birth to $3$ years of age.

  • Preschool: $3-6$ years of age.

  • Middle Childhood: $6-12$ years of age.

  • Adolescence: $12$ to $20$ years of age.

  • Young Adulthood: $20$ to $40$ years of age.

  • Middle Adulthood: $40$ to $60$ years of age.

  • Late Adulthood: $60/65$ to death.

• Flexibility: There is no fixed guideline for determining periods of development, though there is general agreement on its usefulness for studying development.

  • Researchers often employ greater specificity during certain periods based on their interests.

II. The Normative Approach to Human Development

• Founders: Granville Stanley Hall ($1844-1924$) and his student, Arnold Gesell ($1880-1961$).

  • Theorized development as a “genetically determined process that unfolds automatically” (Berk, $2008$, p. $11$).

  • Normative Approach Defined: They devised an approach