Читать книгу Lifespan Development - Tara L. Kuther - Страница 54

Developmental scientists agree that people change throughout life and show increases in some capacities and decreases in others from conception to death. Yet they may sometimes disagree about how development proceeds, what specific changes occur, and what causes the changes. Developmental scientists’ explanations of how people grow and change over their lives are influenced by their perspectives on three basic issues, or fundamental questions, about human development:

1 Do people change gradually often imperceptibly, over time, or is developmental change sudden and dramatic?

2 What role do people play in their own development—how much are they influenced by their surroundings, and how much do they influence their surroundings?

3 To what extent is development a function of inborn genetic characteristics, and to what extent is it affected by the environment in which individuals live?

The following sections examine each of these questions.