Читать книгу Lifespan Development - Tara L. Kuther - Страница 56

Do people have a role in influencing how they change over their lifetimes? That is, are people active in influencing their own development? Taking an active role means that they interact with and influence the world around them, create experiences that lead to developmental change, and thereby influence how they themselves change over the lifespan. Alternatively, if individuals take a passive role in their development, they are shaped by, but do not influence, the world around them.

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Figure 1.2 Continuous and Discontinuous Development

Source: Adapted from End of the Game (2014) Child Development 101, History and Theory, https://endofthegame.net/2014/04/15/child-development-101-history-and-theory/3/

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Figure 1.3 Infant Growth: A Continuous or Discontinuous Process?

Infants’ growth occurs in a random series of roughly 1-centimeter spurts in height that occur over 24 hours or less. The overall pattern of growth entails increases in height, but whether the growth appears to be continuous or discontinuous depends on our point of view.

Source: Figure 1 from Lampl, M., Veldhuis, J. D., & Johnson, M. L. (1992.) Saltation and stasis: A model of human growth. Science, 258, 801-803. With permission from AAAS.

The prevailing view among developmental scientists is that people are active contributors to their own development (Lerner et al., 2014). People are influenced by the physical and social contexts in which they live, but they also play a role in influencing their development by interacting with and changing those contexts (Elder et al., 2016). Even infants influence the world around them and construct their own development through their interactions. Consider an infant who smiles at each adult he sees; he influences his world because adults are likely to smile, use “baby talk,” and play with him in response. The infant brings adults into close contact, making one-on-one interactions and creating opportunities for learning. By engaging the world around them, thinking, being curious, and interacting with people, objects, and the world around them, individuals of all ages are “manufacturers of their own development” (Flavell, 1992, p. 998).

It’s easy to see how this baby can influence the world around her and construct her own development through her interactions. By smiling at each adult she sees, she influences her world because adults are likely to smile, use “baby talk,” and play with her in response.

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