PSY 211 Project Two Template
Use this template to complete your life-span theory exploration paper. Answer each question with a
minimum of 3 to 5 sentences. Support your answers with credible sources when appropriate. Complete
this template by replacing the bracketed text with the relevant information.
1. Identify a theorist, summarize their theory, and explain the aspects of that theory that relate to
the biological perspective.
[The theorist that I chose the psychologist John Watson known for his theory of behaviorism
focusing on the outside behaviors of a person. Watson's theory was that insight into a person's
internal actions could only be obtained from that person's outside physical responses. Watson
considered that events and situations in any given environment are what causes behaviors to be
developed.]
2. Provide an example of how this biological perspective of life-span development applies to your
lived experience.
[An example of how this biological perspective of life-span development applies to my lived
experience is through the fact that me showing signs of depression and anxiety around the age
of thirteen. My anxiety and depression came from multiple issues including an alcoholic step-
father and the fact that my real father had committed suicide when I was very young. My
mother did not realize how much my step-father's actions had an effect on me and blamed most
of my problems with anxiety and depression on my real father being that he would not have
committed suicide if he had not suffered from anxiety and depression as well. She believed that
I was just predisposed to developing such issues because of my father's genetics.]
3. Identify a theorist, summarize their theory, and explain the aspects of that theory that relate to
the psychological perspective.
[The theorist I chose is the psychologist Sigmund Freud, whose theory was that the shaping of
an adult person's personality is heavily influenced on experiences and events from that person's
childhood. It was Freud's belief that people inherit behaviors from our parents/caregivers and
family because a person's behavior is dictated by that person's unconscious mind from his or her
past experiences. When a child has a traumatic experience, for example, the mind tends to hide
away the traumatic experience and the emotions that evolve from it as a way of protect itself.
The trauma along these emotions, such as anxiety or depression, are still there in the
unconscious mind and manifest later on in adulthood (Mcleod, S., 1970).]
4. Provide an example of how this psychological perspective of life-span development applies to
your lived experience.
[An example of how this psychological perspective of life-span development applies to my lived
experience is with my struggles with depression and anxiety in the stages of my adolescence and
early adulthood. This had much to do with the trauma I experienced from growing up in a
somewhat dysfunctional environment with an alcoholic step-father who treated me poorly
because I was not his child. I began showing signs of depression and anxiety when I reached the
age of thirteen. Luckily, after my step father was no longer in my life, my anxiety and depression
were not as hard for me to cope with and I ended up beginning therapy which helped even
more. I also developed abandonment issues due to my father's suicide when I was very young.]
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5. Identify a theorist, summarize their theory, and explain the aspects of that theory that relate to
the social perspective.
[The theorist that I chose is psychologist Jean Piaget developed the Theory of Cognitive
Development. Piaget's theory included four stages of development: the sensorimotor stage, the
preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. She
believed that the willingness or unwillingness to perceive and deal with environmental stimuli is
what creates a child's schema (Mcleod, S., 2020) and that our environment and surroundings
are constantly changing us as we develop. The schemas that a child develops closely resemble
those of the people around us such as our parents/caregivers and continue on into our
adulthood depending on our surroundings later on.]
6. Provide an example of how this social perspective of life-span development applies to your lived
experience.
[An example of how this social perspective of life-span development applies to my lived
experience is how the schemas that I may have developed at an early age in relation to how to
act socially has changed as I grow older and have had my own experiences in relation to those
schemas. As a child, witnessing how to "appropriately" behave and communicate with others in
different social situations has changed over time because of the constant changing of my
environment and new experiences.]
7. Describe why analyzing the life span from a combined biological, psychological, and social
perspective is important.
[It is important to analyze the life span from a combined biological, psychological, and social
perspective because each of these perspectives correlate and intertwine with the other. If we
analyze a life span from just one perspective or the other, we are unable to see the whole
picture or a person's development as a whole. “Only with all the different types of psychology,
which sometimes contradict one another (nature-nurture debate), overlap with each other (e.g.
psychoanalysis and child psychology) or build upon one another (biological and health
psychologist) can we understand and create effective solutions when problems arise, so we have
a healthy body and a healthy mind” (Mcleod, S., 1970).]
References:
Mcleod, S. (1970, January 1). "Sigmund Freud's Theories." Simply Psychology.
Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-
Freud.html
Mcleod, S. (1970, January 1). "Psychology Perspectives." Simply Psychology.
Retrieved June 12, 2022, from
https://www.simplypsychology.org/perspective.html
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