Description
For this assignment, you will engage in an observation and/or interview with a child under the age of 12 and write a 4-5 page paper regarding your experience. The purpose of the paper is to make observations and then compare those observations to applicable theory as stated in the textbook. The paper should be completed using APA format.
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Purchase answer to see full attachment
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
Running head: DEVELOPMENT
1
Life Span Development
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
DEVELOPMENT
2
Life Span Development
What one is, a result of many aspects of their life including both external stimuli and
internal experiences. Psychologists have over the years sought to explain lifespan
development, an effort that has led to the development of various development theories. The
purpose of the theories is to provide a framework within which human learning and growth
are understood. It is essential to study these theories because they promote understanding of
individuals and society as well (Newman & Newman, n.d.). This paper seeks to relate the
psychological development theories to an observed situation of development in the
community.
In my neighborhood, I get to interact with many people many of who are my friends
and a few relatives who live close by. However, for this paper I chose to observe and
interview a person whom I did not have a very close relationship with to prevent bias in my
observations. My subject is an eleven-year-old boy of African American origin who is now in
the 6th grade. The boy’s mother is a nurse, and the father is in the army, currently deployed on
a mission in West Africa. He lives with his mother, and the father comes home once in a
while when not working, he is most of the time with his mother who leaves home in the
morning, drops him at school and head to work then pick him in the evening. Sometimes
when the mother has to work night shifts, the boy uses the school bus on his way back home.
The subject is a single child who has the full attention of his mother as is evidenced in the
way the mother treats him with affection and is always concerned about him. I chose this boy
because of his personality and the fact that he was open and easy to develop a relationship
with. I had also previously observed the boy and knew a bit about him; this made him the
best option for a subject.
DEVELOPMENT
3
To understand the boy better, the best way to go about it was to observe and also
interview the boy. Obse...