Assignment 1
Read Daniel Levinson's (1986) American Psychologist article, "A Conception of Adult Development" (41, pp. 3–13). Respond to the following questions IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
a. Define what Levinson means by the following terms:
Life Course: Life course is the process of living, the idea of life history rather than case history. You have different courses within your life span. It’s generally a broad group such as child, teenager or pre adult, adult, and of course old. These groups can be broken down into smaller groups, but then it would no longer be a course, but instead a life cycle.
Life Cycle: It is where we have different stages in our lives. Those stages are prenatal, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, pubescence and adolescence. The life cycle is basically our lives broken up in different phases or seasons, in which we grow older and develop. It goes beyond the life course. He conceived the life cycle as a sequence of eras. The life cycle is different than the life course simply because cycles don’t last as long as courses do. Era: Basically a period which begins and ends at a well-defined modal age, with the range of about two years. The era can either be above or below this average. Your first era would be your pre-adult hood. Your second era would be your early adulthood and so on. I would definitely say that your Eras has a shorter time period than your cycles and your course for the simple fact that the average for an era is about two years, whereas a cycle averages to about five years. Transition: The transition is usually the time in between the ending of one period or era into the very beginning or start into the next period. Transition can also be the preparation for another era or stage. How well a person transitions can usually determine how they’re going to be able to handle the next stage in their lives. Transitional periods can usually last up to five years. Life Structure: The article definition for life structure is the underlying pattern or design of a person's life at a given time. Based off the text in the article I can say that life structure can be a reflection of how well you are doing in your life and if you feel that you are on tract. It can be a plan out of your life, many asks questions to make a plan on how they’re going to structure and balance their lives the best way possible. Structure can involve friends, social groups, family members or culture based off the text. It requires us to examine the nature and patterning of an adult's relationships with all significant …show more content…
In spring, nature blooms, the grass grows, the leaves grow, and everything is basically new. This relates to the “youth” stage in our lives, the very beginning. Summer is the season of passions and ripeness which is another stage in our lives. Seasons can also occur within the day. Some examples of that would be morning/dawn, noon, twilight, etc. You can have seasons of sadness, love, and or hurt. This metaphor just basically describes the stages in our lives and the emotion of that stage in which we are feeling during …show more content…
Relationships also help us develop feelings, good or bad. You can have a relationship with your parents, family, friends, and spouses. Relationships help us form feelings for someone. It can be a break-up with your first love, or proposing to your fiancé. Without relationships we wouldn’t know how to feel or react with something happened we weren’t familiar with. Relationships are a great form of development.
f. Distinguish between Levinson's notions of "structure-building" and "structure-changing."
The purpose of “structure building” is to enhance your life based off the way you are now without changing. This is when we have certain goals or achievements to improve our lives in certain stages. Our “structural changes” can refer to our transitional period. We can change our attitudes, appearance, or things we’re just not happy with. When you change something you hardly ever go back to the original.
g. Levinson says (p. 8) that his sequence of eras and periods holds for men and women of different cultures, classes, and historical epochs. Thinking about the people you know, do you find this assertion
Read Daniel Levinson's (1986) American Psychologist article, "A Conception of Adult Development" (41, pp. 3–13). Respond to the following questions IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
a. Define what Levinson means by the following terms:
Life Course: Life course is the process of living, the idea of life history rather than case history. You have different courses within your life span. It’s generally a broad group such as child, teenager or pre adult, adult, and of course old. These groups can be broken down into smaller groups, but then it would no longer be a course, but instead a life cycle.
Life Cycle: It is where we have different stages in our lives. Those stages are prenatal, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, pubescence and adolescence. The life cycle is basically our lives broken up in different phases or seasons, in which we grow older and develop. It goes beyond the life course. He conceived the life cycle as a sequence of eras. The life cycle is different than the life course simply because cycles don’t last as long as courses do. Era: Basically a period which begins and ends at a well-defined modal age, with the range of about two years. The era can either be above or below this average. Your first era would be your pre-adult hood. Your second era would be your early adulthood and so on. I would definitely say that your Eras has a shorter time period than your cycles and your course for the simple fact that the average for an era is about two years, whereas a cycle averages to about five years. Transition: The transition is usually the time in between the ending of one period or era into the very beginning or start into the next period. Transition can also be the preparation for another era or stage. How well a person transitions can usually determine how they’re going to be able to handle the next stage in their lives. Transitional periods can usually last up to five years. Life Structure: The article definition for life structure is the underlying pattern or design of a person's life at a given time. Based off the text in the article I can say that life structure can be a reflection of how well you are doing in your life and if you feel that you are on tract. It can be a plan out of your life, many asks questions to make a plan on how they’re going to structure and balance their lives the best way possible. Structure can involve friends, social groups, family members or culture based off the text. It requires us to examine the nature and patterning of an adult's relationships with all significant …show more content…
In spring, nature blooms, the grass grows, the leaves grow, and everything is basically new. This relates to the “youth” stage in our lives, the very beginning. Summer is the season of passions and ripeness which is another stage in our lives. Seasons can also occur within the day. Some examples of that would be morning/dawn, noon, twilight, etc. You can have seasons of sadness, love, and or hurt. This metaphor just basically describes the stages in our lives and the emotion of that stage in which we are feeling during …show more content…
Relationships also help us develop feelings, good or bad. You can have a relationship with your parents, family, friends, and spouses. Relationships help us form feelings for someone. It can be a break-up with your first love, or proposing to your fiancé. Without relationships we wouldn’t know how to feel or react with something happened we weren’t familiar with. Relationships are a great form of development.
f. Distinguish between Levinson's notions of "structure-building" and "structure-changing."
The purpose of “structure building” is to enhance your life based off the way you are now without changing. This is when we have certain goals or achievements to improve our lives in certain stages. Our “structural changes” can refer to our transitional period. We can change our attitudes, appearance, or things we’re just not happy with. When you change something you hardly ever go back to the original.
g. Levinson says (p. 8) that his sequence of eras and periods holds for men and women of different cultures, classes, and historical epochs. Thinking about the people you know, do you find this assertion