Daniel Kaller

Psychology 1100
Reflective Writing Assignment
It comes to no surprise that a five-year-old child has different conceptions of the world
than a twenty-year-old college student. The level of cognition in the college student would be a
lot higher than that of the five-year-old, but this is not saying that the five-year-old has any
defects in thought processes. Rather, the college student has developed further cognitive abilities
for a longer time. Why is there that cognitive gap though? The lifespan human development
perspective helps aid in understanding this process a little further.
The Lifespan Human Development perspective takes into account all phases of life. This
leads to a new understanding of human development as a multidirectional, multi-contextual,
multicultural, multidisciplinary, and plastic. This means it is the process of change associated
with all age, which characterizes all human beings from birth to death. This includes how and
why a person changes in life over all aspects of development; physical, cognitive, social, and
moral. It is important to view psychology in this perspective to help understand an individuals
cognitive capacity. It also helps to understand the emotions and experiences of those younger,
and older than us.
Throughout this course, I have learned a lot about the processes in which I have grown
and developed into the person I am today. But the most significant learning I experienced was in
the section on Emerging Adulthood. Because this was directly related to my age, I was able to
make personal connections a lot easier. This has given me a better understanding of myself and
the way I interact with others on a daily basis. I think the most important section was the section

on psychopathology, the study of mental disorders like depression and anxiety. After discussing
many of the symptoms and causes, I found a lot of similar characteristics in myself like; weight
loss/gain, fatigue, and inability to think or concentrate. This does not mean that I have been
diagnosed with any disorders, but it gave me a good reference as to where I am when it comes to
my emotions.
I have come to the hypothesis that depression runs in my family on the men's side. I came
to this hypothesis for a number of reasons, first having my own experience in the class and
learning about the disorder, and second, by learning about middle adulthood and evaluating my
dad and grandpa. From watching them, I can piece together what I have learned in class. By
reading over notes from class about andropause, I have noticed certain behaviors that I wouldnt
have otherwise. One of these is the fact that alcoholism is a coping mechanism for depression in
my family. Both my grandfather and dad are alcoholics and from what I have studied in this
class, their emotions and actions demonstrate alcohol-treated depression.