Psychology: Lifespan Development

Description:

Interview one older adult (at least 65 years old). Psychology: Lifespan Development Interviews don’t take long—and can be done via phone. This can be a grandparent, parent, neighbour, or nursing home resident you have never met!

You should first create a list of questions to investigate:

1. Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man (which will include information across your interviewee’s entire lifespan thus far—and possibly yet to come), and
2. TWO theories/concepts/cluster of terms from your adulthood learning

 

*You may need to make predictions for future development based on your learning of that individual’s life thus far AND what you would expect based on your developmental learning (this will depend on the age of your interviewee) for Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man.

The number of questions in your interview will vary according to how much content you gain with each. Hint: It is much easier to ask too much information than to have to add to your interview at a later date. You do not need to turn in your interview questions—the content gained from them will be in your paper. Ensure you understand what you will be writing about before conducting your interview.

*Alternative age option: If you want to interview a child, adolescent, or adult (early or middle), please let me know! You would follow the same overall directions but make predictions for Erikson’s later stages.

 

 

The paper:

*Follow this order/organization:

1. Briefly introduce your interviewee. Do not use your interviewee’s real name—you may refer to him/her as Alex. (Real name and a phone number must be included at the end of your paper for potential follow-up on the experience for the older adult.) This is a great practice with confidentiality! Describe what the interview experience with an older adult was like. Was it what you expected? Why or why not? (3 points)
2. Apply the older adult’s life to Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man. This theory should be fully described and theory content should be obtained from your textbook (and Erikson handout/discussion from class—remember that there is a handout in your Lesson 3 materials that explains all 8 stages ) and NOT the internet. Every stage should be explained and applied to the older adult’s life. If the older adult hasn’t fully experienced the last stage, predictions should be made based on information gained on previous stages and developmental learning. (at least several sentences per stage) (24 points)
3. Explain TWO theories/concepts/clusters of terms (of your choice from the textbook) in adulthood AND explain how these concepts apply to your interviewee. For instance, you could define episodic memory and then explain an example of your older adult’s episodic memory and how it may have declined with age as you would expect—or maybe how your interviewee can give details about a past event that would lead you to believe little decline has occurred. BE SURE you explain each concept in full detail without summarizing it. (one large paragraph each) (8 points)

To make it easier for the writing stage, FIRST go through your book (it is written chronologically, which will help) before you interview and write down the information that will help you in your interview. Write down Erikson’s eight stages (your handout has all 8 stages in one file within your Lesson 3 materials) and the other theories/concepts/terms of your choice within adulthood. Then, think of questions you could ask in your interview to describe your theories fully.

*Basic writing skills and the use of correct grammar will also be taken into consideration when grading this assignment. If the level of writing is not at the college level, your assignment will not be graded. If you have any questions on this, please ask.