Signature Assignment

And a Reflection

Holli R. Grow

Salt Lake Community College

Psychology 1100-506, CRN 32120 Term 202330 2nd Half 8-Week-SS 2023

Instructor: Dr. Heidi Lind

Lifespan Development

July 16, 2023

 SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT

My signature assignment focuses on Life Span of Human Development, which can be

described in the introduction of the textbook by Santrock himself as “the pattern of movement or

change that begins at conception and continues through the human lifespan” (Santrock, 2022, p

2). In simpler terms, Lifespan of Human Development describes and illuminates the

development of people and their behavior throughout their lives. It was developed throughout

time and history by many well-known and not so well-known psychologists. It was researched

through experiments and observations of young children growing into adults and how their

behavior was affected or changed by certain aspects of their life–how it affected their behavior as

an adult. From birth to death, cognitive, physical, and socioemotional all play a part in

development. Physical development such as how your body adjusts, adapts, and grows with you;

Cognitive development such as expanding your knowledge or learning language as you grow; or

Socioemotional development such as finding friends, learning social cues, or creating

relationships in general.

The purpose of studying human cognitive, physical, and socioemotional development

over their lifespan from birth to death is to better understand humanity as a civilization. Other

factors such as culture, family, community, country, or social-economic status influence these

cognitive, physical, and socioemotional development stages in everyday life. “Depending on the

culture being observed, adolescence may involve many different experiences” (Rowland &

others, 2020, p 305). Everyone experiences life differently depending on these factors and stages

of development, so growth and learning can be different for everyone. For example, their
economic status and ethnicity can affect their opportunities, especially depending on the

environment they grow up in. “Many ethnic minority adolescents experience a double

disadvantage: (1) prejudice, discrimination, and bias because of their ethnic minority status; and

(2) the stressful effects of poverty” (McDermott, Umana-Taylor, & Zeiders, 2019, p 308). Not

only can ethnicity and poverty affect the stages of development, but other things such as culture,

your beliefs, your family, your community, or even your country can affect how you develop.

All this information about these theories and development can help us predict and guide

outcomes from real-life situations such as homelessness or abusive households. For example, if

we are still able to give the homeless the same educational opportunities, we can somewhat

predict the outcome of their life in hopes that they can make something of themselves. Or in an

abusive household, if we apply our knowledge of

other factors and developmental stages, we can

find ways to better the outcomes of these real-life

situations.
Figure 1: This graph shows the statistics of driver’s ages in all crashes

of the United States in 2021.

National Safety Council Estimates. (2021). Licensed drivers and number in crashes by age of

drive, United States, 2021. Injury Facts.

https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/overview/age-of-driver/

We can use human development research findings to solve real-life applications like car

insurances because of the stipulations and questioning behind the policies for drivers aged 16-24.

A major topic is about why insurance companies charge higher prices for these drives

disregarding how smart teens are or how well they scored on tests such as the ACT or SAT.

There is evidence and studies that show that people under 25 are more likely to get into

accidents, so insurance companies will charge more even if some teens make good decisions, get

good grades, make better decisions, etc. Some theories are that even though 16-24 aged drivers

statistically have more accidents, age doesn’t always determine driving skills. On one side of the

argument, people think that insurance policies should charge a similar rate and wait a certain
amount of time before raising or lowering the charges. On the other hand, people think that those

between the ages of 16 and 24 should be charged more since there is evidence such as their brain

not being as developed, which can lead to more accidents. The graph in Figure 1 shows a little

bit of controversial evidence, seeing as there is evidence but not enough to prove that drivers

between the ages 16 and 24 are more prone to crashes.

My conclusion is that these theories have helped me expand my knowledge in many areas

such as the car insurance policy. It helped me understand how the development of adolescence

can affect the way they drive, how accident prone they can be, or even how certain aspects can

make them less accident prone. Those certain aspects could be factors such as family,

community, culture, socio-emotional, ethnic, or even economic.

It was meaningful to me and the broader world to use these research findings and theories

because it helps us understand our future

generation and how it will affect everyone and

everything. Now, that can be kind of general,

but it helps us understand the future altogether

and how we can help it thrive better than the

present. This added to my understanding of

human development by giving me a greater

view of how the world works. Being able to get a glance at how the real world works through

insurance policies for adolescence can be hard, but it gives some sort of sense of how the world

revolves around the younger generation–our future generation.

REFLECTIVE ASSIGNMENT

My summative reflection is that from creating this signature assignment, I learned how

much Psychology can be applied in the real world–referring to insurance policies or even the

concept of politics as well. Learning about the development of people from birth to late

adulthood can really show how people become who they are today, and how we can help those

who have gone through a rough past or have some sort of anxiety disorder. As the world goes on,

anxiety disorders increase, but by understanding Psychology and development of a person, we

can find solutions, therapy, or ways to alleviate their stress.

My process reflection is that the problems I ran into while writing this assignment mostly

consisted of a shortened vocabulary and finding relative or reliable research that I can go off of.
It was hard to find the words for the concepts and ideas that I wanted to describe, but it was also

hard to find the information in the textbook that I was looking for sometimes. I would have an

idea or a specific thought in my head that I knew was somewhere in the textbook, but I wouldn’t

remember where. The way that I moved past these problems was that I looked over the topics

and titles of each chapter before condensing it down to a few chapters to look through. Then I

looked through the contents or listings of each chapter to find the more specific topics I was

looking for. In order to find the words for my research and ideas, I asked others and had a few

peers review my progress to give me some criticism.

My evaluative reflection is that I think I could find some better research rather than more

personal references or examples. Personal examples are good, but I think if I found more

professional and reliable sources, then I would have more depth to my paper. I think my ideas

and opinions are pretty strong though because I feel pretty strongly about the subject. I have

some good concepts to discuss, but I just need a better way to discuss them. I think my best work

for the course is in the discussions where I had to really shuffle through the information and

bring it together in my own way. I was able to apply my knowledge and learn from others as

well.

My reflection on learning is that it made me want to learn more Psychology. I have an

interest in Psychology already but learning about the development of life from birth to late

adulthood gives me more of a reason to learn more because I want to learn about the specifics

and in betweens. This signature assignment helped me look over all that I have learned so far,

bring it together, and brainstorm the main topics and ideas of this signature assignment. Learning

about disorders, behaviors, and growth has brought a new sense of discovery to me.
 My interpretive reflection is that the time I took to create and write this signature

assignment let me relearn all that I have learned in the semester. In a way, having myself relearn

as I created this assignment seemed to more intentionally engrave the information into my brain.

I feel that I can have full intellectual conversations on the topic of life development or

adolescence in general. I think after submitting it, I will feel confident yet excited to learn about

what I can do better. I will be looking forward to concise criticism as to how I can improve these

writings. Overall, as I feel that I am able to apply my knowledge to the real world or even teach

others about the topic, I can see how this signature assignment helped me deepen my concepts,

opinions, and learnings from this class.

 REFERENCE

McDermott, Umana-Taylor, & Zeiders (2019) In Santrock, J.W. (2022). Essentials of Lifespan

Development (7th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill p.308

National Safety Council Estimates. (2021). Licensed drivers and number in crashes by age of

drive, United States, 2021. Injury Facts.

https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/overview/age-of-driver/

Rowland & others (2020) In Santrock, J.W. (2022). Essentials of Lifespan Development (7th ed.)

New York: McGraw-Hill. p 305

Santrock, J.W. (2022). Essentials of Lifespan Development (7th ed.) New York:

McGraw-Hill.