LIFE SPAN DEVELOPMENT A TOPICAL
APPROACH 2026 COMPREHENSIVE
ASSESSMENT SCRIPT SOLVED QUESTIONS
ANSWERS UPDATED REVIEW SET
◉ psychodynamic developmental theories
Answer: Freudian Theory - psychosexual development
Erikson's psychosocial theory
Object relations - Mahler, Stern
◉ behavioural and social cognitive developmental theories
Answer: Classic conditioning - Pavlov
Operant conditioning - Skinner
Observational learning - Bandura
◉ cognitive developmental theories
Answer: Piaget's cognitive theory
Information Processing Theory
Neo Piagetian (Case, Fisher)
◉ contextual developmental theories
,Answer: Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory
Vygotsky's sociocultural theory
Ethological theory
◉ Adulthood and lifespan developmental theories
Answer: Normative-crisis model
Timing of events model
Dynamic systems perspective
◉ Ecological system model
Answer: Individual develops within a complex system of
relationships and contexts which are sets of people, settings,
recurring events, cultural values and programs related to one
another, have stability and influence the person over time.
◉ Microsystem
Answer: Situations in which the person has face-to-face contact with
influential others. For example; family, school, peer group, church,
workplace
◉ Mesosystem
Answer: Connections and relationships that exist between two or
more microsystems and that influence the person because of their
, relationships. For example; home-school, workplace-family, school-
neighbourhood
◉ Exosystem
Answer: Settings in which the person does not participate but still
experiences decisions and events that affect them indirectly. For
example; Spouse's place of work, local school board, government
◉ Macrosystem
Answer: Overarching institutions, practices and patterns of belief
that characterise society as a whole and take the smaller micro-,
meso-, exosystems into account. For example; ideology, social policy,
shared assumptions about human nature, the 'social-contract'.
◉ Normative and non-normative perspective
Answer: Emphasises the nature of development and important
historical influences on development. Includes three influences
determined by interaction of environmental and biological factors.
◉ Normative age-graded
Answer: Strong relationship with chronological age for example;
puberty
◉ Normative history graded
APPROACH 2026 COMPREHENSIVE
ASSESSMENT SCRIPT SOLVED QUESTIONS
ANSWERS UPDATED REVIEW SET
◉ psychodynamic developmental theories
Answer: Freudian Theory - psychosexual development
Erikson's psychosocial theory
Object relations - Mahler, Stern
◉ behavioural and social cognitive developmental theories
Answer: Classic conditioning - Pavlov
Operant conditioning - Skinner
Observational learning - Bandura
◉ cognitive developmental theories
Answer: Piaget's cognitive theory
Information Processing Theory
Neo Piagetian (Case, Fisher)
◉ contextual developmental theories
,Answer: Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory
Vygotsky's sociocultural theory
Ethological theory
◉ Adulthood and lifespan developmental theories
Answer: Normative-crisis model
Timing of events model
Dynamic systems perspective
◉ Ecological system model
Answer: Individual develops within a complex system of
relationships and contexts which are sets of people, settings,
recurring events, cultural values and programs related to one
another, have stability and influence the person over time.
◉ Microsystem
Answer: Situations in which the person has face-to-face contact with
influential others. For example; family, school, peer group, church,
workplace
◉ Mesosystem
Answer: Connections and relationships that exist between two or
more microsystems and that influence the person because of their
, relationships. For example; home-school, workplace-family, school-
neighbourhood
◉ Exosystem
Answer: Settings in which the person does not participate but still
experiences decisions and events that affect them indirectly. For
example; Spouse's place of work, local school board, government
◉ Macrosystem
Answer: Overarching institutions, practices and patterns of belief
that characterise society as a whole and take the smaller micro-,
meso-, exosystems into account. For example; ideology, social policy,
shared assumptions about human nature, the 'social-contract'.
◉ Normative and non-normative perspective
Answer: Emphasises the nature of development and important
historical influences on development. Includes three influences
determined by interaction of environmental and biological factors.
◉ Normative age-graded
Answer: Strong relationship with chronological age for example;
puberty
◉ Normative history graded
