What Is Successful Development: an Overview of Old and New Theoretical Perspectives

The concept of lifespan development has been discussed extensively by several theorists for decades. This paper briefly reviews two old theories particularly Freud’s psychosexual and Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development, summarising their basic themes as well as their similarities and how they view successful development. Balte’s theory of lifespan development (particularly on the dynamics of growth (gains) and decline (losses) will be explained and supported with examples where necessary. The paper ends with the lifespan model of developmental challenge which explains development as an interactive pattern and mostly based on individual differences. This implies that it can offer an inter-cultural and inter-generational understanding of lifespan development. Criticisms and suggestions will be offered to enhance and help further theories that will be developed as far as lifespan development is concerned.