Lifespan Comparative Paper

The personal development of an individual changes consistently his/her views, values and priorities. In this regard, the interview involving a child at the age of 11 and a man at the age of 36 reveals the substantial difference in views and values of the interviewees, which also differ from views of a 21 year old person.

Both interviewees were asked a similar set of questions. In the course of the interview, the 11 year old child faced certain difficulties with comprehension of some questions concerning his social relations and these questions have to be re-worded to make them comprehensible. At the same time, when the 11 year old child was asked to rate his relationships with his friends, family and other people, the interviewee put friends on the first place as the most significant people he would like to communicate with and his relationships with friends turned out to be more significant than relationships with parents.

In this regard, the 36 year old respondent had a totally different view on his relationships with his friends and family. In contrast to the 11 year old, the older respondent stressed the importance of his family. He stressed that his family is the major priority in his life at the moment for he has married recently and this decision marked his total devotedness to his family above all, while friends have become secondary.

As I am currently 21, I can hardly agree with either respondents in their views on friends and family. Friends are important for me but my family, including my parents and younger sister, are also important for me and I can hardly rate them as more or less important. At the same time, I cannot tell that I am ready to create my own family and to marry right now. On the contrary, I am not ready for such decisions at all.

Furthermore, when the interviewees were asked about their current lifetime goals, responses were totally different. The child responded that he wanted a new bike, while the older interviewee considered the possibility of promotion. In such a way, the older respondent considered his career as priority in his current goals, while the child had quite different interests and was focused on entertainment as he wanted a bike.

In this regard, I am rather closer to the older interviewee for I am currently focused on my learning and I want to succeed in this field. In fact, this trend may be explained from the perspective of the evolutionary lifespan theory for people develop certain values and ideas in the course of their life (Gavrilov & Gavrilova, 2002). They may acquire certain values and views from others in the course of their development. Eventually, they tend to follow the lead of their parents and older generation brings in something new in their values, personal and professional development (Gavrilova, et al., 2004).

Finally, when the interviewees were asked about their long-run goals, the child responded that he would like to go to Miami with his family and friends, while the older responded defines children, family and career as his long-term goals. In this regard, my long-run goals are not as substantial as that of the older interviewee since I plan to complete my education successfully and start making a career or start my own business.

Hence, the difference in responses of the interviewees reveals the difference in their level of cognitive development and in their system of values.