David Levinsons Seasons of A Mans Life :: Psychology Levinson Males Essays

David Levinsons Seasons of A Mans LifeIntroductionBackgroundIn may of 1977, Daniel Levinson constructed a stumper of the seasons ofa mans conduct. His developmental theory consists of universal stages or phasesthat ext reverses from the infancy state to the elderly state. Most developmenttheories, such as Freuds psychosexual development theory or Piagets cognitivedevelopment theory, end in the adolescent stage of life. Levinsons stagetheory is important because it goes beyond most theories assuming thatdevelopment continues throughout grownup life.Levinson based his model on biographical interviews of 40 American men.These 40 men were in the midst of 35 to 45 years in age and they worked as distributivelybiology professors, novelists, business executives or industrial laborers. Thebiographical interviews lasted one or two hours and ranged from six to teninterviews for each subject. The questions asked focused on the subjects lifeaccounts in their post adolescent years. The inte rviews focused on topics suchas the mens background (education, religion, political beliefs) and majorevents or turning points in their lives.Levinsons concept of life structure (the mens socio-cultural serviceman,their participation in their world and various aspects of themselves) is themajor component in Levinsons theory. The life structure for each personevolves through the developmental stages as peoples age.Two key concepts in Levinsons model are the permanent period and thetransitional period in a persons development. The stable period is the timewhen a person makes important choices in life, builds a life structure around thechoices and seeks goals within the structure. The transitional period is theend of a persons stage and the beginning of a virgin stage.Levinsons model contains five main stages. They are the pre- self-aggrandisinghoodstage (age 0 - 22), the archaean adulthood stage (age 17 - 45), the middle adultstage (age 40 - 65), the late adulthood stage (age 60 - 85) and the late lateadult stage (age 80 plus). Levinson states the shift from one era to the nextis a massive development step and require transitional period of some(prenominal)years.(Levinson, 1977) This would explain why there is an overlap in each ofthese stages.Levinsons foremost adult stage in his model is called the Early Adult pitch contour Period. This phase is similar to Eriksons psychological theory inthat both connect the young adults identity crisis or role confusion. It isduring this phase that the young adult first gains independence (financial orotherwise) and leaves the home. This is a transitional stage because it attachthe end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood.The second stage would be a stable period because it marks the time