Final answer:
The Whole Child Lens is an approach that integrates all aspects of a child's development and is related to various developmental theories. These theories provide frameworks to understand how individual experiences and environmental interactions affect human development from infancy through adulthood, involving cognitive, physical, social, and emotional growth.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Whole Child Lens is an approach that considers all aspects of a child's development, emphasizing that cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development are all interconnected. In the context of developmental psychology, theorists like Urie Bronfenbrenner have proposed comprehensive frameworks to understand human development. For instance, Margaret Beale Spencer's Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) combines phenomenology and Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory to explain the behaviors of ethnic minority youth, acknowledging how individual experiences and environmental contexts shape development.
Bronfenbrenner's theories, particularly the bioecological model, illustrate the importance of examining bidirectional interactions between a child's development and their environmental contexts, including family, school, and community systems. This model is extended over the lifespan, encapsulating how these interactions impact both children and adults over time. Time, or the chronosystem, is acknowledged as a significant factor affecting individual and environmental change. Other key theories of development include Sigmund Freud's psychosexual stages of development, Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, and Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of development, which all contribute to our understanding of human growth from infancy to adulthood. Each of these theories provides insight into the complex nature of developmental processes, emphasizing the role of biological drives, social interactions, or cultural factors in shaping who we become.