Development is a lifelong process

A key differentiation between the lifespan developmental perspective and perspectives proposed by organicism and mechanism is that lifespan theorists view development as a lifelong process, while the other perspectives essentially view development as a process that ends with adulthood. In other words, "all points of the life span may have theoretical developmental significance" (Goldhaber, 2000, p. 304).

The lifespan developmental perspective attempts to integrate ideas from different disciplines to understand how individual change throughout life occurs on multiple levels, and how a change on one level influences changes on other levels. For example, viewing development from the perspective of biology can help to understand the biological changes that occur in the individual, while adding the perspective of psychology can help to understand how the biological changes might influence psychological development.