r in Esperanza’s life she becomes an active agent by taking control of her life when she decides to leave her abusive husband and associate with a group of women who were not socially accepted. This shows that Esperanza made her own choices regardless of environmental influences. The Contextualist worldview defines individuals in contrast to both mechanists and Organicists worldview functioning on particular events that form our everyday experiences (Goldhaber, 8). This worldview allows us to see lives from both perspectives in that the individual is an active agent both taking and responding in ways that are internal and external. Due the taking in and responding to the individual is always making meaning of the environment (Shoemaker). The everyday experiences provide new influences and opportunity for growth that allows the individual to change over time making meaning of their lives (Xeno). The three worldviews Mechanistic, Organismic, and Contextualist differ not only in terms of their basic assumptions but also, to a large degree, in terms of the nature of the methods. Rather, each continues to function on it’s own, trying to answer its particular questions on development across the life span (Goldhaber, 11)....
