Chapter 1
Things to think about before reading this chapter
- What do Lerner, Lewin-Bizan, and Warren mean by claiming that “development is not an empirical concept”?
- Across this chapter, in what ways do the authors approach developmental science from an interdisciplinary perspective?
- How do the various theories discussed in this chapter reflect the authors’ definition of development as a process of “mutually influential (that is bidirectional) relations between levels of organization ranging from biology through individual and social functioning to societal, cultural, physical, ecological and, ultimately, historical levels of organization”?
- Summarize the three conceptual splits that characterize Western thinking about development.
- What are the four “fused” components of developmental systems perspectives? How do they help to move developmental theories beyond conceptual splits?
- What are the methodological implications of historical embeddedness for developmental systems perspectives?
- Summarize and compare the central features of the seven developmental systems theories described by Lerner, Lewin-Bizan, and Warren.
- Summarize the methodological implications of developmental systems theories.
- Summarize the applied implications of developmental systems theories.
Chapter Outline
CONCEPTS AND THEORIES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
The Assumptions of Human Developmental Scientists
Conceptual Splits in the History of Developmental Science
Nature versus Nurture
Continuity–Discontinuity
Stability–Instability
Towards the Healing of Conceptual Splits
Developmental Systems Perspectives
Change and Relative Plasticity
Relationism and the Integration of Levels of Organization
Historical Embeddedness and Temporality
The Limits of Generalizability, Diversity, and Individual Differences
Examples of Developmental Systems Theories
Richard M. Lerner’s Developmental Contextualism
Paul Baltes’ Life-Span Developmental Theory
Levels of analysis in life-span developmental scholarship
Ontogenetic and historical contextualism as paradigm
Conclusions
Jochen Brandtstädter’s Action Theories of Human Development
Regulation and plasticity in human development
The contributions of Jochen Brandtstädter
Contextual and developmental constraints on action
Conclusions
Glen H. Elder, Jr.’s Life-Course Theory
Constructing the life course
Conclusions
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory of Developmental Processes
Bioecological theory
Conclusions
Esther Thelen and Linda Smith’s Dynamic Systems Theory
The development of novel forms across life
The dynamics of the developmental system
Stability and change in dynamic systems
Transitions in systems
Time scales within dynamic systems
Conclusions
Magnusson’s Holistic Person–Context Interaction Theory
Causality in holistic interactionism
Features of the person–environment system
Conclusions
Methodological and Applied Implications of Developmental Systems Theories
Representative Instances of Change-Sensitive Methodologies: Framing the Research Agenda of Human Development
From Method and Theory to Application
Conclusions
Suggested readings
Baltes, P. B., Lindenberger, U., & Staudinger, U. M. (1998). Life-span theory in developmental psychology. In W. Damon (Series Ed.) & R. M. Lerner (Volume Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (5th ed., pp. 1029–1144). New York: Wiley.
Brandtstädter, J. (2006). Action perspectives on human development. In R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 516–568). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 793–828). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Damon, W., & Gregory, A. (2003). Bringing in a new era in the field of youth development. In R. M. Lerner, F. Jacobs, & D. Wertlieb (Eds.), Applying developmental science for youth and families—Historical and theoretical foundations: Vol. 1. Handbook of applied developmental science—Promoting positive child, adolescent, and family development through research, policies, and programs (pp. 407–420). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Elder, G. H., Jr., & Shanahan, M. J. (2006). The life course and human development. In R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 665–715). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Fischer, K. W., & Bidell, T. R. (2006). Dynamic development of action and thought. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 313–399). New York: Wiley.
Gottlieb, G., Wahlsten, D., & Lickliter, R. (2006). The significance of biology for human development: A developmental psychobiological systems view. In R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 210–257). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Lerner, R. M. (2006). Developmental science, developmental systems, and contemporary theories of human development. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.). Theoretical models of human development: Vol. 1. Handbook of child psychology (6th ed.) (pp. 1–17). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Magnusson, D., & Stattin, H. (2006). The person in context: A holistic–interactionistic approach. In R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human devleopment (6th ed., pp. 400–464). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Overton, W. F. (2006). Developmental psychology: Philosophy, concepts, and methodology. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 18–88). New York: Wiley.
Spencer, M. B. (2006). Phenomenology and ecological systems theory: Development of diverse groups. In R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., 829–893). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Thelen, E., & Smith, L. B. (2006). Dynamic systems theories. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.). Theoretical models of human development. Vol. 1. Handbook of child psychology (6th ed., pp. 258–312). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Tobach, E., & Greenberg, G. (1984). The significance of T. C. Schneirla’s contribution to the concept of levels of integration. In G. Greenberg & E. Tobach (Eds.), Behavioral evolution and integrative levels (pp. 1–7). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Glossary
Action theory: A conceptualization of human development as an intentional, dynamic, and reciprocal process of “action-feedback-self-organization-further action” in which individuals create behavioral regulators that moderate exchanges occurring between them and the context.
Bioecological theory: Bronfenbrenner’s conceptualization of human development within the context of four interrelated and nested ecological levels (i.e., microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem) which influence individual developmental outcomes in relation to the chronosystem.
Conceptual splits: Instances in which questions about the nature of human development are framed in terms of opposing explanations such as nature versus nurture, continuity versus discontinuity, and stability versus instability.
Continuity–discontinuity issue: A conceptual split that stresses qualitative or quantitative similarity (continuity) or dissimilarity (discontinuity) of the description or explanation of behaviors at different points in the life span.
Developmental contextualism: Lerner’s conceptualization of human development that emphasizes bidirectional, changing relations among multiple levels of organization involved in human life (e.g., biology, psychology, social groups, culture, history).
Developmental regulation: The processes of dynamic person context relations that are a shared feature of systems theories of human development.
Developmental systems theories: a family of related theories of human development that share four components: (1) change and relative plasticity; (2) relationism and the integration of levels of organization; (3) historical embeddedness and temporality; and (4) an emphasis on the limits of generalizability, diversity, and individual differences.
Dynamic systems theory: A conceptualization of human development combining biological and psychological systems approaches with those of complex and nonlinear systems in physics and mathematics in which systematic changes over time can be explained across different species, age levels, or domains of development.
Holistic person–context interaction theory: Magnusson’s conceptualization of human development emphasizing the individual as an active, intentional part of a complex and continuous dynamic person–environment system of interdependent mental, behavioral, and biological components of the individual (person) and of social, cultural, and physical components of the environment (context).
Life-course theory: A conceptualization of human development emphasizing the integrated and dynamic view of the entire course of human life that encompasses growth and decline and integrates individual ontogenies with their changing historical and social contexts.
Life-span developmental theory: Baltes’ conceptualization of human development emphasizing life-long adaptive processes from conception through old age.
Nature–nurture: A conceptual split in which development is explained by predetermined, inherent factors (e.g., heredity, maturation, or genes as “nature”) or by external influences (e.g., environment, experience, or learning as “nurture”).
Plasticity: The potential for relative systematic change in human development across the life span and the multiple levels of organization comprising the ecology of human development (see Ch. 1). In the context of neurological development, the state of not yet having achieved specialization at some level that is an inherent property of brain growth and development, rather than simply the recovery of function after early brain damage (see Ch. 4).
Stability–instability issue: A conceptual split that distinguishes similarities and differences that arise between people within groups as a consequence of within-person change: a person’s position relative to his or her reference group may remain the same (stability) or change (instability) with development.